The Film List: 2007

Last year, I started to keep a record on Flickr of all the films I watched. I must mention the inspiration for this list, Peter Noster.

So, starting from the top- these were the films I saw in 2007.

The Best Movie of 2007

Pan’s Labyrinth
The haunting music, the terrifying yet strangely beautiful monsters, and the horrors of the war makes this film, as unforgettable as it is unmissable. My full review.

Cream of The Crop

Princess Mononoke
Hayao Miyazaki’s animated masterpiece.

Casino Royale
The best Bond film. End of discussion. My full review.

Tell No One
French thriller- almost perfect in its execution.

Bourne Identity
Only five years late to see this one- and damn isn’t it a good film? In the process of seeing the next one before the last one is released in the cinema next month.

The Bourne Supremacy
Personally, I think the first film was more gripping, but this was still an excellent film- far and away better than many other thrillers I’ve seen.

The Bourne Ultimatum
Excellent conclusion to the Bourne films- still unanswered questions, but unless they can pull something really spectacular out of the bag for #4, it shouldn’t be made.

Batman Begins
Dark and moody, its film noir with super heroes. A masterpiece. My full review.

Stardust
Magical adult adventure. It’s a fantasy film for grownups, really good escapism.

The Illusionist
Really great movie, even at 3am it still hooked me in and kept my attention. Minor plot holes have since occurred to me, but they didn’t when I was watching the film and that’s a good thing. Period detail and beautifully shot, although might have been more effective if the illusions had not been CGI.

Ratatouille
Really great. Looks beautiful, intelligent story- an instant classic.

The Prestige
Brilliant. Filled with questions, not since I saw Blade Runner have I been so excited by a film with questions that need to be answered but seem not to need them.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut
Obviously I have seen this before, but I decided it would count as a ‘new’ film for the list, and what a great one to end 2007 on. Simply the greatest sci-fi films of all time, now in beautiful digital clarity.

Worth A Watch

V for Vendetta
Great movie, some nice set pieces and enough twists to keep you guessing. Steven Fry is always a welcome addition to any film.

Hot Fuzz
Midsummer Murders with Bad Boys 2 shoved on the end. Really enjoyed the film, but it wasn’t nearly as satisfying as we felt it should have been. My full review.

An Inconvenient Truth
Important documentary, thought-provoking, tries hard to cover up the fact that it is mostly just a slide show.

The Simpsons Movie
Plenty of laughs, but no ”wow” factor that marks a good movie. My full review.

Corpse Bride
Morbid, gothic movie. Animation is absolutely beautiful, looks more like CGI then stop-motion-animation.

Run Fatboy Run
Mostly rubbish, but Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran are simply brilliant- get rid of the Simpsons bloke and that worryingly thin woman and just get those two being funny for an hour and a half.

Good Night, and Good Luck
I liked it, really good movie. I tell you what, this is a good film, with some great acting, but I can see why many people have found it too slow.

Curse of the Golden Flower
Interesting family drama with ninjas!

Magicians
Not a huge amount of laughs, given the high calibre cast including Robert Webb and David Mitchell, but enough to win me over.

The Golden Compass
I liked it, girlfriend didn’t. As a film, it feels too ‘brief’ and darts around without actually getting to any substance. I wanted to watch it mostly because it annoyed the Christian right in the US- which is a good sign in my book.

Die Hard 4.0
Very stupid, but enjoyable. People shooting at Justin ‘I’m a Mac’ Long was slightly strange, but Mary Elizabeth Winstead… yeah, lovely. Plot was beyond daft though, slightly reminded me of the Eddie Izzard stand-up: “Breaking into the Pentagon computer… double click on “yes…” Oh, password protected! 20 billion possible chances… eh… JEFF… Hey!”

To Watch When Nothing Else Is On

Deuce Bigalow - European Gigolo
Stupid and childish knob-related nonsense… rather liked it though.

Sky High
Fluffy family nonsense. Need to find the Mary Elizabeth Winstead back-catalogue though.

Sicko
Interesting documentary, which I’m sure means well. But once Moore started talking about the British NHS, I started to question the film’s research and sincerity. My full review.

Aquamarine
A blonde 19 year-old dressed as a mermaid… apparently I find this a turn on, so I liked it but I now feel so bad, dirty, and wrong.

Bring It On - All or Nothing
Yes, I know, I know. It was total rubbish, and I shouldn’t have watched it, but there is just something about Hayden Panettiere… I am weak willed!

The Good Shepherd
Matt Damon is an extremely talented actor, but the film jumped around in time way too much to make sense at 2am.

Only Yesterday
Quite unlike the other Studio Ghibli films I’ve seen, but a good film. Far more slanted towards women, but enjoyable never-the-less, and worth seeing for Ghibli completeness.

The Three Lives of Thomasina
Sweet Disney film about a cat, with a seriously sexy Susan Hampshire, (She was 27 back in 1964!).

Freedom Writers
Thoroughly earnest drama, achieves its own goals but lacks originality.

Just Disappointing

Run Lola Run
Sadly, this movie didn’t live up to the hype.

The Bad

The Painted Veil
Thoroughly depressing.

Black Snake Moan
Didn’t like it. Chaining people up, preaching at them, and singing the blues is not the way to win me over.

Mr Bean’s Holiday
Less funny than having your eyes gouged out with a blunt pencil. My full review.

Transformers
Big, Noisy, Dumb. I was not surprised that the Transformers movie failed to transform into anything decent.

Spider-Man 3
Stupid and boring. Peter Parker is the most irritating super hero.

Bridget Jones Diary
Girly tosh.

The Pursuit of Happyness
So monumentally depressing, not helped by the fact that I find Will Smith so very, very annoying. Frankly I would not have watched this black hole of enjoyment, were it not for the fact that it is my job and I am paid to do it.

The Queen
I agree with Kermode- this was a telly movie, certainly not worthy of the critical praise it received. I was only 11 when Diana died, so I didn’t really grasp what all the fuss was about at the time. Did little but confirm my views that the Queen is an anachronism.

The Worst Movie of 2007

St Trinian’s
Awful. Just appalling, morally reprehensible, idiotic, and stupid. I am more than open to adult movies, but not in what is advertised as a children’s film… Prostitution, casual drug use, and adult themes- how it got a 12A, I do not understand. This is yet another ‘brit com’ movie that proves the British film industry is well and truly dead, and good riddance to it.