Forget the Oscar contenders. What does the Academy know anyway? Here are the selected flicks, for better or worse.
Best of 2007:
“Black Book”
“Black Book” is a Dutch WWII adventure film by Paul Verhoeven, best known for “Robocop,” “Starship Troopers” and “Showgirls.”
“Black Book” is like the perfect cocktail. It’s as if Verhoeven went down the popcorn movie check list and checked each box: war, betrayal, a beautiful woman in trouble, a love triangle, revenge, steamy sex, explosions. Yet somehow the various elements of the film blend into each other seamlessly in a way that is often attempted, but seldom realized.
“Black Book” is so entertaining that at times it’s hard to tell whether Verhoeven is taking it seriously. But it’s all so well done that it doesn’t really matter.
– Kevin Corcoran
“Knocked Up”
Whatever comedy took up space on the nearest theater’s marquee this year can’t measure up to the comic masterpiece found in director Judd Apatow’s “Knocked Up” (though if you said “Superbad,” you’re close).
“Knocked Up” tells the unlikely boy-meets-girl, girl-gets-pregnant story of Ben (Seth Rogen) – who, along with his stoner pals, hangs out and plans a Web site featuring nude celebrities – and Allison (Katherine Heigl), a newly appointed E! correspondent living with her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann, a.k.a. Mrs. Apatow) and her husband Pete (Paul Rudd). The two meet at a club and wind up in the sack – Allison’s instant morning-after regret. Six weeks later, Ben gets the call, and you get the idea.
Apatow uses his actors’ improvisational chops to flesh out the dialogue, capturing this year’s funniest moments on screen. He hires an incestuous cast of characters, featuring strictly Apatow veterans and familiars, all schooled in Apatow’s improv-heavy “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and the brilliant, under-rated television series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Undeclared.”
Apatow maintains an unmatched comedic integrity, a difficult task under Hollywood’s unflinching eye, as he tackles heavier issues like safe sex and abortion (though now known as a word rhyming with “shashmortion,” thanks to Jonah Hill), but also picks apart the banalities of marriage and relationships (redundant sex lives, favoring fantasy baseball over time with the kids and the all-important quest to find meaning in one’s life through mind-altering substances during spontaneous trips to Las Vegas).
The finished product is a refreshingly sweet and original take on the modern-age comedy as it dives into chilling realizations of love, family and how to pick a gynecologist that’s right for you.
– Alex Woodward
Runner-up: “Ratatouille”
This is hands down the best film I have ever seen about a Parisian rat who becomes a chef.
The script takes a crazy idea and makes it into a smart, exciting adventure. The visuals are the best Pixar has managed yet. Everything about the picture comes together with grace and humor. Director Brad Bird (“Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles”) has proven that like this film’s protagonist, he has great taste.
– Kevin Corcoran
Worst of 2007: “300”
I apologize to those of you who loved it, but “300” was the most pompous, overrated, special-effects-drowned excuse for a movie I’ve ever seen.
It looked a lot like someone had spliced together cut scenes from “God of War” and sounded like it was written by a middle school boy hopped up on Cheetos and Mountain Dew. The history was bad. The acting was bad. The point of the movie was nonexistent. Bad movie.
– Kevin Corcoran
Runner-up: “Epic Movie”
I was too successful in avoiding bad movies this year, so “Epic Movie” takes this slot by default. This movie is essentially the longest, most expensive YouTube parody ever made. It takes a lot of easy pot shots at the big blockbusters of years past, lumbering harmlessly from reference to reference.
But I have to admit, I enjoyed watching Kumar face off against Stiffler’s mom.
– Kevin Corcoran
When recounting the abundance of mainstream and not-so-mainstream music that presented itself in 2007, determining what bombed is pretty easy. And although we couldn’t include all the pleasant surprises, we offer a few that merit The Maroon’s honorable mention.
BEST OF 2007:
Deerhunter, “Cryptograms”
Released just after the New Year, “Cryptograms” set a high standard for this year’s musical output with a debut worthy of unanimous critical praise.
The opening track opens with layers of soft noise washing in and out of tape loops of rushing water, followed by an echoing single bass note and a haunting ghost of a synth. The contradiction of sound locks into a pulse before falling into the title track’s steady tom beat bouncing to a tambourine and singer Brandford Cox’s retelling of his greatest fears and the life and death of a dream.
These few minutes take the listener in to their dynamic world of sound – the Brian Eno reliance on the pop form – that holds together the debut of this Atlanta quintet. Each song falls into its inevitable beginning and end through an open chasm of loose sound without losing a single sound wave to redundancy or frivolity.
The guitars are bright, deep and dragged through a universe of reverb and held in a tight, danceable bounce from an underappreciated bass. The songs are minimal but expand as the band breaths into a skeleton of a form of what is or what was.
“Cryptograms” propels this psychedelic circus into a tremendous display of the balance between music and noise, an attempt many groups have failed to accomplish.
-Alex Woodward
Radiohead: “In Rainbows”
Without falling into the inevitable praise following any Radiohead release, it is safe to say “In Rainbows” is without a doubt Radiohead at the top of their class and perhaps the best in their career.
Independently released via a pay-what-you-want Web site, the result of a four-year wait for their latest release focuses on a minimal presentation within a similar threshold of electronic music found in “Kid A” and “Amnesiac” but with the percussive, primal guitars and instrumentation of “Hail to the Thief.” Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood’s songwriting is orchestrated with an unmatched tightness and warmth.
Their production and means of release creates a sense of timelessness and ingenuity – a growing awareness of their position as a pioneering and inspiring presence for a generation of listeners raised under a broad umbrella of music accessibility. The digital age opened the doors of availability and awareness of new music and means of production with Radiohead as a figurehead for an evolution of sound.
M.I.A.: “Kala”
“Kala” is this year’s best mistake. As a result of her denied entry into the U.S., the Sri Lankan Briton applied her third-world savvy and voice-of-the-people delivery to the places represented in her debut “Arular.”
Instead of an album of Timbaland-produced booty-shakers (for example, the throwaway “Come Around”), M.I.A. immersed herself in the bounce of global ghettos and shanty towns, and found refuge in didgeridoo-driven hip hop, Aboriginal-youth gangs and spitfire Nigerian-refugee rappers. Her message is clear (“hands up, guns out, represent the world town”), and she refuses to step down.
This is an album that speaks with power – a broad brush on a uniform music canvas. M.I.A. merges a global perspective into unwilling ears as well as those rioting in the streets.
In an interview with director Spike Jonze for Vice Magazine, she perhaps best described her unique position in pop music: Holding a photograph of an impoverished African youth, she explained while he was aware of rapper 50 Cent, 50 Cent was not aware of him.
M.I.A. is the link between these two very different worlds.
-Alex Woodward
WORST OF 2007:
Toby Keith,
“Classic Christmas”
It’s been a long, miserable year for the music industry. Though a few bright lights in the independent realm raised some eyebrows in the whirlpool of music criticism, the Top 40 world couldn’t have sunk any lower.
Despite this year’s garbage can brimming with over-produced noise, targeting a single worst album is near impossible. When it comes to a year-end-wrap-up decision, the choice is based on the necessity of production – whether a populous needs or wants to hear a certain selection of music.
For instance, despite the release of his gut-wrenching heap of forgotten 90s alt-rock misery, Daughtry’s consistent American Idol following garnered an audience (albeit a gullible one) spinning in their chairs for his self-titled debut album.
But this year’s Christmas top-seller raises the biggest question mark in 2007.
The former putting-boots-up-certain-ethnic-asses cowboy turned Ford spokesman has cuddled up to the sacred realm of Christmas standards.
Again, one must question the necessity for this to enter production. At what point did a group of stiff executives decide putting Toby Keith in a Santa Claus costume would benefit anyone other than those directly involved with its making?
Consider this release the iceberg to the Titanic that is this year’s music industry.
– Alex Woodward
There hasn’t been a more significant year for Dancing Queens (and Kings) since Studio 54 introduced Disco and recreational cocaine usage into mainstream culture. 2007 provided us with a catalog of catchy and crazy dance sensations. With greatness also comes tragedy, as 2007 also produced several dance crazes that hopefully end at midnight on New Years Eve. To you, the good and the bad, we toast. Dance as if it’s the last dance-the last chance for romance tonight.
Best of 2007:
Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em – “Crank That”
Since April, “yooooooooooouuuu” and everyone “yooooooooooouuuu” know have been attempting to crank that Soulja Boy at the clubs, at parties, weddings, funerals and Bar Mitzvahs to no avail. As America endeavored to learn this seemingly complex, yet fulfilling dance, aid poured in from all corners of the country (mostly Atlanta) in the form of instructional YouTube videos illustrating the proper way to Crank That. While many attempted it, few mastered the art of cranking it and were eager to exhibit their skills whenever the song played at the club, on television and on someone’s ringtone. “Crank That” appears as if it will defy the dance craze stigma and join the “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and the “Macarena” as established dance tracks well past 2007. Feel secure in the fact that if a wedding is dragging, the mood can be changed by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em as he has the guests chanting, “Superman that hoe!” I will be.
How To Crank It Like Soulja Boy Photo Slideshow
Lil Boosie, Webbie and Foxx: “The Wipe Down”
Not since the Big Three conferred at Yalta has there been a more significant collaboration of luminaries than this year when three hip hoppers remixed “Wipe Me Down.” The song and accompanying music video, which glorify the importance of having pimpin’ personal hygiene, inspired a dance: the Wipe Down. This dance varies by the region or even the bar, making it the best dance to improvise after you have forgotten the steps and your name after too many drinks. Follow Foxx’s lead and wipe down your “shoulders, chest, pants, shoes.”
Worst of 2007: Cupid:
“The Cupid Shuffle”
Unlike other stereotypes, the generalization that white people have no rhythm is typically true. For them and others who haven’t mastered the left right, left right routine, Cupid, a Lafayette, Louisiana native and apparent narcissist, developed the “Cupid Shuffle.” The shuffle is an update of the childhood favorite, the “Hokey Pokey.” Yes, the that’s what it’s all about “Hokey Pokey.” Instead of being performed at the roller rink, Cupid has changed a step or two and moved the dance to the nightclub where he booms out dance steps to the revelers. In 2007 the Shuffle was everywhere. Hopefully in the new year, the “Cupid Shuffle” won’t be what it’s all about.
Drunk College Students Everywhere: “The Harlot”
Since the birth of human civilization, humans have gotten intoxicated and horny. To alleviate Neanderthals’ sexual frustrations, strippers evolved, grinded and pole danced their way into human history.
From them, college students and nymphos developed “The Harlot,” a mating dance. While seemingly self explanatory, this dance requires a great deal of skill and sex appeal.
The dancer must grind, shimmy, shake and generally dirty it up, while making sex kitten faces at their desired target. While Nelly “Promiscuous” Furtado can succeed at “The Harlot,” sloshy sorority girls and frat boys cannot.
– Justin Templet
As the end of the year approaches, it’s about that time when we reflect upon our fashion escapades and determine whether they were in good taste, or prove we had no idea what the hell we were thinking. The year of 2007 certainly had varying trends in fashion, from the continuing skinny jean mania to a plethora of masculine-inspired women’s clothing lines with a much more laid back attitude. Nonetheless, there were a few notable trends (good and bad) worthy of the annual scrutiny.
Best of 2007 –
Jewel Tones
Most commonly worn in the fall, deep, rich colors like emeralds and sapphires have always been a bold addition to any outfit. Romantic colors like these are a timeless trend and are a color palette that clothing lines everywhere have adopted.
Vests
Discard the idea that vests are reserved for the nerdy scholar; they’ve made a worthy comeback this year as a great way to add a flattering top layer to your outfit. Found in different fabrics and structures, their vintage flair suits almost any style.
WORST OF 2007 – Crocs
Come on, the name alone speaks for my condemnation. Although they slightly predate the year of 2007, this unfortunate proliferation of Crocs somehow continues (similar to the Uggs phenomenon). They may have the power to induce serious feet euphoria, but why do people want to sacrifice the embarrassment of wearing this strange-looking thing we call a shoe for comfort?
Waist-Cinching Belts
This trend started out as a figure-flattering accessory to be worn with the proper ensemble (simple dresses and pencil-skirts are just a couple). But they quickly turned into something girls slapped on with every outfit just because it was hot at the moment. Popularized by underfed celebrities, these belts can do the opposite of what they should by being cinched a little too tight (it’s not a corset). These look especially unpleasant in patent leather (another abominable trend).
– Melodie George
Kevin Corcoran can be reached at [email protected].
Melodie George can be reached at [email protected].
Alex Woodward can be reached at [email protected].
Justin Templet can be reached at [email protected]
