My 10 Favorite Movies of 2007

Thanks for indulging me in one final "10 Best" post. I meant to get all of these up before 2008 officially began, but it didn't happen.

Like my book list, I only need to have seen a movie for the first time in 2007 for it to make my list. I'm doing good to make it to a movie theater a half dozen times a year.

10. The Simpsons Movie
I saw this one at the Springfield, Missouri premiere in July, one of 13 such premieres held in Springfield's around the country. We didn't win the "big official" premiere, but I'm glad. The hoopla would have been excrutiating--more than it already was. The movie was funny, but six months later I remember very little about it ('cept for Spider-Pig). It's so much easier to just watch the TV show.

9. Lars and the Real Girl
I reviewed Lars for GO Magazine, and gave it one of the more fawning reviews I've ever churned out. After reading a few more--some glowing, some not--I don't really feel much different. Sure, it was unrealistic. Most towns would have someone who shacks up with a sex doll committed, but the glory of this movie is that it's in a universe delightfully paralell to our own.

8. Mystic River
The only story to show up on both my books list and my movies list, I managed to catch all of Mystic River on my contraband pay-per-view (before Mediacom wised up and learned how to block LG TVs' descrambling powers. Boo). It's powerful, full of good actors (Tim Robbins as a sad sack? It works) and actresses. Who knew Laura Linney could crank out a Boston accent?

7. Air Guitar Nation
This was shown at Landers Theatre prior to the Ozarks air guitar finals, which I had the privilege to judge. It follows two Americans on their journey to Scandinavia (Sweden I think?) for the world air guitar finals. It's a relatively flawless documentary, full of characters you actually remember, which is a feat for any film.

6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
This was my least favorite Potter book, but the movie was superb, if not the best of the bunch to date. It appears young Hermione (Emma Watson) took some acting lessons, and now that they've locked the kids up (figuratively) for films 6 and 7, there's no worrying whether it's going to be their last films or not.

5. Knocked Up
The first of two pregnancy movies on this list, Knocked Up is one of those movies you can watch over and over, picking it up at any point and simply enjoying it for the laughs. Sure it's crude at times, but it's likeable... you never feel bad for any of the characters and the humor is never uncomfortable (See: Borat, 40-Year-Old Virgin).

4. Stranger Than Fiction
With this film (which I think came out in 2006, but I didn't rent until last spring), Will Farrell does what Adam Sandler and Jim Carry never could--pull a 180. This film is touching, funny, and gives one of the best lessons in humanity that I've ever received in a film. Plus, Maggie Gyllenhaal wa actually kinda hot for a change. Maybe it was the tattoos. Or the baking.

3. Half Nelson
Another one I rented a bit late. If Ryan Gosling was superb in Lars, he's a revelation in Half Nelson, which takes every formulaic "teacher" movie you've ever seen and stand it on its head. As the husband of a high school teacher I'll just tell you--while teachers don't commonly freebase in a locker room, Half Nelson is a heckuva lot more realistic than Freedom Writers.

2. American Gangster
Ever couple or three months, I'll take my dad to a movie. Dad is great, but (and I think the doctors would back me up) semi-narcoleptic. He can and does fall asleep at the drop of a hat. But Gangster--once it was through its kinda-confusing Act One setup, was a simply fantastic film. Denzel is always better as a "bad" guy, and there was even a Cuba Gooding Jr. sighting (as rival Nicky Barnes. The best movies make you want to leave the theatre and do something: After American Gangster I wanted to make millions dealing smack. Oh well.

And my number one movie of 2007...

1. Juno
I know, it's perhaps predictable. But I've simply met (and heard of) too many pregnant teens--hell, teens in general--not to find Juno MacGuff, Paulie Bleeker and friends delightful. Maybe it's their names. The glory is in the small things; for example, the worst day of her life happens while she's wearing a Slinky T-shirt. Juno is what happens when you take the innocent whimsy of Napoleon Dynamite, cross it with the ironic self-awareness of Fight Club (in fact, Ellen Page's voiceovers truly reminded me of Edward Norton's Narrator) and add a dash of the Griswolds.

Peace.

ML