The Pelican’s Perch

The Pelican’s Perch Top Movies of 2007

Posted by Kevin
January 8, 2008

Before we begin…while I was on the ball this year as far as music goes, I can in no way say I was even close to on the ball with movies. For a while there, I went from watching at least a couple movies a week, to not watching a single new movie for a few months. So, this list is the top 10 movies I actually saw last year. It’s then immediately followed by all the great movies that are on my need-to-see list just so most of you don’t look at my list and laugh at all the amazing movies that aren’t on it. Let’s get right to it because those damn tornadoes, which were nuts as one storm after another hit all around us like clockwork, touched down near my house forcing me to sit in the basement, where my room is ironically, without cable or internet. That severely cramps my posting style for sure.

List after the jump!
1. Once

I didn’t see too many movies this year, but you could see this one coming from a mile away. I can’t remember the last time I talked about a movie so much. Add to this my love for the soundtrack and you’ve got a movie genre I never knew I loved: the modern day musical. You’ve heard this all before on the blog, so I’ll just leave it at that and hope that if, for some reason, you haven’t had the chance to see this movie, you go out and rent it asap. It’s a movie that belongs in everyone’s collection.

Falling Slowly

When Your Mind’s Made Up

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2. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

This was a surprise at the end of the year for me. Even though I saw it not too long ago, its effect still lingers even now every time I think of it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is just one great reason to see this complicated film. I don’t even know what genre it falls under, but by the end that doesn’t really matter because you’re trying to piece together all the pieces in this depressing look at the decay of the modern family and the desperation to fix it that usually leads to this decay in the first place. Robbing their parent’s family jewelry store is how the two main characters in this film pose to make things right for everyone in the family. It’s the failure of this plan that leads us on a journey through the breakdowns and heartaches of everyone in the family that you won’t soon forget.
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3. Pan’s Labrynth

This twisted take on Alice in Wonderland was released originally in 2006, but was released nationally in January 2007, so I’d say it qualifies for the list. I loved every aspect of Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy world from the visual style to the music. It’s far and away one of the more depressing movies of the year, as the main character escapes her world of living in the household of a Spanish warlord that her mother married by imagining up fairies, fauns, and a world where she is the long lost princess. I had to watch this film 4 or 5 times to truly figure it out, but it’s such a unique film, I never minded the confusion. I’d give the prize for most unique movie of the year to Pan’s Labrynth for sure.
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4. No Country for Old Men

I didn’t exactly like this film at first. I went in to it thinkin, “don’t get too hyped up for this. Sure it’s a new Coen brothers film, but it may not be as great as their other films”. It’s a simple thing I had to do before going to the theatre so I wouldn’t be disappointed if it wasn’t the next Fargo or whatever. And it wasn’t, but I watched it another three times and each time I watched it, I became more immersed in the story. It’s entirely bleak material that was handled in the only way the Coen brothers know how, and while that initially left me asking what in the world did I just watch, by the end of all my viewings I simply wanted to read the book. It’s the kind of movie that is driven by dialogue, but some of No Country’s best scenes are the ones driven by silence and that’s a real testament to the Coen brothers’ script, directing, and actors, like the masterful performance by Javier Bardem. You may have been turned off by this film for a variety of reasons (slow paced, really violent, dark), but I recommend revisiting this film someday soon to see it hopefully in a whole new light each time back.
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5. Rescue Dawn

Another film I saw late in the year, Rescue Dawn is a courageous tale of one man that leads a group of fellow P.O.W.’s to freedom. I talked really recently about this film so I won’t go too much into it, but this is one that stuck with me and forced me to watch it again, even though I didn’t really want to. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it’s heartbreaking and intense following Christian Bale and the other prisoners both in the camp and after their escape. Regardless of the depressing nature of the film, it’s still a great movie well worth watching.
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The rest of the best…

Michael Clayton
Half Nelson
The Bucket List
The Kite Runner
The Hoax
Dan in Real Life
Ratatouille
The Bourne Ultimatum
American Gangster
Superbad
Knocked Up
The Host
Zodiac
Hot Fuzz

And the “movies I need to see” list that I promised above. As you can see, I’ve got my work cut out for me catching up, but I’m making a resolution now to watch way more movies in 2008.