Critics' Top 10s 2007

[Akash]

John Waters' #1 was Grindhouse.

That fag.

[Big Magilla]

Roger Friedman, Fox News

1. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" — director Tim Burton.

2. "Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead" — director Sidney Lumet.

3. "The Namesake" — director Mira Nair.

4. "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" — director Julian Schnabel.

5. "The Savages" — director Tamara Jenkins.

6. "I’m Not There" — director Todd Haynes.

7. "Juno" — director Jason Reitman.

8. "Into the Wild" — director Sean Penn.

9. "No Country for Old Men" — directors Joel and Ethan Coen.

10. "Atonement" — director Joe Wright.

[Leeder]

A glimpse at the chicken racing sequence in Cry-Baby should indicate why Waters loves Grindhouse so much.

[atomicage]

John Waters' #1 was Grindhouse. Zoo and Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget are both on the list as well.

I have to say that Grindhouse was definitely a unique experience, from the double-feature, to the fake trailers in between. I laughed my friggin' butt off on several occassions. Honestly, and I know somebody's going to disagree with me on this, I found Taratino's Death Proof unentertaining. (How ironic that a film about the fastest stuntcar in the world has such a slow pace)

[Eric]

John Waters' #1 was Grindhouse. Zoo and Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget are both on the list as well.

[atomicage]

Some of these people get access to what's known as long lead screenings. Or they went to Toronto. Or, yeah, they haven't seen everything yet.

Yeah, I understand the whole screening concept. I just think we should wait for the last month before publishing any sort of thing like a "best of" list. Just a personal preference; nothing more.

[Eric]

Some of these people get access to what's known as long lead screenings. Or they went to Toronto. Or, yeah, they haven't seen everything yet.

[atomicage]

I'm very surprised at some of the choices made. Zodiac is rightly mentioned, though I don't know if I would have put it as #1. No Country for Old Men is being completely looked over, as is The Mist (just kidding). And of course, people are already posting their "Best of 2007" lists without 2007 being over yet, which always drives me crazy.

[Eric]

5 No End in Sight (Charles Ferguson)

Which reminds me, this might be the first year that a Brian De Palma film gets taken down in Armond's "this widely-hated movie is great, this much-buzzed-about film is horrible" dialectic. I haven't followed this year's spate of Iraq docs to know which pro-war candidate will get his praise against Redacted, though.

[Eric]

I don't have all of the lists this year, but Artforum published a pair. If anyone has John Waters' list, feel free to post it.

http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=18974

AMY TAUBIN
01. Zodiac (David Fincher)
02. Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant)
03. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
04. Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World (Ken Jacobs)
05. No End in Sight (Charles Ferguson)
06. Terror’s Advocate (Barbet Schroeder)
07. Dance Party USA (Aaron Katz)
08. Michael Clayton (Tony Gilroy)
09. Southland Tales (Richard Kelly) [Note: #2 on 2006 list.]
10. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) and Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett)

T. J. WILCOX
01. Black Book (Paul Verhoeven)
02. The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)
03. Planet Earth (British Broadcasting Corporation)
04. La Vie en rose (Olivier Dahan)
05. Superbad (Greg Mottola)
06. The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
07. Blades of Glory (Will Speck and Josh Gordon)
08. Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg)
09. Control (Anton Corbijn)
10. Sicko (Michael Moore)

JAMES QUANDT
01. These Encounters of Theirs (Straub/Huillet)
02. Pour vos beaux yeux (Henri Storck, 1929)
03. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Mungiu)
04. Useless (Jia)
05. Tarahi V (Haris Epaminonda)
06. La Morte Rouge (Erice)
07. Fengming, A Chinese Memoir (Wang Bing)
08. Les Amours d'Astree et de Celadon (Rohmer)
09. Alexandra (Sokurov)
10. At Sea (Hutton)



Edited By Eric on 1196534497