Screenhead

Ahh, 2007 is almost over, and what it year it was, from disappearing British children to protesting Monks, from Greek and California fires to Sarkozky to the 7 New Wonders of the World, it’s been a blast. But what about the year in film? Personally, I’ve been gently disappointed in that no single film has blown me way (unlike last year’s Pan’s Labyrinth, United 93, Borat, etc), although it has been a consistently good year. Below of five of the films I consider to be the best, although bear in mind that over here in Ireland we’re yet to receive Award favourites such as No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and so on. And since I’m a wannabe critic (a job which requires 50% analysis, and 50% bitterness), I also included the 3 biggest let-downs of the year. Enjoy!

FIVE OF THE BEST

Knocked Up

Judd Apatow came from nowhere to astound me with The 40-Year Old Virgin, an endearing and hilarious film which had a quality joke per scene, which very few films can boast. His follow-up is this rom-com about a young, directionless, man who has a one-night stand with a confident, sexy career gal. While not all jokes work, Seth Rogan and Katherine Heigl are real yet adorable enough to sympathise with both sides, while getting a few good gags on the side. And like Apatow’s previous movie, I suspect Knocked Up will warrant repeated viewing.

Zodiac

David Fincher’s return to cinema has been widely anticipated, but the wait was worth it. Zodiac is more than a serial-killer flick. Instead, Fincher turns into a drama about the obsession with mystery. Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent as the newspaper illustrator who cracks one of the codes left by the San Francisco based murderer, and when everyone else gave up, he became the authority on the topic. The film perfectly captures the frenzy and armchair excitement that all of us experience when we get sucked in by an unsolved issue.

Rescue Dawn

Another film that took a long time to reach the theatres (this time due to financial difficulties), Rescue Dawn is a thoroughly rewarding war drama. Loosely based on the true story of a pilot who gets captured in Cambodia around the time of the Vietnam war, director Werner Herzog focuses more on the inner trials and triumph of an idealist, much like the classic Fitzcarraldo. Many have criticised the film’s apparent pro-American ending, but they forget that the film is not interested in politics, and in a subverting closing line about steak, undermines one’s sense of wartime heroism as an act of patriotism, and portrays it as an act of personal achievement. Christian Bale is excellent as the pilot Dengler, and this film is further proof that he will eventually be regarded as highly as deNiro and Pacino.

This is England

This low-budget British film is a personal and moving story set in the often neglected era of early 80’s England. A country at war faced social upset by a neo-facist movement that used the working class to promote its racist motivations. The story is told through the eyes of 12-year old Shaun, who befriends a group of punks, but gets involved in the nastier side of the movement. The film is careful to distinguish between those who enjoyed punk as a style and means of self-expression, and those who used it to fuel outward rage and bigotry. The performances are incredibly natural, and script feels ad-libbed without rambling too much.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

This film has received a lot of negative reviews due to its length and slow pace, but these aspects are part of what makes the film so wonderful. Many of this year’s films were too busy with style and pace to bother focussing on character (The Golden Compass, Atonement, American Gangster, to name a few), but Andrew Dominik’s follow up to Chopper rightly takes its time to build up two very different characters, the tired and paranoid James, and the attention-seeking, snivelling Ford, to such an extent that the climax is electric with tension. Brad Pitt gives the performance of his career, and Affleck is both repulsive yet sympathetic, with Sam Rockwell providing strong support. The cinematography’s beauty is highlighted by the wondrous and melancholic score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. But what truly makes the film special is its conclusion, which deals with Ford after his so-called assassination. The film becomes more than just a revisionist Western (the best since the 70s), and acts as a satire on modern day’s obsession with fame, all without feeling preachy.

THREE OF THE WORST

Southland Tales

After seeing Donnie Darko and becoming obsessed with it for a while, I’ve been awaiting Richard Kelly’s follow-up, despite the poor initial reviews made at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. But they went easy on it. The film is a mess of ideas that attempt to be some sort of portrayal of an alternative America after nuclear warfare, where Neo-Marxists compete with ultra-conservatives to rule the country. But that’s about as deep as the film goes. There are a dozen stories and sub-plots happening, none of which make much sense, and once the plot of 4th-dimension time warps emerges, you’re more embarrassed than anything else. The characters are deeply unoriginal (A dumb porn star, a delusional movie star? An adolescent could come up with this), the dialogue flat, and the overall experience unrewarding.

Hot Fuzz

Actor Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright are normally a team of hilarity, with the series Spaced and the zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead. And while there are plenty of laughs in this story of a do-gooder cop busted down to working in a sleepy village, only to uncover a dastardly plot, the majority of moments fall flat. Perhaps Hot Fuzz respected the action movies it mocked so much to really be ridiculous enough, but nevertheless the film isn’t funny enough to justify its 120 minutes.

Spiderman 3

The teaser trailers for this film suggested that it could be the peak of the trilogy. Instead of battling some super villain it seemed that our webbed hero would have to face himself, or to be more accurate, Venom, the alien matter that creates a dark doppelganger. But the film had to clutter itself with Sandman, a half-developed character, as well as deal with the Hob-Goblin. If three enemies clogged up the story, Peter Parker’s personal journey was ridiculous, with silly and over-long dance scenes, or strutting down the street for so long as to make even the kids cringe. And the action scenes felt as if Sam Raimi had just given up on the trilogy.