This is the thread for you to post your personal favourites lists (in progress) for 2007. (We'll set up another thread for critic end-of-year lists, award lists, all that sort of thing, once those sorts of lists start showing up.) When enough of us have posted our own Top Ten or Top Twenty or Top Twenty Plus Also-Rans (in progress), I'll start an ongoing tally - probably sometime in late November. But I don't think it's too early to start posting our faves: if nothing else, it's a great way to keep track of films other A&Fers are excited about.

BIT OF A DEPARTURE, though, from how we've done this thread in the past. Before, I've asked you to just make one post per person, and revise that post as you go. But it'll actually be easier to tally the updates if you'll MAKE A NEW POST EACH TIME YOU REVISE YOUR LIST. It's simple enough: just cut and paste your previous list, and then edit it with the new additions. But it'll help me keep track as we go.

Thanks!

Ron

I hadn't noticed, but now that I scan through my viewing journal, it's been a good year at the movies! The past couple years I've had trouble coming up with this many really notable films by the following February - here I am in mid-October with a heapin' helpin'! And the year-end avalanche has barely begun.

So, in rough order of enthusiasm...

2007 Favourites
as of Oct 20 2007
Into The Wild
Adam's Apples
Across The Universe
Once
After The Wedding
The Lives Of Others
This Is England
Black Snake Moan
Into Great Silence
You Told Me, You Love Me
Michael Clayton
Amazing Grace
You, The Living
Jindabyne
Secret Sunshine
The Aura
Away From Her

Need To See
The Darjeeling Limited
Dry Season (Daratt)
Lars & The Real Girl
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
Silent Light
Sweet Land
There Will Be Blood
Waitress
Zodiac

ahem

You've even posted there

Duh. And hmm....

In previous years, the threads on this theme have had consistent titles. And the top post is a place to tabulate the lists. Hmm... Wonder what should be done.


(Note added later: The "duh" was directed at myself for overlooking the other thread, not to Darryl for pointing that out. Yours Canadianly, Ron)

For consistency, I think we should use THIS thread.

The other thread really isn't that long yet, and it's cluttered with posts that aren't lists (just as is quickly happening here. Maybe when we get it straightened out, we can delete these off-topic posts.)

In that case...

The list of films that I'd be willing to include (and have decent chances of being included, although I'm sure year end will push some off this list) in viewing order:

The Lives of Others
After the Wedding
Waitress
Away from Her
Once
Ratatouille
Ben X
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm Not There

Those I may consider including, but it would be uphill for them:
Venus
Breach
Beyond the Gate
Paris, je t'aime
La Vie en Rose
Jindabyne
Kuri-obi
Lars and the Real Girl
4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days
Things We Lost in the Fire
War Dance
No Country for Old Men

On the radar as possibilities:
Persepolis
Grace is Gone
There Will Be Blood

I have no list at this point, but I know that when I do put one together, it'll have a movie on it that's yet to be mentioned in this thread: Hairspray. That was, maybe, the best commercial film I saw this year. Works like gangbusters. Plus, it has Michelle Pfeiffer, who gave two fantastic performances this year.

Updating my Oct 20 list. In rough order of enthusiasm...

2007 Favourites
as of Nov 13 2007
Adam's Apples
Into The Wild
Across The Universe
Once
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
After The Wedding
The Lives Of Others
This Is England
Lars & The Real Girl
Black Snake Moan
Into Great Silence
You Told Me, You Love Me
Michael Clayton
Amazing Grace
You, The Living
Jindabyne
Secret Sunshine
The Aura
Away From Her

Need To See
Atonement
The Bothersome Man
The Darjeeling Limited
Dry Season (Daratt)
Gone Baby Gone
Juno
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
Silent Light
Sweet Land
There Will Be Blood
Waitress
Zodiac

So far:

Into Great Silence
No Country for Old Men
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Offside
Zodiac
Hot Fuzz
Rescue Dawn
Eastern Promises
Private Fears in Public Places
Silent Light (AFI Fest)

Honorable Mention: Amazing Grace, As You Like It, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Away from Her, Brand Upon the Brain!, Bridge to Terabithia, The Host, Jindabyne, The Last Winter, Once, Ratatouille, Right at Your Door, Sicko, Sunshine.

Terror's Advocate
Gone Baby Gone
The Assassination of Jesse James
Feast of Love
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
The Hunting Party
Deep Water
The King of Kong
Hairspray
Ratatouille
Steel City
Hot Fuzz
The Namesake
The Dead Girl
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
God Grew Tired of Us
Alpha Dog

1. Killer of Sheep/My Brother's Wedding (both released theatrically this year, and combined on the DVD Killer of Sheep Collection). Don't make me pick just one.
2. Zodiac
3. The Golden Door
4. Atonement
5. Rescue Dawn
6. Ratatouille
7. Opera Jawa
8. The Simpsons Movie
9. No Country for Old Men
10. Hairspray
11. Into the Wild
12. Climates
13. Away From Her
14. Reign Over Me
15. Michael Clayton
16. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
17. Once
18. Breach
19. Things We Lost in the Fire
20. 28 Weeks Later

--Looking over the titles that didn't make it into the Top 10, all I can say is that this has been a ridiculous year, with a bounty of good to great films.

Updating my Nov 13 list. And may I say, I'm not sure there's been as good a year for movies since maybe 1999. In rough order of enthusiasm...

2007 Favourites
as of Nov 25 2007
Adam's Apples
Into The Wild
Across The Universe
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Gone Baby Gone
After The Wedding / The Lives Of Others
This Is England / Once
Lars & The Real Girl
Black Snake Moan
Into Great Silence
You Told Me, You Love Me
Michael Clayton
Amazing Grace
You, The Living
Jindabyne
Secret Sunshine
The Aura
Away From Her

Need To See
Atonement
The Bothersome Man
The Darjeeling Limited
Dry Season (Daratt)
Juno
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
Silent Light
Sweet Land
There Will Be Blood
Waitress
Zodiac

I seem to recall talking to my brother about this, and thinking that 2002 was (for us) a year in which we had a hard time deciding on Top Ten lists because of a glut of movies we loved, and not (as in some other years) because there was only a handful of films we truly loved.

Ron wrote:
: Updating my Nov 13 list. And may I say, I'm not sure there's been as good a year for movies since maybe 1999.

Interesting, Jeffrey Wells said something very similar just the other day ...

Revised:

(From most recent to oldest)

Atonement
Juno
Enchanted
Terror's Advocate
Gone Baby Gone
The Assassination of Jesse James
Feast of Love
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
The Hunting Party
Deep Water
The King of Kong
Hairspray
Ratatouille
Steel City
Hot Fuzz
The Namesake
The Dead Girl
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
God Grew Tired of Us
Amazing Grace
Alpha Dog

Time to start doing some ordering. At this point my top few would likely be

1. Ben X (I am stubborn about this)
1.5. (Since nobody has seen my #1, I feel like I should get another #1 slot) Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Once
3. Lars and the Real Girl
4. After the Wedding
Others likely to be included: Ratatouille, Away from Her, No End in Sight, I'm Not There, Waitress Haven't seen There Will be Blood yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it makes the list

Favorite performances thus far: Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose and Frank Langella in Starting over in the Evening

Latest iteration, adding I'm Not There, Ratatouille, No Country and Before The Devil to the list.

1 Adam's Apples
2 Into The Wild
3 Across The Universe
4 Assassination of Jesse James
5 I'm Not There
6 Gone Baby Gone
7 After The Wedding
8 The Lives Of Others
9 This Is England
10 Once
11 Michael Clayton
12 Amazing Grace
13 Lars & The Real Girl
14 Black Snake Moan
15 You Told Me, You Love Me
16 Ratatouille
17 Into Great Silence
18 No Country For Old Men
19 You, The Living
20 Jindabyne
21 Secret Sunshine
22 The Aura
23 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
24 Away From Her

Man that's a strong line-up of films! And tons yet to see. Adding to the chorus of praise for this year's films are articles in recent issues of Sight & Sound and Film Comment.

Eager To See
Atonement
Ben X
The Bothersome Man
Charlie Wilson's War
The Darjeeling Limited
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Dry Season (Daratt)
Hairspray
Juno
Kite Runner
Margot At The Wedding
Paranoid Park
Persepolis
Silent Light
Sweeney Todd
Syndromes & A Century
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

Hmmm. I just discovered our own Ken Morefield's list.

I love lists like this. Personal, accented by statements made in the heat of passion. It's like eavesdropping on a love letter.

And it reminds me how badly I need to see Persepolis, My Kid Could Paint That, and Honeydripper.

I realize there were mixed reviews on this film here, but I kind of thought "Bridge to Terabithia" would get at least an honorable mention somewhere. So if not, at least it gets mine.

My first attempt at a top 10 list for the year:

1. Paprika
2. Ratatouille
3. Into the Wild
4. Juno
5. Michael Clayton
6. The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters
7. Once
8. Lars and the Real Girl
9. Gone Baby Gone
10. The Lookout

Honorable Mention:

The Bourne Ultimatum
Hot Fuzz
No Country for Old Men
Zodiac
Amazing Grace
The Savages
After the Wedding
Into Great Silence
Knocked Up
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
This is England
I'm Not There
The Lives of Others
Sunshine
Paris j'Taime
Breach
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Glad to see Paprika getting so much love, Crow. It's high on my list too.

2007 was a bad year for me and theaters. I just never got around to see many films.

My favorites:

Amazing Grace
Atonement
the Bourne Ultimatum
Hot Fuzz
Once
Zodiac

Yes, that's how few films I've seen this year. The few others I saw aren't even worth mentioning, though I will say Johnnie To's Exiled was gorgeous visually, but absolutely empty in every other sense.

Children of Men
Amazing Grace
The Namesake
Waitress
Hot Fuzz
Land of Plenty (I don't know when it was made, but I saw it in 2007)
Sweet Land
Lars and the Real Girl
Charlie Wilson's War
Enchanted
Ratatouille
Breach

That's already more than 10, but I would still like to see these 2007 films:
Persepolis (just read the book and liked it a lot)
Atonement (sort of)
The Great Debaters
Once
The Kite Runner
Juno
The Darjeeling Limited

Of course, I'll be seeing all of those, if ever, in 2008, so I guess they'll be on that list, for me, at any rate.

Sort of?

The Ten Films I Liked the Best
Atonement
Juno
Enchanted
Gone Baby Gone
Feast of Love
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
Deep Water
The King of Kong
Ratatouille
The Dead Girl

The Ten "Best Films" That I Saw
Juno
Enchanted
Gone Baby Gone
The Assassination of Jesse James
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
The Hunting Party
The King of Kong
Ratatouille
The Dead Girl
Alpha Dog

Both lists from the most recent to the oldest releases.

Sorry, I edited and messed up the sense--I originally started a list of 2007 films I wanted to see, and Atonement is one I'm not particularly excited about, despite all the brouhaha. Guess I should go back and re-edit...

I've posted my official list (use link to see comments)

The short version:
1. Ben X (since only a handful of people have had a chance to see this, I think I get another #1 pick)
1.5 The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Once
3. Lars and the Real Girl
4. After the Wedding
5. Away from Her
6. Ratatouille
7. There Will Be Blood
8. Waitress
9. I'm Not There
10. No End in Sight
11. Venus
12. Breach

Hon. Mention (in alphabetical order):
Atonement
Honeydripper
Jindabyne
Juno
The Lives of Others
No Country for Old Men

Favorite performances:
Frank Langella in Starting Out in the Evening
Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose

Favorite older film I discovered or revisited: The Magnificent Seven

Latest iteration, adding Juno (!) And Atonement.

1 Adam's Apples
2 Into The Wild
3 Juno
4 Across The Universe
5 Assassination of Jesse James
6 I'm Not There
7 Gone Baby Gone
8. (tie) After The Wedding and The Lives Of Others
10. (tie) This Is England and Once
12 Michael Clayton
13 Amazing Grace
14 Atonement
15 Lars & The Real Girl
16 Black Snake Moan
17 You Told Me, You Love Me
18 Ratatouille
19 Into Great Silence
20 No Country For Old Men
21 You, The Living
22 Jindabyne
23 Secret Sunshine
24 The Aura
25 Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
26 Away From Her

Man that's a strong line-up of films! And tons yet to see. Adding to the chorus of praise for this year's films are articles in recent issues of Sight & Sound and Film Comment.

Eager To See
Ben X
The Bothersome Man
Charlie Wilson's War
The Darjeeling Limited
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
Dry Season (Daratt)
Enchanted
Kite Runner
Margot At The Wedding
Paranoid Park
Persepolis
Silent Light
Syndromes & A Century
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

Here's Doug Cummings' list, which is comprised of the best recent (or recently re-released) films he saw in 2007, regardless of "official" release dates;

• Away From Her (Sarah Polley, Canada)

• Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Ridley Scott, USA)

• Daratt (Dry Season) (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad)

• Honor of the Knights (Albert Serra, Spain)

• I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, USA)

• It's Winter (Raffi Pitts, Iran)

• Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, USA)

• Opera Jawa (Garin Nugroho, Indonesia)

• Persepolis (Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi, France)

• Romance of Astree and Celadon (Eric Rohmer, France)

(Ten very honorable mentions: Ad Lib Night, Diary of the Dead, The Duchess of Langeais, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, The Legend of Time, The Mourning Forest, Munyurangabo, Secret Sunshine, The Violin, and Zodiac.)

My list.

(Second version, updated in July 2008. Newly added titles are in bold.)

Special Recognition: Killer of Sheep (1977, finally released)
I would have placed this in the top 5, but it just doesn't make sense to me to count this as a 2007 film, since it's been around 30 years, and it's been shown at festivals and become something of a legend among film critics.

1. Into Great Silence
2. There Will Be Blood
3. My Kid Could Paint That
4. Lars and the Real Girl
5. Ratatouille
6. Syndromes and a Century
7. The Devil Came on Horseback
8. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
9. Zodiac
10. Paprika

11. I'm Not There
12. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
13. No End in Sight
14. Once
15. This is England
16. Juno
17. No Country for Old Men
18. The Savages
19. Away from Her
20. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
21. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
22. Into the Wild
23. La Vie En Rose
24. God Grew Tired of Us
25. Manufactured Landscapes

Honorable Mention
* Adam’s Apples
* Angel-A
* Private Fears in Public Places
* The Orphanage
* Longford
* Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
* Gone Baby Gone
* Rescue Dawn
* Bridge to Terabithia
*Climates
* Jindabyne
* Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
* Waitress
* Eastern Promises
* The Darjeeling Limited
* The Namesake
* Offside
* The Lookout
* The Simpsons Movie
* The Bourne Ultimatum
* The Host
* Bella
* Amazing Grace
* Hot Fuzz
* Knocked Up

And if restorations or special editions were eligible, well, consider Blade Runner: The Final Cut as my favorite film of 2007, and Killer of Sheep somewhere in the top ten.

My list. Comments encouraged.

I bumped up Ratatouille, Amazing Grace, and Bridge to Terabithia to "lighten" my list a bit. No Country for Old Men, while decidedly "heavy," stays aboard as sort of a ballast. Ditto for The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

Nathan Lee says he's "currently writing a rave review of the beautiful and beguiling Opera Jawa."

Our numbers are small but growing.

Some facts to qualify my selections above:

There were 611 theatrical releases in 2007.

Of these 611, I actually saw 126 in their entirety. (Of these 126, I reviewed 92.)

Of the remaining 485, I edited detailed reviews of another 168. (At least a dozen of these 168 appear on various year-end "best" lists.)

One film that nearly made my list of favorites for the year, Steel City, ranked 510th out of those 611 in terms of box office. It sold a total of 1,526 tickets.

So out of 611 releases, I am reasonably familiar with 294 -- less than half of the films released during the year. And I'm reasonably well informed, by critical standards. This is why I'm reluctant to offer an opinion about which were the "best" films of the year. All I can really talk about with much assurance is which films were the best (by various standards of measure) of the films I actually saw.

yeah, those numbers can be daunting. In Palm Springs I did pretty well getting to 10% of the films they had (13.6% if you count the ones I saw before going).

Ron: How soon before there's a final tally? What's our cutoff date? Have I already missed it?

Abiding by your instructions in the first post, here's an updated list. A few additions low down on the list, which goes way past 10, with the biggest change being the elevation of Things We Lost in the Fire to number 5.

1. Killer of Sheep
2. My Brother's Wedding
3. Zodiac
4. The Golden Door
5. Things We Lost in the Fire
6. Atonement
7. Rescue Dawn
8. Ratatouille
9. Opera Jawa
10. The Simpsons Movie
11. No Country for Old Men
12. Hairspray
13. Into the Wild
14. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
15. Climates
16. Away From Her
17. Reign Over Me
18. Michael Clayton
19. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
20. Once
21. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
22. Breach
23. Sweeney Todd
24. The Savages
25. 28 Weeks Later
26. Eastern Promises
27. A Fistful of Quarters: The King of Kong

Here's my top ten. My city has yet to get There Will Be Blood and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, two films that would probably rank high on my list. Still, here's my list:

1. Juno
2. No Country for Old Men
3. In the Valley of Elah
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton
6. 3:10 to Yuma
7. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
8. Ratatouille
9. Eastern Promises
10. The Darjeeling Limited

Honourable Mentions:
300
American Gangster
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hot Fuzz
The Simpsons Movie
Zodiac

My show has opened, I can do some tallying now. Though I don't think there are very many lists here. Anybody?

Cutoff date? I'll probably do another pass right around Oscars.

R

My top 10, in alphabetical order:

After the Wedding
The Devil Came on Horseback
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
In the Shadow of the Moon
Into Great Silence
Juno
The Lives of Others
Once
Rescue Dawn
Ratatouille

Runners-up include:

Amazing Grace
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford:
Bella
The Bourne Ultimatum
Lars and the Real Girl
Mr. Bean's Holiday
No End in Sight
Offside
The Savages
Spider-Man 3
Things We Lost in the Fire

My updated list:

1. Paprika
2. Ratatouille
3. Into the Wild
4. Juno
5. Golden Door
6. Michael Clayton
7. The King of Kong - A Fistful of Quarters
8. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
9. Once
10. Lars and the Real Girl

11. Gone Baby Gone
12. I'm Not There
13. The Lookout
14. No Country for Old Men
15. Zodiac
16. Hot Fuzz
17. There Will Be Blood
18. The Bourne Ulitimatum
19. Paris j'Taime
20. Amazing Grace

My top films list so far (all films that I would give at least 3 1/2 out of 4 stars to).

There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
Le scaphandre et le papilon (The Diving Bell & The Butterfly)
Michael Clayton
Juno
Death Proof
Atonement
Zodiac
The Wind That Shakes the Barley


The Darjeeling Limited
Hot Fuzz
Sunshine
Once
Eastern Promises
The Simpsons Movie
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[UPDATED: FEB. 3]

I've completely revised my list above, with several new titles and a bunch of shifting...