2007 marked the year of the Coen Brothers. No other film came close to the impressive 358 spots on top 10 lists that No Country for Old Men could be found on, becoming the second Coen brothers movie to top the number one spot (the other being 1996′s Fargo).
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas Anderson reached the top 10 for the third time in his short career (Magnolia, Boogie Nights) with his highest rating ever.
Approximately 585 lists were found in 2008. The top 40 are as follows:
“Rather than impose actors on the scene, Costa involves the people who already live there. Instead of training them to perform a story, he locates a skeletal narrative from a rehearsal process based on their personal stories.” — Nathan Lee, Village Voice
37. Hairspray (38 lists, 2 top spot)
34. Black Book (45 lists, 4 top spots)
“Judged in dramatic terms, situational ethics drive the film, never slackening the pace nor making the nearly 2 1/2-hour running time seem overlong. Van Houten is rarely out of the frame, but she’s no mere eye candy.” — Peter Howell, Toronto Star
“The movie duly quickens into pursuits of every speed, and the homage to action thrillers is there in the smallest detail; the clicking of a ballpoint pen, say, is amplified to sound as menacing as the cocking of a gun.” — Anthony Lane, New Yorker
31. American Gangster (54 lists, 3 top spots)
“Purposefully uneventful and made in a minor key, Killer of Sheep moved me to tears. Contemporary audiences may not recognize it as a great movie. There’s not an ounce of slick in it; it’s neither manipulative nor hurried.” — Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News
29. No End in Sight (59 lists, 3 top spot)
“Remember the scene in A Clockwork Orange where Alex has his eyes clamped open and is forced to watch a movie? I imagine a similar experience for the architects of our catastrophe in Iraq. I would like them to see No End in Sight.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
28. 3:10 to Yuma (62 lists, 2 top spots)
“The best Western since Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma is both cathartic and intelligent. While a wildly eventful action-adventure and outlaw shoot-’em-up, it’s also a vibrant story of heroism, villainy and hard-earned redemption.” — Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle
26. The Savages (63 lists, 3 top spot)
“Tamara Jenkins has made a movie about something that lots of people are going through but nobody wants to deal with, not even in life, much less in entertainment. And she’s done it fearlessly, with the right mix of humor and horror.” — Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
25. Gone Baby Gone (65 lists)
“In emulating the best — Eastwood’s Mystic River, Scorsese’s The Departed — Affleck shows excellent instincts, not least of which is letting his brother, Casey, hold the center as a young guy not as smaht as he thinks he is.” — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
24. Syndromes and a Century (65 lists, 9 top spot)
“Are these parallel tales a Buddhist romance? An attempt to induce something like 3-D narrative depth? A consideration of repetitive human activity over the course of a lifetime? You might as well ask why the breeze is rustling the leaves.” — J. Hoberman, Village Voice
23. Superbad (67 lists)
“Contains laughs galore, so many that the last one may get in the way of next one coming. But it’s also got moments where you may want to cover your eyes to shield yourself from the sheer, wince-inducing familiarity of the behaviour on display.” — Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star
22. Grindhouse (73 lists, 6 top spots)
“The 1970s exploitation movie gropes, bites, kicks, slugs, blasts, smashes and cusses its way back to life in Grindhouse, a ‘Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature’that lovingly resurrects a disreputable but cultishly embraced form.” — Todd McCarthy, Variety
21. The Lives of Others (73 lists, 12 top spots)
“A genuinely thrilling tale, leavened with sly humor, that works ingenious variations on the theme of cat and mouse, speaks to current concerns about personal privacy and illuminates the timeless conflict between totalitarianism and art.” — Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
20. The Bourne Ultimatum (78 lists, 6 top spot)
“Insistent, ingenious and slammed full of five heart attacks worth of action, The Bourne Ultimatum may be the best conspiracy action-thriller ever made, a beautifully crafted mix of mayhem, well-earned paranoia and unlikely introspection.” — Tom Long, Detroit News
19. Persepolis (81 lists)
18. Knocked Up (90 lists, 3 top spot)
17. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (105 lists, 13 top spots)
“First, this movie should be enjoyed. Later, marveled at. And then, once the excitement has faded, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days really should be studied, because director Cristian Mungiu creates scenes unlike any ever filmed.” — Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
16. Away From Her (107 lists, 5 top spots)
“Bergmanesque and beautiful, set in a wintry landscape fitfully lit by one woman’s flickering awareness and one man’s long-term, stubborn love, Away from Her is one of the most remarkable and moving love stories the movies have recently given us.” — Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
15. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (110 lists, 5 top spots)
14. Sweeney Todd (116 lists, 11 top spots)
13. Atonement (126 lists, 17 top spots)
“The film is gorgeous to look at, well paced (especially during the first half), and by turns touching and sad. The ending packs an emotional punch, which is what one would expect from any movie developed from a McEwan novel.” — James Berardinelli, ReelViews
12. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (127 lists, 11 top spots)
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the story…of the moment in America when myth was murdered by mere celebrity and we were left, perhaps forever, with only the latter’s meager consolations.” — Christopher Orr, New Republic
11. Michael Clayton (133 lists, 14 top spots)
“This uncommonly intelligent thriller evokes the great films of the 1970s (All the President’s Men, Klute, Three Days of the Condor) that managed to elicit gritty urban realism while maintaining a suave sense of style and moral complexity.” — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
10. Eastern Promises (134 lists, 3 top spot)
“Eastern Promises, a chilly character thriller set in the Russian underworld of London, has elements of murder mystery and gangster melodrama. But in director David Cronenberg’s hands, it’s a search for moral bearing in a dark and desperate world.” — Desson Thompson, Washington Post
9. Into the Wild (138 lists, 13 top spots)
“Sequences are gorgeously filmed by cinematographer Eric Gautier, and they’re heady with the joy of discovery — they make you want to hit the road into the magnificent landscape we forget is out there.” — Ty Burr, Boston Globe
8. I’m Not There (141 lists, 18 top spots)
“The singular haunting beauty of I’m Not There, Todd Haynes’thrilling deep-vision meditation on the music and many lives of Bob Dylan, is that obsession isn’t just its fuel — it’s the movie’s spirit and subject, its driving force.” — Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
“Forget everything you think you know about the movie musical, one of the more predictable genres. With Once, writer-director John Carney deconstructs it and reinvents it as something wholly new, inspired and alive.” — Christy Lemire, Associated Press
“A film as rich as a sauce béarnaise, as refreshing as a raspberry sorbet, and a lot less predictable than the damn food metaphors and adjectives all us critics will churn out to describe it. OK, one more and then I’ll be done: it’s yummy.” — David Ansen, Newsweek
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (163 lists, 26 top spots)
“Thanks to Bauby’s courageous and honest writing, and Schnabel’s poetic interpretation, what could have been a portrait of impotence and suffering becomes a lively exploration of consciousness and a soaring ode to liberation.” — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
4. Juno (178 lists, 19 top spots)
3. Zodiac (216 lists, 27 top spots)
“Fincher leads us down little dark alleys and side streets, and we’re never quite sure who might jump out to be the killer. After three decades, details of the case have faded from public consciousness, so the movie is surprising at times.” — Bill Muller, Arizona Republic
2. There Will Be Blood (245 lists, 63 top spots)
“An impressive achievement in its confident expertness in rendering the simulated realities of a bygone time and place, largely with an inspired use of regional amateur actors and extras with all the right moves and sounds.” — Andrew Sarris, New York Observer
1. No Country for Old Men (358 lists, 90 top spots)
“Bardem is nothing less than the best movie villain since Anthony Hopkins slipped out of Hannibal Lecter’s manacles, scary-smart and horrifyingly appealing, and Brolin is nothing short of a revelation.” — Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
Here’s a top 10 list for 2007. I know it’s way late, but here goes (it’s from Aaron Dumont):
10. Paprika
9. Southland Tales
8. Killer of Sheep
7. Into Great Silence
6. Private Fears in Public Places
5. Syndromes and a Century
4. Bamako
3. There Will Be Blood
2. Colossal Youth
1. I’m Not There