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Top Ten 2007: Raves, faves and more!

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Another year, another bunch of movies and my mind boggles with the prospect of revisiting the year in film and coming up with my top 10 lists.

1. “Charlie Wilson's War” - Based on Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.

2. “3:10 to Yuma” - This excellent though bloody western stars Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.

3. “Juno” - An adorable film about making the best of mistakes and bad situations

4. “No Country for Old Men” - an amazingly well filmed and acted film, except, that is, for the ending!

5. “Once” - A talented, lonely Irish guitarist who lives with his father sits down with a pretty pianist to play a song he wrote and the connection is musical.

6. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” - Some found this tale to be long and tedious, but it wholly entertained me. It's a masterfully filmed western, but certainly limited in action.

7. “Away from Her” - A moving and remarkable look at the effects of Alzheimer's.

8. “Before the Devil Knows You're Dead” - A shocking and painful tale about two brothers and a stupid decision that changes their family forever.

9. “Enchanted” - I love this delightful family film; it's a real Cinderella story!

10. “The Bourne Ultimatum” - This wonderful, action-packed thriller nicely rounds out the Bourne trilogy.

Films that I think deserve accolades even if they didn't make my top 10:

1. “Lars and the Real Girl”

2. “Live Free or Die Hard”

3. “The Lookout”

4. “Hairspray”

5. “The Bucket List”

6. “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”

Others I have yet to see, but for which I have high hopes:

1. “There Will Be Blood” - A powerful tale about greed and religion and life during the turn of the century. Note: This film does not open in our area until Jan. 18.

Best Performances

1. Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”

2. Ellen Page, “Juno”

3. Ben Foster, “3:10 to Yuma”

4. Benecio Del Toro, “Things We Lost in the Fire”

5. Amy Adams, “Enchanted”

6. Julie Christie, “Away from Her”

7. Jack Nicholson, “The Bucket List”

8. Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”

9. Josh Brolin, “No Country for Old Men”

10. Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”

2007's 10 Worst Films

(I made a habit this year of avoiding what I thought would be horrible movies, so this is the list of the ones I did see and did hate. Still, the list could be longer.)

1. “The Reaping” - Reaps no praise from me. The apocalypse might be more entertaining.

2. “Fred Claus” - Not Vince Vaughn's genre. The makers of this film have been very naughty.

3. “Georgia Rule” - Rule number one: don't bother.

4. “Because I Said So” - Why? Diane Keaton should be ashamed.

5. “Wild Hogs” - A real pig of a movie.

6. “Ghost Rider” - This film should have been torched, not released.

7. “1408” - John Cusack acted the heck out of this flop of a horror film, but it was too long, too stupid, too not scary.

8. “Joshua” - A ridiculous, bad “Omen” copycat, and I mean the original “The Omen.”

9. “Perfect Stranger” - Perfectly strange and not good.

10. “In the Land of Women” - A place where no man or woman should tread.

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