2007 / Mark Helfrich > There’s something disturbing about watching Dan Fogler in the presence of other women. In Good Luck Chuck, his sleaze factor is through the roof, which actually becomes mildly fascinating after a while. Either way, this gross-out romantic comedy is both enjoyable and forgettable for its over the top premise. Dane Cook is likable and Jessica Alba is in it. So, that was good.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2007 / Tim Story > For some reason, I thought it couldn’t get worse than the original, but indeed that was a naive assumption. Sequels are generally worse and this is no exception. Silver Surfer should have saved this, but he comes off pretty bland and one-dimensional, and the climactic sequence is lacking proper character development to be effective. Jessica Alba is in it, though. So, that was good.
Mr. Brooks
2007 / Bruce A. Evans > Mr. Brooks takes multiple pages out of serial killer thriller flicks and tries to package it together, but it’s all been done before. There’s really nothing fresh that the film offers that makes it stand out, though the interactions between Kevin Costner, William Hurt and Dane Cook are surprisingly entertaining.
The Hottest State
2007 / Ethan Hawke > I’m not sure if Hawke’s novel is this moody and petty, but the film adaptation of The Hottest State is dreadfully painful to sit through. Neither lead characters give a reason to care, and the script lacks any sort of direction or wonder to hook onto. Films about heartbreak always walk a thin line between self-indulgence and an objective disposition, and this one gorges itself in the former.
Charlie Wilson’s War
2007 / Mike Nichols > Charlie Wilson’s War has an Aaron Sorkin imprint on it the way it doesn’t have a Nichols one: It’s a witty but forceful political piece where there’s good and there’s bad, and the good fights to win by sometimes doing morally ambiguous things. The film is smart and entertaining, even if it doesn’t offer the kind of depth that that sticks in your mind years after. The writing is as sharp as one would expect, and Tom Hanks utilizes his dialogue well opposite an equally excellent offering from Philip Seymour Hoffman. It may be Nichols-lite, but it’s better than most of Hollywood has to offer these days.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2007 / Julian Schnabel > When I first heard this was going to be made into a film, I was filled with both worry and wonder. A film about a man who communicates by blinking? How interesting could that be on the screen? In amazement and awe, however, Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (who ought to be a lock for an Oscar nod) have adapted The Diving Bell and the Butterfly into celluloid with a level of imagination that even Jean-Dominique Bauby may not have had in his writing process. The scenes where Bauby (played immaculately by Mathieu Amalric) and his father (played by an appropriately aging Max von Sydow) communicate before and after the stroke are mesmerizing and heartbreaking. All the women in the film shine in reflection to Bauby’s “butterfly,” each adding an extra layer of emotion and character to a life not to be pitied. No doubt one of the year’s very best, the film is an epic of human creativity and strength.
I Am Legend
2007 / Francis Lawrence > Will Smith’s best acting effort to date. Atrocious CGI mutants. Excellent action sequences. First 80% puts it in the top 5% of all sci-fi films ever made. Last 20% moves it back to the middle of the pack. Most of the story is better than the novel, but the ending, which couldn’t have happened in the novel, was too Spielbergian to be effective. This wasn’t just a weak ending; it was bad enough to render the whole film meaningless and tasteless.
Gone Baby Gone
2007 / Ben Affleck > Whatever you may say about the elder Affleck, know that his directorial debut is as sharp and promising as any this year. In supplement, also know that the younger Affleck is burgeoning into a full-fledged actor of a certain range and emotion that ought to impress for some time. Putting these two together with Dennis Lehane’s novel and a superb performance from The Wire’s Amy Ryan, we eventually come to find a final product that utilizes a child kidnapping as a device via which to question and analyze morality. Undoubtedly, one of the toughest distinctions over right and wrong is faced by those who are paid to uphold the law, and Gone Baby Gone explores this to a satisfying and almost fatalistic degree.
Music and Lyrics
2007 / Marc Lawrence > When the basis of the film is based around a songwriter, its ultimate sin is what Music and Lyrics commits: Having a rather boring, homogeneous treat for the ear. Other than that, the story is a bit ho-hum, and Drew Barrymore is simply annoying. The sort of childish charm from 50 First Dates is gone and instead replaced by a character built around silly paranoia and self-pity, exactly what you don’t want to deal with in a romantic comedy.
American Gangster
2007 / Ridley Scott > Bloated and unfocused, Scott’s epic fails to adequately build on the strong source material provided by the life and times of the notorious Harlem-based heroine distributor Frank Lucas. In fact, one of the most extraordinary angles of this story is left to a simple caption near the end which, if one has their head turned away for a split second, could easily be missed. Much could have been left on the cutting floor, much could have been added. Scott fails to give the audience an emotional center to latch onto besides the glorification of a gangster whose morality is seldom questioned. There is a belief that people who do socially irresponsible things (whether it’s polluting the earth or murder) do so because it’s the way in which they know how to live. American Gangster tries to tell us that over and over, but somehow never fully forms a complete thought to get that point across successfully.