Music:
5. Air: Pocket Symphony (A solid, if not stellar album, but still my fav "chill" album of the year)
4. The National: Boxer (Just got into these guys this year. It's big and not terribly poppy, but some of the best songwriting of 2007)
3. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists: Living with the Living (By far the best and most enjoyable rock record of the year)
2. Kevin Drew: Spirit If...(Broken Social Scene has been my favorite working band for the past few years and this effort, with a few misses, would still rank as a very good BSS effort. Seeing him live proabably bumped this up a few notches since it kicked so much ass and he seems like an incredibly down-to-earth genius)
1. Dinosaur Jr: Beyond (Damnned if I didn't really get into these guys with this release. For some reason I always sort of liked their earlier stuff...I guess it always seemed a bit too noisy and aggro for me. But boy was I wrong. The four tracks that I really like on this album (out of 11) are so fucking good that the strength of those four tracks alone make this my fav of the year.Notable Omissions: Wilco: Sky Blue Sky (maybe I'm just a little burned out, it's a good album, but the overuse in commercials and my IPOD shuffle mode makes it difficult for me to constantly sit with an album unless it really grabs my attention.Ween: La Cucaracha: Sorry Guys...still love ya
Movies:
5. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (A late entry, but I laughed harder at the good parts of this than anything else this year)
4. Control: A very somber and non-flashy look at Ian Curtis of Joy Division's brief but excellent run of creativity before suicide.
3. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (It may seem pretentious of me to put this here, but it's completely beautiful to look at and really makes you value the simple acts of sight and speech, at least for about a few hours after you leave the theatre.)
2. Bug (I don't think anyone saw this, but I've never had such a physical reaction to watching a movie. I actually felt claustrophobic and was actually sweating...I remember needing a drink of water immediately after exiting theatre. It's a really fucked up look at schizophrenia, sadness and drugs. If that doesn't grab you...stay far away.)
This is kind of cheating but I have two very different films sharing
Number 1:
Juno (A very late entry but this is one of those movies that gives you a pleasant tug of recognition in nearly every scene. The whip-smart dialogue by newcomer and former stripper Diablo Cody is so in love with itself that she reminds you of a younger, female Tarantino. But, if you listen to good friends and family talk (try this) think about how your casual conversation would sound to a stranger, especially if you're a teenager. It's better to see a movie in love with dialogue than one that simply serves the plot. Ellen Page is so beautiful and touching in this and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner give the most realistic depiction of a young couple in a sham marriage that I have ever seen (he watches Herschell Gordon Lewis movies all day!) You'll leave with a smile on your face...rare that a movie can be so simultaneously self concious yet unpretentious.)
Zodiac (This is by far the best directed film of the year. American Gangster left me cold, but this police procedural is so well crafted with brilliant little details that it feels like a gigantic puzzle piece come together on screen. I can't believe this is the best (came out last Jan. I think) but it's stuck with me all year so Kudos David Fincher on another masterpiece)Notable Omissions:No Country for Old Men: My fav directors left me somewhere in that desolate Texas landscape and I never caught upAmerican Gangster: I think Ridley Scott is pretty hit or miss (Gladiator is so fucking bad) but I thought I would really like this. It just reinforced my belief that Goodfellas is the best gangster movie ever made and...The biggest disappointment in recent memory...The Simpsons Movie: Is it better to burn out or fade away?
4. The National: Boxer (Just got into these guys this year. It's big and not terribly poppy, but some of the best songwriting of 2007)
3. Ted Leo and The Pharmacists: Living with the Living (By far the best and most enjoyable rock record of the year)
2. Kevin Drew: Spirit If...(Broken Social Scene has been my favorite working band for the past few years and this effort, with a few misses, would still rank as a very good BSS effort. Seeing him live proabably bumped this up a few notches since it kicked so much ass and he seems like an incredibly down-to-earth genius)
1. Dinosaur Jr: Beyond (Damnned if I didn't really get into these guys with this release. For some reason I always sort of liked their earlier stuff...I guess it always seemed a bit too noisy and aggro for me. But boy was I wrong. The four tracks that I really like on this album (out of 11) are so fucking good that the strength of those four tracks alone make this my fav of the year.Notable Omissions: Wilco: Sky Blue Sky (maybe I'm just a little burned out, it's a good album, but the overuse in commercials and my IPOD shuffle mode makes it difficult for me to constantly sit with an album unless it really grabs my attention.Ween: La Cucaracha: Sorry Guys...still love ya
Movies:
5. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (A late entry, but I laughed harder at the good parts of this than anything else this year)
4. Control: A very somber and non-flashy look at Ian Curtis of Joy Division's brief but excellent run of creativity before suicide.
3. The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (It may seem pretentious of me to put this here, but it's completely beautiful to look at and really makes you value the simple acts of sight and speech, at least for about a few hours after you leave the theatre.)
2. Bug (I don't think anyone saw this, but I've never had such a physical reaction to watching a movie. I actually felt claustrophobic and was actually sweating...I remember needing a drink of water immediately after exiting theatre. It's a really fucked up look at schizophrenia, sadness and drugs. If that doesn't grab you...stay far away.)
This is kind of cheating but I have two very different films sharing
Number 1:
Juno (A very late entry but this is one of those movies that gives you a pleasant tug of recognition in nearly every scene. The whip-smart dialogue by newcomer and former stripper Diablo Cody is so in love with itself that she reminds you of a younger, female Tarantino. But, if you listen to good friends and family talk (try this) think about how your casual conversation would sound to a stranger, especially if you're a teenager. It's better to see a movie in love with dialogue than one that simply serves the plot. Ellen Page is so beautiful and touching in this and Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner give the most realistic depiction of a young couple in a sham marriage that I have ever seen (he watches Herschell Gordon Lewis movies all day!) You'll leave with a smile on your face...rare that a movie can be so simultaneously self concious yet unpretentious.)
Zodiac (This is by far the best directed film of the year. American Gangster left me cold, but this police procedural is so well crafted with brilliant little details that it feels like a gigantic puzzle piece come together on screen. I can't believe this is the best (came out last Jan. I think) but it's stuck with me all year so Kudos David Fincher on another masterpiece)Notable Omissions:No Country for Old Men: My fav directors left me somewhere in that desolate Texas landscape and I never caught upAmerican Gangster: I think Ridley Scott is pretty hit or miss (Gladiator is so fucking bad) but I thought I would really like this. It just reinforced my belief that Goodfellas is the best gangster movie ever made and...The biggest disappointment in recent memory...The Simpsons Movie: Is it better to burn out or fade away?
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