Best of 2007

Death has Never Been so Funny

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Death at a Funeral
  • IMDb: link

death-at-a-funeral-poster

lnto everyone’s life, and death, it seems a little chaos must fall.  Death at a Funeral brings out all kinds of zaniness as friends and family gather to bury one of their own and end up nearly killing each other as things get further and further out of control.  Director Frank Oz gives us one of the year’s best films and the best comedy of 2007 so far.

A death in the family brings together a group of mourners each struggling with their own lives and creates the catalyst for the hilarious and the absurd as nothing goes as planned.

The dutiful son Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) tries to comfort his mother (Jane Asher), who is driving his wife Jane (Keeley Hawes) crazy with her constant snips, and prepare to give the eulogy everyone expects his brother Robert (Rupert Graves), the famous author from New York, to give.

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TMNT

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: TMNT
  • IMDb: link

tmnt-poster

What was your introduction to the turtles?  Was it the, best forgetten, live-action films?  Or was it the late 80’s cartoon with their jokes, and commercial and toy tie-ins?  Or the recent Fox cartoon relaunch?  Or was it the slew of arcade and Nintendo games?  Or were you, like me, introduced to the foursome through the original pages of a black and white comic book Eastman and Laird’s Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles?

I ask because whatever your vision of the turtles is will color how you view the film.  Fans of the games, the cartooons, and even the other films, may indeed be disappointed as the characters, for the most part, are stipped bare to more closely resemble the original creations.  It may surprise many, who keep refering to the “new look” of the film, which is anything but new.  It’s not a perfect film, but for a comic adaption to a series that had lost all credibility it’s as close to perfect as you can fit into a PG film.  The turtles have finally come home.

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Freedom Writers

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Freedom Writers
  • IMDB: link

The idea of an inspiring teacher actually making a difference may seem cliche nowadays, but there’s nothing cliche about Freedom Writers. The tale of a young teacher struggling with gangs, and inner city violence, and a system which has all but given up on the very students she was hired to help learn is, simply put, a great film. There were plenty of films I thought were excellent from last year but none which hit me on such an emotionally raw level as this. Don’t miss it and don’t dismiss it; Freedom Writers just might be the best film you see this year.

The film begins with Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) interviewing for a teaching position at Wilson High School. The bright-eyed Gruwell just graduated from college and wants to change the world. Those around her including her husband (Patrick Dempsey), father (Scott Glenn), the head of the English department (Imelda Staunton), and even her students, don’t expect her to make it a week.

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