Stephen King has been writing a column on pop culture in Entertainment Weekly for years now and at the end of every year he comes out with his list of favorite books, songs, and movies. As Stephen King is a guy I really respect and I enjoy reading his work (sure, he’s no Cormac McCarthy, but King is a great modern storyteller and a master writer), I always get a kick out of reading his year end wrap-ups and he always leaves me surprised with his his interesting and sometimes unconventional choices (this year, he put The Lookout on there – great minds think alike, isn’t that what they say?). And the man actually has a pretty good taste in movies. So check out his list for 2007 below and enjoy!
10. IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Most of 2007′s political movies failed because they were too angry to be anything but propaganda. This one, about a heartbroken father trying to discover the truth about his son, was tight, involving, and controlled. One of two great Tommy Lee Jones performances this year.
9. 28 WEEKS LATER
Scary as hell, one of the two or three best zombie movies ever (we’ll see how I Am Legend stacks up). These folks may be brain-dead, but they’re fast, and the movie-opening chase sequence is a tour de force.
8. THE LOOKOUT
Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines as the ex-big-deal hockey player trying to remember how to open cans of soup after a catastrophic car accident (for which he was responsible). When he gets caught up in a robbery, this class-A thriller becomes a tightly wound crime classic.
7. 3:10 TO YUMA
The best non-humorous Elmore Leonard adaptation since Mr. Majestyk. You expect Russell Crowe to be great — he’s always good when he’s bad — but the big surprise is Christian Bale (pictured). He doesn’t outdo Gary Cooper for simple decency, but comes close. And you get to watch Russell Crowe wear that amazingly cool hat.
6. LITTLE CHILDREN
Todd Field’s poison bonbon about bored young marrieds in the suburbs is as funny as it is sad. Kate Winslet is great — you’d expect that — and so is Gregg Edelman as her porn-addled husband. The unexpected treat is Jackie Earle Haley (pictured, with Phyllis Somerville) and his turn as the bewildered ”sex criminal” who becomes the subject of neighborhood hysteria.
5. CHILDREN OF MEN
Like 28 Weeks Later, this is a near future you wouldn’t want to inhabit, but you can’t look away. And as the Ordinary Guy In Over His Head — in this case spiriting what may be the last pregnant woman on earth to safety — Clive Owen (pictured) makes a terrific old-school hero. This movie also contains the year’s best line, delivered by Michael Caine just before he’s shot: ”Pull my finger.”
4. BREACH
Tight, taut, perfectly paced. You expect Chris Cooper (pictured, right) to be great as the super-religious (but deeply amoral) FBI agent selling secrets to the Soviets; the pleasure comes when you realize Ryan Phillippe (left) is just as good as the agent assigned to bring him down. Their final locked stare was one of the year’s classic moments.
3. THE LIVES OF OTHERS
It’s about eavesdropping, but for once not about the people who are being listened to. This one is about the listener: party hack Gerd Wiesler, brilliantly played by Ulrich Mühe (pictured in background), who died much too soon. ”Peek not at a knothole, lest ye be vexed,” my mother used to tell my brother and me; the moral of this story is ”Listen not at one, lest ye be changed.”
2. GONE BABY GONE
The second great film to come from a Dennis Lehane novel. What makes this special isn’t so much the terrific performances by Casey Affleck (pictured, left), Michelle Monaghan (right), and Ed Harris (center), or the tight script; it’s Ben Affleck’s smart, heartfelt direction. He puts lower-middle-class Boston on the screen as it really is, and tells a story that could happen in any American city. You call that universality, folks, and it’s rare. Particularly in Hollywood.
1. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
The Coen brothers have lately fallen on hard times, critically and commercially. This restores them to their proper place as great American filmmakers. No Country is the best modern-day Western since The Getaway, and one of the best adaptations of a major novel ever. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that Javier Bardem doesn’t steal the movie as psychopath Anton Chigurh. Tommy Lee Jones (pictured) doesn’t quite let him, and his stalwart sheriff gives Christian Bale (3:10 to Yuma) something to shoot for when he grows up.
Keep looking to see his lists from the past few years. There are a few eyebrow-raising picks, but I think that is part of the beauty of his lists.
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2006
10. The World’s Fastest Indian
Anthony Hopkins as a motorcycle racer. What else do you need to know? Oh, the movie’s great — funny and moving.
9. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Frakkin’ horrible title. Great movie. Tommy Lee Jones channels Cormac McCarthy…and it works.
8. Waist Deep
This is old-school urban action, honey, the way they don’t hardly make ‘em no more. Starring the immensely likable Tyrese Gibson.
7. Snakes on a Plane
You got your basic snakes on a plane, you got Samuel L. Jackson doing his thing, and a good-humored, high-tension script that recalls the first two Bruce Willis Die Hard pictures. So, hey — what’s not to like?
6. The Illusionist
Two movies featuring magicians from the early 1900s came out this year. I saw both, liked both. What made The Illusionist special for me was Edward Norton dueling with Paul Giamatti, and an ending that compelled me back into the theater at once to see how I had been tricked.
5. The Descent
The best horror movie of the year, beyond doubt. Possibly because the main characters are all adults, for a change? The sense of doom-laden claustrophobia this movie generates is intense and remarkable.
4. Casino Royale
I came out of the theater thinking it was the best Bond since Goldfinger. A subsequent viewing of Goldfinger — for this column — has convinced me it’s the best Bond ever.
3. The Departed
Ensemble ‘’star power’’ movies hardly ever work, but when they do, they can be cool. The Departed is can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it entertainment. Matt Damon continues to amaze me with his versatility.
2. United 93
If this emotionally wrenching docudrama isn’t nominated for Best Picture, the Academy should be ashamed of itself.
1. Pan’s Labyrinth
I happened to see this in July and was completely seduced by its beauty and emotional ferocity. Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Mimic, Blade II) directed, and to call this his best work isn’t enough. I think this extraordinary R-rated fairy tale for adults is the best fantasy film since The Wizard of Oz. And while it’s much darker than Wizard, it still celebrates the human spirit. Your Uncle Stevie thinks you will see this movie.
2005
10. The Jacket
Adrien Brody stars as a haunted Gulf War vet falsely accused of killing a cop. He lands in the New England asylum from hell and goes on a mind-bending head trip that may be time travel. One of 2005’s best performances.
9. The Devil’s Rejects
In the midst of last summer’s stream of carefully packaged TV dinners came this sicko Rob Zombie greeting card about a posse of outlaws led by a killer clown named Captain Spaulding. No redeeming social merit, perfect ‘70s C-picture cheesy glow; this must be what Quentin Tarantino meant when he did those silly Kill Bill pictures. (B)
8. Cinderella Man
Russell Crowe batters his way to dignity and Renée Zellweger shines in Ron Howard’s beautiful bookend to Clint’s Million Dollar Baby. This movie had everything but an audience.
7. The Constant Gardener
Complex novels of the John le Carré sort rarely make for good movies, but Ralph Fiennes, as the mild-mannered bureaucrat determined to get to the bottom of his beloved wife’s death, makes this one work. (B)
6. War of the Worlds
Standout performances (Cruise, Fanning) and inspired direction (Spielberg). The special effects go without saying — although maybe they shouldn’t. What makes this the year’s great popcorn film is Josh Friedman and David Koepp’s screenplay, which never leaves the viewpoint of the common folk; nary a general or president to be seen. WoW is human science fiction, and that’s a rarity.
5. Crash
A brilliantly dramatized examination of race and class in present-day Los Angeles, and a triumph for Paul Haggis. The rare ‘’smart little film’’ with a starry ensemble cast (Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Sandra Bullock, Terrence Howard, etc.) that actually works…largely because it keeps its sense of humor — and hope. That was highly unusual this year.
4. Good Night, and Good Luck
Sure, it looks more like an episode from the original Twilight Zone than a movie, but the performances by David Strathairn, Frank Langella, and George Clooney are big-screen all the way. Of course, the theme — free press versus political pressure — has never been more relevant.
3. Downfall
Experiencing this German movie about Hitler’s last days is a little like watching rats drown in a drainpipe, but the willful blindness of politicians, even when driven into their final corner, makes it a cautionary tale worth telling. Some were disturbed that Bruno Ganz’s remarkable turn as Hitler humanized the mad dictator, but that’s exactly what makes this story so terrifying. (B)
2. Capote
I predict that Philip Seymour Hoffman will win an Oscar for his portrayal of Truman Capote, here shown researching his ‘’nonfiction novel’’ In Cold Blood. He deserves it. Capote is also Part 1 of What’s Wrong With the Movies This Year: a great film about a brilliant, repulsive, manipulative, coldhearted bastard whose progress we watch as scientists might watch microbes mounted on laboratory slides. Murderers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are ultimately more sympathetic. If this celluloid reptile finally uncoils in the multiplexes of the great American heartland, will anyone go see it? I wonder. I loved it, but did not love myself for loving it. (B)
1. The Squid and the Whale
What’s Wrong With the Movies This Year, Part 2. About another writer, this one an ego-driven monster who demonizes and nearly breaks his children’s hearts and minds. It will never play the nabes in the heartland. It is — perhaps unfortunately — even better than Capote. Jeff Daniels plays the monster. He’s great. Laura Linney plays the monster’s wife. She is too. He can’t even bear to let his sons beat him at Ping-Pong; after the couple separate, she initiates an affair with the younger son’s tennis coach. Yum. I could barely stand to watch this, but I have seen creative folks like these in action and every note rang true. There’s an almost perfunctory glimmer of hope at the end, but this is dark stuff indeed. (B)
2004
10 Red Lights
This French import, a cautionary tale of one husband’s dark drive and lost soul, wins the Hitchcock award as the year’s creepiest film. It starts slow, then works its feverish way up your nerve endings to your brain and heart.
9 The Bourne Supremacy
Okay, all that jumpy editing is a trick, but it’s a good trick. Bourne was the best action picture of the summer, and guess what? Matt Damon turns out to be the real deal.
8 Collateral
The cinematography has a sleazy shot-on-tape look, but Jamie Foxx is terrific and Tom Cruise is a revelation as the wolfish antihero. No one has done film this noir since John Boorman made Point Blank, and that be many moon ago, podner.
7 The Incredibles
Up until now, there’s been a sadness in Brad Bird’s best work — The Iron Giant (1999), of course, and The Plague Dogs (1982), where he served as one of the animators. In The Incredibles, sadness has been replaced by a sunny, raffish, generation-bridging charm. There are a few dark moments, but nothing a kid hip to Goldilocks and the Three Bears can’t deal with. And, speaking of kids’ stuff that’s also adults’ stuff…
6 Shrek 2
There’s nothing you can tell childless adults who haven’t seen this (or The Incredibles) except ‘’Go.’’ Hunt up a spare kid to use as a beard if you must. Like Alice in Wonderland, the Shrek movies work on one level if you’re 6 and on an entirely different one if you’re 36. But explaining how spoils the joke. Just take it from me, okay? This sequel manages to be openhearted and satiric at the same time, which is the comedic equivalent of a triple axel. It’s The Godfather Part II of animation.
5 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
[M]akes the first two Potter pix look like Joe Camp Benji movies. Some of this has to do with how gracefully the young protagonists are growing up, more with Alfonso Cuarón’s dreamily gothic visuals.
4 Fahrenheit 9/11
I’m no Michael Moore fan, okay? I don’t buy that blue-collar-’n’-ball-cap routine. But Moore’s a good documentary filmmaker who rose to greatness here. If Bowling for Columbine was Moore’s Tom Sawyer, 9/11 is his Huckleberry Finn — the sort of entertainment where you discover that the clown has lured you into a bramble patch full of tough questions and unpleasant home truths. Genuine satire, in other words.
3 The Manchurian Candidate
Terrific direction by Jonathan Demme and the year’s best ensemble cast, topped by Meryl Streep, who gives the meanest cinematic demonstration of smother love since Angela Lansbury in 1962.
2 Dawn of the Dead
Vicious, unregenerate entertainment. You can’t sit in front of it wondering if you put enough money in the parking meter, or if the dog is chewing hell out of the carpet back home; you can’t sit in front of it thinking about anything except what’s in front of you. Dawn produces the sort of E-ticket ride sensation that can’t be replicated on repeat viewings, but so what? Sometimes once is enough. This was a pure thrill machine. I could leave it off my list and look smarter, maybe, but then I’d be a liar. This was one cool movie.
1 Maria Full of Grace
We’ve had a thousand movies about drug pushers and users. Here’s a suspenseful, heartbreaking film about what happens when the junk is actually moved from the abysmal poverty where it’s grown to the land of opportunity where it’s bought and consumed. Catalina Sandino Moreno, in the year’s most radiant performance, plays a drug mule named Maria who agrees to swallow 62 latex-wrapped pellets of death and then fly to America with them inside her body, because there’s also a baby growing in there, and she wants something more than a life of poverty in an overcrowded apartment. Beautifully acted, simply told, and with a lovely handmade look that far transcends its budget, Maria is one of those rare movies you drag your friends to, telling them ‘’You have to see this.’’ The payoff is that when the movie ends, most of them actually thank you.
Movie laboratories are one of my favorite things ever. Metropolis,...
I found King in highschool but only managed to get through “The Stand”. I tried others but never got into the swing of things and over the years I’ve come to realize his style of writing is simply not my cup of tea. That said, he has an uncanny talent to pepper his work with social commentary (I particularly love his description of a family in “Christine” – complete with plastic flamingos on the front lawn). I first spotted his list last year and was impressed and again, as you mentioned Jonathan, he continues the good taste streak with this ’07 list.
maximum overdrive, Kings only self-directed film is a massive guilty pleasure.
I don’t have the time of day for his books, although i did go thru a lot of ‘em back in the late 1980s early 1990s.
I haven’t read King in years, but like Kurt, I sure did read a boatload of them back in the early 90s. His short stories are easily the best (Langoliers, Rage, The Long Walk, Shawshank, etc). But that’s not really the point of this post….
Breach at #4 eh? Well, to each his own I guess. Not a horrible film, but nothing spectacular. And I guess it does have Linney and Cooper to help it along. And in King’s defense, he probably doesn’t see nearly as many films as the rest of us. Also, you gotta admit that I guy like this has a pretty warped mind. He’d have a good time at Toronto After Dark.
Oh, and his remarks about Tommy Lee Jones are spot on. Elah was not nearly as bad as the critics hammered it for. A little preachy and a little heavy handed, but entertaining and forthright nonetheless.
IT is still TITS though. It deserves a better miniseries treatment than it received. Paul Giamatti as Pennywise… hmm. I guess the sci-fi channel never happened, it was probably just a rumor all along. Not that that held much promise.
I would describe the average S.King book as some good ideas afloat in a hack storm.
Interesting list, some seem from 2006 though, I wonder what he based it on.
The last fiction book I read of his was ‘It’, and oh man, scary stuff. His book ‘On Writing’ is fantastic for the writers out there. Practical, personal and inspirational all in one.
I had 7 out of his 10 on my top ten of the year. I think every year a zombie movie comes out it makes it onto his list. Go figure.
Andy: Mr. King is very good friends with George Romero, so yea, I think he is a zombie fan.
Yeah, its the friendship with Romero and not the 50,000 horror novels he’s written that lead one to believe he digs zombies.
I’ve read a lot of King, Cell being the last book I read. I have to admit this list didn’t disappoint. I fully expected No Country for Old Men to be #1, but I was surprised at some of the other entries on the list