Year in review
Movie reviewing is definitely a sideline for me, more a way to write about something I love than a concerted effort to inform the world. Real critics see everything that matters (and bravely sit through a lot that doesn't), but I just watch what I want to see. So I won't pretend to give a Top Ten you can compare with those of other critics.
Instead, here are six movies that stood out for me. Don't take that small number to mean it was a weak year. On the contrary, it's been the best film year in a long time, though my moviegoing experience of this calendar year was profoundly enriched by Children of Men, a 2006 film I didn't get around to until 2007. With There Will Be Blood yet to open in San Francisco, maybe 2008 will have a strong kickoff as well.
Syndromes and a Century
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest masterpiece (a 2006 film, but released in the U.S. this year) is simple, playful and seductive, so you may not realize it's also boldly inventive. It's an art film so smart you don't have to think about it.
In Between Days
Made up almost entirely of extreme closeups of faces, So Yong Kim's film about Korean teen-agers seeking warmth in a Toronto winter evokes the blurry lines between festering and growing and between being uncomfortably close and comfortably intimate.
The Bourne Identity
Great action filmmaking that slams into the era of Abu Ghraib at full speed.
Into the Wild
Never mind the debates about whether the lead character, real-life adventurer Chris McCandless, should have tried to live in the Alaska wilderness. This is a great movie about youth and age, and it bursts with energy and light.
Lust, Caution
Like Into the Wild's polar opposite, Ang Lee's latest and most mature film yet is a black hole. Tang Wei is wonderful as a young actress on a mission, but the seething Tony Leung Chiu-Wai absorbs all hope.
No Country for Old Men
This contemporary Western has mystery, humor, and white-knuckle suspense, and on top of all that, wisdom.
Instead, here are six movies that stood out for me. Don't take that small number to mean it was a weak year. On the contrary, it's been the best film year in a long time, though my moviegoing experience of this calendar year was profoundly enriched by Children of Men, a 2006 film I didn't get around to until 2007. With There Will Be Blood yet to open in San Francisco, maybe 2008 will have a strong kickoff as well.
Syndromes and a Century
Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest masterpiece (a 2006 film, but released in the U.S. this year) is simple, playful and seductive, so you may not realize it's also boldly inventive. It's an art film so smart you don't have to think about it.
In Between Days
Made up almost entirely of extreme closeups of faces, So Yong Kim's film about Korean teen-agers seeking warmth in a Toronto winter evokes the blurry lines between festering and growing and between being uncomfortably close and comfortably intimate.
The Bourne Identity
Great action filmmaking that slams into the era of Abu Ghraib at full speed.
Into the Wild
Never mind the debates about whether the lead character, real-life adventurer Chris McCandless, should have tried to live in the Alaska wilderness. This is a great movie about youth and age, and it bursts with energy and light.
Lust, Caution
Like Into the Wild's polar opposite, Ang Lee's latest and most mature film yet is a black hole. Tang Wei is wonderful as a young actress on a mission, but the seething Tony Leung Chiu-Wai absorbs all hope.
No Country for Old Men
This contemporary Western has mystery, humor, and white-knuckle suspense, and on top of all that, wisdom.
Labels: reviews
posted by Steve at
9:59 PM
2 Comments:
Those are pretty good ones. I still need to see "Syndromes and a Century" and "Into the Wild." :)
Happy New Year. Are you going to see "There will be blood" on Wed night?
Nope, I'm going to see "The VIPs" at the Castro!
http://judymeat.blogspot.com/2007/12/drop-everything.html
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