AQ REDUX: Top 10 Movies of 2007

I don't know why I make top ten lists. Hell it's a mystery to me why I made the top 200 movies list. Boredom is likely. Obsession is also a possibility. But it's flawed because my opinions are fleeting. My list below of the top 10 movies of 2007 has certainly changed, notably at the top.

Zodiac (pictured above) is my top film from that year. I can watch it over and over again even though it clocks in at around 3 hours. David Fincher is a movie making maven. While Benjamin Button is getting awards attention this year, it was Zodiac that really woke me up to his genius puppetmaster skills. His early flicks like Seven, The Game and Fight Club all worked as entertaining exercises of style and suspense. What he achieved with Zodiac was a more mature and engaging story. He took a tale set in reality and through meticulous attention to detail was able to essentially reproduce San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s.

Don't get me wrong, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood deserve the praise they received and continue to be showered it. And when I wrote the following piece, I hadn't yet seen the PT Anderson epic of power and greed or a couple others. My revised list is as follows:

1. Zodiac
2. No Country for Old Men
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Grindhouse
5. Into the Wild
6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
7. Once
8. Hot Fuzz
9. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
10. Superbad

Some changes...some the same...


Top 10 movies of 2007
by Jason Wilson


1. No Country for Old Men
2. Zodiac
3. Grindhouse
4. Into the Wild
5. Once
6. 3:10 to Yuma
7. Charlie Wilson's War
8. Hot Fuzz
9. American Gangster
10. Superbad


Once again I am embarrassed to submit my top ten list of films from the previous calendar year. Why? I live in Fredericton, New Brunswick or as I like to refer to it: the cinema sewer.

I feel cheated as a fan of artistic film I was unable to see Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited. A friend of mine caught it on a whim on his way through Presque Isle, Maine. Yes, some rinky-dink theatre in small town Maine has a leg up on Fredericton when it comes to independent releases.

Word of mouth in Fredericton, or rumours, informed me that the reason Empire Theatres didn't bring The Assassination of Jesse James is because the powers that be figured it wouldn't be a draw. The reasoning makes sense, but not for this particular film. Beyond starring Brad Pitt, it was touted as an award front-runner well before it was released anywhere (didn't win much but ah well).

The theatre can't use genre as an excuse either because both 3:10 to Yuma and No Country for Old Men can be slotted next to it as a western. Jesse James is a beautifully filmed picture with subtle performances and a nuanced story. It's not a classic duster. It's more like a thinking man's western*, something that may scare theatre bosses. Complexities equal fewer ticket sales, or so they think. Balls.

Chances of seeing Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood are slim**. Daniel Day-Lewis gives another wonderful performance in a long line of powerhouse acting and Anderson is quickly climbing the ladder of film auteurs. This is not enough for Empire. Instead the same old re-hash like One Missed Call gets a slot. Kudos.

New Brunswick has never been a great place for film lovers. DVD and downloading are the only avenues for most indies. The Monday Night Film Series at Tilley Hall is a good shot, but many of the selections shown are available on DVD soon after or even before a screening. We get the shaft and every year it's the same old story.

What Fredericton needs is an independent movie house that mirrors the Empire-owned Oxford Theatre in Halifax. It's a one-screen theatre hosting indie releases through the week and midnight showings of classics and obscure foreign films on the weekends. Imagine, instead of going to the bars, you have the option to see a night of kung-fu movies for five or ten bucks! Variety, after all is the spice of life.

Chances of this happening are next to nil because there is no real area accesible to a large number of people that's big enough for a theatre. Who has the money to fund such a project and who can get the rights from film companies to screen the movies? Certainly not this semi-student raped by poverty and loan payments.

It's a pipe dream and the only way to keep me in Fredericton for any considerable time after graduation (even then). The routine in the city is the same week in and out. The music scene goes in phases of one style or another and the same bands seem to drop in on their war elsewehere. As nice as the art gallery is it's not going to warrant weekly visits. It's a once in a while thing.

Film can offer more than a night of entertainment. It can be a prelude to in depth conversations regarding the themes of what was viewed. Give it time, and no longer is the film the subject of the conversation but what it represents is.

My top film of the year, the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men left an odd taste in many viewers' mouths. For much of the film it is a straightforward chase story that suddenly evolves into much more. The intricate nature of the film's final moments are easy to construe as ambiguous, but instead they reveal more about the nature of life, acceptance and choice. It also sheds light on the meaning of the title of the film.

At least Empire had the sense to screen it although a few weeks later than expected. No film came close all year (d'oh!). It is perfection on film and possibly the Coens' best film***.

2008 begins and it will likely go a similar path in our Capital city. Empire will screen a loud, obnoxious series of action movies while neglecting the artistic and innovative. Who can really blame them though? Movies are all about escaping, not thinking...

Balls.



* Edited phrasing to be direct because my hypotheses about Jesse James were correct.

** There Will Be Blood came to Fredericton about a week before the Oscars so I was wrong. I saw it in theatres and it did not disappoint.

*** Okay, so I jumped the gun. It's a great film but it's not perfection on celluloid. It's not the Coens' best but it is one of them. Love the film, one of the few to improve on the source material but it doesn't keep me as engaged on repeat viewings like Zodiac does.