The story is familiar. The calendar year begins and there's dross in the movie theaters apart from a few platforming highlights from the previous year. Minor pleasures follow in the spring and summer. They valiantly struggle to catch public attention amidst cacophonous 8 figure ad budgets of vapid blockbusters. The weather cools and then, as suddenly as people stop going to the theater in droves, real cinematic triumphs arrive. (Funny how that's so backwards. Like leaving a party as soon as the A list guests show). And then a curious but predictable thing happens: the holidays hit and all the remaining movies are viewed sight unseen as "the best" of the year. Until they open that is. Inevitably, November and December feel a little flat. All buildup and no delivery; Christmas morning with so-so gifts.But not 2007. This year the movies Hollywood stingily withheld actually delivered. Well, most of them at any rate. As a result, the year kept getting better as it went, gathering speed as it barrelled towards its rather cataclysmic end. December had three major offerings emblematic of this tendency: Sweeney Todd's bloodbath, Atonement's guilty backwards glance and There Will Be Blood's implosion were all shocking and rather final finales in their own ways.
"You Can't Stop What's Coming"
...continue reading for more on the emotional disintegrations and mass destruction of this just-wrapped film year. Next up: underappreciated, honorable mentions and the ten best pictures of 2007 according to Nathaniel.
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8 comments:
An excellent and insightful write-up of this wonderful year in cinema.
Very insightful commentary. Still can't wait for you top ten list and awards mania! I have no idea which film will swing as 'Best' for you --possibly No Country For Old Men or There Will Be Blood? It's a real nailbiter.
Oh, you said the top ten would come out at the latest this weekend, but January 7th is monday! :)
wow, that was a perfect summary of complex year. bravo!
Really one of the best summaries of the year I've read. Hooray 2007!
That was really good. Nice to hear you thought 2007 was a good year, because I definitely think it ranks as one of this decades best. If not through the incredible amount of trulysuperamazing movies then through the seemingly endless list of solid well-made flicks that were released.
I'm still hoping the two Aussie flicks you saw (Jindabyne and Ten Canoes) get some love at some point.
Wait, I have a question. For the Actress contest does the winner of the GG or BFCA or Oscar get any more points?
Yeah, what K.C. said. It was a solid year, but I still have not seen anything that looks to last for the ages or that got me excited all over again about going to the movies (with "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "There Will Be Blood" yet to release here). Kind of a mile wide and an inch deep. Not that I am complaining, since the trend downward in overall quality of the products seems to be arrested for the moment. Still, a "Return of the King" would have been welcome. Nathaniel, can you be happy in a year when the highest grade a film receives from you is a B+?
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