I wish he would have asked me to flip a coin in December and choose between my life and an HD-DVD player, because while I’m still alive, I’d also have 220 more dollars in my pocket.

Should I stop whining about HD-DVD dying the second I bought one? Okay, I will.

No Country For Old Men

The best film of 2007 and one of my favorites, this movie deserves a second-viewing for those of us trying to understand a sort of unusual ending. Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and Bardem give fantastic-o performances, friend-o.

Rent it, buy it, but definitely see it.

Dan in Real Life

After seeing Steve Carell in so many goofy roles, so many characters where he embarrasses himself over and over, his role in Dan in Real Life was refreshing. It’s a light-hearted romantic comedy with a great little story and some fun moments.

Heck, even Dane Cook does a good job with a subdued performance.

A Blu-Ray Popcorn Fest

As I said above, this is your week if you have a Blu-Ray player. The stack of awesome titles coming out this week is mind-blowing:

Independence Day, I Robot, Gattaca, Dogma, Hitman, Dan in Real Life, and of course No Country for Old Men.

I’d buy Independence Day without even thinking, I totally love that movie. It HAS to look amazing in HD.

More DVD Releases

(By the way, if you want to purchase any of these titles, you may as well use our Amazon affiliate link and pay us 2 cents for every movie you buy. K thx…)

• Bee Movie – Jerry Seinfeld is really the only thing I know about this animated feature
• August Rush – With Keri Russell, this was supposed to be a cute little film
• Tin Man – The Sci-Fi mini-series I tried to watch but only managed the first episodes. Probably a good idea to skip it.
• Gattaca: Special Edition – I really enjoyed this sci-fi-ish film with Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman.

Blu-Ray Titles

• Appleseed Ex Machina (Warner)
• August Rush (Warner)
• Dan in Real Life (Walt Disney)
• Dogma (Sony)
• Gattaca (Sony)
• Hitman (Fox)
• I, Robot (Fox)
• Independence Day (Fox)
• No Country for Old Men (Walt Disney)
• Sleuth (2007) (Sony)

With the Oscars coming in under a week, that was my deadline for seeing all the Academy Award Best Picture nominated films, along with a bunch of others I felt probably constituted the best from 2007.

It’s hard to see everything you want to when you work full time and go to school on the side, so I try to pick the movies that I’ve heard good things about instead of wasting time with things that just aren’t going to make a top 10 list.

With that being said, here are a few movies that I wanted to see from last year but haven’t yet. They weren’t ones I wanted to watch before the Oscars, but all of them could have had the potential of making my Top 10 list I think:

The Brave One, American Gangster, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Eastern Promises, Into the Wild, The Savages.

I actually have The Brave One and Eastern Promises on my DVR right now thanks to HD PPV, but haven’t had a chance to get to them.

Mike’s Top 10 Movies from 2007

My top 10 list isn’t going to be in the style of Oscar, where I would choose the best made and highest quality films that might deserve a Best Picture win. Granted, I am choosing GREAT movies to list here, but mostly these films are also ones that touched me, meant a lot to me and really took my breath away.

For example, you wont find There Will Be Blood on my Top 10 list, mainly because when I thought about it, I’d rather see any one of my choices below a second time before Blood.

Here is the list, in reverse order as I’m fond of doing. The links in each description will take you to my review of the film, a few of them from awhile ago so I apologize for some of my early writing.

10. Zodiac

This scary little film called Zodiac starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. was long but never boring. Based on the true story of the Zodiac killer who terrorized Southern California, the film is freaky, well-acted and superbly cast.

9. Rescue Dawn

Christian Bale can do no wrong lately and Rescue Dawn was another feather in his cap. He plays a POW who is captured during the Vietnam war in Laos. Bale, along with Steve Zahn, give amazing performances as they try to figure out a way to escape.

8. Superbad

Another Judd Apatow gem with Michael Cera whom I love, and Jonah Hill who is catching fire. From Superbad we learn the phrase “I am McLovin” and also get a nice little story of friendship in the middle of it all.

I did like this better than Knocked Up, but both were awesome additions from Apatow.

7. No Country for Old Men

A fantastic movie with a western flavor and one of the baddest guys seen in awhile, No Country for Old Men really impressed me. It has a tricky ending that not all will get, understand or appreciate, but the acting, cinematography and writing was brilliant.

6. Michael Clayton

George Clooney knows how to pick ‘em, and Michael Clayton was no different. Aside from Syriana, this is probably my favorite Clooney movie ever. He stars as a “janitor” for a law firm who tries to clean up messes, but finds himself in the middle of something bad.

A fantastic script and amazing execution.

5. Gone Baby Gone

There was just something real about Gone Baby Gone. It had its own pace and made you feel like you were really somehow thrust into this Boston suburb looking for a lost girl. Casey Affleck is one of my favorite newcomers to the acting world (although he’s not really new, just becoming more popular) and he’s great here in his brother Ben’s directorial debut.

4. A Mighty Heart

Such an overlooked movie from last year, most people for some reason don’t want to give A Mighty Heart a chance, but I think it was the performance of Angelina Jolie’s career and the story it tells is chilling and sad.

A true take of a horrible moment in Afghanistan war in Iraq in 2002. Everyone should see this movie.

3. Once

I don’t know what it is about Once and what it did to me, but it will always be one of my favorites of all-time. A simple film, with beautiful music made between two people who find each other but aren’t quite sure what to do about it.

Few movies strike an emotional chord with me that lasts for a long time, yet here I am still loving Once like I did the first time I saw it.

2. Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum was simply the best action film of 2007 and that’s saying a lot in a year that was filled with blockbuster movies like Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Transformers, Live Free or Die Hard and on and on.

There is no comparison to the Bourne Trilogy in recent years. They are smart films, with such quick and amazing action sequences that it just blows your mind. Matt Damon helped create almost a perfect trilogy that hopefully is left alone.

(Although a fourth would still probably be awesome. )

1. Juno

What can I say? When I saw Juno I just knew it would end up being my favorite movie of the year. It was sweet, cute, smart, hilarious, witty, moving and unique.

Ellen Page became a star in this film. Michael Cera continues his awkward but funny roles. Toss in a superb supporting cast with the likes of Allison Janney, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and more, and you have a real winner.

We’ll be seeing this again shortly and if it’s still out at a theater where you are, I’d suggest trying to see it before Oscar night. It’s worth it.

I’m secretly hoping it wins the Best Picture award, and I honestly think it might surprise us all and do it.

Honorable Mentions

Honorable mentions: Knocked Up, Order of the Phoenix, 3:10 to Yuma, Live Free or Die Hard, Breach, The Lookout, There Will Be Blood, The King of Kong and Seraphim Falls.

You can read all my movie reviews by visiting that section on this blog.

I ended up in the second row from the front, and while I really wanted to get up and leave so I could enjoy it more from a better vantage point, I found myself stuck in my seat, unable to leave.

The opening monologue from Tommy Lee Jones was basically the hook, line and sinker for me. He starts off by talking about how the old lawmen before him wouldn’t even carry a gun, but that he recently helped put a man in the electric chair.

The media described it as a crime of passion, but Jones’ character (Ed Bell) recalled the real story:

“He tolt me there weren’t nothin’ passionate about it. Said he’d been fixin’ to kill someone for as long as he could remember. Said if I let him out of there, he’d kill somebody again. Said he was goin’ to hell. Reckoned he’d be there in about 15 minutes.”

From that moment on the the movie grabs your attention and each move is spellbinding. There is a tension to the story right away that makes you realize this is something important, something scary, something dreadful.

After the opening by Jones, we find ourselves watching Llewelyn Moss, played by Josh Brolin, attempt to kill a wild deer in the middle of the Texas desert. After injuring the creature, he follows it and comes upon the bloodbath of a drug deal gone wrong. There is one man still alive, but barely, and he asks for water that Moss doesn’t have.

When he realizes that the last man standing in the gunfight is no longer around, he forgets the dying man, and tracks down the deserter only to find him dead from loss of blood under a tree. In his hands is a suitcase containing $2 million in cash.

Here is where Llewelyn realizes that there really is no trace that he was ever there, so he takes the suitcase, gets back to his truck and arrives safely home. But in the middle of the night, he awakes and finds the moral side of his being wont let him rest. He decides to go bring the dying man water.

This is where Llewelyn makes the mistake that propels the movie into it’s dark side.

He’s not the only one going back to the scene of the crime.

This time he leaves a clue behind about who he is, and that’s where Anton Chigurh really enters the movie. The last name sounds like “sugar” but I don’t think that’s exactly how you pronounce it.

Anton is played by Javier Bardem, who most likely will win the Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. If I had a vote, it would be for the first two scenes he appears in.

The first is a moment when he’s handcuffed and the unsuspecting guard has no clue that he’s about to die. Anton sneaks up behind him and slips the cuffs over the guard’s head and chokes him to death.

But in choking the guard, Anton pulls him down on top of himself and the face he makes as he struggles is a cross between terror, determination and utter sadistic joy. It’s spooky, something I wont soon forget. Check out the photo to the right, you’ll see what I mean.

The next moment is early on when he’s getting gas in the vehicle he currently drives, and the attendant asks him a normal question just to make small talk. What happens next is a quiet, terrifying conversation where Anton demands that the man to call heads or tails, asking him what’s the most he lost on a coin toss.

Anton exudes evil and malice, and has to be rated as one of the best bad guys in the history of film. His weapons of choice are a cattle stun-gun and a shotgun with a huge silencer on the front. The stun-gun shoots out a quick metal slug via compressed air, that is then retracted just as fast.

It’s great on foreheads and door locks.

The movie becomes a game of cat and mouse in a way, with Anton trying to find the money, and Llewelyn attempting to stay alive. Ed Bell is the sheriff that is a step or three behind the action, trying to figure out what is happening.

I can’t say enough about the way the Coen brother’s took Cormac McCarthy’s book and put it on the screen. Granted, I’ve not read this one yet, but I’ve read two of his others and it seems quite like his style.

And from what I’ve read from other critics, it really did capture McCarthy’s vision.

So much so that the ending was even kept despite its blunt and somewhat questionable finish.

In fact, in my theater, when the movie ended…there were so many reactions from all around me that I wish I had a tape recorder. “That sucked” to “Well, that’s the Coen brothers” to “wow” or laughter and also silence.

Some movie goers don’t appreciate untidy endings. I find them awesome usually, even if I get extremely frustrated not knowing WHY it ended that way.

I wont give any of it away, but suffice it to say, I felt like it produced a reaction that most people will think on long after they leave the theater.

Definitely one of the best movies of the year, with a tricky ending, but a superb cast and some amazing acting. Heck, even Woody Harrelson gives a short, but worthy performance.

AML Rating: A

Overall, my initial impression is that the nominations are pretty dang good and for the most part, make me MUCH happier than I’ve been with the other junior awards, like the Golden Globes for instance.

My only real beef with this list, and this comes from not seeing all the movies nominated, is that I wish Atonement for Best Picture had been replaced by something more deserving, like Into the Wild, which I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about. It’s something different, where Atonement feels so artsy and “Oscar-y” that they had no choice but to include it.

I guess it may be enough that it didn’t get many other nominations, especially for Keira Knightly.

The other huge snub is Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart, who so deserved a Best Actress nod and it’s a shame she’s not on the list. She succeeded in making me forget that it was the famous actress doing the part and instead, made me believe it was Mariane Pearl herself. Brilliant work.

What am I ecstatic about? How about Juno being on the Best Picture list and Ellen Page up for Best Actress. I can’t tell you how awesome it would be for both of those nominations to become winners, because they are just so deserving. In fact, I truly believe that Juno will win this year be the darling of Oscar night.

Another happy nomination for me is Falling Slowly, the song in Once, which is up for Best Original Song in a motion picture.

I am also glad Casey Affleck is up for a Supporting Actor nom, but it was a movie I hadn’t seen yet. I loved him in Gone Baby Gone though.

And finally, Michael Clayton being up for Best Picture hopefully gets some people to go see it again once it hits theaters in a few weeks because it was an amazing film.

I’ve highlighted some of the nominations I think will win, even though many of these categories I don’t really care about or have enough viewing to even judge correctly.

I’m happy to say I’ve seen 3 of the 5 Best Pictures, but I’m really bummed that No Country and Blood are still ones I need to get out and watch.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman – Juno
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones – In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney – The Savages
Ellen Page – Juno

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook – Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Ruby Dee – American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Christopher Hampton – Atonement
Sarah Polley – Away From Her
Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody – Juno
Nancy Oliver – Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton
Brad Bird – Ratatouille
Tamara Jenkins – The Savages

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan) 12 (Russia)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
Atonement
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Golden Compass
Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Seamus McGarvey – Atonement
Janusz Kaminski – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Roger Deakins – No Country for Old Men
Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Albert Wolsky – Across the Universe
Jacqueline Durran – Atonement
Alexandra Byrne – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Marit Allen – La Vie en Rose
Colleen Atwood – Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
Christopher Rouse – The Bourne Ultimatum
Juliette Welfling – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jay Cassidy – Into the Wild
Roderick Jaynes – No Country for Old Men
Dylan Tichenor – There Will Be Blood

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald – La Vie en Rose
Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji – Norbit
Ve Neill and Martin Samuel – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Alberto Iglesias – The Kite Runner
James Newton Howard – Michael Clayton
Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
Marco Beltrami – 3:10 to Yuma

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Falling Slowlyâ€? – Once
Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Songâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
*â€?Raise It Upâ€? – August Rush
Nominees to be determined “So Closeâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Knowâ€? – Enchanted
Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis – The Bourne Ultimatum
Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland – No Country for Old Men
Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane – Ratatouille
Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe – 3:10 to Yuma
Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin – Transformers

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg – The Bourne Ultimatum
Skip Lievsay – No Country for Old Men
Randy Thom and Michael Silvers – Ratatouille
Matthew Wood – There Will Be Blood
Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins – Transformers

ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier – Transformers