Monday, December 31, 2007

THE YEAR THAT WAS

**** BEST & WORST OF 2007 - BY JOSEPH M. PETRICK ****





TOP 10 MOVIES:




1. Sunshine
2. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
3. Bug
4. Once
5. Control
6. There Will Be Blood
7. The Darjeeling Limited
8. The Savages
9. Hot Fuzz
10. Lars and the Real Girl




ALMOST THERE:

1. Zodiac
2. Year of the Dog
3. 28 Weeks Later
4. The Host
5. No Country For Old Men




MOVIES I HAVEN'T YET SEEN AND MIGHT CHANGE MY LIST:

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Into the Wild
3. King of Kong
4. I'm Not There
5. Atonement
6. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead




WORST OF THE YEAR




1. Superbad
2. 300
3. Grindhouse
4. Spider-Man 3
5. Shoot 'Em Up
6. The Last Mimzy
7. Transformers
8. Disturbia
9. The Golden Compass
10. The Astronaut Farmer




BEST PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR:




1. Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
2. Ryan Gosling – Lars and the Real Girl
3. Ashley Judd – Bug
4. Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
5. Sam Riley – Control
6. Molly Shannon – Year of the Dog

BIGGEST SURPRISE:



The Hottest State

BIGGEST CRUSHES:



1. Keri Russell
2. Zooey Deschanel
3. Rose Byrne
4. Hayley Williams
5. Tina Fey




BEST ALBUMS:




1. The Honorary Title – Scream and Light Up The Sky
2. Tegan and Sara – The Con
3. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
4. Dear and the Headlights – Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
5. Cloud Cult – The Meaning of 8
6. Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
7. Motion City Soundtrack – Even If It Kills Me
8. Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
9. Saves the Day – Under The Boards
10. Yellowcard – Paper Walls




BEST SOUNDTRACK




Once - Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová




SINGLES OF THE YEAR:




1. Umbrella – Rihanna
2. Young Folks – Peter Bjorn and John
3. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová
4. The Henrich Maneuver – Interpol
5. Let It Happen – Jimmy Eat World
6. The Con – Tegan and Sara
7. The Opposite of Hallelujah – Jens Lekman
8. Chemicals Collide – Cloud Cult
9. Hot in Herre – Jenny Owen Youngs
10. West Coast – Coconut Records




BIGHT FUTURE AWARD:




Manchester Orchestra

TV SHOWS:



1. Lost
2. Tell Me Your Love Me
3. I Am Baby Cakes (web series)
4. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
5. The Clark and Michael Show (web series.)

BRIGHTEST HOPE FOR TV



Futurama coming back.




FAVORITE MOMENTS OF THE YEAR:




1. My Landlord walking in on me and Chris watching The Wire in our pjs and looking gay.
2. The applause after Notes screened at the Landlocked film festival.
3. Eating Sushi with Ruby and Keir.
4. Andy and I inspiring each other outside the gym while drinking smoothies.
5. The day I got the call about the Dashboard contest.
6. "Ladies and Gentleman, I give you…THE QUEEN!""
7. Getting published in the "In Situ" book.
8. Watching Sunshine in the theater.
9. Tegan And Sara playing "Umbrella" at their show (and then meeting them afterward),
10. Finding my car at the Beverly Center after having lost it for hours.




PREDICTIONS FOR 2008:

1. Speed Racer will be a huge bomb.
2. Adrian Tomine will not put out a new issue of Optic Nerve.
3. 'Falling Slowly' will win the Oscar for best original song.
4. The Dark Knight will be amazing.
5. I will sell a screenplay.





The year that was. A lot of surprises for me this year. The new Paul Thomas Anderson film was NOT my favorite film- which is weird- but I noticed that as far as films, the films that actually made me FEEL something tangible won out over style or technique- but then, I suppose that the ability to control an audience is a technique in an of itself.

Other shockers such as both Motion City Soundtrack and Yellowcard being on my top albums list is bizarre, I know- but I have to be honest, both of those albums were in heavy rotation for quite a while. I blame their catchy infectiousness- and thus I stand by their inclusion- because really, what's the point of a list like this if you're just going to lie to look cool by including In Rainbows when you didn't actually like it as much?

I will say that lists are a little silly because obviously no one person can watch or listen to everything so how can you say what is imperically the BEST or WORST. But hey, these are just fun. Thankfully I don't have to give an Oscar out (or get one any time soon for that matter).

Anyway, that said, there it is. My list. Have at me you critical dogs. Bring it on!

(oh wait- that reminds me that I wanted to include "Bring it On - In It To Win It" Great. Now I have to make a bunch of changes! ...Crap! )

Be good. Happy New Year.