Early rankings for (the 11 of over 100) 2007-released films I've seen:
1. Amazing Grace - Great biopic on a now-relegated to the footnotes, but crucial, figure in world history, William Wilberforce; and, graciously, it's a period piece that doesn't call attention to itself with unnecessary excesses of production design. It focuses on character. I'm not entirely sure of the "historical accuracy" of the film, but it doesn't mater.
2. Breach - Chris Cooper does what he does best, which is create a complex, complete character. Josh Hartnett shows he is improving his game, keeping up with Cooper for the better part of 2 hours. Laura Linney is good as always in a supporting role. The rare spy/CIA movie in which there are no shootouts, car chases, or forced parallels to the Bush Administration. It is smart, engrossing, and well-made...exactly the kind of movie that makes no money.
3. Bridge to Terabithia - The best of the targeted-at-children renaissance (which I will cover later). The girl who plays the lead in this has a certain star quality and the coming-of-age story is treated with more detail and complexity than you commonly see in this genre. It was being sold as a fantasy, but it is far more grounded in reality than they wanted to admit because they wanted to draw that same crowd that turns out in droves to see Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter, but this is neither of those franchises. It deals with friendship, loss, growing up, isolation, and religion with a frankness we tend to think is too strong for children these days, much to my chagrin and to the detriment of our youngest generations.
4. Music and Lyrics - I don't really have much to say here, Hugh Grant + Drew Barrymore = enjoyable rom-com. The Weitz Brothers (creators of About a Boy and In Good Company, etc) are by no means on par with the Coen Bros, but they have a knack for mainstream romantic comedy with an uncommon wit, and this is the best Hugh Grant performance, in my humble opinion, at least since Notting Hill, maybe since Four Weddings and a Funeral. Brad Garrett and Kristen Johnson would win the Deepest Combined Voice for a Supporting Male/Female Duo in a Film, if there were a Grammy for such a phenomenon (I wouldn't be surprised, there are Grammy's for everything else conceivable...but that's another post.)
5. Catch and Release - Jennifer Garner keeps trying to find her footing, sliding from one near-miss to another since Alias got canned. 13 Going on 30 was likable, but did little business, Elektra was a mess, but this a step in the right direction. She fills out a character that could easily fall into caricature, but buoyed by the underrated Timothy Olyphant, the ever-entertaining Kevin Smith (far from 'silent' in this movie) and a surprisingly not-annoying Juliette Lewis, she is able to carry the film's weightiest role. There is a certain realism in the way the characters respond to the situations in which they find themselves. The ending won't come as a surprise to anyone, but I think it is earned, which is more than I can say for some of the films further down this list. This film was made by Susannah Grant who also made (or at least wrote) the semi-live-action Charlotte's Web which was also good (Andre "3000" Benjamin and Thomas Haden Church voicing the two cowardly crows are classic).
6. I Think I Love My Wife - Chris Rock doing his best early Woody Allen impression (I assume my reader is culturally savvy enough to understand that allusion). Like the 40-Year Old Virgin, it's really a movie about not having sex, which makes it entirely the liberal use of F bombs that garners the R rating. It's not necessarily a great film in itself (though I might call it watch-able, even good for stretches), but if it represents a turning point in Rock's career, combined with his critically-acclaimed, semi-autobiographical TV show 'Everybody Hates Chris', color me interested in Chris Rock again. The film is only 95 minutes, but it's a long 95, if you know what I mean. You are left wondering if this is his Night of the Hunter, his one and done, or if it is only a sign of things to come. I hope it's the latter. Steve Buscemi is given a shell of a character which he fails to do much with and his character ends up inciting a scene that involves horse Viagra and a large needle (and if I have to explain it any more than that...well, maybe you should see the next movie down this list). The best part about the film is the ambiguity of Rock's character, as the film attempts to examine the complications contained in it's title. That and Kerry Washington.
7. The Ultimate Gift - The latest offering from FoxFaith, this is aimed squarely at those in the "Christian" crowd who look for inoffensive family-friendly entertainment. Well, look no further. It's not on par with Bridge to Terabithia, but The Ultimate Gift is not without merit. The lead actor creates a character who is at first detestable, but earns the audience sympathy, the film has great vistas of Bolivia (I believe), and features the criminally underused Bill Cobbs (along with James Garner, Lee Merriweather, and Brian Dennehy). Abigail Breslin, continues to show her range as an actress and her desire to usurp Dakota Fanning's 'it' kid actor title. I thought she was destined for great things after that fine performance she gave in Signs. Anyway, this film avoids being 'preachy' and/or obvious with religious content, which, in itself is an accomplishment.
8. Are We Done Yet - In the interest of full disclosure, this film was co-produced by RKO Pictures, where I was an intern this time last year, so I know a few things about this film. The principle thing being that it was originally set-up to simply be a remake of a Cary Grant movie (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House) until, around this time last year when Big Momma's House 2 did big business in it's first weekend. RKO and Revolution studios then decided that since one "urban family comedy" did well with a sequel, they should tailor their Blandings remake into a sequel of Are We There Yet, an Ice Cube 'urban family comedy' that did well. Thus, the film is a sequel, a remake, and an adaptation of a remake, a distinction I think few, if any, other films can claim. Also, we discussed the title quite a bit. There was division as to whether it was, for PR reasons, the worst title ever (you could just read the copy, "Are We Done Yet, with sequels, remakes" and so on from critics eager to show their wit) or the best title ever, daring the critics to use the title as a pun, showing that they were just as easy a target as the audience. I don't think we ever settled it. Also, Thomas Haden Church was supposed to play the part that is played by John McGinley in the film, THC dropped out because he got the part as Sandman in Spidey-3. None of that, has any bearing on the finished product of this movie (which is passable family fare, there are worse ways for the kids to spend an hour and a half, but it has the same lags and drags that the Cary Grant version did), but I figured it made for an interesting story, and a rare inside peak at the inner working of "the business" to which I was privy.
9. 300 - If you read regularly, you already know what I said about this one. If you don't read regularly, you should catch up.
10. Reign Over Me - The performances all around (Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, Liv Tyler, Jada Pinkett-Smith, etc) are decent, but the characters they attempt to fill out are so flat and broad that they lack any real direction. Writer-director Mike Binder is clearly a man of many ideas, but they never really gelled to make a cohesive film here. He tries to deal with 9/11, emotional absence in marriage, office politics, institutionalization, PTSD, reminiscence, male ego, and a number of other things and it tends to feel forced at times. The appropriation of 9/11 for a little extra sympathy for Sandler's character struck me as phony at the time. For others it probably won't be a problem, but I just don't know that it's "safe" to use 9/11 as a crutch. But then again, we might as well deal with it, rather than pretend it didn't happen for the balance of our generation. The end of the movie attempts to be an 'up', but it leaves just as much unresolved or in doubt as it resolves. Others have told me that it made them be more appreciative and kind to their loved ones in general because you never know when you could lose them, and if it did that, then it achieved it's ends for them. I just wasn't as moved, maybe you will be.
11. Premonition - Worst movie I've seen this year. At times incomprehensible, the music was awful, the cinematography was unbelievably repetitive (locked down medium shot, long shot arcing to the left, close up....repeat for 90 minutes). There was never an internal logic defined, so the movie takes ample liberties in jumping around through time playing toward a foregone conclusion. Then, just in case you aren't completely frustrated enough, a religious subtext is introduced, a priest saying "nature abhors a spiritual vacuum", or something to that effect. Then the film closes in such a way that leaves open the interpretation that the whole thing was the mid-summer's afternoon fever dream of a pregnant woman. Any film in which there is a scene where a child is seriously injured that leaves you laughing out loud out from bewilderment is a film designed for awards season. That's right, awards: I forsee several Razzie nominations.
I hope to get to music tomorrow, this took much longer than I anticipated.
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