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Dec
31
2007

An American Film Geek’s Bottom 3 for 2007

Posted by Jim at 6:33pm.

Posted in Random Geek Talk .

It’s often said that a hero is only as heroic as his villain is evil.  By that logic, then perhaps the films on my Top 3 list are only as great as the entrees on this are crappy.  Or not.  In any case, here’s the bottom of my admittedly shallow barrel of 2007 movies…

1. Stardust

While not dismally bad like some of my year-end worst movie picks of the past, “Stardust” does have the distinction of being the weakest entry on my twenty-four-film list.  The sour streak of lousy Neil Gaiman screen adaptations culminated most prominently with “Stardust”.  It would not be until “Beowulf” a few months later that the prestigious fantasy writer would begin to clear his cinematic name.  But most at fault is director Matthew Vaughn, who has made a horribly uneven film, complete with bad special effects and an otherwise talented starlet (Claire Daines) playing a literal fallen star that looks more like a tired, sequined asteroid on screen.

2. Lucky You

Maybe Curtis Hanson’s down-on-your-luck poker romance was intended to be some kind of card playing answer to “The Great Santini”, complete with Robert Duvall as an oppressive father.  But whatever the intention, this is an undeniably major disappointment from a once-great director.  A snooze from beginning to end, the film wastes Drew Barrymore as the girlfriend who has nothing to do but cheer on sleepwalking Eric Bana through endless scenes of poker playing minutiae.  Zzzzz…

3. Tears of the Black Tiger (Fah talai jone)

Part spaghetti western, part Douglas Sirk melodrama, this self-conscious Thai import was simply trying too hard to be over-the-top hip.  The constant barrage of crazy colored facade-like imagery, combined with the transparent plight of the characters, made for an unsuccessful, if at times interesting, big screen hodge-podge.

A few other films hovering around the bottom of my 2007 list include “The Heartbreak Kid”, “Spider-Man 3”, and “Transformers”, the latter two remaining guilty pleasures all the same.  So thanks for reading, remember to love all plant and animal life, and stay out of jail in 2008.

- Jim Tudor

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Reader Comments

  1. EdBailey 12/31/2007 @ 6:51pm

    I’d just like to be nitpicky here and point out that ‘Tears of the Black Tiger’ is a product of Thailand, not China.

    It’s also 8 years old, but no doubt you’re going by the super-belated U.S. release date.

  2. Kamina 12/31/2007 @ 6:56pm

    I have to say, I found Stardust to be highly enjoyable.

  3. crazybee 12/31/2007 @ 7:42pm

    What is up with this list?  Just bad.

  4. Mike 12/31/2007 @ 8:32pm

    Well, Stardust was pretty bad. I haven’t seen the other two.

  5. Simon Abrams 12/31/2007 @ 10:43pm

    Yeah, it’s a little lazy to say Chinese instead of Thai. I have no respect for a list that can’t tell one nationality from the other.

  6. Swarez 12/31/2007 @ 11:01pm

    It’s strange to put Tears of the Black Tiger on this list, seeing that it’s eight years old, or are these films that you saw this year, regardless of their age?

    And Tears is a fucking masterpiece as well.

  7. Jim 12/31/2007 @ 11:13pm

    The China thing for “Tears” is a detail that slipped through the cracks in my haste to actually get this posted before 2008.  Should I change it?  I can change it… nah, I’m too lazy.  And yeah, it premiered here back in April, IIRC.  I didn’t count it as a re-release because according to the little bit of press I read on it, it had never been released here previously.

  8. The Visitor 01/01/2008 @ 3:38am

    i agree with Jim on Tears Of The Black Tiger. it’s novelty wore off about 20 minutes into the film.

    what’s the point of its homage? absolutely nothing. it’s neither a self-reflexive exploration of the style, nor is it any kind of statement on these kinds of self-conscious, overblown cinema of yore. nostalgia and novelty alone do not a great film make.

  9. Jim 01/01/2008 @ 9:15am

    Alright folks, I confess last night was in a grumpy mood because my wife and I had just wasted our New Years Eve watching “Idlewild”.  So, in the interest of proper respect, I’ve edited the “Tears of the Black Tiger” entry to include it’s Thai title, and to correct the country of origin.  Sorry about the previous oversights, and happy new year.

  10. Simon Abrams 01/01/2008 @ 9:48am

    I kinda liked “Idlewild” too. Huh, strike three.

  11. Novastar 01/01/2008 @ 10:39am

    Stardust had it’s moments,but it didn’t work out as a whole.It went from good to childish and vice versa.

  12. Kurt Halfyard 01/01/2008 @ 11:08pm

    I liked Stardust Well enough. It was entertaining for what it was.  It was even joss Whedon-esque (take that as you will).

    A I Love (LOVE!) Tears of the Black Tiger.  I’m glad you changed the post to reflect that it’s Thai though, perpetuating a known error is not a good thing.  Hard to believe that TEARS got it’s US Debut at all considering that the film is several years old at this point - DAMN YOU WEINTEINS and your Dodgey business practices! (But I guess TEARS has got nothing on ARMY OF SHADOWS or KILLER OF SHEEP in terms of delayed releasing!)

  13. jandrew 01/02/2008 @ 12:06am

    “I can change it… nah, I’m too lazy. “

    It shows.  Of all the horrible movies I’m assuming you saw, you include Tears of the Black Tiger?  At least they tried.  Why not expose a real waste of (unoriginal) film?  Twitch readers deserve much better.

  14. Drewbacca 01/02/2008 @ 9:23am

    If these are the worst films you saw in ‘07, you did pretty good.  I quite liked Stardust (Bob DeNiro’s best character in ages) and as fantasty films go, this one was a little better at not pandering too much.

    I do happen to agree with you agout Tears of the Black Tiger.  I also consider it an ‘07 release.  But the novelty lost it’s shine after about 15-20 minutes.  The rest of the film was zzzzzz…

  15. Jim 01/02/2008 @ 9:34am

    I agree that my worst films are not all that bad, but as I said in the intro to the best list, I did only get to 24 new films in 2007.  As far as lousy movies are concerned, I’d actually watch “Stardust” again before “Lucky You”, but from an overall standpoint, I had to concede that “Stardust” was the bigger overall failure.

  16. wisekwai 01/02/2008 @ 2:30pm

    If these are your worst films, then you did pretty good. Still, I’d swap out Ocean’s Thirteen, The Simpsons Movie or 300 (ugh) and put Stardust and Tears of the Black Tiger higher on the overall listing.

  17. sonny gaunt 01/02/2008 @ 2:55pm

    Wow, I am amazed that Tears is on here. I think the genre-referencing is totally genius. I can’t recollect all the directors but I’ll mention some of the films visually referenced. The SUSPERIA nod is awesome, as are the ONIBABA, KILLER, EVIL DEAD, ZU, list goes on and on. Why is this, in people’s eyes, not as “artistic” as say a QT reshoot?

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