Here's another five-pack of quickie reviews. This time, I've selected five movies I've watched recently on DVD through Zip.ca. Zip is one of the Netflix alternatives available here in Canada (Netflix is not available in Canada), where for a monthly fee, they mail you DVDs for rental. It's been a good way to catch up on movies that may have skipped past me in theatres (often this means foreign language or documentary films), or older titles I've always thought about seeing, but never remember when it comes time to go to the video store (especially since it's rare that I walk through the older stacks). I recommend it to DVD (or Blu-Ray) watchers in Canada, and, hey, if you're interested, let me know. I get membership points when people I refer to Zip become members.
( After the Wedding (2007) )
( Desert Blue (1998) )
( In the Valley of Elah (2007) )
( The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) )
( A New Wave (2007) )

I've been making some changes in how I'm going to pursue this reviewing hobby of mine, starting with where my reviews will be posted, and where they won't (besides here, of course). Another big change I've decided to make for this year is what I'll be reviewing. In the past, I made a point of reviewing every movie I saw from the current year (i.e., if I saw a 2007 film in 2007, in theatre or on DVD, I tried to review it). This has become an unmanageable pace for me, particularly at the end of the year as I cram to get movies in for my year end lists and Andy Movie Awards posts.

As a result, I often feel like I have a big backlog of movies I "have" to review, which is a little silly, I know. My bigger concern is my desire to review all recent-ish movies has kept me from doing other sorts of posts, like TV or music reviews, older movies, or lists I've had bubbling in my head. So from now on, I'll be doing fewer movie reviews, but hopefully more other kinds of posts, which should be fun for me (which is what this is all about, after all).

That said, the biggest reason I made a point of reviewing newish movies is that it's the area that I think most people are most interested in reading my opinion of. If a movie is still in theatres or new to DVD, people may be interested in what I thought of it, so they can decide whether or not they want to see (that is, if they're interested in my opinion of anything. I'll assume some people are, otherwise, I'll assume no one is reading this). To that end, periodically I'm going to do movie review catch-up posts, where I do mini-reviews for a handful of recent movies that I never got around to reviewing. These mini-reviews will basically be a paragraph of opinion that will mostly be summary-less, with an assigned score. I think this will be a good solution for movies I don't have a whole lot to say about, but still have a bit of an opinion of. Sound good?
( Be Kind Rewind )
( Black Book )
( Lars and the Real Girl )
( Lust, Caution )
( Persepolis )

La Vie en Rose (2007)

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner, Jean-Paul Rouve, Gérard Depardieu, Clotilde Courau, Jean-Pierre Martins

Directed by: Olivier Dahan
( The review... )

Here it is, my long awaited Top 10 Movies of 2007 list (and by "long awaited", I'm referring to myself, as I'm not sure anyone else has been waiting for this). This is later then I usually prefer to post this list (on the principle that the later you get into the year, the less people care about the previous year), but since I added a movie to this list over the weekend, I'm glad I waited. As of right now, I've seen 65 different 2007 movies (for the complete list, click here), including pretty much everything I think would contend for this list. Notable movies I haven't seen yet that could've contended for the list include Persepolis, Lust, Caution, and The Darjeeling Limited, but I'm really happy with the way my list looks right now, as it's been an extremely good year for movies. As it is, I had to push some really good movies off my honourable mentions list, so I better post this before more might have to go. To give you an idea of how I felt about this year, everything on list, including honourable mentions, rated 4 stars out of 5 or higher. So if you feel like you haven't seen a lot of good movies this year, you should give some these a try.
( Top 10 Movies of 2007... )

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Marina Hands, Max von Sydow

Directed by: Julian Schnabel
( The review... )

The Lives of Others (2006)

Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme

Directed by: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
( The review... )

Volver (2006)

Starring: Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Duenas, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre, Carlos Blanco

Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
( The review... )

Babel (2006)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Gael García Bernal, Adriana Barraza, Elle Fanning, Nathan Gamble, Rinko Kikuchi, Kôji Yakusho

Directed by: Alejandro González Iñárritu
( The review... )

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Starring: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, Doug Jones, Álex Angulo, Roger Casamajor, César Vea

Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
( The review... )

Water (2005)

Starring: Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, Vinay Pathak, Rishma Malik, John Abraham, Sarala

Directed by: Deepa Mehta
( The review... )

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Shido Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryo Kase, Yuki Matsuzaki, Hiroshi Watanabe, Takumi Bando

Directed by: Clint Eastwood
( The review... )

The Science of Sleep (2006)

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alain Chabat, Miou-Miou, Emma de Caunes, Aurélia Petit, Sacha Bourdo

Directed by: Michel Gondry
( The review... )

The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Mía Maestro, Gustavo Bueno, Jorge Chiarella

Directed by: Walter Salles
( The review... )

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Starring: Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Koji Yakusho, Youki Kudoh, Kaori Momoi

Directed by: Rob Marshall

( The review... )

Québec-Montréal (2002)

Starring: Patrice Robitaille, Jean-Phillipe Pearson, Stéphane Breton, François Létourneau, Isabelle Blais, Julie LeBreton, Pierre-François Legendre, Tony Conte, Patrick Baby, Benoît Gouin, Brigitte St-Aubin

Directed by: Ricardo Trogi
( La Revue... )... )