Happy New Year; "Juno"; Best movies of the Year

Isn't it weird that we celebrate the coming of the new year as much as we do? I mean, seriously, what's there to celebrate? This isn't like Christmas, when Santa brings gifts, or Thanksgiving, when Turkeys nobly sacrifice their lives to fulfill our bloodlust, or Ronald Reagan's birthday, when Liberals all gnash their teeth and cry. Those are days we celebrate because they give us those delightful reasons to celebrate them. There are no gifts or whatnot on New Year's Day. It's just another day. I mean, yeah, a new year has begun but it's not as though there's some radical change in our existences that comes with it. Life is just the same as it was the day before. We just have a new number to try to remember to write on our checks. We know we'll still put down "/o7" anyway because we're just used to it. In fact, most of us had just gotten used to it very recently, and now we have to start all over again. That's annoying as all fuck, ya know?

So fuck you very much for that, New Year.

Anywho...I saw that insanely popular movie "Juno". It was funny in that Wes Anderson "All the characters know it's a movie and mock that fact openly" sort of way, but I actually love Wes Anderson to pieces so that's a thumbs up comment. Also, it stars Ellen Page, who I adore to no end and who I swear will be the next Mrs. Dunbeck if I have my way, so that secures it a positive rating in my book no matter what.

And speaking of movies, I figure I'll get on the ol' bandwagon and concoct a list of my ten favorites from 2007. Gotta keep up with the Joneses, after all. Mind you there are many films I haven't had the chance to see yet (for example, "There Will Be Blood" isn't hitting my area for a few weeks yet. That makes me a sad panda).

1. "No Country for Old Men" - The only movie so great that I went to see it twice in the theater; The Coen Brothers finally got back into the "Fargo" mindset and turned out their first masterpiece since that great film a decade ago. Javier Bardem is unforgettable as a free-roaming serial murderer who takes on the task of retrieving a fortune from the man who found it at the scene of a drug sale gone wrong.

2. "Juno" - As it turns out, unplanned teenage pregnancy is a funny thing. Or at least in the wonderful world of screenwriter Diablo Cody.

3. "Sea Monsters" - a neat documentary from National Geographic that uses RealD 3D technology to bring prehistoric water-dwelling dinosaurs to life. It's a short film (40 minutes), but it was well worth the ticket price. The most "fun" movie of the year, and perhaps the best use of 3D in the movies.

4. "Mr. Brooks" - By God, Kevin Costner can act! An involving and surprisingly smart meditation on mental illness and serial murder that also features a great supporting performance from, of all people, Dane Cook, who needs to stick to drama and give up his futile quest to be a comedian.

5. "Grindhouse" - Two wildly different movies that just wouldn't be the same without each other and which, together with a collection of highly entertaining faux "coming attractions", celebrate the drive-in movie experience as they recreate it. Let us hope this idea can be continued with more films in the future.

6. "I Know Who Killed Me" - Lindsay Lohan's much-maligned turn for the adult is, to me, one of the most engrossing murder movies since "Silence of the Lambs". Accept it as a grim fairy tale and you may well find it brilliant; view it as an attempt at "realistic drama" and you're missing the whole idea. All the critics missed the idea.

7. "The Simpsons" - The show sucks now, but the the movie is as funny as the show was back in season 2. And man oh man is it something else to see Springfield in all the glory of 2.35:1 widescreen.

8. "300" - Beautiful to look at, as shallow as a puddle, and oh so wonderfully, mindlessly entertaining. Blood and guts have never looked better.

9. "The Kingdom" - Jamie Foxx is far more believable here as a military anti-terrorism officer than he was as Ray Charles (he won an Oscar for that?! Still baffles me). A well-written, thoughtful look at the Middle East conflict with nary a bad performance in sight. The abuse of "shaky cam" is distracting (and nauseating), but that's the only flaw in this film.

10. "Dead Silence" - The makers of the excellent "Saw" kick it old school in this throwback to the horror films of the thirties, the best treatment of a killer doll/puppet story since the first "Child's Play" film. And man is that Donnie Wahlberg a wizard with an electric shaver or what?