Total tally for films watched in 2007 stands at 21 in theatres and 84 on dvds, making that a total 105, or an average of 2 films per week. ( Click here to see the entire list. ) This is a 2nd consecutive drop from 124 in 2006 and 178 in 2005, but considering how busy work on Freedom is I think 105 is still a fairly decent number. Here are my top 10 favourite films of 2007, in no particular order :
1)Bushi no Ichibun (Japan, Yamada Yoji)
2)Birth (Jonathan Glazer)
3)The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
4)Bourne Ultimatium (Paul Greengrass)
5)The Host (Korea, Bong Joonho)
6)300 (Zack Snyder)
7)The Lives of Others (Germany, Henckel von Donnersmarck)
8)Zodiac (David Fincher)
9)Tekkon Kinkreet (Michael Arias)
X)Sunshine (Danny Boyle)
I also enjoyed a couple of other films like The Devil Wears Prada, (mostly for Meryl Streep’s wickedly good Priestly), Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix and Pan’s Labyrinth. I think I’ve been watching too many mainstream Hollywood titles and too few foreign films, (especially from Korea) but I blame it partly on my long working hours; sometimes when I get home I’m just too tired to take on “heavy” films and have been opting for easily digestible, popcorn flicks.
The Lives of Others is unmistakably the best film I’ve watched in 2007, and it earns my highest recommendations.
I hope to watch at least 100 films in 2008 as well; I would love to hear what films you folks enjoyed in 2007.
Related posts:
Films retrospect 2008
Films Retrospect 2006
Films Retrospect 2005
Animation Nation 2007 Freedom screening – Thank you.
Films Retrospect 2009
Your top ten list is O-K- by me
Although, I didn’t like “The Host” as much as I wanted to. There’s something about the way Korean films are paced that makes me roll my eyes. The first half of the film was good but it got somehow tiring near the end and I wanted it to just end. Granted, I haven’t seen a Korean film that has been able to earn my respect yet (most of them are just too cliched for me) but this one comes pretty close.
Also, I noticed in your entire list that you have some older films in there. I can’t believe you haven’t seen “The Usual Suspects” until now!! :-O
Also, can I recommend a few films I saw recently?
Lust, Caution
3:10 to Yuma
Rescue Dawn
The Man from Earth
Waitress
American Gangster
Rush Hour 3
(I’m kidding about the last one, of course)
Some great suggestions here. It’s always difficult for me to remember what (new) films I saw last year without keeping a list, but these are some of the ones that stood out:
The thing I really liked about The Host was the difference in storytelling as opposed to the hollywood ‘everything is fine in the end’ way I’m so used to see. People you care for actually die, and the heroes were not the typical hero types.
Sunshine was 50/50 for me. The things that bothered me about it usually were missed opportunities in the storytelling. Like when they discover the first ship, boom… it’s there, there was much more room for buildup and introduction.
Pan’s Labyrinth. Big Guillermo fan here.
Blade Runner – The Final Cut. Especially the HD version and the extra’s made one of my favorite films of all time even better.
Byousoku 5 Centimeter. Just a visual dream to watch.
Darker than Black. Really enjoyed this anime series.
Tekkon Kinkreet. Just watched this a few day’s ago and it blew me away. Have to watch it at least 10 times more to soak in all the details. Great emotional interaction between the brothers.
The girl who leapt through time. Great story and visuals, really inspirational.
GITS: Solid State Society. Everything GITS is cool with me.
Can’t remember if I saw The Fountain in 2006 or 2007, but it also had a big impact.
All I can say for 2008 is that I have to watch a LOT more movies
cool lists! thanks for the recommendations, guys. i will watch them.
do you speak japanese? because i see you watch the japanese movies (bushi no ichibun, tekkon kinkreet)
for me, the 2007 movies that i enjoyed:
1. tekkon kinkreet. great story and visual, though i really didn’t understand at all haha..
2. Devil wears Prada. At first i thought it’s just an ordinary movie. but i don’t know why, after i watched it i enjoyed it so much.
3. american gangster. big fan of denzel washington
i think that’s all. i can’t remember any other films i saw :p
p.s:
sorry a litle bit late, happy new year 2008!
I didn’t watch many movies in 2007; I spent most of my free time watching anime. I’ve never really paid any attention to anime until I was introduced (more like peer-pressured) into watching Blood+ last year. Before that I’ve only watched watched 2 animes in my lifetime: Slam Dunk and the Saiyuki series.
As for 2007 movies, I enjoyed Shrek the 3rd and Blades of Glory. 300 was too over dramatic for me; I know it was made to be that way, it’s just not something I appreciate. I loved the Bourne series but I haven’t got the chance to watch Ultimatum yet.
Roy – I highly recommend Bong Joonho’s previous film The Memories of Murder, if you haven’t seen it yet. Its one of my favourite Korean films of all time. I also liked Hur Jinho’s One Fine Spring Day and Jeong Jae-eun’s Take Care of My Cat, amongst many other outstanding Korean films.
I hope to catch many other old films actually; stuff I never had access to in Singapore as a kid like Pacino’s Serpico, etc. Tsutaya is really helping me out on this.
Harry D – I’ve just ordered the new Bladerunner box and hope to see it very soon too. I’ll probably get flamed for this but I really disliked, on a purely narrative level, 5 Centimeters. Makoto Shinkai is one genius artist but his way of storytelling just isn’t to my taste. I really liked GITS SAC too, and hopefully the Fountain will reach Tokyo soon.
soyuz – Happy new year too ! I can speak Japanese but am not that fantastic. Meryl Streep was absolutely fantastic in The Devil Wears Prada alright.
Ivy – :] I think you are going to have fun discovering all the great anime series and films out there. As for Bourne Ultimatum, watch it as soon as possible ! :p
Ivy – yeah, you should watch it :d. I just saw Bourne Ultimatum and it was fantastic. i hold my breath from the beginning :d
I didn’t get to watch as much movie as I wanted to in 2007. But there’s one movie which I would like to highlight… an Iranian movie…
http://gloriouscitizen.blogspot.com/2007/09/willow-tree.html
One of my fav in year 2007…
Glorious Citizen – Thanks for the recommendation ! Be sure to look out for it ! :] Happy New Year BTW !