2007 Review - Part Two: The Awards

Best Films

1 – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Films as beautiful, imaginative and ambitious as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford are all too rare in American cinema – cherish it

2 – Zodiac
Zodiac finds a way to draw tension and intrigue from a story which we know will end in injustice and disappointment

3 – Silent Light
A film that is both ravishingly beautiful, and profoundly affecting in the most unexpected ways

4 – This is England
This picture firmly establishes Shane Meadows as the best British filmmaker of his generation

5 – Ratatouille
Why can't every film be as good as Ratatouille?

6 – The Bourne Ultimatum
We are completely engrossed in Jason Bourne's world, following every car chase, punch-up and revelation with rapt attention

7 – INLAND EMPIRE
It will undoubtedly be too strong a brew for some viewers, but after two viewings of INLAND EMPIRE, I can’t get it out of my head

8 – Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes is a mesmerising film which entranced me for 90 minutes

9 – Rescue Dawn
It plays like an exciting, mainstream war movie, but at its heart Rescue Dawn is very much about the same themes the director has always explored

10 – Knocked Up
The real magic in Knocked Up - as in Apatow's previous film - is the brilliant ensemble work

Honourable MentionsAfter the Wedding
Beowulf
Breach
Bug
The Counterfeiters
Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Clayton
Once
Southland Tales
Sunshine

Worst Films

1 – Captivity
Has our expectation of what a film experience should be sunk so low that garbage like this will suffice?

2 – StraightheadsThe sheer unpleasantness of this loathsome vigilante thriller makes its 80-odd minutes a chore to sit through

3 – Licence to Wed
Everything about this picture is inept

4 – Death Proof
Death Proof is a trivial waste of our time and a scandalous waste of its director's considerable ability

5 – Sleuth
Even after excising over fifty minutes from the original production, Branagh has produced a film which outstays its welcome

6 – Fred Claus
Fred Claus is a garish, noisy and relentlessly unfunny disaster which is likely to make scrooges of us all

7 – 300
Two hours of purposeless visual trickery depicting people we don’t care about, in a world we don’t recognise, engaging in a series of barbaric acts

8 – The Good German
This is a hugely disappointing stumble for Soderbergh

9 – Good Luck Chuck
It's not funny, it's just unpleasant and cruel and cheap

10 – Bobby
It aspires to the status of something like Robert Altman’s masterpiece Nashville, but a better comparison would be Grand Hotel rewritten by Paul Haggis

Dishonourable Mentions
Babel
December Boys
Factory Girl
The FountainFur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane ArbusMagiciansRendition
The Good ShepherdThe Tiger's Tail
The Walker

Best Actor

Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Thomas Turgoose – This is England
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Chris Cooper - BreachEmile Hirsch – Into the Wild

Best Actress

Laura Dern – INLAND EMPIRE
Marion Cotillard – La Vie en rose
Carice van Houten – Black Book
Ashley Judd – Bug
Maggie Gyllenhaal - Sherrybaby

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey Jr. – ZodiacStephen Graham – This is England
Steve Zahn – Rescue Dawn
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
William Hurt – Mr Brooks

Best Supporting Actress

Rinko Kikuchi – Babel
Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton
Romola Garai – Atonement

Best Director

Andrew Dominik – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
David Fincher – Zodiac
Carlos Reygadas – Silent LightBrad Bird – RatatouilleShane Meadows – This is England

Best Original Screenplay

Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
This is England
Knocked UpOnce
Best Adapted Screenplay

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Zodiac
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
Beowulf

Best Cinematography

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert FordI'm Not There
The Illusionist
Silent Light
Atonement

Best Editing

Zodiac
The Bourne Ultimatum
Atonement
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
I'm Not There

Best Original Score

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Bourne Ultimatum
INLAND EMPIRERatatouille

Best Visual Effects

Sunshine
Transformers
BeowulfThe Science of Sleep
The Fountain

Best Production Design

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Ratatouille
I Am Legend
Atonement
The Good Shepherd

Best Costume Design

The Golden Compass
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
This is England
Zodiac
I'm Not There

Best Surprise of the Year

Ten Canoes
Southland Tales
Bug
1408
Beowulf

Disappointment of the Year

The Good Shepherd
Spider-Man 3
The Good German
The Science of Sleep
Death Proof