Widowers, Teenage Pregnancy, Suicide, and Psychotic Breaks - Oh my!

You know what your problem is, it's that you haven't seen enough movies - all of life's riddles are answered in the movies. - Steve Martin

That's right Steve, movies are one of the most prevalent medias in our culture today... And I am addicted to them. Upon a recent count spurred by curiosity as to how many movies I actually watched this past year, I came up with a startling number. I watched 62 new releases in 2007. That doesn't mean that I watched 62 movies I hadn't seen before, that means that I watched 62 movies that were released in theaters in 2007. That is more than one new movie a week.

Granted, I didn't watch them all in the theater, but many of them I did. Heck, I even drove long distances for some of them (some just so I could watch it with friends, others because I couldn't find them locally).

Here is an alphabetical list of the movies I watched:

"300"
"3:10 To Yuma"
"Across The Universe"
"Alvin And the Chipmunks Movie"
"August Rush"
"Balls Of Fury"
"Beowulf"
"Blades Of Glory"
"The Bourne Ultimatum"
"Bridge To Terabithia"
"Dan In Real Life"
"Disturbia"
“Dragon Wars”
"Enchanted"
"Evan Almighty"
"The Ex"
"Fantastic Four 2"
"Fracture"
"Ghost Rider"
"The Golden Compass"
"Good Luck Chuck"
"Hairspray The Movie"
"Hannibal Rising"
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Movie"
"Hot Fuzz"
"I Am Legend"
"I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry"
"The Invasion"
"Juno"
"Knocked Up"
"Lars And The Real Girl"
“License to Wed”
"Live Free Or Die Hard"
“Meet the Robinsons”
"Mr. Brooks"
"National Treasure 2"
"The Number 23"
"Ocean's 13"
"Peaceful Warrior"
"Pirates Of The Caribbean 3"
"Premonition"
“Pride”
"Ratatouille"
"Rush Hour 3"
"The Seeker: Dark Is Rising"
"Shoot Em Up"
"Shrek 3"
"The Simpsons Movie"
“Spiderman 3"
"Stardust"
"Stomp The Yard"
"Superbad"
"Sweeney Todd Movie"
"TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)"
"Transformers The Movie "
"Wild Hogs"
"Wristcutters"
"Zodiac"


While 2007 was a year of sequels and huge blockbusters, my favorites of the year were neither. Three of my four favorite movies of the year I had to drive 80 miles to find because they were limited releases. The fourth I saw on my local theater's "Arthouse" screen (Yeah, I now watch Arthouse movies).

My top four movies of the year (Not really in any order because I can't pick an order) were Dan in Real Life, Juno, Wristcutters: A Love Story, and Lars and the Real Girl. Each and every one of these movies was incredibly character driven, which is a rarity in today's theaters.

Dan in Real Life - The touching story of a widower struggling to raise his three daughters. He thinks everything is going alright, right up until he meets the woman of his dreams... only to then learn that she is his brother's girlfriend. The characters are realistic and so easy to relate to that you care about them by the end of the movie, and not just in a silly "What's gonna happen" way like with most movies. While not normally a Dane Cook fan, he actually pulled off the role of the spoiled younger brother who is desperately trying to show he can change for a woman he loves, while the normally slapstick Steve Carell plays a man who is easy to empathize with, lovable, and believably confused as he tries to raise three girls as a lone man.

Juno - Between Ellen Page, J.K. Simmons, and Michael Cera, this movie has an amazing cast and the characters and funny, yet believable. A comedy that also tugs on the heartstrings. Ellen Page was rightfully nominated for a best actress award, and I hope to god she wins. Michael Cera is quickly becoming one of my favorite new actors with his honest and realistic humor and insecurity. With Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, and J.K. Simmons as the supporting cast, Juno was a great movie that I will probably watch again in theaters now that it has expanded.

Wristcutters: A Love Story - How do you make a movie about people who have committed suicide living in the next world and searching for a meaning to their existence (whether that be an ex-girlfriend who killed herself too or the people in charge so you can tell them you didn't commit suicide, you just OD'ed), well someone managed to, and it is a great movie. The attention to detail shown in this movie is astounding. Nobody in this afterlife can smile, but they don't mention it until halfway through the movie, and by then you finally realize that nobody has smiled yet. The little things like that make all the difference in this kind of movie.

Lars and the Real Girl - Over the years, Ryan Gosling has shown himself as an incredibly versatile actor who can be anything from a cold-blooded killer to a young man in the throws of love. In Lars and the Real Girl, he does an incredible job of portraying a man with a serious psychological problem. A man who has problems relating to people and connecting with them buys a realistic sex doll and introduces her around as his girlfriend he met online. The entire town he lives in pulls together to make sure that "she" is made to feel at home. A heartfelt movie about what people will do for people they care about.

Well, that is a short blurb about my four favorite movies of the year, and now for a disclaimer:

If you care about your sanity, soul, mind, or eyes, don't - I repeat, DON'T - watch Dragon Wars. Between the horrible dialog, shoddy plot holes, ridiculous twists, and completely stupid Deus ex Machinas, Dragon Wars was an utter affront to my sensibilities.