All right, next week we will be back on the Thursday band wagon with these articles, but this week we're going to do a Tuesday article, for a variety of reasons (mostly because I have been working on two long-form political articles for weeks now & I'm hopeful at least one of them will be ready on Thursday, so I'm getting ahead of that...no promises as they require a bit of research though). Either way, we're going to do 2007 today, arguably the best film year of the decade (just look at that Top 10-magnificent). If you're new to these series, we've already examined all of the film's nominated for Oscars in 2007 (see links at the bottom of the page), and now we're putting what I would've picked if I had had an Oscar ballot for all of the nominees. If you're so inclined, put your comments below!
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Away from Her
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Lust, Caution
No Country for Old Men
Once
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: No Country for Old Men is the culmination of the western genre-watching as it modernizes with bad guys & good guys racing against time, not just their own eventual standoff, but also against mortality itself. One of the greatest neo-noirs ever made.
Silver: Buoyed by a legendary performance from Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood is Paul Thomas Anderson's greatest film, living up in every sense of the word to the hype & grandeur he's trying for (while not being distracted by too many loose ends).
Bronze: Atonement is an impossibly romantic movie, one about the love we carry with us momentarily, and how a misunderstanding & a bit of jealousy can create a situation that changes three lives forever.
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
Joel & Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)
Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
David Fincher (Zodiac)
Joe Wright (Atonement)
Gold: The Coen Brothers have built a career off of making quirky figures, ones that feel just-out-of-reach of society, human & relatable. And yet their magnum opus remains a dark movie, brimming with colorful characters, but playing them for drama rather than laughs.
Silver: Anderson never shies away from his film's ambition. Not just the ceaseless, endless need to dominate that inhabits his main character, but the way that he pushes him to the brink, and then over the edge, someone who will sell his soul & then just keep bartering himself further into hell.
Bronze: David Fincher's Zodiac is arguably the most underrated film in his arsenal. A look at how the need to understand can drive men to the precipice, some of them stepping over the line while others can no longer come back.
George Clooney (Michael Clayton)
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Ryan Gosling (Lars and the Real Girl)
James McAvoy (Atonement)
Brad Pitt (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford)
Gold: The performance of a lifetime from one of our most gifted thespians, Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview is the Grand Teton of acting, a mesmerizing, singular achievement that will stand apart as one of the great pieces of the 2000's.
Silver: Due to his California sun god handsomeness, Brad Pitt's thespian abilities are oftentimes underrated, but you do so at your peril here. Jesse James gives us a look at an unknowable figure, someone that another man can be obsessed with to the point of murder...and through Pitt's determined gaze, continue to hang on him like a specter.
Bronze: James McAvoy has spent much of the past 15 years trading on some of his initial pretty boy appeal, playing monsters & mutants as he stays on the periphery of headliner & character actor. But in Atonement, he is front-and-center, an impetuous, beautiful rake madly in love with a woman he can never have.
Amy Adams (Enchanted)
Julie Christie (Away from Her)
Keira Knightley (Atonement)
Laura Linney (The Savages)
Tang Wei (Lust, Caution)
Gold: Julie Christie has spent decades inhabiting hard-edged women. What happens when she takes that position & let's us see it flitter away before our eyes? As a woman struggling with an imperfect marriage & losing her memory, we understand the preciousness of time (and trust) in every glance she gives.
Silver: Keira Knightley rises above the typical "corset work" that has been so much her hallmark to give us a woman born of privilege, cheated out of having it all by a cruel twist of fate. Look at the way she crumbles as the film goes, never quite understanding the consequences of Briony's decisions until much too late.
Bronze: Tang Wei's tale in real life is a hard one (she was banned from acting for a time after this film came out), not just because of the moral injustice, but because it kept an actress at the top of her game from giving us work as detailed & nuanced as what she does in Lust, Caution.
Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)
Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild)
Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men)
Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac)
Max von Sydow (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Gold: The haircut would become something of a pop culture punchline, but that's oftentimes what happens when actors give performances as good as Javier Bardem's-his Anton Chigurh would become shorthand for a villain so evil, he must instantly become part of cinema's dastardly firmament.
Silver: The late Hal Holbrook gives the performance-of-a-lifetime in Into the Wild. He not only gives us an understanding of a hard-edge loneliness that comes with age, but how the yearning for something new, some new relationship, never really disappears.
Bronze: Tommy Lee Jones has spent much of his late career playing versions of the same grizzled curmudgeon (not staying too far away from his real-life persona). This isn't what he does in No Country, though, as a man who isn't so much ornery as weathered, certain that the best place to be is the sidelines of this tale (that he's being drawn into).
Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There)
Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men)
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement)
Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
Gold: Genre work can still be genius, people. And if you need proof of that, look no further than Imelda Staunton's demonic Dolores Umbridge, giving us Satan in a pink pillbox. Rowling's best villain (sorry Voldemort) comes to life through a bit of flawless casting.
Silver: Tilda Swinton's genius in Michael Clayton is in finding her character's veneer-the audience itself knows where the real Karen begins & ends, but she doesn't. Also, this deserves a medal just for the way she says "ten million?"
Bronze: Kelly Macdonald has made a strange career of playing placid figures, ones who are strong but unable to acknowledge that strength. Her best work comes here, as she ties together the stories of three men not by playing their games, but trying to avoid them...even if she can't stop what's coming.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: The Coen Brothers' script for No Country for Old Men is so tight it's almost as if they've got a bomb hidden in the fabric of this movie; the tension, the constant, unceasing crescendo all building up to who will live and who will die.
Silver: Told in three acts, Atonement is about the passage of time, the way that it marches on and how we only regret the past because we know we cannot change it. Beautiful, romantic, & unflinching, a total investment in Ian McEwan's rich prose.
Bronze: Sure Daniel Day-Lewis made Daniel Plainview iconic, but it is the writers of There Will Be Blood who brought him the milkshake to begin with-grand soliloquies, they totally invest in his mammoth ego & the chutzpah to back it up.
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
Juno
Lars and the Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
Gold: 4 Months script is a miracle of storytelling. It rarely indulges in expository language or random twists-and-turns, but instead gives us the story of two women, friends (or are they?) who are pulled together through loyalty, and tested by societal pressure & manipulation.
Silver: Diablo Cody's film has had multiple imitators (occasionally even Cody herself), but it's still the original & the best for a reason. The world she unfolds of a pregnant girl giving up her child for adoption is funny, thoughtful, & spry.
Bronze: Nancy Oliver could've just milked the entire situation of Lars and the Real Girl for cheap laughs. After all, a movie about a man in love with a sex doll seems more attuned for an Adam Sandler Netflix streamer than what she creates, which is a introspective look at how we find ways to cope with loneliness & our own missed expectations.
Enchanted
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie
Gold: Ratatouille is not my favorite Pixar movie, but it is the one I watch the most because there's something there. The singular story, a glowing Paris, the French food...it just works. Great vocal work (especially from Peter O'Toole) & lush, dreamy animation totally sell the picture.
Silver: It takes a lot of guts to take one of the most famous animated properties in history, bring it to the big screen for the first time, and not expect groans from the audience as it doesn't live up to the best moments of the series. But The Simpsons Movie has such a specific, excellent story (and a cast of characters we've loved for so long), it lives up to the hype...I want a sequel, damn it!
Bronze: It is cheating putting Enchanted here, and a weird decision to until you remember that I didn't care at all for Persepolis (I get why it was critically-acclaimed, but I feel like people overlooked the bad story design in favor of the cleverness with the animation) and despite watching some additional films from the year, I have found nothing else to love. That said, Enchanted does have significant animated elements, and they cleverly spoof the motif that Disney has crafted so I'm letting it slide in a bleak year for this category.
Into the Wild
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: It's obviously my favorite movie of the year for a reason, but come on with the mixing in No Country for Old Men. Eschewing a traditional film score for large swaths of the film, it creates anxiety just through a coin toss & highlighting the dialogue as the movie's central tenet.
Silver: Somehow Oscar skipped There Will Be Blood here, but I shall make no such mistake. The gigantic oil explosion (and the future ear ringing) is the film's biggest draw, but the entire movie knows that sound (and Jonny Greenwood's score) can linger if done well.
Bronze: All of David Fincher's movies sound good, so it's no surprise that Zodiac does. The best part of Fincher's movie, though, is the sharp dialogue, and the way he highlights it; notice how the men won't shut up, won't stop analyzing, won't stop obsessing...even as their lives slip from under them.
3:10 to Yuma
No Country for Old Men
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
There Will Be Blood
Transformers
Gold: There are definitely movies with more sound editing than No Country for Old Men, but none that can capture the way that the sound editing can count than this movie. The gun battles are sparing, but precise-every bullet seems to matter, as if they're being numbered in the air (and that cattle gun sound effect...you can still hear it 14 years later).
Silver: Occasionally, though, more can be better. Michael Bay is not the Coen Brothers, but I am more than willing to give credit where it's due, and the robust action sequences of Transformers (and the iconic whirling of metal) is a home run, technically speaking.
Bronze: No Country's brother-in-violence There Will Be Blood goes after its sound editing in a different way. While the former is cool, nearly icy, Blood makes it red hot. The steam & hiss of the oil rigs almost burn the audience, mirroring the constant fury running from Daniel Plainview.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Lust, Caution
There Will Be Blood
Gold: The click-clack of the typewriter is the best invention in Dario Marianelli's Atonement score, a cruel accompaniment to Briony sealing her fate. But the whole movie is recognizable & memorable, one of those soundtracks so iconic that it matches the actual fame of its film.
Silver: There Will Be Blood announced Jonny Greenwood as Paul Thomas Anderson's newest asset, giving us a daunting, modern symphony that thunders in the background of this epic tale.
Bronze: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis are also playing with a modern flare in Assassination of Jesse James, giving this film's approach to the western (steeped in historical intensity more than nostalgia) a matching set with a questioning melody.
"Falling Slowly," (Once)
"Le Festin," (Ratatouille)
"The Hill," (Once)
"If You Want Me," (Once)
"Society," (Into the Wild)
Gold: At the Oscars in 2007, Enchanted won the final (at least until there's another rule change) trio of nominations for this category, but history would like to note it should have been Once. "Falling Slowly" is the highlight in the score-the kind of song you hear & remember forever.
Silver: But there's really room for multiple favorites in Once's one-of-a-kind score (there's a reason a low-key musical like this was a hit on Broadway...the music is that good), as "If You Want Me" has a darker, lusher feel to backdrop a mood change in the story.
Bronze: Eddie Vedder's music throughout Into the Wild is a reminder of the lost nature of the film, with a man on a journey to somewhere he cannot understand in his mind. "Society" is the tune that best captures that-a song about a man who doesn't know if they'll remember him after he's gone.
Atonement
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: Sure, the giant stately mansions of Atonement are to the point of cliche when it comes to rewarding production design, but the reason I'm handing over my gold medal here is the way they infuse the tracking shot with so much rich detail (the ferris wheel, the tattered ship, the gazebo)...war bursts from every orifice.
Silver: There Will Be Blood's Jack Fisk (Mr. Sissy Spacek!) uses minimalism to underline the desolation of Daniel Plainview & the townsfolk he wants to exploit. Think of the Arthur Miller-like church or the way that the oil rigs tower over all of civilization, informing the viewer that there is no escape.
Bronze: San Francisco in the 1960's feels come-to-life in Zodiac, a movie that gives us tobacco-stained newsrooms & busted up phone booths to show that this is a place that has moved away its Golden City routes, and is now being haunted by a madman.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: Roger Deakins' magnum opus is a series of moving action sequences, fantastically lit. No Country captures the flat, desolate landscape of Texas better than any film I've ever seen, underlining that there's no place to hide.
Silver: I'm going 1-2 with Deakins here as Jesse James deserves mention. The movie is littered with beauty, including those extended sequences at dusk. His best trick is the way he frames Brad Pitt, almost with a carnal lust, emulating what Robert Ford feels about this man-his desire to control him, to be him, to love him.
Bronze: Obviously Atonement's best cinematography trick is that five-minute tracking shot, giving us an overview of the war from every angle of the frame, the way that it expands into every aspect of our young protagonist's lives. The entire movie is gorgeous, and littered with these touches (the "Briony" yell being in closeup is another favorite), but the tracking shot is why it must medal.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
Elzabeth: The Golden Age
The Golden Compass
Lust, Caution
Gold: It's more than just the green dress. The film has beautiful period costuming, playing off of the sexuality of its leads (James McAvoy's trousers are snug to get you as horny as Cecilia for Robbie), and it's spread across three different eras beautifully. But...that green dress deserves its spot in the pantheon of movie costuming.
Silver: In virtually any other year, Elizabeth: The Golden Age would have earned that trophy (it might, honestly, be the silver medal for the full decade & surely would be nominated). Gaudy, beautiful, brimming with color & indulgence, Alexandra Byrne understands the purpose of this movie better than virtually anyone else.
Bronze: Lust, Caution may have drawn most of its headlines from what the leads weren't wearing, but when they are clothed, it's in beautiful designs, well-fit for the characters (erotic & gorgeous).
Atonement
Away from Her
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
Gold: Judiciously edited, No Country for Old Men has several tricks (including the fact that the three main characters never properly share a scene), but it's in the way that it highlights the story, the use of long shots of the sprawling Texas countryside, that it gets its ambience.
Silver: It's rare that you think of a Paul Thomas Anderson film as edited at all (the man likes to ensure you get your money's worth in terms of runtime), but There Will Be Blood is an exception, giving us ambiguity in key questions (Paul/Eli, obviously, but also how we should approach Daniel's motives) amidst the ceaseless violence of this world.
Bronze: As I've mentioned already, the Atonement tracking shot is one of my favorite scenes in all of 2007-a monument not just to cinematography, but to the film's editing. But that's true of much of the story, told in a kaleidoscope triptych, with you catching little nods to the past (perhaps even before the characters do).
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Gold: One of the weirdest snubs in recent memory, Sweeney Todd is that great mix of "too much" and "still a blast." They play on motifs from the stage productions of the play while still drawing its own Tim Burton-esque wonder.
Silver: I know Oscar didn't add "hairstyling" to this description for a few more years, but I keep it here, so we're going to give this to Atonement, which has great period design, while adding specificity (it somehow feels totally in-character for Briony to never change her look).
Bronze: The makeup work in Harry Potter becomes super-realistic. I loved some of the newer touches here, particularly the way that they make Dolores Umbridge's helmet hair & plastered makeup look so exact.
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Transformers
Gold: It may take the IQ of a thimble to actually follow the film's plot, but that doesn't really negate the total revolution that the effects department is driving in Transformers. Optimus Prime & Bumblebee become totally transformed characters, distinct, shiny, & metal...there's a reason this film became a template for so many action films to follow.
Silver: The third Pirates movie has much of its previous iterations to rely upon (Davy Jones is impressive, but we've been there). That said, the swirling vortex of Calypso and the sheer scale of At World's End cannot be denied, a thrilling conclusion to the series.
Bronze: Harry Potter continued to step up its effects game as the series went on (the series came of age during transformative years for VFX), and you see that in Order of the Phoenix. The centaurs showed a marked improvement for the era, and the Voldemort/Dumbledore fire battle is gorgeous.
Also in 2007: Picture, Director, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2007
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