My Picks for the Best of 2007

It is time for me to list my favorites of 2007. It was a great year for film and I think that the 2000s are the best years since the 1970s. So here it is.

Best Films

1) No Country for Old Men
2) There Will Be Blood
3) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4) I'm Not There
5) Michael Clayton
6) Into the Wild
7) Eastern Promises
8) Persepolis
9) Lust, Cauton
10)Once

And here are my runner ups - there are many (and I didn't include a number of films that I liked because then I would have an endless list - these are in the order that I saw them - not of preference)

Breach
Amazing Grace
The Namesake
Black Book
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
The Hoax
After the Wedding
Paris Je T'aime
Red Road
Away From Her
Jindabyne
Pierrepoint
Lady Chatterley
A Mighty Heart
Ratatouille
Goya's Ghosts
Live-in Maid
Moliere
This is England
3:10 to Yuma
In the Valley of Elah
Across the Universe
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
The Savages
Love in the Time of Cholera
Control
Starting Out in the Evening
Youth Without Youth
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Orphanage
Introducing the Dwights
Slipstream

Here are my acting picks. They are not in any order except that the first two actors are my first choices. Lead and supporting are together.

Actors

Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men, Goya's Ghosts, Love in the Time of Cholera
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Chris Cooper - Breach
Irfan Khan - The Namesake, A Mighty Heart
Richard Gere - The Hoax
Alfred Molina - The Hoax
Cillian Murphy - The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Mads Mikkelsen - After the Wedding
Gordon Pinsent - Away from Her
Timothy Spall - Pierrepoint
Christian Bale - Rescue Dawn, 3:10 to Yuma, I'm Not There
Russell Crowe - 3:10 to Yuma
Ben Foster - 3:10 to Yuma
Viggo Mortensen - Easter Promises
Armin Mueller-Stahl - Eastern Promises
Vincent Cassel - Eastern Promises
Tommy Lee Jones - In the Valley of Elah, No Country for Old Men
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Ed Harris - Gone Baby Gone
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Tony Leung - Lust, Caution
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Before the Devil Know's You're Dead, The Savages, Charlie
Wilson's War
Benicio del Toro - Things We Lost in the Fire
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Philip Bosco - The Savages
Josh Brolin - No Country for Old Men, American Gangster
Mathieu Amalric - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Max von Sydow - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Hector Elizondo - Love in the Time of Cholera
Sam Riley - Control
Frank Langella - Starting Out in the Evening
Paul Dano - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Will Smith - I Am Legend

Actresses

Tabu - The Namesake
Carice van Houten - Black Book
Marion Cottilard - La Vie en Rose
Kate Dickie - Red Road
Julie Christie - Away from Her
Olympia Dukakis - Away fro Her
Marina Hands - Lady Chatterley
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Natalie Portman - Goya's Ghosts
Norma Alejandro - Live-in Maid
Norma Argentina - Live-in Maid
Jodie Foster - The Brave One
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Katherine Keener - Into the Wild
Tang Wei - Lust, Caution
Marisa Tomei - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Laura Linney - The Savages, Jindabyne
Kelly MacDonald - No Country for Old Men
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Charlotte Gainsbourg - I'm Not There
Giovanna Mezzogiorno - Love in the Time of Cholera
Fernanda Montenegro - Love in the Time of Cholera
Catalina Sandino Moreno - Love in the Time of Cholera
Samantha Morton - Control
Lili Taylor - Starting Out in the Evening
Nicole Kidman - Margot at the Wedding
Jennifer Jason Leigh - Margot at the Wedding
Helena Bonhan Carter - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Belen Rueda - The Orphanage
Brenda Blethyn - Introducing the Dwights

I will name a few directors and writers - I can't name too many or I will be here all night

Directors

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Todd Haynes - I'm Not There
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
David Cronenberg - Eastern Promises

Original Screenplay

Todd Haynes and Oren Moverman - I'm Not There
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Steven Knight - Eastern Promises
Brad Bird - Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins - The Savages

Adapted Screenplay

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen - No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Ronald Harwood - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Marjane Satrapi - Persepolis

Now for the annual Woody awards - this year they will be given to two outstanding actors

First is Javier Bardem. He is an amazing actor and he is not yet 40 years old. He is finally getting the recognition that he deserves with No Country for Old Men. Although Goya's Ghosts and Love in the Time of Cholera didn't do well he was great in those as well. I look forward to seeing what he does in the future but I have no doubt that he will continue to grow as an actor.

The second Woody goes to Daniel Day-Lewis. He is the cream of the crop and he truly transformed himself in There Will Be Blood. He doesn't make many movies and I hope that we won't have to wait four or five years to see him again. But I trust that he will make something that will be a quality product.

Congratulations to JB and DDL!

Oh, I forgot to mention documentaries. I haven't seen many this past year and I will try to catch up with some of them on DVD. I loved Michael Moore's Sicko. Moore took an important but dry topic - healthcare in the US - and made an entertaining film out of it. The above mentioned Senor Bardem had a documentary that he produced shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. It is entitled Invisibles and it contained five short films by five different filmmakers showing terrible situations around the world that most of us know nothing about. Hence the title. So far it hasn't been released here but hopefully it will come out on DVD so people can see it (it won the Goya award for Best Documentary).

I saw Charles Ferguson's acclaimed No End in Sight. I happened to find it dull. I might be in the minority on this one but that is how I feel. Ferguson shows how the Bush administration made blunders regarding the war in Iraq but I wouldn't call this an anti-war film. And that is one of my problems with it.