25 In 25: My Favorite Films of the First Quarter Century - 2007

And just like that, we have our toughest year yet.  I can honestly say seven films changed me as a cinema lover from 2007. 

With a gun to my head, and a full chamber, I would not be able to whittle the list down without betraying my own experiences with some these films.   But this is the exercise I have embarked on so I will do my best to break it down for my dear readers!!

The beginning is the only place to start, and the first modern “horror” film enters into my consciousness with 30 Days of Night.  One of the aspects of this film that really stuck with over time was how invested I was in the main characters.  This led to my understanding of how important it was to not only flesh out motivations and back stories, but to truly endear the viewer to said characters. 

Next on the list are two films with late legend, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and The Savages.  Two films often overlooked as a whole, but shouldn’t be due to Hoffman’s performances. 

Disney Pixar gave us my favorite in a cooking rat named Remy in Ratatouille.  Ridley Scott and Denzel gave us American Gangster.  The great Tony Gilroy giving us a glimpse into his Andor genius, and George Clooney with Michael Clayton. Viggo Mortensen reteaming with David Cronenberg in the blatantly violent Eastern Promises.  Danny Boyle and a cast that will blow your mind when you revisit it gave us the sci-fi epic, Sunshine.  And up until my rewatches and the release of One Battle After Another, There Will Be Blood would’ve made the finale of this year because damn if this isn’t a near-perfect film in every way, I don’t know what is.   So it would have to take some stellar films to knock it down… and I am sure you can guess what they are by now. Back in 2007, there weren’t many directors who were must-see for me.  Quentin, obviously, Danny Boyle, Nolan, Sofia Coppola, and Michael Mann were my list at the time, and of course, The Coen Brothers with No Country For Old Men as my “back then” pic,k and David Fincher with Zodiac, for my “in hindsight”.

The Coen bros were coming off a run that included Fargo, O’ Brother, Lebowski, among a few others, and were sky high.  Never before did I think they could top the characters from those films.  But then they introduced us to Anton Chigurh, played by Javier Bardem.  To say this might be the baddest baddie of all time wouldn’t be hyperbole.  The second he is being led to the back of the squad car, with Tommy Lee Jones’ narration, we as the audience are left to wonder what was attached to the co2 talk, and why does he look so silly.  Yet as the next shot is laid before our eyes, the deputy in focus in a wide shot with Anton blurred in the background, we start to feel Anton’s presence… and then he moves.  What follows is to me one of the most visceral murders ever put to screen.  We learn just how demented Anton is and how easily he kills with pure excitement coursing through him.  Anton doesn’t have empathy, nor does he share emotion as we do… he is pure evil incarnate. 

If you haven’t seen this film, or it’s been a while, I implore you to revisit this one and all the glorious horror of Javier Bardem in an Oscar-winning role. 

To the surprise of no one who knows me, David Fincher’s Zodiac is my modern favorite of 2007. 

When it was released in 2007 my cinema mind wasn’t in a place to fully appreciate this film and Fincher’s vision of what this film should have been.  Knowing what I know now and watching this one for a third time in the last two years, I see it all.  And for this film to not even be nominated at the Academy Awards is a crime to cinema.  And not just for the above the line awards, but how this film didn’t get recognition for the sensual, personal, and grand vision of cinematography given to use by the late Harry Savides is crime against humanity.  Watch this film and tell me the visuals aren’t leaps and bounds better than Atonement or The Diving Bell and the Butterfly!! 

All that aside, the way Fincher tells the story shows his progression as a filmmaker.  While in Se7en the shock of the murders was never shown in real time, but always shown in the aftermath, in this one we see the first attack in real time, and that would be the last violence we see on screen in a film about a serial killer that supposedly killed 37 people!  Despite that fact, Fincher kept us engaged throughout the entire runtime.  And that leads me back to what I said earlier… if a filmmaker doesn’t get us invested in its character, it has already lost us.  This film, along with No Country and There Will Be Blood (and my whole list for this year) did just that… made us care.  THAT is phenomenal storytelling and why I will never quit going to the movies.