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 )

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... )

I wasn't going to do this list this year, feeling so good overall about the year in movies. Then this happened, and I figured I might as well. I'll be force-feeding myself some more 2007 movies in the coming weeks, so there's a good chance that something else I'll see would have contended for this list, but I figure at some point you have to accept that you're either not going to see everything, or you're never going to make a list (I choose A. On that note, expect my best movies of the year list soon).

More than any other list I write, I must stress that this is the Top 5 Worst Movies of 2007 That I Saw. Some of these are plenty bad, but I'm absolutely certain that I haven't seen most of the worst movies of the year, as I generally make an effort to avoid bad movies (whereas I am pretty confident that I've seen the majority of great movies, so I like that list more). Still, it's always fun to make fun of stuff, so here we go.
( I could've used this time reading or something. Or, more likely, watching other movies... )

The Lookout (2007)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Carla Gugino, Bruce McGill, Alberta Watson, Alex Borstein

Directed by: Scott Frank
( The review... )

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Jamie Campbell Bower, Jayne Wisener, Sacha Baron Cohen

Directed by: Tim Burton
( The review... )

Breach (2007)

Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert, Kathleen Quinlan, Bruce Davison

Directed by: Billy Ray
( The review... )

I Am Legend (2007)

Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith, Charlie Tahan, Abby the Dog

Directed by: Francis Lawrence
( The review... )

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper

Directed by: Ethan and Joel Coen
( The review.. )

Harsh Times (2006)

Starring: Christian Bale, Freddy Rodríguez, Eva Longoria, Chaka Forman, Tammy Trull, J.K. Simmons

Directed by: David Ayer
( The review.. )

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, John Ashton, Amy Ryan, Amy Madigan, Titus Welliver

Directed by: Ben Affleck
( The review.. )

Michael Clayton (2007)

Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sean Cullen, Michael O'Keefe, Sydney Pollack

Directed by: Tony Gilroy
( The Review... )

Eastern Promises (2007)

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Sinéad Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Armin Mueller-Stahl

Directed by: David Cronenberg
( The Review... )

The Kingdom (2007)

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Ashraf Barhom, Ali Suliman, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins, Danny Huston

Directed by: Peter Berg
( The Review... )

Renaissance (2006)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Romola Garai, Jonathan Pryce, Ian Holm, Rick Warden

Directed by: Christian Volckman
( The Review... )

Sunshine (2007)

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, Cliff Curtis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Troy Garity, Benedict Wong

Directed by: Danny Boyle
( The Review... )

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Starring: Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney

Directed by: Paul Greengrass
( The Review... )

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Starring: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Brian Cox, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen, Marton Csokas

Directed by: Paul Greengrass
( The Review... )

Mindhunters (2004)

Starring: Val Kilmer, LL Cool J, Christian Slater, Jonny Lee Miller, Eion Bailey, Will Kemp, Patricia Velasquez, Kathryn Morris, Clifton Collins Jr., Will Kemp

Directed By: Renny Harlin

If you listened to my voice post, you'd know that I started watching this when my wife turned it on. Even though I said it was terrible, I decided to keep watching it after she went to bed, so I figured I should share my thoughts.

Basically, Mindhunters is a horrifically terrible movie, full of every serial killer cliche possible, wooden acting, ridiculous set-ups, and an intrusive, pulsing score that tries to drum up suspense when the paper-thin script and hacky directing can't. It really can't be stated enough how bad a movie it is, and how embarrassing it is to anyone wishing for a quality thriller.

But... at the same time, it's incredibly watchable and not boring in the slightest (well, other than the boredom that comes from watching the contrived). It's not quite a movie that's so bad-it's-good, but it is a bad movie that might be fun to watch amongst friends, especially if you're all feeling frisky and nobody minds laughing over the film. Hack extraordinaire Renny Harlin brings his experience with these kind of movies to the fore, making a terrible movie watchable for the simple reason that it never stops moving. The whole thing feels like a straight to DVD by-the-numbers thriller, and I'm surprised it wasn't, given that it was delayed for two years prior to its release.

The movie tells the story of seven FBI trainees attempting to become profilers. As part of their training, they are shipped off by their instructor (Val Kilmer) to an island where a training exercise has been set up for them in a simulated environment. They're supposed to profile a killer on the island with staged killings of dummies. But things aren't what they seem (they never are), and the recruits quickly find themselves victims of a real killer, who is intent on picking them all off one by one through a series of elaborate death traps.

Basically, it's Saw with less gore, with the high concept of having profilers having to succeed in their training or perish. The death traps are patently ridiculous, as are the reactions and shots (awesomely, the characters dramatically pull their guns on each other several times). The feel of the movie bears a strong resemblance to Harlin's Deep Blue Sea, another terrible movie made watchable by its pace and the thrill of seeing a lousy cast get offed one by one. The whole time you're watching, you're acutely aware of how dumb it is, but can't help but keep watching to see who will bite it next, and how silly their offing will be.

LL Cool J tries to be the Samuel L. Jackson character in this one, delivering the big lines with disbelief. But he doesn't get as fun a scene as Jackson did in Deep Blue Sea, having to settle for lame puns in the face of danger instead of fiery speeches. Eion Bailey actually exhibits some appeal (probably the only actor to do so), showing that he has enough charisma and screen presence to be doing better things than this. He might not be big enough for a movie career, but I could see him as an affable leading man on a TV series. Everyone else is merely an empty cypher to further along the plot, interchangeable and unmemorable.

There really isn't any reason to watch this movie, so I definitely don't recommend it. In fact, it's probably best to not watch it at all, because if you start, you probably won't be able to tear away from it, even though it really is terrible. At the same time, while it will add nothing of value to your life, it didn't really take anything out of me either. Probably the best terrible movie I've seen in awhile.

2/5

Related Reviews:
After the Sunset (2004)
The Black Dahlia (2006)
From Hell (2001)

Dexter Season One

Starring: Michael C. Hall, Julie Benz, Jennifer Carpenter, Erik King, Lauren Velez, David Zayas, James Remar

Series Creator: James Manos Jr.
( The review... )

TV Talk: Lost

Starring: Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Elizabeth Mitchell, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O'Quinn

Series Creator: Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof
( This post is chock-full of season three spoilers... )

Zodiac (2007)

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Ed Setrakian

Directed by: David Fincher
( 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... )

The Black Dahlia (2006)

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner, Mike Starr, Fiona Shaw, Patrick Fischler

Directed by: Brian De Palma
( The review... )

Children of Men (2006)

Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Pam Ferris, Danny Huston

Directed by: Alfonso Cuarón
( The review... )