A little more on 2007

I was a little baffled when I made up the initial top-90 list why so many people considered 2007 such a great year for movies. There were certainly many I liked, but it seemed actually slightly down from a lot of years.

What a difference 12 movies make.

I have hit 100 and posted them, in order, on the side of page with the new ones having an asterisk. As you can see, many of them are toward the top. I already told you about "The Savages," but even better was "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." It lived up to its reviews. Many of the stretches are simply marvelous. I'd also highly recommend "Lars and the Real Girl," "Control," "The Hunting Party" and "Starting Out in the Evening." And as highly uneven as it was, "I'm Not There" had moments of, if not genius, then at least a reasonable facsimile. "Walk Hard" wasn't as good as the other two high-profile Apatow productions of last year, but it was frequently very, very funny. And while "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" was a bit of a disappointment to me, it, "King of California" and "Things We Lost in the Fire" were all at least passable. Even by far the worst, the bipolar train-wreck of a film that is "Romance and Cigarettes," had a delightful performance by Kate Winslet.

So hey, the year's looking up. I'll probably see at least another 10 or so movies. "Persepolis," "In the Valley of Elah," "This is England," "10 Canoes" and, for sheer curiousity's sake, "Southland Tales" are all on the list. What else do you think should be?