Films of 2007 and Brief Thoughts on Juno
Much as I presented the NY Times list of top books from 2007, here is the Onion AV Club’s Year in Film 2007. I am only somewhat sad to say that I have seen one film of their top ten: No Country for Old Men. Of those remaining, the films most appealing to me are Once, There Will Be Blood, Sweeney Todd and Into the Wild. I will say that I have not been overly motivated to see movies this year so I am not surprised to have seen only one. Perhaps a side-effect of being single is not defaulting to that dinner-n-movie date on a weekend?
I third-wheeled with Sarah and Charlie this Saturday to see Juno at the Pacific Place, downtown. (Incidentally, I have years of experience and wonderful times as an accompaniment to couples—more on this in a later post?) Anyway, I loved Juno. I will agree with Charlie that it was not a better movie than No Country, but I enjoyed Juno more than any other movie I have seen this year. It was at once deeply heartfelt and sharply funny—I laughed raucously throughout and found myself in tears during particularly poignant moments and, of course, the end.
Juno is a Wes Anderson without the pretentiousness, Super Bad’s examination of adolescence without the fantasy and improbability, and a brilliant counter to Knocked Up’s gender stereotyping, raunch and bullshit. I urge you to go see it. Check out the trailer if you must, but please just go see the movie.
I think I will be seeing quite a few movies over this upcoming holiday break from work. I at least need to see The Order of the Phoenix, however bad or good the newest Harry Potter offering is. Any other picks from my readers?
From Dave
Commented December 19th, 2007 12:22 pm
I keep hearing good things about Juno. I’ll have to go check it out sometime over the Holidays.
From Brooke R
Commented December 19th, 2007 1:26 pm
Sounds great. Maybe my wife will want to see it with me… S.A.R., you want to go with me tomorrow afternoon? I could work from home in the morning, and meet you downtown? It’s showing at 1:15 @ pacific place.
Drew, is it ok if i use your blog to set up a date with my wife? I hope she reads the comments.
We haven’t gotten to see many movies lately, but one of the last we saw, i would highly recommend: Year of the Dog — it does a wonderful job of replacing standard movie elements with really unique twists.
From drew
Commented December 19th, 2007 2:06 pm
Brooke, you are free to use my blog however you like as long that use increases, not decreases, love. LOVE!
I rented Year of the Dog a few weeks ago, per your recommendation, and forgot to talk to you about it. It was very strange but amusing and refreshing all the same.
From Joaq
Commented December 19th, 2007 6:51 pm
You said “a brilliant counter to Knocked Up’s gender stereotyping, raunch and bullshit.” I want to hear more, an in depth review?
From laura
Commented December 19th, 2007 8:39 pm
I rather liked Dan in Real Life. Yes, it’s a romantic comedy, but without the artificiality and strange expectations standard in the genre. Shocking, it’s actually more interesting when the characters act like real people. Of the av club’s list, I really enjoyed Zodiac, but I really haven’t seen much of the list. We really don’t make it to the movies often enough for my taste.
I had mixed feelings about No Country for Old Men. It started out very promising, but I found the end really strange and incomplete. There was just too much time spent on people that you didn’t really care about in the end. Much of what I did like was cinematography and location.
From Joaq
Commented December 20th, 2007 8:39 am
I have to agree on Zodiac, also, Gone Baby Gone was really good. Of the movies on the list, I feel like I missed The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (not for long, thank you Netflix), and I’m going to see There Will Be Blood. Basically, I have to watch as many movies as possible before the New Year, because starting in January I have to start committing to our reading race (we need some sort of name for it).
From drew
Commented December 20th, 2007 9:38 am
Thank you for all the opinions and recommendations! Joaquin, my discussion of Knocked Up is coming…