While some cinepehiles will argue cinema might never reach the same heights that it did in the 1970s or 1990s, 2007 stands out as a great year for the medium before it became apparent that television was the more “serious” medium when it came to serious dramatic storytelling. It was only a year later that the true rise of comic book movies began with Iron Man and The Dark Knight; at the same time, Breaking Bad premiered its first season on AMC and launched a modern era of “peak television.”
2007 was a year when there was still a lot of variety within the types of films that were released and became mainstream hits. Blockbusters like The Bourne Ultimatum, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, 3:10 To Yuma, and the original Transformers were all high quality, and new comedic voices began to emerge thanks to films like Superbad, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Lars and the Real Girl, Smiley Face, and Knocked Up. It was also one of the most exciting years at the Academy Awards, which featured one of the better Best Picture lineups of the 21st century. Here are the top ten best films of 2007, ranked.
10 ‘Juno’
Juno may have a mixed legacy today, but when looking past the film’s complicated depiction of abortion, the film remains a refreshing and delightful teenage comedy with a stellar lead performance from Elliot Page.
The hit dramedy sparked one of the best writer-director pairings in modern film history between Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, who would collaborate again on Young Adult and Tully.
9 ‘I’m Not There’
While there have been countless musician biopics over the course of the 21st century, Todd Haynes’ inventive examination of Bob Dylan’s legacy found an interesting way to tell the story of the iconic folk singer by having different actors portray his different personalities.
Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Marcus Carl Franklin, Richard Gere, Ben Whishaw, and an Oscar-nominated Cate Blanchett each provide different insights on Dylan’s inspirations.
8 ‘Gone Baby Gone’
Ben Affleck proved that he should be taken seriously again as a storyteller by stepping behind the camera for his directorial debut Gone Baby Gone, an acclaimed neo-noir about procedure and moral dilemma surrounding a child abduction in Boston.
He cast his brother Casey Affleck in this riveting investigative thriller based on the novel of the same name by the author of Mystic River. Amy Ryan was Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
7 ‘Eastern Promises’
Viggo Mortensen’s next collaboration with infamous genre director David Cronenberg earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor (he was nominated again years later for Captain Fantastic and Green Book).
Eastern Promises is a film best viewed knowing as little as possible, as it’s safe to say that the gangster thriller packs in some major plot twists in its third act. A sequel has been rumored off an on for years, though it’s
6 ‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’
Western films often perpetuate stereotypes of toxic masculinity and fail to admonish violence, but Andrew Dominik’s masterful historical epic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was a surprisingly nuanced deconstruction of fan culture and the obsessions of youth.
The relationship between the iconic gunslinger Jesse James (Brad Pitt) and his biggest fan, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck in another great performance) was a better depiction of violent radicalism than what Todd Philips would attempt to do with Joker.
5 ‘Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead’
The late great Sidney Lumet ended his career not with a whimper, but with a (literal) bang in this riveting crime thriller. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is one of the best neo-noir movies so far this century.
Ethan Hawke and the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman do stellar work as a pair of brothers that plan to rob their parents’ jewel shop, leading to disastrous consequences.
4 ‘Hot Fuzz’
It’s a close call when it comes to naming Edgar Wright’s best film, but Hot Fuzz is the perfect anecdote for anyone sick of clichés in buddy cop movies. It’s a perfect blend of action and humor that stands as one of the best R-rated comedies ever made.
Unlike Shaun of the Dead, in which Simon Pegg and Nick Frostplay lifelong friends, Hot Fuzz features the pair as two very different police officers forced to team up together to unravel a conspiracy.
3 ‘Zodiac’
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David Fincher’s masterful crime thriller may have been ignored by the Academy Awards at the time of its release, but it has subsequently been hailed as one of the Se7en director’s best.
The film explores how an obsessive cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal), a quirky reporter (Robert Downey Jr), and a dedicated cop (Mark Ruffalo) cross paths on a mission to find the notorious titular serial killer.
2 ‘There Will Be Blood’
There hasn’t a better male performance over the course of the 21st century so far than Daniel Day-Lewis’ terrifying portrayal of the obsessive business tycoon Daniel Plainview.
A Citizen Kane for the modern era, There Will Be Blood is Paul Thomas Anderson’s most riveting expose on the corrupting nature of greed and the sins within American capitalism. There Will Be Blood set the bar for modern epic filmmaking. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Actor and Best Cinematography.
1 ‘No Country For Old Men’
After years of being snubbed, Joel and Ethan Coen finally won the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for their stunning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s riveting crime novel. Similar to There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men is a deconstruction of neo-noir archetypes that deals with the perpetration of violence within the Old West.
It’s a close call between which of these two masterpieces deserved the top slot, but as terrifying as Day-Lewis’ depiction of Plainview is, there are few characters that embody pure evil quite like Javier Bardem’s Oscar winning turn as the remorseless serial killer Anton Chigurh.
