My favorite movies of this past year

[Kyle Curtis]

So it's New Year's, and I thought I'd put together my version of the list that I've seen nearly everywhere else, of the top movies of the year.  But as I sat down racking my head, I realized that I simply didn't see as many movies in the theater as I've done in years past, which I blame entirely on my HDTV Home Theater system.  Still, despite advanced technology, nothing equals the spectacle of watching films in a theater, so the following are the ones I enjoyed:

"No Country For Old Men"- When I left the theater, I realized that my back and shoulders were incredibly sore.  It was because I had spent the preceding two hours gripping the armrests of my theater seats through the Coen Brothers' exercise in unrelenting tension.  Javier Bardem played the most disturbing monster I've seen on screen in quite some time, with his presence even dominating the scenes in which he wasn't even in.  He should be a shoo-in for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the Coens should win for Best Adapted Screenplay.  And did anyone notice the complete lack of a score?  And how creepier the lack of score made the film?

"Pan's Labyrinth"- A fairy tale for adults, and, yeah, keep the kiddies away from this one.  Sergi Lopez's Capitan Vidal may have been the most gruesome character I saw on film prior to Bardem's Chigurh.  His gut-wrenching portrayal of a sadistic fascist army captain doing his part to create Franco's "New Spain" was a performance that defied your efforts to resist squirming in your seat.  It made the Pale Man met by the intrepid heroine in the film seem positively cuddly.  On a whole, completely deserving of all the critical acclaim- and numerous Oscars- it received.

"Superbad"- Just as worthy of the acclaim it received.  I believe I laughed more in any ten-minute stretch of this film then in all the rest of the movies this past year combined.  (Though I tend to not see comedies in theaters.)  But despite the over-the top raunchiness and the best penis cartoons I've ever seen on the big screen, it can't be denied that this film- similar to other Judd Apatow productions "Knocked Up", "The 40 Year Old Virgin", and his tender but overlooked TV series "Freaks and Geeks"- hides a heart under the characters' over-worked and unchecked testosterone.  I'm looking forward to "Walk Hard: The Dewy Cox Story."   And Michael Cera is my new hero.  I'm looking forward to him in "Juno."  Oh yeah, and this film probably had the best soundtrack of the year.

"The Mist"- Wow.  They're still making Stephen King movies?  Even twenty years after "Firestarter", "Cujo" and "Christine" cemented King's name as the personification of schlocky 20th century American horror.  Surely the films- or even the content- can't still be good, right?  I mean, he was responsible for the dreadful "Dreamcatcher" back in 2003, and William Goldman's career is still attempting to recover, right?  But, no, "The Mist" is King at its best, a simple monster tale about a group of people trapped in a store, battling the baddies out in the mist and the even worse demons trapped in the store with them.  I've been waiting for this movie ever since I read the novella years ago, and wasn't disappointed.  King and Director Frank Darabont had teamed up in the past for "The Shawshank Redemption"- arguably the greatest film, ever- and the snooze-fest "The Green Mile."  Luckily, "The Mist" is more the former than the latter, with more genuine horrific effects thrown in.  Supposedly, Darabont held off making this film until he was able to get the ending he wanted.  Luckily he did, as it is one of the most searing endings to a film I've ever seen.

"Planet Terror"- Robert Rodriguez has long been a hero of mine, and  he's never let me down.  (Though "Adventures of Sharkboy and Lava Girl" got poor reviews, I wasn't really that movie's target demo so I'm not too concerned about that one.)  Yeah, he may have gotten confusing like in "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" but when it seemed like the plot was going to be too much, he threw in the perfect amount of bullets to remind you not to take it seriously.  And this zombie film- his half of the throwback to 1970s exploitation films in "Grindhouse", along with Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof"- is a textbook example of how to have fun by playing up the key elements in a horror film, all the while ensuring that both the filmmaker and viewer have their tongues planted firmly in cheek.  This film quite nearly has it all: a Black Eye Pea-turned-zombie fodder, a menacing cameo by Bruce Willis, the hottest one-legged zombie killer, and a performance from Tarantino that inspired his own action figure.  And he kept the plot simple this time: zombies.  What else do you need?  As much fun as this film was, however, it may have paled in the two-minute joy that was Eli Roth's faux trailer for "Thanksgiving," inserted between Rodriguez's and Tarantino's films.

"30 Days of Night"- If you weren't sure what kind of films I enjoy seeing in the theater, I'm pretty sure a trend must be making itself clear by now.  "30 Days" was an adaptation of a graphic novel about a group of vampires "moving in" to Barrow, Alaska- an isolated town well above the Arctic Circle that enjoys (if that's the right word) a month of darkness each winter.  It's an ingenious idea, and although I'm not familiar with the source material, the film does a great job providing a high dose of thrills.  At times claustrophobic, and at others filled with violence that forces you to flinch, "30 Days" is hard to describe as 'fun.'  But a good movie none the less.  And it's good to see a film with Josh Hartnett and Melissa George- the Australian hottie who played Vaughn's sham of a wife in "Alias"- that didn't suck.

"The Golden Compass"- I didn't read the books, so I don't have anything to rail about the adaptation from the source material.  I'm not a Catholic, so I'm not going to protest a movie I know nothing about.  (And which indeed say the words "Catholic" and "church" all of zero times.)  In the end, I'm just going to enjoy this fanciful yarn with special effects, including gyro-scoped bicycles and cool metallic zeppelins.  And the best fight of talking polar bears I've ever seen in a movie.

"Czech Dream"- Yeah, you've never heard of it.  This is a real documentary about the making of- well, the ad campaign behind- a fake hypermarket in the Czech Republic called Czech Dream.  It skewers the whole practice and industry of advertising, and at the same time shows just how our consumer society has appropriated nearly every aspect of our lives.  As one family said in the film, "If we weren't going to the hypermarkets on the weekends, we'd be cleaning or working in the garden.  Much rather be shopping."

"Spider-Man 3"- Yeah, so it's two loud hours of gee-whiz special effects and they did try to cram three story lines into one movie, but who cares?  It's still the greatest filmmaker alive, Sam Raimi, doing the greatest comic book character ever.  This was rumored to end the "Spider-Man" series, but after it made the gazillions of dollars they always make, supposedly the key players signed up to keep milking the cash cow, which makes sense.  As long as it's Raimi at the helm, I'll always be seeing any "Spider-Man' film at the theater.  Until the next one, however, will be Raimi's big-budget version of "The Evil Dead" which is planned to hit the theaters in 2009.

And... that's it for movies this year.  Wow.  Not even enough for a 'Top 10.'  I could compile a list of films I was looking forward to seeing yet still somehow missed that's twice as long.  Oh well.  I blame it on the HDTV.  And now that I got the 5.1 surround system for Christmas, this list may even be shorter....

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[Jenna]

Kyle, thanks for the writeup. I have been tearing through our netflixs, so not much cinema drama for me. I do have to say however, that I found the Apatow movies decently funny, albeit not much more funny than listening to Noah and his buddies talk in any casual conversation, on any given day.

Mostly, they are a hopeful narrative for any fat, dorky loser with a supermodel complex and a decent sense of humor to be vindicated in some manner; usually with some hot girl who has a lot more going for her than he does, being the winning prize.

I get tired of watching this old formula, new typecast, be iterated over and over. We'll see if he can get over his formative years and move beyond his issues with other movies in the future.

[Kyle Curtis]

Well, Superbad was really about two lifelong friends coming to terms with life changes.

And cartoon penises.  Or is it penii?

--
"facts are stubborn things" -Ronald Reagan

[Jsmog]

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. However, the funny thing about my back is that it's located on my cock.

--
"The two symbols of the Republican Party are an elephant and a big fat white guy who's afraid of change." -Peter Griffin

[Jenna]

McLovin' was hilarious in that movie,...

[Kyle Curtis]

He stole the movie in his first role....

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Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 00:07:32 -0800
From: jewa...@gmail.com
To: js...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Jsmog] Re: My favorite movies of this past year

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[Jsmog]

• No Country For Old Men - Haven't seen, but have been hearing great things about. Suppose to be one of the year's best.
• Pan's Labyrinth - Too bad this is a 2006 movie that already won 3 of the 6 Oscar nominations it received, because it was indeed a great movie to be included on last year's list.
• Superbad - Rules!! I had to stop after an hour into it, to catch a breath from laughing. The cops were a little over the top though, where as the other characters were more believeable.
• The Mist - Haven't seen, but excited for a Stephen King horror movie to receive nearly a 70% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Stephen King movies have taken a turn with even 1408 getting a 78% rating.
• Death Proof/ Planet Terror - Both movies are right up my alley, but haven't seen yet either! It takes awhile for movies in my netflix queue to filter through. In fact, it'll probably be 2009 when I get to see most 2007 movies.
• 30 Days of Night - This movie was fun. Doug and I had a mandate and saw it together. It started off seeming that it was going to head down the cheesy lame path, but turned around with some well done scenes and nicely set up shots. Then again, wouldn't these ancient European vampires just move above the artic circle in Norway, Finland, or Russia? Since they're probably originally hanging out in Amsterdam and Translyvania. Barrow is like 180 degrees around the arctic circle completely opposite from Europe, yet they say "Why didn't we think of doing this before!?"
• The Golden Compass - Haven't seen, but am excited to check out the next fantasy computer effects driven trilogy that has even a higher budget than the Lord of the Rings. The fact that is has nothing to do with Religion and is blowing Narnia out of the water is the icing on top though.
• Czech Dream - You're right, never heard of it. But I did see "So Goes the Nation", excellent documentary. The best was when they compared the Democratic convention with the Republican convention and the Dems all had positive messages of change, hope and the future, while the Repugs just bashed the Democrats with the jokes and chanting "Flip...Flop..."
• Spiderman 3? Ugh, that was painful to sit through. Did we really need a half hour of Peter pranincg around town wearing his new costume which was turning him into an egotistic prick, complete with an impromtu dance routine? Yes, 3 storylines in one movie, and neither of which could be explained. A mysterious substance falls from space and happens to land next to Peter Parker and becomes his new costume? A man is running from the police and suddenly falls into a pit used for radioactive military experiements and becomes Sandman? Did Dunst's contract stipulate she sing two songs? Thank god Bruce Campbell was there to save this pathetic movie with the only good scene.
• Bourne Ultimatum - while this could almost be titled the Bourne Redundancy, it did have some very well choriographed melee scenes and car chases. The over the shoulder hand held camera work is a little much at times, but still a much better part 3 of a franchise than spiderman's contribution.
• Pirates Caribean - At Worlds End - also a better third movie than Spiderman. Depp's Jack Sparrow is one of his best characters and I don't know who was paying more homage to who during Keith Richard's cameo scene as Jack's dad. The effects were over the top and sometimes silly, in only that way that Disney and Bruckheimer can deliver.
• Transformers - strickly eye candy. The premise isn't any different from the cartoon, but the effects are incredible. There is only one person who is absolutely fitted to make a movie about Japanese robot toys and that's Michael Bay of course.
• Eastern Promises - Viggo & Cronenberg are the new magic duo. This is a great film and a different kind of crime drama. Twisted as expected.
• I Am Legend - Classic Story with stupid shitty Van Helsing bad computer generated zombie monsters which kind of ruins it. Great performance from Smith though.
• Into the Wild - great movie. One of Sean Penn's best movies he's made and a great performance from Emile Hirsch.
• Darjeeling Limited - good movie. I wouldn't say it's one of Wes Anderson's best meaning, it's no Royale Tennebaums, but is another great script, with awesome characters and dialogue. The story lacks and the scenes didn't really tie into anything.

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[Jenna]

Here's to Michael Bay, triumphant in 2008!

[Kyle Curtis]

Yeah, I was trying to think of movies I'd seen in the theater, which usually includes a couple of award-winners that don't get wide release until the next year, like "Pan's Labyrinth" which was indeed one of the best films of 2006.  Which means I'll probably have "There Will Be Bllod" on next year's list, if I see it in the theater.  Stupid Portland.  The city only has the highest number of movie screens per capita, it is the home of the Northwest Film Center, not to mention directors Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes, but we have to twiddle our thumbs waiting for all the good movies to come to town...

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Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 12:22:50 -0900
From: junea...@gmail.com

To: js...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Jsmog] Re: My favorite movies of this past year

[Ryan Stanley]

Nobody mentioned Once??

[Jsmog]

Not even once did anyone mention Once.

[Noah Walden]

Looks great, Ry. I'll have to check it out.

[Kyle Curtis]

No, because nobody's seen it.  I've heard of it, and it's been highly recommended.  But I just listed movies in the theater.  It played in a short theaterical run, and is now on DVD.  If I had to sit and rank all the great movies I saw on DVD, my head would hurt too much...

Bud, you didn't like Spider-Man 3?  What are you, a moron?  I mean, "oh some black stuff fell right next to Peter Parker and turned his uniform black.  How dumb!"  Totally!  You know what Sam Raimi should've done?  Maybe he should've made a short film that preceded the credits that explained the alien symbiote that became Venom.  You know, how all the superheroes were called up by the Beyonder to fight a 'Secret War' up on another planet, in which Parker released the symbiote and brought it back to earth.

No, that would've been as gaytarded as supporting Fred Dale Thompson for president.  So, maybe they shouldn't have included Venom?  What- not include one of Spider-Man's most popular villains, especially when this was supposed to be the last Spider-Man movie?  If they had done that then all the fan-boys (which I'm one of) would've been, "You mean you made three Spider-Man films but no Venom?  That's gaytarded!"

Little wonder they crammed three storylines into one film- this was meant to be the last Spidey film!  (And still is, as there is no mention of Spider-Man 4 on imdb.com)  But you're upset that they glossed over Sandman's origins in the movie.  Yes I think it's dumb that he just fell into a pit of sand that the government was doing it';s very important "mix really fast while dosing it with radiation" experiment (and I like the response in the film: "Probably just a bird")- that was dumb.  But  seriously , what the hell do you want?  This is  a comic book movie- it's supposed to be two hours of 'crash boom bang' action with gee-whiz effects.  What, you wanted two hours devoted to each villain's origin?  Obviously you have no idea what makes a good comic-book film.  Because you know what a three-hour Scorsese-style epic film will get you?  Something like "The Hulk" or "Superman Returns."  You know, a nice excuse to take a nap in the theater....

But I forgot.  You liked "Face/Off" and as such your opinion of movies amounts to nil...

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Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 00:06:21 -0900
From: ry...@freeryan.com

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[Jsmog]

Jenna, I told you I'm done with this... Oh wait, this is Kyle! LOL!

 

Dude, couldn't they have done the whole Secret Wars bit in a 10 minute montage? That would have been so much better. Still, there wasn't anything like that. In the end it's still just a black blob falling from space landing next to Peter Parker coincidentally. I guess if we can accept that being bitten by a radio active spider gives you spider abilities, then an alien blob of goo falling from space could indeed happen to land next to Parker.

 

You're right, let's waste time arguing about how to make a better super hero movie. I swear, if I see one more movie with some dude running around with his underwear outside his clothes I'm shooting myself in the head. Super hero movies are the epitamy of orginiality and creativity in film making today? Really? Boring. Spiderman 3 makes this point very apparent. Of all the super hero movies of the past half decade it's come to blobs of goo falling from the sky and a radioactive sand mixing bowl. Wow! So avant-garde! Where's the Bladerunner of today? Where's the Alien of today? Where's the Brazil of today? Oh, wait, Transformers came out this year.... Uh, yeah, I guess I proved my point. I'd love to see Scorsese make The Hulk though. That'd be cool. 

 

Oh what the hell do I know, I liked some movie from the 90s that's rated 30% higher than Spiderman 3. You're right, my opinion is nil. Glad you enjoyed it though. I wasn't that impressed.

 

Oh yeah, almost forgot, <Insert Sarcastic Mockery followed by Wild Accusation in the form of a Question as not to imply I agree with it.>

 

 

On Jan 4, 2008 11:08 AM, Kyle Curtis <kyleg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

No, because nobody's seen it.  I've heard of it, and it's been highly recommended.  But I just listed movies in the theater.  It played in a short theaterical run, and is now on DVD.  If I had to sit and rank all the great movies I saw on DVD, my head would hurt too much...

Bud, you didn't like Spider-Man 3?  What are you, a moron?  I mean, "oh some black stuff fell right next to Peter Parker and turned his uniform black.  How dumb!"  Totally!  You know what Sam Raimi should've done?  Maybe he should've made a short film that preceded the credits that explained the alien symbiote that became Venom.  You know, how all the superheroes were called up by the Beyonder to fight a 'Secret War' up on another planet, in which Parker released the symbiote and brought it back to earth.

No, that would've been as gaytarded as supporting Fred Dale Thompson for president.  So, maybe they shouldn't have included Venom?  What- not include one of Spider-Man's most popular villains, especially when this was supposed to be the last Spider-Man movie?  If they had done that then all the fan-boys (which I'm one of) would've been, "You mean you made three Spider-Man films but no Venom?  That's gaytarded!"

Little wonder they crammed three storylines into one film- this was meant to be the last Spidey film!  (And still is, as there is no mention of Spider-Man 4 on imdb.com )  But you're upset that they glossed over Sandman's origins in the movie.  Yes I think it's dumb that he just fell into a pit of sand that the government was doing it';s very important "mix really fast while dosing it with radiation" experiment (and I like the response in the film: "Probably just a bird")- that was dumb.  But  seriously , what the hell do you want?  This is  a comic book movie- it's supposed to be two hours of 'crash boom bang' action with gee-whiz effects.  What, you wanted two hours devoted to each villain's origin?  Obviously you have no idea what makes a good comic-book film.  Because you know what a three-hour Scorsese-style epic film will get you?  Something like "The Hulk" or "Superman Returns."  You know, a nice excuse to take a nap in the theater....

[Noah Walden]

I did enjoy Spidey 3 more than Superman Returns, but I thought you liked that one, Kyle?

 

I think Fred Dalton Thomspson should be cast as a superhero. He could be OldMan. He could wear his grandpa undies on the outside and his superpower would be talking to crowds of people until they fell asleep.

 

What superheroes would other candidates be?

[Kyle Curtis]

Yes, I listed "Superman Returns" on my movies from the year before, as I went and saw it in the theater.  "Superman"'s never really been one of my favorite heroes, but I was interested in Brain Singer's spin on it.  Not as good as the first X-Men movie, but much better than the crappy third "X-Men" flicked directed by Hack Ratner...

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Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 14:01:44 -0800
From: noa...@gmail.com

[Noah Walden]

Yeah, I guess I was disappointed. Had high hopes for that one and it didn't really get it done. Still, I hope he does another.

[Jsmog]

Yeah, Superman was quite disappointing to say the least. Not quite Spiderman 3 disappointing. But still, one rod of kryptonite can render Superman so weak he gets his ass completely beat, but a half hour later he can push a whole continent of the stuff out into space? The airplane scene was some killer effects, but I don't understand why Louis Lane wasn't in a full body cast by the end of it though. Does she have super powers too? Yeah, Superman wasn't one of my favorite heroes from my youth, but he certainly is the coolest stalker with that x-ray vision. Spacey did an excellent job, but nothing can replace Hackman. And Posey played an excellent supporting role as well.

[Ryan Stanley]

ack, the only movie i saw in the theater this year was Harry Potter. Which was my fav of all the movies so far. Everything else for us is rental or download. We just saw a screener of The Kite Runner, which I thought would work well as a "bonus feature" in the appendix of the book. As for sup, but as a movie for someone who hasn't read the book might be: boring. Now hero movies, you can't compare them with classic comic books, and definitely not with classic sci-fi flicks like bladerunner (or Brazil - boy, what are you thinking!?). I think for the most part they've all been crap, except for the original superman series and then of course Batman Begins.

[Kyle Curtis]

The trailer for the next Batman movie looks really sweet.  Ledger, an underrated actor IMO, plays a convincingly psychopathic Joker...

I did see HP in theater as well, but it was forgettable and I left it off my list.  Same with "Year of the Dog" which was disappointing, but I really like John C. Reilly's character in it.  I'm sure Dewey Cox is his best performance on screen, but I can't compare the two...

And yes I don't have any idea why Bud pulled all those movies out of his ass to compare them to comic-book movies, when he should've said "The Crow" which is probably the best comic book adaptation ever.  Then again, Bud is a moron who likes "face/Off" so we all know he's talking out of his rear end when it comes to movies...

[Noah Walden]

I'm psyched for next Batman. The last one was my favorite superhero movie ever, supplanting the first Xmen flick.

[Jsmog]

You guys are much bigger men than me for giving a shit.