I'm going to rate the movies I have seen this Movie Season (late October to April), and while I'm at it, last Movie Season, too. Instead of a star rating (5 stars, 4 stars...), I'll assign each movie a Famous Canadian. 2007-08 will be rated by musicians; 2006-07 will be rated with comedians. My rating system is bound to get me in more trouble than my opinions on movies.
I'm very discriminating about what movies I see. I only see movies that I think will interest me, I never see movies just to see them or because they're popular or because I'm bored. So if the list is top-heavy, it's not because I'm an easy critic.
Also, I'm trying to rate each movie on its own terms. So if, say, "The Simpsons Movie" gets a higher rating than "The Journals of Knud Rasmussen", it's not that I think The Simpsons movie is a more important than the Inuit film. But the filmmakers behind those movies have totally different intentions and goals. How well did they succeed on their own terms? That's how I want to judge the results.
As always, there were dozens more movies I wanted to see, but I ran out of time - and occasionally Zip left me stranded. But we did see many on my top list, and many others, and now I'm happy Baseball Season is here.
[I'm not providing links to all these movies, but you can look them all up on IMDB, Zip or Netflix.]
2007-08 Movie Season
The Joni. This is five stars, the highest rating, the greatest excellence, the must-sees.
In the Valley of Elah
This is England
Away From Her
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
Volver
The Son (Le Fils)
Superbad
The Band. These are very good movies that I highly recommend. They didn't rise quite to the level of a Joni, but four stars is pretty damn good.
Into The Wild
Rendition
Michael Clayton
Tsotsi
Hot Fuzz
The Simpsons Movie
Shaun of the Dead
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Notes on a Scandal
The Tragically Hip. Three stars. Not outstanding, but a very decent effort. Worth seeing.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (somewhere between The Hip and The Band)
The Hoax (same)
The History Boys (same)
Amazing Grace (now we're back to solid Hips)
Futurama: Bender's Big Score
Half Nelson
Shattered Glass
Silver City
Kinky Boots
Little Miss Sunshine
Lila Says
The Queen
The Lightfoot. Two stars, below average. These movies don't completely suck, but, like Gordon Lightfoot, they were wildly over-rated. Nothing special.
Year of the Dog (borderline Lightfoot/Hip)
The Darjeeling Limited
James Bond 21: Casino Royale
Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family
Paris, J'taime (worth seeing only for Paris)
The Celine. Hated it!
Redacted
The Squid and the Whale
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen
Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
Severance
Brick
2006-07 Movie Season
Kids In The Hall. My pinnacle of Canadian comedy.
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
An Inconvenient Truth
Why We Fight
The Short. Honestly, it was a toss-up for who would be five stars and who would be four, The Short or The Kids. The man is hilarious, and tremendously talented. In the end, a four-star rating is nothing to sneeze at.
Keeping Mum
The U.S. vs. John Lennon
The Departed
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise And Fall Of Jack Johnson
Inside Man
Transamerica
Owning Mahoney
Syriana
Mysterious Skin
Nine Queens
The Catherine O'Hara. A solidly good movie. She's even in one of these.
City Of God (halfway to a Short)
Highway 61 (same)
Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine
For Your Consideration
Thank You for Smoking
Scoop
Wordplay
Gaz Bar Blues
Whole New Thing
Munich
Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story
Seducing Doctor Lewis (La grande seduction)
The Rick Mercer. Why do so many people love this man? I'll never know. I didn't make him last place, because there is someone I like even less.
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
Hard Candy
Neil Young: Heart of Gold
How To Irritate People
Eight Below (and only because the dogs are so cute, other than that, it's even lower)
The Howie Mandel. Do us all a favour and go away!
Rent
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (which we only saw because I knew someone in it)
And Special Bonus Awards...
The Pierre Berton for the best historical movie:
Why We Fight
[Runner up: The Wind That Shakes The Barley]
The Tommy Douglas for the most inspiring:
An Inconvenient Truth
Rick Mercer gets his own award, for most over-rated:
Redacted
[Runner up: Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing]
The Corner Gas for biggest surprise:
This Is England
The Neil Young "Living With War" Award for best intentions with a poor execution:
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
[Runner up: Redacted]
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