Best Movies of 2007

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This is a list of the Best Movies of 2007 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.

English-language movies:

  1. American Gangster

  2. Boy A

  3. Breach

  4. Chop Shop

  5. Control

  6. Into the Wild

  7. Juno

  8. Knocked Up

  9. Longford

  10. Michael Clayton

  11. My Winnipeg

  12. No Country for Old Men

  13. Paranormal Activity

  14. Ratatouille

  15. Superbad

  16. The Kite Runner

  17. The Namesake

  18. The Savages

  19. The Visitor

  20. There Will Be Blood

Foreign-language movies:

  1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (Romanian)

  2. 5 Centimeters Per Second (Japanese)

  3. A Secret (French)

  4. Beaufort (Hebrew)

  5. Bliss (Turkish)

  6. Caramel (Arabic)

  7. Cargo 200 (Russian)

  8. Flight of the Red Balloon (French)

  9. I Served the King of England (Czech)

  10. Jellyfish (Hebrew)

  11. Katyn (Polish)

  12. La Vie En Rose (French)

  13. Letters from Iwo Jima (Japanese)

  14. Like Stars on Earth (Hindi)

  15. Love and Honor (Japanese)

  16. Lust, Caution (Mandarin)

  17. Maldeamores (Spanish)

  18. Mirush (Albanian)

  19. Mongol (Mongolian)

  20. My Father, My Lord (Hebrew)

  21. Persepolis (French)

  22. REC (Spanish)

  23. Secret Sunshine (Korean)

  24. Silent Light (Spanish)

  25. The Band’s Visit (Hebrew)

  26. The Counterfeiters (German)

  27. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (French)

  28. The Edge of Heaven (German)

  29. The Orphanage (Spanish)

  30. The Pool (Hindi)

  31. Under the Bombs (Arabic)

  32. Volver (Spanish)

  33. Yella (German)

English-language documentaries:

  1. Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built

  2. Bomb It

  3. Chris & Don: A Love Story

  4. Constantine's Sword

  5. Dreams to Remember: The Legacy of Otis Redding

  6. Encounters at the End of the World

  7. For the Bible Tells Me So

  8. Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

  9. Martha Graham: Dance on Film

  10. Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

  11. No End in Sight

  12. Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience

  13. Pete Seeger: The Power of Song

  14. Sicko

  15. Steep

  16. Surfwise

  17. Taxi to the Dark Side

  18. The Devil Came on Horseback

  19. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

  20. The Rape of Europa

  21. Trumbo

  22. Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections

  23. War Dance

  24. Young @ Heart

Foreign-language documentary:

  1. Her Name Is Sabine

Movies Watched -- The Gathering Storm (2002)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

96 minute running time, so the perfect length. Another Churchill movie, Albert Finney starring. It’s well made, a John Farr reco, see it if you’re interested in history. Yellow rating.

I've lived too long, I'm in the ruck, I've drunk too deeply of the cup, I cannot spend, I cannot f***, I'm down and out! I'm buggered up!

Best Movies of 2006

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This is a list of the Best Movies of 2006 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.

English-language movies:

  1. Akeelah and the Bee

  2. Away From Her

  3. Blood Diamond

  4. Children of Men

  5. Half Nelson

  6. Inland Empire

  7. Little Children

  8. Little Miss Sunshine

  9. Old Joy

  10. Once

  11. Ten Canoes

  12. The Bubble

  13. The Illusionist

  14. The Last King of Scotland

  15. The Queen

  16. The Wind That Shakes the Barley

  17. This Is England

  18. United 93

  19. Venus

Foreign-language movies:

  1. 12:08 East of Bucharest (Romanian)

  2. After the Wedding (Danish)

  3. Apocalypto (Mayan)

  4. Black Book (Dutch)

  5. Blame It on Fidel (French)

  6. Bombón: El Perro (Spanish)

  7. Days of Glory (Arabic)

  8. Four Minutes (German)

  9. Golden Door (Italian)

  10. Lady Chatterley (French)

  11. Mirage (Macedonian)

  12. Offside (Farsi)

  13. Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish)

  14. Paprika (Japanese)

  15. Paris, Je T'Aime (French)

  16. Private Fears in Public Places (French)

  17. Private Property (French)

  18. Reprise (Norwegian)

  19. Still Life (Mandarin)

  20. Summer Palace (Mandarin)

  21. Syndromes and a Century (Thai)

  22. Tell No One (French)

  23. The Host (Korean)

  24. The House of Sand (Portuguese)

  25. The Lives of Others (German)

  26. The Science of Sleep (French)

  27. Vitus (Swiss German)

English-language documentaries:

  1. A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash

  2. A Lion in the House

  3. Alice Neel

  4. An Inconvenient Truth

  5. Billy Wilder Speaks

  6. Deliver Us From Evil

  7. Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film

  8. God Grew Tired of Us

  9. Iraq for Sale

  10. Jesus Camp

  11. Lake of Fire

  12. Manufactured Landscapes

  13. Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater

  14. Neil Young: Heart of Gold

  15. Radiant City

  16. Rivers and Tides

  17. Shut Up and Sing

  18. TR: The Story of Teddy Roosevelt

  19. The Bridge

  20. The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun

  21. The Road to Guantanamo

  22. The War Tapes

  23. This Film Is Not Yet Rated

  24. When The Levees Broke

  25. Who Killed the Electric Car?

  26. Wordplay

Movies Watched -- Road to Perdition (2002)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

117 minute running time so at least 20 minutes too long … I can never buy Tom Hanks as a hard guy, he’s too sweet and soft-spoken … this wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good enough for me to recommend, though John Farr did. Gets a yellow rating (consider). If they cut out 20 minutes, it would be much harder to deny it a green-go rating.

There is only one guarantee. None of us will see heaven.

Best Movies of 2005

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This is a list of the Best Movies of 2005 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.

English-language movies:

  1. Be With Me

  2. Brick

  3. Brokeback Mountain

  4. Capote

  5. Cinderella Man

  6. Duma

  7. Good Night and Good Luck

  8. Hotel Rwanda

  9. Hustle and Flow

  10. Journey from the Fall

  11. Man Push Cart

  12. Pride and Prejudice

  13. The Constant Gardener

  14. The Descent

  15. The Proposition

  16. The Squid and the Whale

  17. The World's Fastest Indian

  18. Transamerica

  19. Vincent and Theo

  20. Walk the Line

Foreign-language movies:

  1. 13 Tzameti (French)

  2. Adam’s Apples (Danish)

  3. C.R.A.Z.Y. (French)

  4. Caché (French)

  5. Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures (Portuguese)

  6. Fateless (Hungarian)

  7. Frozen Land (Finnish)

  8. House of Flying Daggers (Mandarin)

  9. Joyeux Noel (French)

  10. L’Enfant (French)

  11. Mother of Mine (Finnish)

  12. Paradise Now (Arabic)

  13. Regular Lovers (French)

  14. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Mandarin)

  15. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (German)

  16. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Romanian)

  17. The Italian (Russian)

  18. The Method (Spanish)

  19. The Sun (Japanese)

  20. The Violin (Spanish)

  21. Three Times (Mandarin)

  22. Time to Leave (French)

  23. Tsotsi (Afrikaans)

  24. Water (Hindi)

English-language documentaries:

  1. 51 Birch Street

  2. An Unreasonable Man

  3. Aristide and the Endless Revolution

  4. Ballets Russes

  5. Bob Dylan: No Direction Home

  6. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

  7. Hubert Selby Jr: It'll Be Better Tomorrow

  8. Mad Hot Ballroom

  9. March of the Penguins

  10. Margot

  11. New York Doll

  12. Sir! No Sir!

  13. TCM Archives: Garbo

  14. The Boys of Baraka

  15. The Heart of the Game

  16. Why We Fight

  17. You’re Gonna Miss Me

Foreign-language documentaries:

  1. Crossing The Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (Turkish)

  2. Into Great Silence (French)

  3. My Country, My Country (Kurdish)

Best Movies of 2004

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This is a list of the Best Movies of 2004 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.

English-language movies:

  1. As It Is in Heaven

  2. Before Sunset

  3. Clean

  4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

  5. Finding Neverland

  6. John Cassavetes: Five Films [no, no, no, no, no]

  7. Layer Cake

  8. Maria Full of Grace

  9. Million Dollar Baby

  10. Millions

  11. Miracle

  12. Mysterious Skin

  13. Omagh

  14. Police Beat

  15. Ray

  16. Sideways

  17. The Chorus

  18. The Door in the Floor

  19. The Machinist

  20. Vera Drake

  21. Walk on Water

Foreign-language movies:

  1. 2046 (Cantonese)

  2. 3-Iron (Korean)

  3. A Very Long Engagement (French)

  4. A World Without Thieves (Mandarin)

  5. Bad Education (Spanish)

  6. Brothers (Danish)

  7. Citizen Dog (Thai)

  8. District B13 (French)

  9. Downfall (German)

  10. Howl’s Moving Castle (Japanese)

  11. Innocent Voices (Spanish)

  12. Intimate Strangers (French)

  13. Kings and Queen (French)

  14. Kontroll (Hungarian)

  15. La Sierra (Spanish)

  16. Live-in Maid (Spanish)

  17. Machuca (Spanish)

  18. Moolaadé (Bambara)

  19. Mountain Patrol (Mandarin)

  20. Nobody Knows (Japanese)

  21. Our Own (Russian)

  22. Red Lights (French)

  23. Shutter (Thai)

  24. Simon (Dutch)

  25. The Edukators (German)

  26. The Hidden Blade (Japanese)

  27. The Holy Girl (Spanish)

  28. The Motorcycle Diaries (Spanish)

  29. The Sea Inside (Spanish)

  30. The Syrian Bride (Arabic)

  31. The Taste of Tea (Japanese)

  32. The Triplets of Belleville (French)

  33. The Weeping Meadow (Greek)

  34. Tony Takatani (Japanese)

  35. Turtles Can Fly (Kurdish)

  36. Whisky (Spanish)

  37. Yesterday (Zulu)

English-language documentaries:

  1. 5 Films about Christo and Jean-Claude

  2. A State of Mind

  3. A Touch of Greatness

  4. After Innocence

  5. Born Into Brothels

  6. Broadway: The Golden Age, By the Legends Who Were There

  7. Citizen King

  8. Darwin’s Nightmare

  9. Fahrenheit 9/11

  10. Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst

  11. Heir To An Execution: A Grandaughter's Story

  12. In the Realms of the Unreal: The Mystery of Henry Darger

  13. Lightning in a Bottle

  14. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

  15. Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

  16. Paper Clips

  17. Super Size Me

  18. The Devil and Daniel Johnston

  19. The Staircase

  20. The Take

  21. Twist of Faith

  22. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

  23. Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

Foreign-language documentaries:

  1. Control Room (Arabic)

  2. Czech Dream (Czech)

  3. Death in Gaza (Arabic)

  4. The Man Who Planted Trees (German)

  5. The Ritchie Boys (German)

Movies Watched -- She Said (2022)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

129 minute running time so 20 to 30 minutes too long … it’s about the case the New York Times made against Harvey Weinstein … he was a real scumbag, no doubt … the movie is well made, but it’s not a green-go, though John Farr recommended it. Yellow rating (consider).

“She was talking to me kind of Jew to Jew and including Weinstein in the gang” … (That’s Elia Kazan’s granddaughter)

Best Movies of 2003

Added on by C. Maoxian.

This is a list of the Best Movies of 2003 according to John Farr. I find his site hard to navigate, so I create summary lists like this one.

English-language movies:

  1. American Splendor

  2. Angels in America

  3. Concert for George

  4. Dogville

  5. Elephant

  6. Finding Nemo

  7. In America

  8. Intermission

  9. Lost In Translation

  10. Master and Commander

  11. Mystic River

  12. Off the Map

  13. Owning Mahowny

  14. Peter Pan

  15. Pieces of April

  16. Shattered Glass

  17. Something’s Gotta Give

  18. The Station Agent

  19. Whale Rider

Foreign-language movies:

  1. A Tale of Two Sisters (Korean)

  2. A Talking Picture (Portuguese)

  3. Blind Shaft (Chinese)

  4. Cautiva (Spanish)

  5. Crimson Gold (Persian)

  6. Good Morning, Night (Italian)

  7. I’m Not Scared (Italian)

  8. Last Life in the Universe (Japanese)

  9. Memories of Murder (Korean)

  10. Oldboy (Korean)

  11. Osama (Dari)

  12. Saraband (Swedish)

  13. Since Otar Left (Georgian)

  14. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (Korean)

  15. The Barbarian Invasions (French)

  16. The Best of Youth (Italian)

  17. The City of No Limits (Spanish)

  18. The Inheritance (Danish)

  19. The Memory of a Killer (Dutch)

  20. The Return (Russian)

  21. Together (Mandarin)

  22. Tokyo Godfathers (Japanese)

  23. Travellers and Magicians (Dzongkha)

English-language documentaries:

  1. A Certain Kind of Death

  2. A Decade Under the Influence

  3. Capturing the Friedmans

  4. Churchill

  5. Festival Express

  6. James Dean: Forever Young

  7. Los Angeles Plays Itself

  8. Lost Boys of Sudan

  9. My Architect

  10. Power Trip

  11. Seabiscuit: American Experience

  12. Step Into Liquid

  13. Sunset Story

  14. The Corporation

  15. The Fog of War

  16. The Nazi Officer’s Wife

  17. This So-Called Disaster

  18. Touching the Void

Foreign-language documentaries:

  1. Bus 174 (Portuguese)

  2. The Five Obstructions (Danish)

  3. The Story of the Weeping Camel (Mongolian)

Movies Watched -- Dick (1999)

Added on by C. Maoxian.

90 minute running time so the perfect length … goofball comedy starring teenyboppers (at the time) Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams. Dan Hedaya plays a good Richard Nixon. It’s good, clean fun and I appreciate the recommendation from John Farr. Green-go.

You kick Checkers!

And you're prejudiced,

and you have a potty-mouth!