Best of 2007 (30 to 21)
GARAGE30. GARAGE
The writer and director of ADAM & PAUL team up to deliver another belter of an Irish film in which a village simpleton gets into a whole heap of trouble and seems totally oblivious to it all. Like ADAM & PAUL, it's bleak and poignant at the same time. Pat Shortt's performance is excellent.
29. THE COUNTERFEITERS
Oscar-winning film telling the gripping tale of Jewish concentration camp prisoners who faced the awful choice of death in the camps or helping the Nazis win the war.
28. THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY
John Pilger examines the USA's intervention in other countries affairs in a typically excellent and passionate documentary from one of Britain's best investigative filmmakers.
27. THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Wes Anderson's film was criticised for not breaking new ground and instead being just another Wes Anderson film. That's exactly why I liked it. It was another Wes Anderson film, and I love them.
26. SICKO
As always with Moore, there's massaging of the truth, there's political bias and agenda-pushing but above all there's entertainment. But no matter what you feel about the man, it's difficult to suppress a feeling of amazement at the idea of a health service being run for profit and denying care to people because they can't afford it. Something to think about next time I disrespect the NHS I guess.
25. TELL NO ONE
Once I got past the fact that the lead looked a lot like Dustin Hoffman and his dead wife looked a lot like Naomi Watts, this French thriller totally gripped and threw numerous curveballs throughout. Probably the last big foreign arthouse success story in the UK (at the time of writing).
24. THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
Yes, it's like an overblown soap opera, but the man who brought us HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and various other beautiful pieces of Chinese cinema once again turns in a film that is so breathtakingly spectacular (with a couple of great leads too) it's impossible not to get caught up in it. Possibly the most elaborate and beautiful looking film of the year.
23. THE LIVES OF OTHERS
A lot of people (myself included) were disappointed when this film beat PAN'S LABYRINTH to the Oscar, but it's hard to grudge it. This thriller about a Stasi agent who becomes too interested in the life of one of his subjects was tense, suspenseful stuff that did not disappoint.
22. EARTH
Compiled from the best of a BBC TV series, the footage on display here takes on a life of its own when digitally projected onto a huge screen with a cinema's sound system. It will change the way you look at the planet.
21. THE QUEEN
Helen Mirren's multi award-winning performance was excellent, but overshadowed everyone else in the film and more importantly the fact that regardless of your opinion of the British royal family this is a very good film.
The writer and director of ADAM & PAUL team up to deliver another belter of an Irish film in which a village simpleton gets into a whole heap of trouble and seems totally oblivious to it all. Like ADAM & PAUL, it's bleak and poignant at the same time. Pat Shortt's performance is excellent.
29. THE COUNTERFEITERS
Oscar-winning film telling the gripping tale of Jewish concentration camp prisoners who faced the awful choice of death in the camps or helping the Nazis win the war.
28. THE WAR ON DEMOCRACY
John Pilger examines the USA's intervention in other countries affairs in a typically excellent and passionate documentary from one of Britain's best investigative filmmakers.
27. THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Wes Anderson's film was criticised for not breaking new ground and instead being just another Wes Anderson film. That's exactly why I liked it. It was another Wes Anderson film, and I love them.
26. SICKO
As always with Moore, there's massaging of the truth, there's political bias and agenda-pushing but above all there's entertainment. But no matter what you feel about the man, it's difficult to suppress a feeling of amazement at the idea of a health service being run for profit and denying care to people because they can't afford it. Something to think about next time I disrespect the NHS I guess.
25. TELL NO ONE
Once I got past the fact that the lead looked a lot like Dustin Hoffman and his dead wife looked a lot like Naomi Watts, this French thriller totally gripped and threw numerous curveballs throughout. Probably the last big foreign arthouse success story in the UK (at the time of writing).
24. THE CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
Yes, it's like an overblown soap opera, but the man who brought us HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and various other beautiful pieces of Chinese cinema once again turns in a film that is so breathtakingly spectacular (with a couple of great leads too) it's impossible not to get caught up in it. Possibly the most elaborate and beautiful looking film of the year.
23. THE LIVES OF OTHERS
A lot of people (myself included) were disappointed when this film beat PAN'S LABYRINTH to the Oscar, but it's hard to grudge it. This thriller about a Stasi agent who becomes too interested in the life of one of his subjects was tense, suspenseful stuff that did not disappoint.
22. EARTH
Compiled from the best of a BBC TV series, the footage on display here takes on a life of its own when digitally projected onto a huge screen with a cinema's sound system. It will change the way you look at the planet.
21. THE QUEEN
Helen Mirren's multi award-winning performance was excellent, but overshadowed everyone else in the film and more importantly the fact that regardless of your opinion of the British royal family this is a very good film.
Labels: Best of 2007, documentaries, Irish film
posted by Alan at 6:57 pm
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