There Will Be Blood - The 10 Best Movies of 2007

If we have learned anything about the 2007 movie season, it's that many movies - ranging from 300, to Grindhouse, to No Country For Old Men - gave a literal meaning to the phrase "bloody hell." Throats were slit, bullets went flying, and blood was spurting everywhere like confetti at Times Square on New Year's Eve. But but behind the gore of the movies of 2007, some gave a meditation on our nation's violent nature, or how a person's life and soul could be lost through a killer's murder spree. So what do some of my movies on my top 10 list have to say about our violent nature? Listen up.


1.) Eastern Promises - No other movie this year has left a lasting impression on me more that David Cronenberg's crime thriller about the Russian Mafia and how the diary of a dead Russian prostitute could bring the crime ring down. Viggo Mortenson gives the performance of the year as Nikolai, a member of the Vory V Zakone caught in an ethical trap between loyalty to the crime boss, Seymone (played the wonderful Armin Mueller-Stahl) and to a London hospital midwife, Anna (Naomi Watts is superb) who reads the horrifying diary. Mortenson fighting off two thugs in a Russian bathouse naked is by far the most memorable scene this decade, but the final frame where the young girl speaks about why she left Russia to sell her body in London with Nikolai seated, staring on, as if the young girl was his conscious, is flat out haunting.

2.) Into the Wild - Remember the name Emile Hirsch. His portrayal of the true-to-life story of Christopher McCandless and his tragic journey into the wilderness of Alaska to connect with nature and with himself is a bona-fide contender to rival Johnny Deep and Daniel Day-Lewis for the Best Actor race come Oscar time. Credit also cinematographer Eric Gautier for capturing the Alaskan wilderness with intense beauty and terror and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam for his haunting original songs. Did I mention that it's Sean Penn who wrote the screenplay and directed this visual and emotional knockout of a epic drama? Penn's direction and passion to tell Chris's tragic - yet inspirational - story of man vs. nature vs. self, will have conservative types praising his American masterpiece, if not in secret.

3.) Ratatouille - You'd think that the tale of Remy, a rat who dreams of becoming the best chef in Paris, France, by controlling the actions of a garbage boy named Linguini, would spell desperate and disaster, right? Not unless you're the wizard animation studio, Pixar, who have a knack at turning the most bizarre cartoon story-lines into a work of art and an animation master writer/director in Brad Bird at the helm. Oh, and the great Peter O'Toole voicing one of the most moving lines of dialogue i've hear all year as a ego-driven food critic helps pay dividends. More than just a first-rate family film that will even have adults watching again and again and another homerun for Pixar Animation Studios, its also a beautifully written, directed, and acted love letter to Paris, France.

4.) 3:10 to Yuma - What exactly does Christian Bale have to do in order to garner an Oscar-nomination? His strong performance as a farmer with a bum leg helping a banking company to send a condemned robber-barron/murder Ben Wade (another award-caliber performance from Russel Crowe) on the train to Yuma to hang for his crimes is the best i've seen out of Bale. And Ben Foster is scary good as Wade's sadistic, right-hand man killing machine. Fresh off his acclaimed Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, director James Mangold brings the grittiness and suspense of a western movie back, along with the look and feel of one. It's a piece of old nostalgia and an ode to a genre of filmmaking that has long since been forgotten.

5.) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Who knew Johnny Depp could sing? And who knew that a musical could fuse graphic bloody violence, song and humor, acting, and tragedy into one amazing show so beautifully and hauntingly? Tim Burton has prided himself on making bizarre, gothic movies as a pathway to the soul, but here, he, Depp and his wife, Helen Bonham Carter, have out done themselves in Stephen Sondheim's musical about a barber returning home from 15 years of false imprisonment who seeks revenge on the judge who took everything from him (including his wife) and on mankind, and the landlady who loves him, psychopathic murder he may be and turns the slaughtered customers into meat pies. It's Burton's best work since Big Fish and Depp's ticket to a possible Best Actor Oscar win.

6.) No Country For Old Men - Beyond Joel and Ethan Coen's tale of drug money, the regular Joe who takes it out of greed, and the trail of blood, violence, and dead bodies it leaves across West Texas, the film forces us to stare face to face with the dehumanization of our society that is no country for anyone, nevermind old men, but one for which murder, greed, and despair have taken over. Brilliantly shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins, and first-rate acting by Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly MacDonald, Josh Brolin and an unforgettable turn by Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh who rival Hannibal Lecter himself in movie villainy, the Coen Bros have not only returned to form, but they've made their best movie since Fargo and the criminally underrated O Brother, Where Art Thou?. You don't want to miss this cat-and-mouse thriller that has horrible outcomes for all the main characters involved.

7.) Grindhouse - What sick, twisted minds would - or for that matter - could, come up with a three hour love letter to a double feature of hardcore action, rampant sexuality, grizzly violence, and the feeling of sleazy, cheap entertainment? Try Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, who both made their own feature-length movies back-to-back, with fake trailers in between. Rodriguez's half, Planet Terror, is campy, out-of-control fun with the look of a grindhouse picture (the picture was digitally scratched for effect and a reel is missing), with Rose McGoawn putting asses in the seats as go-go dancer with a machine gun for a right leg, but it's Tarantino's half, Death Proof that has the soul of a grindhouse, presents us with the most exciting car chase since The French Connection, and the comeback performance of the year in Kurt Russel as a womanizing stalker/serial killer with a sweet 1970's Dodge Charger as his weapon of choice. This three-hour thrill ride is the shot of adrenaline movies have been needing for far too long now.

8.) Zodiac - A friend had told me she had seen David Fincher's crime drama about the true story of the serial murder that captivated - and scared - the city of San Francisco and said that it totally confused her. To be perfectly honest, it confused me as well. After a second viewing, I had come to realize that Fincher is one clever filmmaker. The film was never meant to make its audience find out who the real killer was. Fincher's purpose was to show how three men - a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle, a city detective, and a cartoonist - had become obsessed with the elusiveness of the Zodiac killer and how it took over their lives. Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mark Ruffalo turn in strong, haunting performances as the three men who's job is to find the murderer becomes an obsession and ultimately ruins their lives as a result for the Zodiac.

9.) Juno - How much do I love this movie? Let me count the ways. I love it's hilarious and bittersweet screenplay by newcomer Cody Diablo, who is bound to receive an Oscar. I love how Ellen Paige blends Juno's biting sarcasm and heartbreak about being pregnant into something of an art form. I love how the film's fresh and sharp dialogue can cut like a razor to where you can see and feel the marks it left. I love how the films original songs sound and feel unique as if the songs themselves reflected Juno's conscious. I love how director Jason Reitman allows Michael Cera, Jason Baitman, Jenifer Garner, and Ellen Paige to be both comic whimsy and surprisingly human with its characters. It makes one wonder, though: Why can't Hollywood make more movies that are as funny and touching, in the area of the teen years, ans Juno?

10.) The Great Debaters - Don't write off this inspirational sports drama/coming-of-age/true story about Melvin Tolson and his African-American debating team from Wiley College beating the Harvard debating team on national radio as a movie running on the same, tired cliched coattails of other great sports films. Instead, this move documents the growth of James Farmer Jr. and his other teammates and how they become apart of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. Kudos to director Denzel Washington (yes, Denzel Washington) for making the cliched tactics of spots movies into inspirational and moving pieces of work. You won't know what hit you.