TOP
TEN FILMS OF 2007
By
Shannon Onstot
Community Relations Manager
KUNV 91.5 FM
University of Nevada Las Vegas
email:
smonstot@yahoo.com
Shannon Onstot's Top 10 Films
of 2007
10. Grindhouse – Seperately, Planet Terror and Death Proof are not anything
spectacular, but together, along with some great “prevues,” Grindhouse
becomes a movie watching experience, and a really good time. There were
great things about both films, and they complimented each other perfectly.
9. Juno – Ellen Page is an indie hero now that she has this film and Hard
Candy under her belt, and she is really choosing some very strong female
roles. What made this film one of my favorites this year was that the
character of Juno never changed herself even though she was going through
something really traumatic. All through the film she stays snarky and
disrespectful and immature and she owns the fact that she is not ready to
really grow up yet. I thought this film overall was really quirky and ended
on a high note without resorting to cheesiness that would have contradicted
the whole point to begin with.
8. Superbad – This movie truly is one of the funniest I have ever seen. I
think Jonah Hill and Michael Cera are great up and coming comedians, and
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin') was one of the most original and
lovable characters I've seen in a film in a long time. The strongest point
of this film truly is the writing, and the fact that Seth Rogen and Evan
Goldberg started on it when they were just starting high school makes it all
the more delightfully distasteful.
7. There Will Be Blood – You cannot deny the power of Daniel Day-Lewis. This
film is truly powerful and intense, and Day-Lewis deserves every award
coming to him. Also, Paul Dano (who played Paul/Eli Sunday) is another of my
favorite up and coming actors and this film truly showcases his diverse
talents. As far as the plot goes, I loved the theme of greed and how it can
have a real physical force in our lives when we let it take over.
6. Lars and the Real Girl – This movie was so touching and so funny, it's a
shame that it was so under appreciated. Ryan Gosling is so god at completely
embodying a character, and despite his flaws he made me truly fall in love
with his character even though he was really kind of creepy.
5. Waitress – This is my choice for the best written film of the year.
Unfortunately the writer and director Adrienne Shelly (who also played Dawn
in the film) was tragically murdered while she was still working on the
movie. She was truly talented - the characters in this film are so original
and they are all lovable and hateable in their own way. The cast as a whole
intertwines perfectly together and creates a very intricate and human story
of love and parenthood that didn't make me want to vomit afterward. My
favorite part was the ending, but for reasons that I would never give away
here...you'll have to watch it for yourself.
4. Hot Fuzz – Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the dream team of modern British
comedy. I thought this film was a perfect follow up to Shaun of the Dead,
and I actually liked it a thousand times more. This was the only film this
year that I laughed harder at than Superbad, and I could watch it again and
again. It was smart, irreverent and quick witted and I loved everything
about it.
3. Into the Wild – I love the story of Chris McCandless, and love Jon
Krakauer's book of the same title. Sean Penn's directorial debut and
interpretation of the book was a complete success and very faithful to the
real-life journey that McCandless took across country. The scenery is
beautiful, the writing and acting is great and the characters all have
really powerful and intense personalities. Emile Hirsch is really the high
point of this film though, and he does an amazing job, both physically and
mentally.
2. No Country for Old Men – It was really hard to decide between this film
and my choice for number one this year. No Country for Old Men is one of my
favorite new films of all time because it is intense and unique and most of
all, it is chilling. This movie left me feeling a little shaky, and it is
all because of Javier Bardem. He is one of the scariest stone-faced killers
in movie history and he definitely takes the award for most original weapon.
1. Zodiac – This was the first truly great film I saw in 2007 and it remains
my favorite at the beginning of this new year. I think it was highly
underrated and under appreciated though, and there were a lot of great
things about this film that were overlooked just because it was released so
early in the year. The story of the Zodiac killer is one that really
affected my family in particular (my parents were both teenagers living in
the Bay Area at the time of the killings) so I was already fascinated with
the story. Despite my initial fascination, the movie was able to draw me and
the rest of the audience in further to the twisted tale of the Zodiac killer
along with Robert Graysmith (the author of the book and main character of
the film played by Jake Gyllenhaal). David Fincher is a fantastic noir
director and with a fantastic cast on top of a great story, this film is
perfect.
