These are the movies I didn't really remember from whenever I first saw them, and maybe didn't even initially love, but that I saw again this year, and realized were fucking amazing. The Top 2, in particular.
I won't bother with information on them, because you've probably heard of all of these.
The Top 5 Movies I Rediscovered in 2007
1. Sleepaway Camp (1983, Robert Hiltzik)
2. Clueless (1995, Amy Heckerling)
3. Bloodsucking Freaks (1976, Joel M. Reed)
4. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996, Robert Rodriguez)
5. Matinee (1993, Joe Dante)
Honorable mentions: Near Dark, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
The Top 4 Educational Movies I Watched In 2007
1. Be Somebody... Or Be Somebody's Fool (1984, Jeff Margolis)
2. The Trip Back (1970, Ralph Weisinger)
3. Cyber Seduction: His Secret Life (2005, Tom McLoughlin)
4. Perfect Body (1997, Douglas Barr)
Info and Comments:
Be Somebody... Or Be Somebody's Fool is about Mr. T teaching kids valuable life lessons. There are a lot of clips on youtube, you should check them out. The Trip Back is about Florrie Fisher, who Jerri Blank is based on, and I put it up for download once, so if you missed out, you're a loser (and a boozer and a user).
Cyber Seduction is about porn addiction and the dangers of abstinence. Perfect Body is about anorexia and it stars Amy Jo Johnson (who I thanked in the credits of No Fatties because of this role).
The Top 3 Comedies I Watched In 2007
1. Freaky Friday (1976, Gary Nelson)
2. Sleeping Dogs Lie (2006, Bobcat Goldthwait)
3. Tapeheads (1988, Bill Fishman)
Info and Comments:
Freaky Friday is about young Jodie Foster switching places with her mother.
Sleeping Dogs Lie is about people overreacting to a girl sucking off a dog. Tapeheads is about John Cusack and Tim Robbins making music videos.
The Top 3 Documentaries I Watched In 2007
1. The Goddess Bunny (1994, Nick Bougas)
2. Pumping Iron (1977, George Butler & Robert Fiore)
3. Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985, George Butler)
Info and Comments:
The Goddess Bunny is about an amazing dancer who is transgendered and has polio, and the underground LA art scene that surrounds her. It's actually a pretty terribly made documentary, but the subject matter is interesting enough to make up for it. Pumping Iron is about bodybuilding, and Pumping Iron II: The Women is also about bodybuilding.
The Top 4 Musicals I Watched In 2007
1. The Wiz (1978, Sidney Lumet)
2. Summer Stock (1950, Charles Walters)
3. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964, Jacques Demy)
4. For Me and My Gal (1942, Busby Berkeley)
Info and Comments:
The Wiz is a black version of the Wizard of Oz starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, and a bunch of floating babies hanging out behind Lena Horne.
Summer Stock is about Judy Garland on a farm, and then Gene Kelly shows up with a theater troupe, and she gets upset. It includes an amazing dance sequence by Kelly involving a newspaper and a creaky floorboard, and Judy Garland singing Get Happy. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is French and pretty, and was way more effective than I was prepared for it to be. For Me and My Gal also stars Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, and they work really well together. I watched like 30 Gene Kelly movies last year, and aside from Singin' in the Rain, these two with Judy Garland were the best. Some honorable mentions would be Take Me Out to the Ball Game, It's Always Fair Weather, and Ziegfeld Follies, which is partly terrible, but the stuff that's great in it is really fucking great. I kind of want to do a Top 10 of Gene Kelly dance sequences eventually.
The Top 10 Dramas I Watched In 2007
1. Flowers in the Attic (1987, Jeffrey Bloom)
2. Inherit the Wind (1960, Stanley Kramer)
3. Out of the Blue (1980, Dennis Hopper)
4. The Apartment (1960, Billy Wilder)
5. The Year My Voice Broke (1987, John Duigan)
6. Flirting (1991, John Duigan)
7. Rocky IV (1985, Sylvester Stallone)
8. Rocky III (1982, Sylvester Stallone)
9. Rocky II (1979, Sylvester Stallone)
10. Rocky V (1990, John Avildsen)
Info and Comments:
Flowers in the Attic is about some kids who are forced to live in a room together, and I guess the book gets a whole lot more scandalous, but the movie is pretty intense, too.
Inherit the Wind is about the Scopes monkey trial, and the acting is really good, and some of the courtroom speeches are just fucking amazing. Out of the Blue is about Linda Manz as a punkish teenager, dealing with dysfunctional parents.
The Apartment is about Jack Lemmon renting out his apartment to his bosses so they can cheat on their wives. The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting are Australian coming-of-age movies, and Noah Taylor is awkward and charming. The Rocky movies are about a boxer named Rocky, and IV is the best because it has the most montages, but they're all pretty good in their own ways.
The Top 10 80's Movies I Watched In 2007
1. TerrorVision (1986, Ted Nicolaou)
2. The Last American Virgin (1982, Boaz Davidson)
3. Salsa (1988, Boaz Davidson)
4. Midnight Madness (1980, Michael Nankin & David Wechter)
5. Road House (1989, Rowdy Herrington)
6. The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989, Mike Jittlov)
7. Gymkata (1985, Robert Clouse)
8. Over the Top (1987, Menahem Golan)
9. P.K. and the Kid (1987, Lou Lombardo)
10. Vice Versa (1988, Brian Gilbert)
Info and Comments:
TerrorVision is about an alien coming out of a TV set and attacking a family, and the cast is amazing, especially Jonathan Gries. The Last American Virgin is a perfect teen sex comedy that suddenly turns super depressing in the last 1/4 or so. Both of those movies star Diane Franklin, coincidentally, who is amazing in TerrorVision, but kind of not that great in Last American Virgin. Salsa (from the same director as The Last American Virgin, and produced by Menahem Golan, who directed #8, and is also the producer on LAV, and just about every other swayze 80's movie ever made, along with Yoram Globus) is about a salsa dancer who is kind of an asshole, but the ridiculous acting style of Robby Rosa and his haircut make him lovable anyway.
Midnight Madness is about different groups, such as nerds, jocks, sorority sisters, good guys, and slackers/cheaters, competing in a scavenger hunt. Road House is about Patrick Swayze ripping people's throats out. The Wizard of Speed and Time is about an animator trying to make a movie, and the animation he does is fucking amazing. The tagline for Gymkata is "The skill of gymnastics, the kill of karate." and that is all you need to know. Over the Top is about Sylvester Stallone bonding with his estranged son on his way to the National Arm Wrestling Competition. P.K. and the Kid is about Molly Ringwald running away from home and bonding with the guy from Puppet Master, who is on his way to an Arm Wrestling Competition. Vice Versa is about Fred Savage and Judge Reinhold switching places, and the resulting hijinx.
Honorable Mentions: The Last Dragon and Gleaming the Cube.
The Top 10 Short Films I Watched In 2007
1. It's a Bird (1930, Harold Muller)
2. Can You Take It (1934, Dave Fleischer)
3. Mr. Incredible and Pals (2005, Roger Gould)
4. He Done His Best (1926, Charley Bowers and Harold Muller)
5. A Wild Roomer (1927, Charley Bowers and Harold Muller)
6. Adicolor: Pink (2006, Charlie White)
7. Egged On (1926, Charley Bowers, Harold Muller, and Ted Sears)
8. Say Ah-h! (1928, Charley Bowers)
9. Now You Tell One (1926, Charley Bowers and Harold Muller)
10. The Lie Chair (1975, David Cronenberg)
Info and Comments:
Most of these are Charley Bowers shorts, which all feature amazing stop-motion animation that is insanely innovative for its time and often adorable. The best one is probably It's a Bird, about a bird that eats metal.
Can You Take It is a Popeye cartoon. Mr. Incredible and Pals is a special feature from The Incredibles DVD, and it's parody of old 60's cartoons.
Adicolor: Pink is about things that are pink and creepy. The Lie Chair is about a couple whose car breaks down, and they go to the nearest house, where they're forced to pretend they're an old woman's grandchildren.
Honorable mentions: Outer Space, Child Psykolojiky, Vowellet: An Essay by Sarah Vowell.
The Top 10 Exploitation Movies I Watched In 2007
1. Massacre at Central High (1976, Renee Daalder)
2. Demented (1980, Arthur Jeffreys)
3. Child Bride (1938, Harry Revier)
4. Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973, Shunya Ito)
5. Coonskin (1975, Ralph Bakshi)
6. Poor White Trash Part 2 (1974, S.F. Brownrigg)
7. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972, Shunya Ito)
8. Ginger (1971, Don Schain)
9. Wild Beasts (1984, Franco Prosperi)
10. Abby (1974, William Girdler)
Info and Comments:
Massacre at Central High is about a transfer student killing all the bullies at a high school to protect all the nerdy kids, but then the nerdy kids end up becoming bullies themselves, so he has to kill them too. Demented is about a woman who gets gang-raped, and eventually goes crazy and starts killing people. Child Bride is an early exploitation film about the immorality of fucking young girls, which it demonstrates by gratuitously showing a 12 year old girl getting naked and going swimming.
Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable is about Meiko Kaji fucking shit up, and it's the third and best entry in the Scorpion series. Coonskin is a blaxploitation semi-parody that is mostly animated. The opening song is really great. Poor White Trash Part 2 is about sleazy backwoods people doing really sleazy things. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is the first in the Scorpion series, and it's a women-in-prison movie, and Meiko Kaji is great.
Ginger is about a woman who becomes a spy to infiltrate a drug & prostitution ring, and it's super fucking sleazy, and there's an amazing catfight scene, and I still haven't seen the sequels. Wild Beasts is about animals accidentally drinking PCP and breaking out of the zoo and attacking people. Supposedly, real animals were killed on camera in the making of this movie, but aside from a few rats, that's clearly not true because we don't actually see any animals killed and I assume they wouldn't go through all that trouble just to cut it out of the movie. Abby is a blaxploitation ripoff of The Exorcist, and the lead is amazing.
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