Sitting in the Dark

James McAvoy. Let's just pause to enjoy shall we?

Okay, so I went and saw both Atonement and Sweeney Todd in the last few days.

Sweeney Todd would have been great if there was less singing. Yes, I did know it was a musical, but some more dialogue would have been nice. I enjoyed the whole look and feel of the movie. Johnny Depp does a respectable job with his singing, as does pretty much everyone in the film. There's just too damn much of it. A highlight was a song that I think is called "Have A Little Priest." Or something like that. It comes up when Sweeney and his partner in crime are discussing what could be done with the dead bodies Sweeney will be producing. It's decided that they will be ground up and used as the meat in Mrs. Lovett's pies. Yum. It's a very funny song with a great bit about being unable to tell if a poet is dead. HA! Thankfully, no dance numbers.

Atonement, on the other hand, was lovely. Well, heartbreaking-ly lovely, but lovely all the same. It definitely has all the qualifications for an Oscar Best Picture nom.

Hot young acting cast--check

Story about separated lovers--check

Period piece--check

War--check

Ending to make you cry--check

Dude with bit of skull popping off while talking--check

See, it has it all. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy do really well in this flick. There is plenty of subtle acting moments and McAvoy can get teary eyed with the best of them. I thought Joe Wright and his cinematographer gave the movie an interesting visual language with some really creative shots. The single shot moving through the beach where soldiers had gathered in hopes of being picked up and returned home lasted at least 5 minutes, probably more, and was very impressive. I also enjoyed seeing a scene from the younger sister's perspective and then seeing the scene as it really happened.

So, I guess this is my list of favorite films for 2007:

Once

Juno

Atonement

No Country For Old Men

No End In Sight (documentary about the Iraq war)

Lars and The Real Girl

Zodiac

The Simpsons Movie

Sunshine

Into The Wild

Superbad

Woot's also going to

Waitress

HP5

Eastern Promises

Bourne Ultimatum

On a side note, these picks, along with my fave lists for music and tv, reflect only what I've seen or heard. I know that there are other options out there, but I don't get to check out everything so this is just the best of what I enjoyed.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Again, my spacing for this puppy seems to be acting up. Sorry if it all gets squooshed together.