Best Picture 2007

2007 was definitely one of the best years for film in a long time. All 5 of these nominees are great and should absolutely be watched and studied for years to come. As is usual with the Best Picture category, I've seen most - if not all - nominees while doing the 4 other categories, so I've already got my mind made up as to how my rankings will play out. Read on and find out!

2007 Best Picture

No Country for Old Men

In a year that brought back the Western, it's fitting that a film like this would win. Obviously it's not a typical Western film, but the vibe is there and it's amazing that 2007 produced so many great Western movies. No Country for Old Men is an instant classic. The Coen Brothers adapted Cormac McCarthy's indelible novel into a film that latches onto your brain and burrows itself deep into your psyche. It strikes the perfect balance between being too simple and too complicated. The writing is exceptional and there are many scenes that I wish would go on forever because they are absolutely brilliant. The writing never panders and is whip smart, and the dialogue is measured so that none of it feels too fake. The casting as well is perfect. Javier Bardem turns in one of the greatest villain characters of all time. His Anton Chigurh is memorable and incomparable. Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones both make their characters and the rest of the cast does a terrific job -  from the stars like Woody Harrelson to the no-names who play hotel owners. When I saw this film for the first time, the one thing that immediately stood out for me was the beautiful cinematography. Roger Deakins captures the tone of the movie so very well. His photography is all at once foreboding, bleak, independent, and jarring. The slow, building tension throughout keeps the viewer engaged and on the edge of their seat and tightens it's grip as it moves along. For me, there were no dull parts. I was hooked from the beginning and it only got progressively more interesting as time went along. It's unrelenting and uncompromising in its depiction of the story and the treatment of the characters. No one is safe, which is one of the main reasons I like this film so much. When I first saw the ending in theaters, I turned to my Army buddies I went with and we all had an expression of "what do we make of that?!" but in less vulgar terms. I can see how the ending might turn some people off, but for me it worked. And it kept us talking for literally two or three days as we made sense of it. Truly the sign of a great ending and a great movie.

Atonement

I love that you see two different sides to what really happens. As both are real but tell two different stories to different people. It shows that we can sometimes see what we want and the lasting effects it can cause - the main point of Atonement. The movie creeps along at times, even with the flashbacks and mystery elements involved, but director Joe Wright has crafted a period piece that feels fresh and exciting. The first act has constant simmering sexual undertones that, coupled with some extraordinary acting, defies the usual stuffy English estate fluff we see from most period pieces. The second act Dunkirk scenes are especially brutal to watch and the long one shot tracking scene is utterly amazing and gorgeous to look at. It's a scene that would make Alfonso Cuaron and Emmanuel Lubezki proud. The third act loses some steam and the "twist" at the end comes off a little hokey to me even though I understand the moral questions it's trying to ask us. Can art atone for moral inequities? It's an interesting question that ultimately feels tacked on at the end of a film that was already asking interesting moral questions. I personally would have done without that as the ending. James McAvoy was exceptional and dynamic as Robbie and added a sincerity and honestness to his role that was refreshing to see. He deftly portrayed the complex character with the perfect amount of nuance and he really was the highlight for me. The film itself had such a quiet, understated seriousness to it that it never felt like you were watching period film or a British film and kept me involved as a viewer despite it's slow parts. Especially when you read the description and think "oh no - another boring, critically hyped film that will take a few viewings to get through," it was far from the film I was initially expecting. It was beautifully shot and the score that seemed to live just underneath every scene was quite remarkable (it won Best Original Score) and lent itself to a Mad Men-esque opening credits sense of movement and foreboding. Atonement helped add to an incredibly strong year for film in 2007 and would have been a leading contender in almost any other year.

Juno

I'll admit that the first time I saw this when it came out, I loved it. It was very much a movie for the younger generation and it hit all the right notes for me at that time. Watching it again....it's apparent that Diablo Cody just tries way too hard with her writing and there are way too many cringe worthy moments for me to truly call this a great film. Some of the dialogue is so affected that it grates the ears since no kid ever talks in that way (and I wasn't all that far removed from high school when this came out). Sometimes it skates by on its assuredly unique premise but gets bogged down in being too hip and cute and independent. The somewhat decent script falters at points where the witty, fast paced dialogue of teenagers dealing with a life changing event becomes the all too unbelievable mouthpiece of an adult writer. Time and again this would take me out of the movie but I'd get sucked back in because the characters are fun to watch interact with each other. It has both the comedic and poignant moments that make this film transcend the laughable dialogue and take on a frighteningly real moment in life that happens to many teenagers with a sense of understanding and care. You feel for Juno and when she lets her guard down we can see she really is just a scared kid on the inside despite her casual demeanor. The film never really probes too deep into the societal and personal ramifications of teen pregnancy and misses it's chances to deliver some truly dramatic moments in favor of trying to make the audience happy with jokes and a feel good ending. Despite the great music selection and the ever present charm Ellen Page exudes, Juno is a bit too neat in appealing to movie goers and not pushing the boundaries it thinks it has set up. It is still a film worth watching and it's not as terrible as I've made it seem, but there were other more deserving films that should have taken its place.

Michael Clayton

This film is the one I always forget about when trying to remember the Best Picture nominees for 2007. That's due mostly to it flying under the radar for me when it actually came out - I'd never heard of it and I wasn't really paying attention to movies much back then, preparing for a deployment and all that. So when I first watched this one in 2009, it was like finding a $20 in your jacket pocket from last year. That is to say a real hidden gem. Michael Clayton is a tad bit complicated, one you have to watch intently to figure out the different converging stories but it pays off in the end. What I liked about it was how grown-up it felt. It's a smart movie that never panders to the audience, it has such an adult feel to it that it's like a breath of fresh air for Oscar type films. Sure, 2007 has quite a few nominees that fit this standard, too, but you'd expect that from the Coen Brothers and Paul Thomas Anderson. You don't get the hand holding that a lot of other corporate thrillers use to make the story more easy to digest and it makes watching this film a rewarding experience. The cast does an amazing job and rightly deserved their acting nominations for it. Those characters all seem plausible and real and are never dumbed down to their basest one note qualities. The story is suspenseful and exciting from the very beginning (even though I wish it wouldn't have shown the ending at the start, but it still works) and builds to a satisfying end even if everything isn't completely spelled out for the viewer. This is how Best Picture nominees should look.

There Will Be Blood

This is simply a modern masterpiece. One that I think will probably recognized as one of the greatest films of all time from the 2000s. Try as I might to find a flaw worth writing about, there's just nothing that stands out to me in that regard. The cinematography is breathtakingly brilliant, the score is so unique and doesn't hand hold the viewer through the film and tell them exactly what to feel, and there are so many iconic images that can be taken from this film that it's really hard to pick just one.Daniel Day-Lewis gives what I believe to be his best performance ever and one that should surely go down in history as an incredible achievement in acting. Paul Dano shines in his breakout role and makes the interaction between his character and DDL's such a rewarding battle of wills to watch. Eli and Plainview are very similar and I really enjoy how Paul Thomas Anderson connect the two as people. The first time Plainview beats Eli, Eli then goes home and acts the exact same way to his father that Plainview acted towards him. It's remarkable stuff and PTA deserves most of the credit for keeping the script from sounding too hokey, which is a problem for most period pieces. The slow building of the film to it's final scene with the milkshake discussion in the bowling alley (my favorite part) never felt labored and it always felt important from the very beginning which helped keep me hooked for 2 and a half hours, quite the achievement. PTA's direction as well was phenomenal, so many brilliant angles and interesting set ups. There are so many classic scenes and moments that will no doubt be cribbed from ad nauseum for decades to come. My one gripe would be that the end feels like a few different vignettes stuck together at times. However, those "vignettes" are masterfully done and don't detract from the overall story or tone -- I just wish they were connected a little better. Love how it's somewhat of a mystery.The film never feels too one note, either, and has elements of mystery, Westerns, horror, dramatic period piece - all kinds of different influences that create a distinctively American Classic.




I feel as if this group is the best out of the 5 years I've done so far. Every film is great even though I would probably bump Juno for one of Zodiac, Gone Baby Gone, or The Assassination of Jesse James. It would have made for a very intense bunch of nominees, though. I definitely wish that 2007 was a year of 10 nominees because there were tons of other films that had a legitimate shot at making an 8-10 slot. I really can't say enough about how great this year was for film. I waffle between giving my top spot to No Country or TWBB and I'd probably give it to whichever movie I've seen last. A very slight edge to TWBB for now since I believe it'll be the film that shows up on the Sight & Sound poll in the future. I really liked how Atonement wasn't what I was expecting the first time I watched it and it completely shattered my expectations. Michael Clayton is close behind that one with Juno bringing up the rear. Juno really had no chance in a year where 4 serious films knocked it out of the park unfortunately for it. All in all my favorite year so far.

Oscar Winner: No Country for Old Men
My Winner:  There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Atonement
Michael Clayton
Juno