2007 was a year of revelations: a year of discovering previously-overlooked films, actors, even whole genres that I had ignored or written off, and a year of learning about myself, through film.
I saw Knocked Up and Superbad within days of each other, and related far more to Katherine Heigl and her married sister than to any of the high school students in Superbad. The sad fact is I have been making pilgrimages to the theatre for every major high school comedy that’s been released since I graduated. It is time to let go of the dream.
Somehow this woman and her vast repertoire of films had largely escaped my notice until this year. But in the last twelve months I’ve watched The Devil Wears Prada, Prime, Death Becomes Her, Out of Africa, and Manhattan—and loved her, if not always the film, each time.
I always thought I hated thrillers and crime/cop/detective flicks. Turns out, I just haven’t seen any decent ones. This year I saw Heat and Zodiac, and thoroughly enjoyed both. Looks like it’s time to start filling a large and embarrassing gap in my movie-watching resume: more mob movies, more early De Niro and Pacino, and would you believe I’ve never seen a Martin Scorsese picture? Appalling, I know.
My favorite discovery of the past year was probably Trust the Man, a classic New York City ensemble rom-com in the Woody Allen/Rob Reiner tradition. It tanked at the box office, but if you haven’t seen it and you like a movie that takes clever, real shots at the way we relate to our friends and loved ones, do check it out. David Duchovny is at his charming hangdog best, and Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore never let me down.
This is a heavy one, and something that I’ve been generally aware of for quite some time. But Shake Hands With The Devil really brought home to me the range of actions we are capable of. It’s probably the only movie I’ve seen in theatres that has left me sitting in my seat for a good five minutes after the credits finished rolling, still too overwhelmed to get up and go back out into the world.
For years now I’ve been refusing my mom’s pleas to give the six-hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice a chance. This year, finally, I cracked and agreed to watch a single hour of it with her. At the end of that hour she wanted to go to bed, and I wanted to stay up and watch the whole thing…
Looking forward to many more new discoveries in 2008!