Movies of 2007

missing: movies watched in january and february.

titles in ALL CAPS the most notable of the year

list of movies watched between march 15 and december 31:

ZODIAC (obsessive in every way)
seduced and abandoned (still holds up)
crimen perfecto (funny)
desperate living (still outlandish)
a canturbury tale (historically interesting)
300 (not compelling)
shortbus (graphic and either sad or liberating)
lady vengeance (more korean sadism)
aliens (acceptable)
zerophilia (ridiculous)
rich and strange (fascinating Hitchcock relic)
mr. moto in danger island (another fascinating racial glimpse)
bridge to terabithia (i cried)
color me kubrick (i laughed)
come early morning (earnest)
searching for the wrong-eyed jesus (too typical of american citizenry)
virgin spring (excellent)
apartment zero (perverse)
beyond the valley of the dolls (time capsule)
death of a president (wishful thinking)
blades of glory (predictable)
man of flowers (nice art)
stroszek (overrated Herzog)
sadie thompson (silent)
following sean (made me depressed)
3 needles (pretentious, but worthy)
a year without love (quite good)
the conformist (awesomely good)
grindhouse (liked the fake trailers)
el bola (just ok)
bobby (inaccurate details, sentimental)
tia alexandra (not bad)
jonestown (made me depressed)
the aura (strange spanish taxidermy tale)
stand up and cheer (amazing historical document)
the notebook (watched for sentimentalist reasons)
notes on a scandal (well made)
wild camp (trashy french fun)
murder by numbers (forgot it)
fracture (figured it out, but was engrossed anyway)
port of call (early Bergman)
criminal lovers (good mexican trash)
the history boys (word rich)
gattaca (visually more rich than i had remembered)
amsterdam global village (excellent documentary)
the queen (quite good)
united states of leland (part of ryan gosling film fest)
last king of scotland (very good)
machuco (ok)
stay (too weird, ryan gosling film festival)
WOMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAN (Hong Sang-soo mind boggler)
happy feet (cute)
dreamgirls (still not my favorite musical by a long shot)
THE HOST (korean multi-genre monster movie with a heart)
little children (excellent)
OLD JOY (the soul of friendship)
the war tapes (shot by soldiers)
manderlay (take a break, Von Trier)
deliver us from evil (devastating)
diggers (passable indie)
smokin' aces (yawn)
alpha dog (yawn)
deja vu (underrated, subtext of a republican's wish for a do-over in iraq)
the passenger (one of the best movies of all time)
before the fall (german boxer movie, poor)
judy berlin (ok)
the spook who sat by the door (historical interest)
the painted veil (hollywood travelogue)
fixed bayonets (sam fuller can do no wrong)
muriel (Renais can do no chronology)
ten items or less (passable indie)
rocky balboa (you have to ask?)
black book (return to form for Verhoeven)
sir no sir (another war doc)
my country my country (another war doc)
disturbia (creepier than it first would seem)
28 weeks later (too hyper)
LOST: SEASON FINALE
SOPRANOS: SEASON FINALE
JOHN FROM CINCINNATI
THE WIRE
TELL ME YOU LOVE ME (television was way better than the movies this year)
nosotros los pobres (Mexican cinema historical interest)
the good german (less than it should have been)
faye grim (hal hartley slips)
letters from iwo jima (fine)
the fountain (visually and thematically arresting)
13 tzameti (one of those things you want to stop watching but can't)
vive l'amour (by tsai ming-liang, my favorite new director)
bride stripped bare by the bridegrooms (catching up on more Hong Sang-soo)
sansho the bailiff (awaiting even more Mizoguchi on dvd)
flanders (Bruno Dumont typical, humanity is pigs)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS (life under surveillance)
CHELSEA GIRLS (life under surveillance)
bug (capable adaptation of Tracy Letts' play)
the river (tsai ming-liang can do no wrong)
knocked up (way overrated)
us vs. john lennon (life under surveillance)
latter days (gay)
hannibal rising (sick)
the hired hand (Peter Fonda and Warren Oates)
fired (too true)
mr. brooks (creepy in the wrong way)
the fever (play is half-off the mark somehow)
state legislature (Frederick Wiseman typical slice, am i the only one still watching?)
ghost rider (better than it had any right to be)
rebels of the neon god (tsai ming-liang etc. etc.)
indigenes (overrated)
the messengers (forgot it)
sicko (excellent and entertaining)
battle of algiers (still powerful)
psychopathia sexualis (ridiculous)
fantastic four: rise of the silver surfer (strangely watchable)
reno 911: miami (tv show is better)
acid eaters (not good)
weed (bad)
romantico (forgot it)
the italian (sweet Russian movie about orphans)
epic movie (awful)
damnation (can't dismiss Bela Tarr, as much as one might want to)
becket (still classy)
the bridge (suicide doc, hard to watch)
stay (ryan gosling)
pirates of the caribbean: part two (blurred together)
regular lovers (68 in paris, deserves another look)
pirates of the caribbean 3: at world's end (surrealism on a hollywood budget)
shooter (just what you would expect)
pirates of the caribbean 1 (why did i watch this?)
sicko (second viewing)
pride (nice swimmers's bodies)
land of the pharoahs (they don't make camp they way they used to inadvertently)
romantico (hmmm don't recall)
queen of outer space (too bad they can't make 'em like this any more; all innocence is lost)
satyricon (doesn't seem so bizarre any more)
ratatouille (overrated, i'm afraid)
driving lessons (indie with harry potter's ron weasley)
attack of the 50 foot woman (good thing they can't make 'em like they used to)
you're gonna miss me (rock stars go mad)
i like killing flies (not a great subject, but nice new york eatery stuff)
pulp (not really very good at all)
harry potter and the order of the phoenix (fine)
wild tigers i have known (gay)
venus (too creepy, really)
frankenstein conquers the world (i wish)
the president's analyst (what was once paranoid fantasy is now common fact)
funny girl (doesn't hold up for me)
AFTER THE WEDDING (not a great movie, but I still preferred it to most other movies)
hamlet (russian; b/w)
climates (intriguing in a global sense)
if... (quite good still)
woman in the dunes (even better than when i saw it in the sixties)
little dieter needs to fly (ok for Herzog)
the big cube (no)
perfume (not as good as the book, but almost)
heart of glass (hypnotized Herzog)
the number 23 (ridiculous and bad)
aalira (funny belgian trek)
falling angels (gay)
wanda (classic bleak)
steal me (forgettable)
avenue montaigne (not bad)
wooden crosses (french anti-war silent; the world never changes)
persona (still excellent)
hot fuzz (funny the first time)
iraq in fragments (the world never changes)
everything's gone green (no)
one third (really, no)
les enfants terribles (can't even give Melville a pass on this one; miscast)
i now pronounce you chuck and larry (worst movie of the year; sets back sexuality two decades)
ivan's childhood (early Tarkovsky, fascinating)
the darwin awards (didn't make it to the end)
the bourne ultimatum (most exciting movie of the year)
hairspray (a real toe-tapper)
double life of veronique (early kieslowski)
unconscious (extremely strange Freudian historical comedy drama)
private fears in public places (i preferred it when Renais was oblique)
power of kangwon province (Hong Sang-soo; it's one of his best, I think; it's ten years old; can I call it the best of the year?)
hot rods to hell (even when we were trying to be wild and bad, we were innocent)
i think i love my wife (misfire for Chris Rock)
INLAND EMPIRE (i can't help it; movies are dreams and dreams are reality)
vacancy (disappointing)
the young one (early Bunuel, worth watching)
bathing beauty (esther williams, not worth watching)
gene autry (i even forgot the name of this one)
breaking and entering (i love movies of redemption and forgiveness)
kwik stop (a little too much not enough here)
sans soleil (chris marker classic)
broken english (yet another Parker Posey misfire this year)
house of games (doesn't hold up as well as i'd hoped)
superbad (better than it had any right to be)
boy culture (best gay movie of the year)
the castle (quality Kafka adaptation)
woman in the window (Lang and Robinson, Jr., what's not to like?)
blossoming of maximo oliveros (pretty good for a manila film)
when a woman ascends the stairs (classic japanese movie, rich)
end of summer (late Ozu)
les miserables (french silent, four hours long, brilliant)
o fantomas (my annual viewing of the most perverse movie ever and one of my favorites)
en la hoya (excellent mexican documentary about highway)
the wind that shakes the barley (i'm tired of the irish conflict)
because i said so (horrible)
PITFALL (excellent 1962 Hiroshi Teshigahara movie; watched it twice, along with other Teshigahara movies)
buenos aires 100km (passable)
robinson crusoe (Bunuel version)
AWAY FROM HER (excellent, especially Julie Christie)
the baron of arizona (well, maybe Sam Fuller can do wrong after all)
skin for sale (didn't buy it)
year of the dog (too quirky by half)
the secret life of words (more Sarah Polley and maybe should have been one of the year's best)
human beings (from Spain, where it should have stayed)
naked kiss (Sam Fuller can do no wrong again)
the camden 28 (superior pbs documentary)
le samouri (putting Melville back in my good graces)
bob le flambeur (on a Melville kick)
moolade (ok for african movie)
le circle rouge (more Melville)
small town gay bar (dull)
steel helmet (Fuller)
the face of another (more Teshigahara, fascinating)
fist in the pocket (worthwhile)
a woman without love (old Bunuel)
la collectioneuse (catching up with old Rohmer)
cafe lumiere (homage to Ozu by Hou Hsiao-hsien; watched it twice)
case of the grinning cat (Chris Marker political iconography)
millennium actress (haven't finished watching it yet)
the lookout (predictable)
the valet (french and predictable)
KENNETH ANGER VOLUME II (excellent)
miller's crossing (worn with time)
zodiac (again)
mysterious skin (very good)
eastern promises (disappointing)
cruising (in its own way, as wrongheaded about gayness as chuck and larry)
mala noche (good)
the ex (bad)
1408 (creepy enough)
across the universe (loved it)
the best friend (really liked it)
the hoax (unnecessary)
innocent voices (the pain of latin america)
chopper (unnecessary)
lonely hearts (yet another version of this story; has its moments)
into the wild (wildly romantic)
transformers (guilty pleasure)
gone baby gone (may be best hollywood movie of the year)
the tv set (made me glad to be unemployed)
the taste of tea (superb)
the ferryman (crap)
the burmese harp (classic, but...)
darjeeling limited (my favorite wes anderson movie)
ratcatcher (bleak britishness yet again)
o lucky man! (classic, better than if...)
spiderman III (as surreal and complex as pirates III)
rushmore (i love it less than most people)
into great silence (wonderful)
no end in sight (endlessly depressing)
lights in the dusk (bizarre finland noir)
the river (Tsai Ming-liang, so, of course, great)
p2 (not bad for a thriller)
goodbye dragon inn (Tsai Ming-liang, one of my favorites)
such is life (mexico's Ripstein, one of his very best)
unseen beatles (revealed nothing)
this is england (bleak brit again, don't understand why some loved so much)
ashes and diamonds (Wajda catching up, especially liked with the commentary)
paris je t'aime (dizzying)
kanal (more wajda)
i am cuba (king of the tracking shots)
I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE (Tsai Ming-Liang's newest available and excellent)
royal tenenbaums (ok)
negativland: my favorite things (glad to have available)
beowulf 3-d (much better than expected)
the life aquatic (completing the wes anderson film festival, strangely sour)
KILLER OF SHEEP (bleak black portrait, real, finally available)
helvetica (one of year's best documentaries)
help (as good as ever)
sawdust and tinsel (early Bergman, not bad)
adios moma (argentina, magical but not elevating)
waitress (way overrated)
thieves like us (sort of pointless Altman, but watchable)
first snow (not worth it)
rescue dawn (Herzog goes hollywood, completely amoral view of war)
bud's recruit (1918 silent, part of american treasures collection)
mr. bean's holiday (matter of taste, loved the cannes setting, i laughed, i admit it)
antibodies (serial killer stuff, half seven and half silence of the lambs, better than it should have been)
the namesake (made me cry)
live free or die hard (ridiculous)
oceans 13 (ridiculous)
our hitler (better on big screen)
no country for old men (perfect metaphor for society, airless, without music, hopeless)
prospero's books (found a bootleg dvd)
simpson's movie (not thrilling)
talk to me (compelling)
kubrick: a life in pictures (fascinating, great clips)
once (nice, nice music)
sweeney todd (beautiful music, buckets of blood)
in a glass cage (from spain, in contention now for the most perverse movie ever)
innocence (french sans subtitles, i think it was ok)
horrors of malformed men (japanese 1960s psychedelic sick horror)