Best films of 2007

No Country for Old Men 89.22%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:02
Director(s): Joel and Ethan Cohen
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly MacDonald

“No Country for Old Men” is a movie that’s a western, but not a western; it’s a movie that’s a crime thriller, but not a crime thriller; and it’s an action movie, but not an action movie. With “No Country”, the Cohen Brothers have done a tremendous job of adapting Cormac MacCarthy’s novel to the big screen; however, they have done so without dictating too much to the viewer and without being slaves to the original work.
The movie is minimal in its dialogue and its images communicate more to the viewer than thousands of words in your typical Hollywood movie. The scenes are a combination of wide panoramic shots, which do the beauty of the Western country side justice, and tight shots of killers side stepping puddles of blood or the faces of Western heroes whose chiseled faces remind us of traditional codes of honour and concepts of Western justice.
The scenes and words come together into an amazingly well crafted cat and mouse chase featuring three main characters: Chigur (Javier Bardem), Moss (Josh Brolin) and a Texas Ranger (Tommy Lee Jones). Moss, while on a hunting trip, finds a scattering of corpses, animals shot to death, some “Mexican brown”, and a satchel containing two million dollars. Moss takes the money and hits the road running. Chigur, a psychopathic bounty hunter, is put on Moss’s train. With that, the two chase each other down across the country (and even across the border into Mexico). In the pair’s train, Chigur leaves a path of death; the only person to cross paths with Chigur and live was a gas station attendant who won a coin toss for his life.
Bardem’s performance is truly terrifying. Not since Anthony Hopkins played Hannibal Lecter in “Silence of the Lambs” has there been a performance as chilling. Not only is Chigur terrifying, he is also inventive. His weapon of choice is a slaughterhouse air gun that shoots a metal bolt into the head of his victim before it retracts back to its original position.
Bardem’s chilling interaction with a gas station attendant sums up his character, logic, and mindset. Bardem forces the attendant to flip a coin for his life.
“What’s the most you ever lost in a coin toss,” asked Chigur.
He flips the coin. “Call it.”
“But, I didn’t put nothin’ up,” replied the gas station attendant.
“Yes, you did. You’ve been puttin’ it up your whole life,” said Chigur, “you just didn’t know it.”
“Look, I need to know what I stand to win,” said the attendant.
“Everything, you stand to win everything. Call it,” said Chigur.
Not only does this scene provide a chilling window into the character played by Bardem, but it also sheds light on the meta-narrative that runs the entire length of the movie. Some have attempted to explain it in terms of good and evil, punishment or fate; however, I think these miss the mark. One reviewer said that Chigur is a metaphor for all of the violence in the world, Moss’s character is a metaphor for our measly efforts to escape and subdue violence, and the character played by Jones is a metaphor for civilization’s super-ego that tries to (and false to) make sense of it all.
Personally, I see Chigur not simply as evil, but as death itself. Moss, Moss’s wife, and the bounty hunter played by Harrelson are all characters who must come to terms with their fate, their destiny as decided by their choices. Their end at the hands of Chigur is a consequence of their decisions and the entire movie follows these characters as they come to terms with their eventually (and inevitable end). Jones’s character, coming to terms with the end of his career and his age ends the movie and, with the movie’s close, shows he has come to terms with his finitude. He describes a dream he had about his dead father:

In the dream I knew he was goin’ on a head and he was fixin’ to make a fire in all that dark and all that cold. I knew that whenever I got there that he’d be there. And then I woke up.

There Will Be Blood 87.50%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:38
Director(s): Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Ciaran Hinds, Dillon Freasier

The Bourne Ultimatum 85.25%

Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1:56
Director(s): Paul Greengrass
Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles

Before the Devil Knows you’re Dead 82.68%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:03
Director(s): Sindey Lumet
Starring: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris, Michael Shannon

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 82.39%

Rated: R
Runtime: 1:35
Director(s): Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helen Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman

Eastern Promises 81.87%

Rated: R
Runtime: 1:41
Director(s): David Cronenberg
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts

Michael Clayton 81.78%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:00
Director(s): Tony Gilroy
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack

Atonement 81.41%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:03
Director(s): Joe Wright
Starring: Keira Knightly, James McAvoy

Zodiac 81.31%

Rated: R
Runtime: 2:42
Director(s): David Fincher
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Anthony Edwards, Gary Oldman, Mark Ruffalo, Chloe Sevigny

The Simpsons Movie 81.01%

Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 1:27
Director(s): David Silverman
Starring: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Albert Brooks

Honourable Mentions: “The Devil Came on Horseback,” “Rescue Dawn,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “American Gangster,” “Breach,” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”

Best Actors:

Daniel Day-Lewis 90% (“There Will Be Blood”), Viggo Mortensen 88% (“Eastern Promises”), Philip Seymour Hoffman 87%(“Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The Savages,” and “Before the Devil Knows you’re Dead”), Christian Bale 86.33% (“Rescue Dawn,” “3:10 to Yuma,” and “I’m Not There”) and Russell Crowe 83.50% (“American Gangster” and “3:10 to Yuma”)

Honourable Mentions: George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Javier Bardem

Best Actresses:

Naomi Watts 88% (“Eastern Promises”), Tilda Swinton 87.20%(“Stephanie Daley,” “Michael Clayton,” “Deep Water,” “Strange Culture” and “The Man from London”), Julia Roberts 82.00% (“Charlie Wilson’s War”), Helen Bonham Carter 81.50% (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”), Ciaran Hinds 75.25% (“Amazing Grace,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Margot at the Wedding” and “Hallam Foe”).

Honourable Mentions: Rosemary Harris, Rachel Nichols, Emily Blunt, Michelle Monaghan, Amy Adams and Keira Knightly