Reviews by Matt

Having seen my final movie of 2007 and the need to put something up on my blog, I thought it would be a good idea to list my top 10 movies of 2007. It was a lot harder than I thought. I have seen some real stinkers and a lot were just O.K. There was only a handful that left an impression on me. Movies that made me glad that I paid the movie theaters an obscene amount of money this past year. What I have done is forgone the usual plot synopsis and just jotted down a few things that I liked about the movie.

With out further ado, I present my list.

1) “Juno.” The review of this is pending, but in short; it was the easiest to place. It is funny, smart, dramatic, sweet, touching and simply the most original movie I saw all year (and it only took me 364.5 days). It is so rare to find a movie where every single actor delivers such great performances.

2) “The Bourne Ultimatum.” This is one of the rare examples of a sequel that is as good, if not better then the original. The trilogy is my absolute favorite, even if it went away from the books.

3) “Grindhouse.” The most fun I have ever had in a movie theater. If more directors had as much passion as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez had then this list would have been much easier to make.

4) “3:10 to Yuma.” Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are two of the best actors and this movie shows why. Their star power alone is enough reason to see this.

5) “Michael Clayton.” This is another of those performance driven movies. George Clooney shows that he knows how to act beyond being Danny Ocean. He plays the reluctant hero. He wanted nothing more then to sit back and do his job. He is thrust into a position where he must act and Clooney makes it all believable.

6) “Hot Fuzz.” The funniest straight up comedy of the year, with out a doubt. Simon Pegg who starred as the title character in the zombie-comedy, “Shaun of the Dead” is as funny as ever. Sergeant Angel is a by the book cop who takes his job very seriously. He gets transferred to a town where there is no crime and has to make that adjustment. Pegg is brilliant in this role. He delivers a performance that is so straight-laced that it becomes funny.

7) “Waitress.” This year marked the year that I fell in love with Keri Russell as an actress. She blew me away in this movie. She plays a character who loves her husband despite the fact that he is a complete jerk and treats her like crap. The other notable performance in this is Nathan Fillion, who plays Russell’s doctor. The two have great chemistry and it shines on screen.

8) “American Gangster.” Russell Crowe pops up again on my list. In this one he plays a cop going after the bad guy. Crowe is an actor who seems to play every role he can and is good at it. There are very few times he completely fails to impress.

9) “Eastern Promises.” Besides begin the most brutally violent movie I saw this year, it was also a interesting story and I thought the acting was especially good.

10) “Live Free or Die Hard.” This one was the toughest pick. The first nine were going on, it was just a matter of where. This one I put on because it was one that I liked a lot more than I thought I was going to.