Film

10 Best Films From 2007
Looking back on last year
B Y  D A V I D  L U H R S S E N

Cynical friends tell me they’d be hardpressed to name more than two or three good movies from 2007. I had no trouble recalling 10 favorites, although the exact numerical ranking is a little arbitrary. Why is American Gangster one notch higher than Rescue Dawn? Because I say so! As a critic working in Milwaukee, I suffer the disadvantage of seeing many foreign or indie movies late—a number of excellent 2007 films won’t find their way to Milwaukee cinemas until months into 2008. Some may never make it at all. With that in mind, as other 2007 films roll in, I reserve the right to update my Top-10 list on my blog, “I Hate Hollywood,” at www.expressmilwaukee.com. Not unlike the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I usually favor drama over comedy in choosing my favorites. My excuse (what’s theirs?) is that most contemporary Hollywood comedies aren’t funny, unless you’re fond of flatulent animals and seventh-grade sex jokes. I’m always happy when, sitting in a crowded theater watching a bad Hollywood comedy, I notice that no one else is laughing, either. Despite the general low level, there were several funny films that didn’t quite make my Top 10, including the semi-indie charmer 2 Days in Paris, Jerry Seinfeld’s animated Bee Movie and a sadly overlooked summer comedy, The Nanny Diaries. Trends? The long-anticipated stream of post-9/11 movies finally gushed out of the Hollywood pipeline. Except for In the Valley of Elah, none were much good— unless you count Charlie Wilson’s War as a prequel to the current world situation.

Moviegoers voted to stay away. Westerns inched toward making a comeback in a year glutted with crummy horror flicks and mediocre fantasy, with the almostsuccessful remake of 3:10 to Yuma and the brilliant and challenging Assassination of Jesse James, plus No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, which could be counted as 20th-century Westerns.

One final observation concerns the inexplicable abandonment by its studio of The Invasion, a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers starring Nicole Kidman. Its handlers resolutely refused to market the movie and dumped it in the late-summer graveyard. Why be surprised that the lemming-like herd of so-called movie critics condemned the movie when, in reality, it wasn’t that bad in comparison? I’ll go this far: The Invasion offered more entertaining social commentary than Lions for Lambs or Rendition and was three times more fun to watch than the arty dud Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

1. Lust, Caution 2. Darjeeling Limited 3. Charlie Wilson’s War 4. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead 5. There Will Be Blood 6. Ratatouille 7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 8. American Gangster 9. Rescue Dawn 10. No Country for Old Men

Darjeeling Limited

Lust, Caution