Top 100 of 2007 (81-90)

81. Avenue Montaigne
Actually, I saw this film almost a year and a half ago at a film festival, so a lot of the details are sketchy now. But, it was a nice, charming, if somewhat toothless movie. Nothing to necessarily write home about, but enjoyable enough at the time. But Cecile de France is wonderful in the film and it was nice to see her softer side for a change.

82. Superbad
Perhaps it's just that the Judd Apatow-related films are progressively wearing thin for me, but I just wasn't too enthralled with this one. And while most lauded the whole "McLovin'" storyline, I thought it was the least effective and most annoying part of the whole thing. Only when it was Jonah Hill and Michael Cera and about their friendship was I interested. Otherwise, it just sort of seemed like American Pie to me, which seemed like a hundred films that came before it.


83. After The Wedding
It starts out promisingly enough, but unfortunately heads into soap opera territory in the final act. But strong performances, especially from Mads Mikkelson, made it watchable. But no way in hell should this have taken the foreign film nomination from Volver.

84. Bug

It's unfortunate that this one was so mismarketed. Lion's Gate made it out to be a horror film, a la Saw, but it was a black comedy. It was a tough sell, but still. I don't think it was entirely successful in its aims, but I thought Ashley Judd gave a pretty damn fearless performance that has been unfortunately maligned in response to the film in general.

85. The Hunting Party

It has it's moments, and the final montage is pretty damn fantastic. But, as a satire, it worked, but it could have been so much sharper. Just ended up feeling like a bit of a half-baked effort.

86. Breach

Unlike The Hunting Party, this one plays it straight, but my criticisms are somewhat similar. It has some really good things about it (Chris Cooper is, as usual, pretty great), but could have been tighter.

87. Zodiac

I read Graysmith's book in college and was prepared for something fascinating. And at times, this is. But it's way too long and robbed the book of a lot of the intrigue. Robert Downey, Jr. didn't help matters for me.

88. The Kingdom

Entertaining for what it was, if you looked upon it strictly as an action film. But the film seemed, from what I gathered, to try to be political, and that didn't work out too well for it. A little too predictable and heavy handed when it tried to be more than just action.

89. 2 Days In Paris

Sporadically interesting film about a dysfunctional couple on vacation in Paris. There were times when I wanted to punch both of them in the face, but that's a lot of couples I know :) It has enough moments to keep it from being shrill and grating, but it was very close to crossing the line. Dangerously close.

90. 12:08 East of Bucharest (trailer not available)

for me, this was one of those films where the first half lingered and felt aimless while the second half was great. So, it's half a great film. But for the quality of cinema coming out of Romania right now (internationally, I think they have the most exciting film movement going right now), this was sort of a let down.