Best of 2007: Movies

I posted this on a preliminary basis on January 1st. Now that I've seen most of the films for the year that interested me, here is a more definitive list.

1. Atonement

Joe Wright's follow-up to Pride & Prejudice was an all around marvelous showcase for good, classic filmmaking. The movie fired on all cylinders: acting, writing, filming, editing, scoring, costuming, sound, etc. It's quite possibly the best film I've seen in the last 3 years.

2. No Country for Old Men

Where Atonement was the year's best symbol of tradition, this was the equivalent for innovation. A remarkable, risk-taking film in which the Coen brothers used all the filmmaker's tools to create a chilling dramatic thriller. This is the year's other classic film.

3. Juno

The year's funniest movie, which despite packing in the laughs, managed to also find time to tap into some pretty heavy emotions and uncomfortable relationships. Ellen Page shined as Juno, but wasn't Jennifer Garner the bigger surprise?

4. American Gangster

Ridley Scott's Period gangster piece showed a gritty and glamorous portrait of 1970's New York, primed with the wealth of the growing drug trade. Denzel Washington makes it look so easy.

5. Gone Baby Gone

The first of two films that showed what a tremendous actor Casey Affleck was, as well as what a tremendous director his brother Ben could be. A dark and twisty thriller at its best.

6. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The other film where Casey Affleck showed his acting chops, and when compared above his breadth. This intimate, gorgeous film was a real surprise for me.

7. Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer uncovered the mysterious story of the journey and death of Chris McCandless when he wrote Into the Wild, and with this clever adaptation, Sean Penn found his spirit. It is a shame Emile Hirsch was overlooked by the Oscars.

8. The Savages

I didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. It was funny, piercing, and a pretty realistic look at the harsh reality of dealing with a dying loved one. It doesn't hurt that Laura Linney was magnificent, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman really good too.

9. Enchanted

This was the year's most purely enjoyable film, a cute, clever Disney send up in which Amy Adams perfectly towed the line as a Disney cartoon princess who finds herself lost in Manhattan.

10. In the Valley of Elah

It's too bad Paul Haggis's follow-up to 2005 Best Picture winner Crash wasn't a bigger hit, for it was a better film--a moving indictment of the war cloaked as a police procedural. At least Tommy Lee Jones got an Oscar nomination for this.

The rest of the best:

11. Michael Clayton

12. Persepolis

13. Waitress

14. The Bourne Ultimatum

15. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

16. Sweeney Todd

17. Zodiac

18. Eastern Promises

19. Ratatouille

20. There Will Be Blood

21. La Vie en Rose

22. Once

23. The Simpsons

24. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

25. Away from Her

Let downs: I'm Not There, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Year of the Dog, 3:10 to Yuma, Transformers (what was I thinking, perhaps I read the comment below).

Best of 2007: Music (Albums)

Two albums this year really transcended the pack for me. First their was Amy Winehouse's awesome modern/retro, clever/tragic, brassy/tearful masterpiece Back to Black, which, at least in the UK, just kept spitting better singles all year long. The other was Radiohead's In Rainbows, which made headlines for its buy it on-line and pay what you like strategy, but should be remembered for being a fantastic album--their most mainstream and accessible since The Bends, but built upon all their years of electronic experimentation that followed that 1995 disc. A couple of British bands whose first albums I liked--Hard-Fi and Kaiser Chiefs--released better second albums; Robyn, Girls Aloud, and Kylie released the year's best pop albums; X Factor winner Leona Lewis released a surprisingly good debut to mark her as the new Mariah Carey; and I was pleasantly surprised by albums by established bands I hadn't paid attention to before--Rilo Kiley, Wilco and Spoon. I even came around to appreciate the Arctic Monkeys album, after giving it a so-so review.

The year's 25 best albums (click on the titles to read my original reviews):

1. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

If a train wreck could be simultaneously beautiful, vulgar and classy it would be like Amy Winehouse singing her smoky modern jazz tunes with a retro sensibility. Essential cut: Back to Black

2. Radiohead - In Rainbows

This is a close second, and I wrestled for awhile with putting it at #1. I've been a casual Radiohead listener since OK Computer, but this put me solidly in the fan category. Every song is fantastic, and are the closest to traditional songs Radiohead has been since The Bends. Essential cut: House of Cards

3. Hard-Fi - Once Upon a Time in the West

A lot of British acts fell prey to the dreaded sophomore slump this year, but not Hard-Fi, who delivered a confident, diverse set that surpassed their 2005 debut. Essential cut: Tonight

4. Rilo Kiley - Under the Blacklight

This was a late-in-the-year discovery for me, but I was really won over by the upbeat, melodic set and its lead singer, Jenny Lewis. Essential cut: Silver Lining

5. Robyn - Robyn

A virtual unknown since 1998, Robyn returned to the English-speaking world this year with her massive comeback "With Every Heartbeat," leading an invigoration of her 2005 self-titled album with new cuts to make it the year's best pure pop album. Essential cut: Be Mine

6. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Wilco's album was about the music of rock and delivered a lot of soul, with varied instrumentation but an emphasis on good guitar playing. Essential cut: Impossible Germany

7. Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Kaiser Chiefs, like Hard-Fi, delivered a sophomore album that outshined their recent debut, going for a richer sound with more depth. Essential cut: Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)

8. Girls Aloud - Tangled Up

Another great pop gem, Girl Aloud's Tangled Up surpassed their last album by combining their producer's innovative sound with the necessary pop hooks that were previously absent. Essential cut: I Can't Speak French

9. Kylie Minogue - X

The return of Kylie wasn't as big a deal as it should've been ("2 Hearts" only peaked at #4 in the UK), but this electro-flavored album has enough good songs to still generate some major hits. Essential cut: 2 Hearts

10. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Another end of year discovery that I really loved. It's nice to hear upbeat indie rock that doesn't feel like it needs to ape The Killers or Coldplay. Essential cut: You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

11. The Good, The Bad & The Queen - The Good, The Bad & The Queen

Gorillaz never really did it for me, so it's nice to see Blur's Damon Albarn embark on another, more traditional, side project, channeling the experimentalism of that cartoon band into more conventional rock. Essential cut: Green Fields

12. Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Sometime the fall, after giving this album another chance, it finally clicked for me as something inventive and fun that's meant to deliver it's joy, sarcasm and wit in short bursts. Not the Beatles, but not bad. Essential cut: Fluorescent Adolescent

13. Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long

More confident than Songs About Jane, it's an all around great pop/rock album. Essential cut: Makes Me Wonder

14. Leona Lewis - Spirit

Surprisingly good debut from last year's UK X Factor winner. Might have what it takes to be the first UK artist with a reality show past to cross the pond successfully (sorry Will). Essential cut: Bleeding Love

15. Kelly Clarkson - My December

Kelly Clarkson learned her lesson this year: Don't piss off Clive Davis. This is still a pretty decent album, incorrectly labeled as have no upbeat pop songs that could have been singles. Essential cut: One Minute

16. Rihanna - Good Girl Gone Bad

Rihanna finally made a full album of good material that's already generated four hit singles and has the capacity to unlease more. Essential cut: Don't Stop the Music

17. The Fratellis - Costello Music

Upbeat Brit rocker party music that's probably best heard in a pub when everyone's drunk but still sounds good on a album. Essential cut: Baby Fratelli

18. Kanye West - Graduation

I'm not a rap fan, but I actually thought this was pretty good, with some great electro and '80s samples. Essential cut: Stronger

19. Bruce Springsteen - Magic

This is very traditional rock, but well done, with interesting storytelling. Essential cut: Devil's Arcade

20. The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Note that it's not in my top 10 (too pretentious for that), but it's still pretty good when it doesn't drown itself out. Essential cut: Black Mirror

21. Norah Jones - Not Too Late

Her star has faded a bit, but that may not be a bad thing, since she appears more willing to experiment on this third album than she did on her last. More folk than jazz now. Essential cut: Not My Friend

22. The White Stripes - Icky Thump

After the less successful departure of their last album, Jack and Meg are back to the stomping soulful minimalism they're known for. Essential track: Icky Thump

23. Annie Lennox - Songs of Mass Destruction

Soulful Annie delivers her best album in 12 years (that just means its better than Bare), a dramatic collection of upbeat and retro pop. Essential track: Love Is Blind

24. Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City

The city in question is London and the weekend is about partying, fame, terrorism, consumerism and love. Essential track: I Still Remember

25. Travis - The Boy with No Name

Travis delivered another lovely collection that was more upbeat than I expected. Essential track: Selfish Jean

Also good:
Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold
Blonde Redhead - 23
Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High
Feist - The Reminder "1234" is a clear highlight.
High School Musical 2 Soundtrack A guilty pleasure or for sure.
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand Laid back folk/rock.
The New Pornographers - Challengers

The Rakes - Ten New Messages
Mark Ronson - Version Don't miss the Amy Winehouse version of the Zutons' "Valerie."

Disappointing:
Air - Pocket Symphony. This reallly bummed me, since I loved their last album, Talkie Walkie, but this one was just dull.
Mutya Buena - Real Girl. Contains two awesome songs--"Real Girl" and "Song 4 Mutya"--and the rest was just sad filler.
Celine Dion - Taking Chances. Proves more than ever that Celine peaked in the mid 90s.
Hilary Duff - Dignity. What I said: "there's little else (besides a handful of tracks) I found very distinctive or interesting about this album."
The Editors - An End Has a Start. Another disappointing follow-up to a great album, The Back Room.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Trip the Light Fantastic
LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (No review, I couldn't bring myself to listen closely enough. I'll just say that I thought it was boring, and I'm determined to never buy another nerdy electronica album, because after Junior Boys, Hot Chip, Mylo, Postal Service, and Tiga, I've figured out that it's just not my thing).
Mika - Cartoon Motion. What I said: "There are some other winners...but too many songs take the party a little too far."
Seal - System. What I said: "Plays like a lightweight retread of (Madonna's) Confessions on a Dancefloor."
Britney Spears - Blackout. Do I really have to explain why?

2007: The Year in Pop Music

Here's my rundown of the year's pop music stories, trends, quirks, and whatever else I feel like expounding on:

• Amy Winehouse. How glorious a pop music figure is Amy Winehouse? Everything about her is this curious yin/yang balance. Back to Black was an amazing album, unspooling hit after hit--Rehab, You Know I'm Know Good, Back to Black, Tears Dry on My Own, Love Is a Losing Game--each one unique, clever, soulful, and sad. Her biggest hit of the year, "Valerie," began life as a Radio 1 Live Lounge performance before landing on her producer Mark Ronson's pet project, Version. She's got an amazing voice, but she sounds 34, not 24, which means she got that voice for some hard living. Her songs are witty, raunchy and in-your-face. But unlike many of her pop peers, she's not being ironic--she really does have substance abuse and emotional problems. "They tried to make me go to rehab but I said no no no" sounds cool until you realize it's not just a lyric, with the bitter truth unspooling through the tabloids over the course of the year, bringing me too...
• Tabloid queens. What is it with bad girl celebs this year? Winehouse excepted, it's like they realized their albums and movies would never be enough to net them publicity, so they ran around shaving their heads, driving recklessly, posing for mugshots, and serving time. Britney had perhaps the most amazing year of all, surprisingly capping it with an album that managed not to tank. The fate of her children though, remains in the balance, speaking of which...
• Babies and bad lyrics. Babies were everywhere in pop music this year. Unfortunately, they weren't a cause for celebration. Britney Spears lost custody of hers. And Britney's little sister Lynn, having seen from her older sister's example how beautiful motherhood could be, announced that she will join those ranks next year. Maybe she thinks that since she's starting earlier (16), she'll be better off than Brit. Then there's the music, where babies lent some of the year's worst lyrics. Natasha Bedingfield's comeback flop "I Wanna Have Your Babies" has them "springing up like daisies." Shayne Ward, pining for a beautiful girl in "Breathless" said "And if we had babies they would have your eyes. I would fall deeper watching you give life." Mmm..hope he feels the same way about the ensuing diapers.
• Attack on spelling and grammar. Pop music and spelling/grammar have never mixed well (remember Sinead's "Nothing Compares 2U?"), but this year had some particularly egregious fare. I love Timbaland's "The Way I Are," but every time I read the title I wince. Then there's Pink's equation song, "U + Ur Hand," which really needed an parenthetical answer ("= luv @ 1st site"). T-Pain scored a hit with "Buy U a Drank," the "U" aside, what exactly is a "drank?" Sounds like past tense of "drink," so does that mean it's an empty glass? Gee thanks T-Pain, thanks for this empty sticky glass you bought me. Next time I'll take a pint of ale.
• British sophomore slumps. Sophomore slumps are, of course, well documented, but it seems like an inordinate number of British acts suffered them big time this year. Natasha Bedingfield's NB lacked a proper "These Words" or "Unwritten" hit, James Blunt's "1973" was no "You're Beautiful," KT Tunstall got airplay but no sales for "Hold On" or "Saving My Face." The bands fared similarly, many getting one big hit, but then tanking with all the rest, a la Kaiser Chiefs, Hard-Fi, The Editors.
• R&B embraces electro and the '80s. After being dominated by the melody-free "beats" of the last few years, R&B & Hip-Hop took a nice turn back toward being tunesome this year, finding inspiration in the '80s, electro (or both), delivering such gems as Kanye West's "Stronger" and "The Good Life" and Rihanna's "Umbrella," "Shut Up and Drive," and "Don't Stop the Music." Even 50 Cent picked up on this trend, with the winning Justin Timberlake collaboration "Ayo Technology."
• Clive Davis rules the industry. This truism was proven again and again this year. Kelly Clarkson dare speak out publicly against him? No hits for you Kelly! Her third album managed only the moderate hit single "Never Again," which she has since adopted as her mantra. In contrast, after third season X-Factor winner Leona Lewis caught his eye, she's on the way to becoming a massive international star next year.
• The music industry (finally, maybe) embraces technology. There's still some ripples of angst on this issue, but things are starting to look better. ITunes began offering DRM-free tunes, at a premium for a while, but now at the same price. Radiohead famously released their album from their Web site, allowing fans to pay whatever price they wanted. More back catalogs got added to iTunes, including much of the Beatles' solo work (still not their catalog proper). Still awaiting Garth Brooks to throw his hat in the ring.
• Female pop artists dominate. For every notable male pop artist I can probably name four or five female ones. This year was no exception, with Justin Timberlake being the only real male game in town. Compare that with the chart domination this year by Fergie, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Nelly Furtado, most of whom were still working last year's albums. Next year should be no exception, with new discs on the way from Madonna, Mariah Carey, and Dido by June.
• The UK chart has gone crazy. For the first year since I started following the British singles chart, it actually produced the same number of #1 hits as the Billboard Hot 100--17 singles. That's down from a record 42 #1 hits in 2000. The change in chart rules that allows any track to chart led to a few oddities--singles charting way in advance of a physical release, the assault of seasonal tunes in December, and the few one-offs like the return of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" and the radio station promotion that returned Billie's 8 year-old "Honey to the Bee" to the chart.

Best of 2007: Books

I love to read, but last year was just too crazy to do much of it. Consequently I only read 13 books last year, so this year I recommitted myself to reading and nearly doubled that. It's hard though with all the distractions of life (this blog being a primary one). Here's my list of the top 10 fiction I read this year released within the last two years:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling. JK Rowling penned the perfect wrap-up to her monolithically popular series. With such weighty expectations, it would have been understandable if this fell short--even a little bit--but she met the challenge head on, pushing the story past its boarding school trappings into the larger, broader (and scarier) world beyond the Hogwarts school, as Harry, Hermione and Ron cross the threshold into adulthood. It's naturally the darkest book yet, with a body count and battle scenes to rival any action film. It revisits locales and characters from throughout the series, tying up loose ends here and there. And just as Order of the Phoenix burst Harry's romantic vision of his father by showing how even James Potter was once an arrogant teen too, here too-perfect Dumbledore is also revealed as having some skeletons in his closet (and no, I'm not referring to the post-publication revelation from Rowling that he's gay). That good guys turn out to be flawed and bad guys turn out to be penitent (sometimes) shows the extent to which this series isn't a simplistic morality tale, but a rich modern take on humanity.

2. The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid. A Princeton-educated Pakistani, living the American Dream as a successful New York businessman, confronts his place in the world following the changes in the U.S. and his home country after 9/11. The short, simple prose of this moving novel betrays its rich thought-provoking nature. It's not what I expected, and that I expected something different reveals on a personal level the now deeply rooted prejudices harbored by post-9/11 Americans.

3. The Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perrotta. Perrotta takes a defining issue of the so-called culture war and uses it to pit two opposing "warriors" against each other, who ultimately come to understand (and maybe love) each other. It's also laugh-out-loud funny, especially the chapter where a group of teachers attend a punitive weekend session for straying from their abstinence-only curriculum.

4. Finn - Jon Clinch. The trend of building a novel around the embellished story of a classic novel's minor character (Geraldine Brooks' March won the Pulitzer last year for doing so with a Little Women) continues with Finn, the dark tale of the origin and fate of Huckleberry Finn's father. Using modern language Clinch has effectively woven his own brutal story around the 19th Century Twain classic.

5. The Echo Maker - Richard Powers. At times humorous and gut-wrenching, this is the story of an urban woman who returns to her small town roots to care for her brother who, following a traumatic accident, suffers a brain damage condition where he can remember but not recognize those he loves.

6. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini. The follow-up to The Kite Runner manages to delve deeper into Afghan society, this time focusing on the evolving place of women in the country before, during and after the grip of the Taliban. It's predictable, but the emotions are genuine, and the story is satisfying.

7. The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Not recommended for the clinically depressed; McCarthy's bleak novel follows a father and his young son on a post-apocalyptic journey across the charred Earth to find the remnants of humanity--if they still exist.

8. The Emporer's Children - Claire Messud. Pampered twentysomethings manage to waste their lives striving to define themselves against the expectations built their whole lives that they are meant to be something more than anyone else. A good novel for anyone who wonders how the Manhattan set live.

9. The Ruins - Scott Smith. What starts off run-of-the-mill (two young couples take a boozy vacation in Mexico) quickly turns dark and terrifying as an afternoon expedition in the jungle turns into nightmarish science fiction, crossing the breaking points of human endurance, compassion, and suffering.

10. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan. Ian McEwan continues to prove that he's one of the most important working novelists with this compact yet dense story of the breakdown of two newlyweds' relationship at the start of their honeymoon. I read this contemporary novel about a traditional 1950s British couple right before reading Revolutionary Road, a 1950s novel about a non-traditional American couple. Nice contrast.

Other books I read and loved. Nonfiction: Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson (a nugget-filled history of the English language), Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (the engrossing memoir of the now Gourmet editor's stint as the New York Times food critic), Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (examination of the growth, evolution and breadth of Mormon religion). Classic Fiction: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. Disappointments: The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (noirish crime fiction, was fine until the disappointing conclusion), Consolation by Michael Redhill (cool premise weaving a modern story and a historical one both set in Toronto, but I never believed in the characters).

Best of 2007: Television

I'll start my best of the year lists with TV. With the writers' strike still unresolved, who knows if I'll even be able to do this list next year. I don't watch a lot of television, so in order to get 10 shows here, I have to include a couple that I at least watched, but was disappointed in.

1. Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi). It took a bit of a dip in its third season, primarily from the set of stand-alone episodes in the middle of the season, but the new version of BSG continued to be television's most challenging show, offering socio-political commentary and multi-layered characters like no other show. The November special Razor wasn't as good as it should have been, but it was still a lot better than your average TV, and the longer DVD version helped flesh it out.
2. Lost (ABC). Lost really took a dip at the beginning of its third season, but about halfway through miraculously regained its footing, driving us toward a mindbending season finale that leaves the future of the show completely up in the air--the sort of cliffhanger on par with Battlestar Galactica's season 2 ending. Where will it take place? When? Are they in alternate reality now? Were they before? I cannot wait to get some of these answers.
3. Project Runway Canada (Slice). This is the Canadian version of the popular Bravo reality series, which debuted in October while I was vacationing there. Fortunately, some wonderful soul put the series on YouTube, which just concluded this week. While the U.S. version is having trouble finding its footing this year (and showing its age), this Canadian take revived the format's freshness, giving us a fantastic host (Iman), another genteel mentor (Brian Bailey), and a likable set of drama-ready contestants. They got it right with the final three, and the show's finale was really quite good. I was almost moved to tears when Elle Canada editor Rita Silvan gushed over Lucian Matis' collection, and his rival Evan Biddell, who'd picked on him all season, embraced emotional Lucian. And who couldn't love perky Marie Genevieve?
4. 30 Rock (NBC). The second season opener with Jerry Seinfeld was a clunker, but most of the rest of the episodes have been consistently laugh-out-loud funny. The cast continues to shine, particularly Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
5. The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard (PBS). This PBS import of last year's BBC miniseries broke the stuffy stereotype of Masterpiece Theatre. This show was fast-moving, modern, quirky, and, as a show about a grocery store manager who becomes Britain's prime minister, political. Jane Horrocks gave a fantastic performance in the title role. Shame on the Golden Globes for snubbing her.
6. Kathy Griffin: Life on the D-List (Bravo). Kathy Griffin's reality series was a lot better than I expected it to be. It was hilarious, but also touching, due to the unexpected death of Kathy's father. Is she really still on the D-List? I'm guess she's a solid B by now.
7. Project Runway (Bravo). So far this season isn't as good as the last two, but it's still decent television. What it needs is to focus on the contestants, who I haven't yet developed a reason to either love or loathe.
8. Pushing Daisies (ABC). Visually stunning, but already this new show is getting stale. Still, I do love the lead characters Ned and Chuck.
9. 24 (Fox). The fifth season was awesome, so how disappointing that the sixth was terrible. I'll keep watching out of loyalty, but season 7 better show some marked improvement quickly.
10. Chuck (NBC). This was the other new show I watched this fall, but I gave up on it after about five episodes. It was cute, but just not going anywhere, and the spy-lite formula isn't enough to sustain a series.