The Salt Shaker Crew's Favorite Albums of 2007

by a few people who know what they’re talking about

Brent Sallay has once again wrangled together a comprehensive list of the best albums of the year. You best study it.

As a palette cleanser for the actual list, here is a list of the reasons that we are not writing anything, besides this poor excuse for an introduction, about our favorite albums of the year:

1. Nothing original to say.
2. You can just read what Pitchfork said about them.
3. Too lazy.
4. In-fighting.
5. The album titles are already self-descriptive.
6. Because the only thing you want to read about is why Radiohead didn’t make the list.
7. It’s basically February already.
8. Too busy rigging the list.
9. It was enough work just putting them in reverse order.
10. Um, because they’re so good, they speak for themselves?

And now, without further ado, I will shut up.

25 Night of the Furies, The Rosebuds
24 Random Spirit Lover, Sunset Rubdown
23 Asa Breed, Matthew Dear
22 From Here We Go Sublime, The Field
21 Cryptograms/Fluorescent Grey, Deerhunter
20 Yearbook 1, Studio
19 Friend and Foe, Menomena
18 Shocking Pinks, Shocking Pinks
17 Grindstone, Shining
16 All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
15 Can’t Go Back, Papercuts
14 The Burbank Tapes, Dan Bern
13 Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
12 Rise Above, Dirty Projectors
11 Dandelion Gum, Black Moth Super Rainbow
10 Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman
09 Boxer, The National
08 Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird
07 Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective
06 23, Blonde Redhead
05 Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
04 Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the
Decline, Stars of the Lid
03 The Stage Names, Okkervil River
02 Person Pitch, Panda Bear
01 Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Of Montreal

Individual Lists:

Brent Sallay

01 Rise Above, Dirty Projectors
02 Dandelion Gum, Black Moth Super Rainbow
03 Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the
Decline, Stars of the Lid
04 Person Pitch, Panda Bear
05 Shocking Pinks, Shocking Pinks
06 Yearbook 1, Studio
07 23, Blonde Redhead
08 Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
09 Asa Breed, Matthew Dear
10 Cryptograms/Fluorescent Grey, Deerhunter
11 Shampoo & Champagne, Balroynigress
12 Grindstone, Shining
13 Tio Bitar, Dungen
14 Random Spirit Lover, Sunset Rubdown
15 Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective
16 From Here We Go Sublime, The Field
17 Marry Me, St. Vincent
18 Documentary, Rolan Vega
19 This Bliss, Pantha du Prince
20 Dirty South Dance, A-Trak
21 Black Pompadour, The Zincs
22 Tears of the Valedictorian, Frog Eyes
23 Boxer, The National
24 Ditherer, Fog
25 Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird
26 All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
27 Cosmos, Murcof
28 What Is?!, King Khan & the Shrines
29 Imagine Our Love, Lavender Diamond
30 Songs from a Mean Season, Tulsa Drone
31 The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, The Besnard Lakes
32 Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
33 Sky Blue Sky, Wilco
34 Popular Demand, Black Milk
35 Friend and Foe, Menomena
36 Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, The Twilight Sad
37 Pride, Phosphorescent
38 Part Two: The Endless Not, Throbbing Gristle
39 Chromophobia, Gui Boratto
40 Proof of Youth, The Go! Team

Tyler Evans

01 Person Pitch, Panda Bear
02 Can’t Go Back, Papercuts
03 Strawberry Jam, Animal Collective
04 Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
05 Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
06 The Stage Names, Okkervil River
07 Stars of the Lid and Their Refinement of the
Decline, Stars of the Lid
08 Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman
09 Mirrored, Battles
10 Boxer, The National
11 From Here We Go Sublime, The Field
12 The Flying Club Cup, Beirut
13 Marry Me, St. Vincent
14 The Shepherd’s Dog, Iron & Wine
15 Random Spirit Lover, Sunset Rubdown
16 Cryptograms, Deerhunter
17 Imagine Our Love, Lavender Diamond
18 Dandelion Gum, Black Moth Super Rainbow
19 Andorra, Caribou
20 New Moon, Elliott Smith

Jeremy Mathews

01 Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Of Montreal
02 The Burbank Tapes, Dan Bern
03 Boxer, The National
04 Friend and Foe, Menomena
05 Night of the Furies, The Rosebuds
06 Places Like This, Architecture in Helsinki
07 Tones of Town, Field Music
08 New Magnetic Wonder, The Apples in Stereo
09 Wincing the Night Away, The Shins
10 The Shepherd’s Dog, Iron & Wine
11 Ditherer, Fog
12 Grindstone, Shining
13 Beyond, Dinosaur Jr.
14 Friend Opportunity, Deerhoof
15 Liars, Liars
16 The Stage Names, Okkervil River
17 We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, Modest
Mouse
18 Cease to Begin, Band of Horses
19 Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
20 God Save the Clientele, The Clientele

Michelle Sallay

01 The Stage Names, Okkervil River
02 Challengers, The New Pornographers
03 23, Blonde Redhead
04 Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
05 Imagine Our Love, Lavender Diamond
06 The Flying Club Cup, Beirut
07 Our Love to Admire, Interpol
08 Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Spoon
09 Wincing the Night Away, The Shins
10 The Boy With No Name, Travis

Stewf

01 Armchair Apocrypha, Andrew Bird
02 Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, Of Montreal
03 Night Falls Over Kortedala, Jens Lekman
04 All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer
05 Oracular Spectacular, MGMT
06 The Reminder, Feist
07 Our Love to Admire, Interpol
08 The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, Rickie Lee
Jones
09 Sound of Silver, LCD Soundsystem
10 Drums and Guns, Low
11 The Bird of Music, Au Revoir Simone
12 Teardrop Sweetheart, Misha
13 A History in Rust, Do Make Say Think
14 The Distant Future, Flight of the Conchords

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Brent Sallay on the year in TV and Film

Brent Sallay has sent us his favorite stuff from the year. While it says it was posted by me, it clearly wasn't. How can you tell? Because Brent didn't describe "Inland Empire" as a steaming pile of dog shit.-Jeremy

Movies, a Pretty Good Year

by Brent Sallay

So there were a lot of good movies this year, and a lot of people had trouble picking just ten to put on a list at the end of the year. Fortunately, some visionaries like New York Times critic A.O. Scott found a way around this. It is in that spirit that I present to you, dear reader, pretty much every film I liked this year, squeezed into a top ten:

1. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, or movies dealing with arcing social themes (in this case, fate and greed, respectively) in a bleak Western setting. But the similarities don't end there. Both have revolutionary musical scores (one extremely minimal, and the other threatening at times to take over the movie), both have slightly misleading titles (there is in fact a country for old men, they just don't like it there very much; and, while yes, there is blood, it would be about as descriptive to call the film There Will Be Moustaches), and both are refreshingly restrained—unlike say, last year's The Departed, these films are more R-rated in tone than in content. If this is a footrace, NCFOM is probably more perfectly constructed, and TWBB is probably a little more cinematic and memorable, but to my mind, both represent some of the most accomplished filmmaking of this decade.

2. Knocked Up, Juno, and Waitress, or undesirable pregnancy movies. Hollywood having already tapped the well dry for movies about pregnancy under more desirable circumstances in She's Having a Baby, Junior, and Rosemary's Baby, it was long past time to explore the other, darker side. Apparently three different people noticed this, and decided to make the exact same movie about it at the exact same time. Interestingly, each of these three movies also has at least one main character from three of the most missed, cancelled-before-their-time TV shows of the last several years (Freaks & Geeks, Arrested Development, and Firefly, respectively). [Note: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, while undeniably powerful, did not quite make this list, because in that one, they actually get the schma-schmortion, and also because no one from Wonderfalls was in it.]

3. Lars and the Real Girl, The King of Kong, Eagle vs. Shark, and Year of the Dog, or movies in which we the viewer are entertained by the eccentricities of the main characters, be they the love of an inanimate object, the quest to reach the high score on a classic arcade game, the determination to seek revenge on a high school bully, or, um, being a vegetarian.

4. Once, Sweeney Todd, Walk Hard, I'm Not There, and Control, or musicals/musician biopics that more or less get it right, namely, showing us how to explain why people in a musical are breaking out into song, why they don't need a reason if they are singing about killing people, what's wrong with self-important biopics that "honor" their subjects by reveling in their character flaws, how to make a biopic of a musician that really captures what their music was all about, and, um, because I like Joy Division.

5. Inland Empire, Southland Tales, Brand Upon the Brain!, and Paprika, or glorious head trips. The kind you watch over and over with no hope of ever understanding them, but then, that’s not really the point.

6. The Lookout, The Assassination of Jesse James, Michael Clayton, Eastern Promises, and The Bourne Ultimatum, or movies where the main guy starts out working for a bunch of crooks/a big evil corporation/the government, but then (spoiler alert?) changes his mind.

7. Zodiac, Charlie Wilson's War, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, and Atonement, or movies where the main guy/little girl tries doing the right thing/working through the system, only to find the failures of the system/a Pulitzer-worthy sense of guilt.

8. Paris Je T'Aime and Ratatouille, or movies that make France look like not such a bad place (even though it still is, of course).

9. The Lives of Others and 12:08 East of Bucharest, or foreign movies (which, yes, is a genre), that are set in foreign countries where people speak foreign languages, but that Americans rally around because of the films’ overt critiques of the Bush administration (in this case, I’m going to say wiretapping and, oh, how about, whether or not there were WMDs).

10. Grindhouse, The Host, and Hot Fuzz, or movies that aim to parodize or pay homage to a second-class movie genre, but end up as something so much more.

P.S. Or, if you're a stickler for the rules, here's an actual top ten:

1. No Country for Old Men
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Knocked Up
4. Lars and the Real Girl
5. Once
6. Juno
7. Inland Empire
8. The Lookout
9. The King of Kong
10. Paris Je T'Aime

******************************************************************

10 Reasons the Writers’ Strike Makes Me Cry (a.k.a. The Top 10 TV Shows of 2007):

1. Flight of the Conchords (HBO) – This is an important to show to watch, dealing with serious issues of our day like artistic integrity, body consciousness, friend abandonment, the trappings of fame, racism against New Zealanders, and the perils of dancing while angry. Seriously, it’s changed my life.

2. The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central) – Sarah Silverman has gotten plenty of supporting roles in big comedies in the past (There’s Something About Mary, School of Rock) but only now has she really gotten to express herself. Her dirty, dirty, beautiful jewess self. In truth, this show is the perfect example of the brownie with the poop in it. But in this case (and you’re just going to have to trust me on this), the poop goes down just as smooth as the rest of it..

3. Frisky Dingo (Cartoon Network) – You really have to watch this series (from the creators of Sealab 2021) from the beginning to get all the jokes. Fortunately, that will only take a few hours of your time. Also, watching Frisky Dingo (Season 2 in particular) should totally be a prerequisite for voting in the upcoming elections.

4. 30 Rock (NBC) – Still the rightful heir to Arrested Development as the most consistently hilarious network ensemble on the airwaves. If it’s only about 70% as good as that show, well, that’s still pretty good, and I’ll take that any day over 2 ½ (Men)%. (Sorry, even jokes at the expense of Two and a Half Men are lame.)

5. The Shield (FX) – Unlike the Sopranos, which lures in viewers with its promise of sustained intensity, but then too often settles for muted character study (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but may arguably be a copout for thinking up enough plausible awesome things to happen), The Shield, moreso than ever now in its sixth season, actually delivers on the promise, and without sacrificing its characters in the least (other than literally), by having its protagonists, already morally compromised, make even more desperate, morally ambiguous choices, and then face (or attempt to elude) the consequences.

6. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX) – Even though the title of each episode gives away exactly what you’re going to see in the next half-hour (The Gang Finds a Dumpster Baby, Sweet Dee’s Dating a Retarded Person, Dennis Looks Like a Registered Sex Offender, etc.), the journey proves just as satisfying as the destination..

7. Extras (HBO) – In addition to featuring some hilarious cameos by David Bowie, Orlando Bloom, and Daniel Radcliffe, Extras this season (intentionally its last) was primarily concerned with exploring the inner struggle of an artist between being popular and successful and maintaining artistic credibility.

8. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO) – I hadn’t loved the last few seasons of Curb, but this season really brought the magic back, thanks in great part to the addition of the Black family to the cast, and the fact that Cheryl finally actually did something besides just complain about Larry’s self-absorption.

9. Human Giant (MTV) – It takes a lot for me to willingly put my dial on MTV these days, but a sketch show featuring Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel, and, in particular, Aziz Ansari does the trick nicely.

10. Notes from the Underbelly (ABC) – Quippy perhaps to a fault, you can call it my guilty pleasure, but this show basically completely mirrors my life right now (seriously, right down to the hair color of the characters), so I pretty much owe it a spot on my list.

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I Drink it Up!

The "I drink your milkshake" line from "There Will Be Blood" is all over the Internet. I even wrote a column about it.

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'Star Wars' Still Lucas's Whacking Material of Choice

At the press conference for "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith," George Lucas went off on how he's really an experimental filmmaker who wants to make films about light, motion and color. But now he's realized that he still has "Star Wars" stories to tell, in theaters and on TV. Too bad he didn't realize he had stories to tell while writing "Attack of the Clones"—something might have actually happened during that piece of shit.

The upcoming Star Wars theatrical feature is animated—so I'm not sure how it differs from the last three. Lucas says he wants to further the art of animation, presumably by having everything on the screen move at every moment in time. What if that tree that's just sitting there were really an alien that looked like a tree? And each of his leaves were space ships, at war with one another? And then a giant dinosaur could fly by in the background in a giant spaceship, land, get out and do a dance!" (Stroke, stroke, stroke.)

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A Quick Way to Expand Your Movie Collection

The esteemed Rohauer Collection is up for sale.

"The world's largest collection of silent movies, including those starring Buster Keaton, has been put up for sale with its vendors expecting interest from film enthusiasts, universities, picture archives and other media businesses.

"The Rohauer Collection of 700 silent and classic films was amassed by Los Angeles cinema owner Raymond Rohauer over three decades. The library of films, still photos and other movie ephemera was bought in 1995 by film industry veteran Gary Dartnall and turned into a company called Douris.

…

"'"We will license things if those deals look attractive and we would sell the whole thing were there to be attractive offers. Hopefully we will shortly embark on a formal campaign to market it," said Paul Holden from the administration team."



Could anyone lend me a little money?

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Five More Episodes

To append my last post, Carlton Cuse just told TV Guide that there will be five more episodes of "LOST" in season four.

"Damon [Lindelof] and I are going to try to make five more episodes before the end of May, which is ambitious. But we've found ourselves in a situation where we had eight episodes of story planned, and we're going to try to fit that into five hours of the show. Even though it's going to be very hard to execute, we felt like any less would be doing a disservice to the story we had planned. We really want to give the fans the best possible experience and ending... to Season 4."

The remaining three planned episodes will be moved into seasons five and/or six. Hopefully this doesn't screw up the story arc, which will still conclude this season, too much.

Also, it doesn't sound like there will be a two-hour finale this year.

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Strike Out, New TV In

As the writer's strike looks to end, E! Online has created a handy rundown on the production status of the various serialized comedies and dramas that air on television boxes around the world. Of course, most of those shows don't matter, but I can sum up what E has to say about the ones that do.

LOST: The creators are dedicated to producing some more episodes in addition to the eight that were previously completed and started airing two weeks ago. Some episodes. That's nice and committal, eh? A recent Variety article suggested that if the strike ended around this time, they might be able to complete the remaining eight installments were slated for season four in time to launch them for May sweeps. Whether this is realistic or not, I don't know. (Other ABC shows that might indicate: "Ugly Betty" promises "four to six" episodes, the "Desperate Houswives" folks hoped to cram in seven back at the SAG awards.) But here's hoping.

Pushing Daisies: More like "Pushing Shafts…Up the Show 'Pushing Daisies'…By Which I Mean Warner Shafted It" Executive Producer Bryan Fuller says that the best new show of the season won't return right away. Warner Bros. originally said that he should start compiling scripts for season 2 as soon as the strike ends. But now they're just telling him to wait until March. Dickheads.

The Office: Six to 10 new episodes. That's about the maximum anyone has promised. Taking into account that "LOST" is twice as long, however, suggests that all eight of its unproduced episodes might be too much to ask. Did I mention I really want to see the rest of the season of "LOST?"

Mad Men: I kind of gave up on this show, which seemed to have a lot of potential, after a ludicrous plot development in the fourth or fifth episode. But some people tell me that it gets better, so I've decided to include it hear. Lionsgate (which should be Lion's Gate, damn it!) already struck a deal, so the show is in pre-production now. The new season should start by the end of the summer.

Those are the shows that I feel are worth a damn. Any others I should have mentioned? Hmmm… It turns out "House" has writers—I thought the actors had just been winging it, but I guess Fox was airing reruns all this time. It's hard to tell the difference. "Heroes" is out for the year while creator Tim Kring writes a series Bible. I hope one of its commandments is "Thou Shalt Not End a Season with a Lame-Ass, Anti-Climactic Finale."

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The End of HD DVD

Well, if the Jan. 4 announcement of Warner's decision to go Blu-ray exclusive didn't kill HD DVD, Sony's impressively orchestrated Blitzkrieg today did. Mysteriously, Netflix chose to announce that it is phasing out its HD DVD selection on the same day Best Buy announced that they will officially recommend Blu-ray to its customers.

The HD DVD group had a month to answer the Warner blow. They could have wooed Disney or convinced their current studios to start selling regular DVDs as combo discs, giving themselves an unexpected lease on life. Instead, they sat on their asses, slashed some prices and wasted money on a lame Super Bowl spot that didn't even air in all markets.

The result of the Blu-ray victory will likely be a delay the adoption of HD media. Blu-ray players remain more expensive than the average consumer is willing to pay, and the format offers no discs that can be played in older DVD players. For people who have DVD players in multiple rooms of the house and the car, this doesn't make for an appealing scenario. HD DVD had the potential to break down these barriers, but Toshiba and co. botched it with poor strategies and marketing. That isn't to say that they wouldn't have won if Sony didn't pay Warner half a billion dollars, but surely Toshiba would have done the same if they had the dough.

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Lost in a nutshell

(This post concerns the latest episode of LOST ("Confirmed Dead"), so if you aren't caught up with the series, you best skip it.)

The relationship between "LOST" and its viewers is best summed up in this exchange between Locke and Ben in "Confirmed Dead."


BEN: I have information that you need. I have answers.
LOCKE: What is the monster?
BEN: What?
LOCKE: The black smoke, the monster! What is it?
BEN: I don't know.

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Oscar Catch-Up

My latest column focuses on some of the lesser-known Oscar contenders this year. But, of course, you don't need the guide, because you've seen them all already, haven't you?

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Last weekend's Reviews

I know, I know. Sorry. I went to New York City for the weekend.

"The Savages" **1/2
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" ***1/2
"Persepolis" ***1/2

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Sundance Ends

In case you missed it, you better read my Sundance wrapup. I talk about award winners and some stuff that was good that didn't win awards. Exciting stuff.

You may also like to re-read my previous Sundance coverage, including my mid-festival mopery and IN capsule reviews.

I'm always interested in how the jury reacts to Sundance's odd tendancy to play "One of These Things is Not Like the Other" and break their implied programming guidelines. In general, Sundance focuses on lesser-known filmmakers for its competition categories, while they place the bigger names in Premieres and Spectrum (formerly American Spectrum, and for a year or two they created American Showcase, so that American Spectrum could devote itself to small films that didn't make competition while Showcase highlighted established talent). For example, this year's documentaries by Morgan Spurlock and Stacy Peralta were in Spectrum this year because "Super-Size Me" and "Dog Town and Z-Boys were already Sundance hits.

But Sundance programmers occasionaly break this rule. Indie celeb Steve Buscemi made the competition with "Lonesome Jim" a few years back. David Gordon Green is always in competition as part of Sundance's penance for the infamous and unforgivable "George Washington" snub. This year, Sundance put "Sugar" in competition, even though it was by the talented duo behind "Half Nelson" (see previous entry). These films rarely win awards, although "All the Real Girls" did receive a Special Jury Prize. It could be the jury didn't think the films were as good, but in the case of this year's selections, "Sugar" easily deserved recognition over crap like "Anywhere, USA ."

If you were a jury member at Sundance, would you feel obliged to pick the best films for awards, or to draw attention to independent filmmaking? It's kind of tricky, really.

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'Parnassus' is Go

According to the film's producers and Phil at Dreams, Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" will resume its production schedule very soon. All of the late, great Heath Ledger's performance filmed prior to his death will remain in tact. The film's shooting schedule was such that all the material previously shot in London took place on "real" earth, while the remaining soundstage footage takes place in a fantasy world. Ledger's character also wears a series of disguises during the film, which lends itself to the recasting process.

The film's official website launched today, too (whereby "launched" I mean, "they put up a 'coming soon' marker").

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Obama wins Missouri

CNN doesn't have the balls to call it yet, but I do.

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Sundance Reliables Satisfy, but I'm Still Bummed

Two of the best films at Sundance have come from already established names. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden cemented themselves as first-rate creators of emotionally affecting character studies with their follow-up to 2006's "Half Nelson," "Sugar." And Austrian Michael Haneke, a giant who has established himself over the past few decades as a purveyor of endlessly fascinating cinematic reflection, unveiled his English-language remake of his 1997 film "Funny Games."

"Sugar" follows the coming-of-age of a baseball player for the Dominican Republic who carries with him the dream of his nation. Every major league team from the United States has a farm camp in the country, where they develop talented players who hope to go to the United States and work their way up from the minor leagues. Sugar is the most promising young pitcher of his group, and is confident that he can conquer America. But this isn't a traditional sports movie with a grand big game and a dramatic finish—it's about a young man who still hasn't found himself, who tries to make his way in a foreign land.

Fleck and Boden understand the immigrant experience and the lives of players whose immense talent sadly might not be enough to carry them to a lucrative career. Some men from Sugar's town have already made it to the states, and wound up right back where they are. Unknown actor Algenis Perez Soto provides a remarkable performance, proving that the two knock-out performances from "Half Nelson" were no fluke.

Haneke's new "Funny Games" is just as challenging and disturbing as the original. Haneke turns his thriller of cruel torture into a satirical commentary on the material and the viewer's desires. While some might argue that it's pointless to remake a film in English, Haneke's shocking style and the brilliant cast, particularly Michael Pitt, definitely make it worth while.

While I'm happy to have seen films as good as "Sugar" and "Funny Games," I can't help but be disappointed in the festival as a whole. I already knew Fleck and Boden could make a great film, and in the case of "Funny Games" I even knew the specific brilliance of Haneke's conceit. Two years ago, I had a real Sundance experience when I stumbled into "Half Nelson" expecting nothing. I'm glad "Sugar didn't disappoint, but am sad that so many of the unknown filmmakers' work did. Sundance is supposed to be a festival of discoveries, but for these titles, but I already had a roadmap.

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Sundance Films to Avoid Like the Plague

If you are presented with the opportunity to see these titles, run the fuck away.

"Love Comes Lately" is about a self-obsessed acclaimed old writer who can't write for shit. His stories are every bit as boring and trite as his life.

Michael Keaton's "The Merry Gentlemen" sends out a wave of depression with its unimaginative and inexplicable direction. The acting might have pulled it through, if only the characters hadn't been so poorly conceived.

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Sundance's Refrain: 'Nothing Great'

"Nothing Great." This is the most common response I hear when I ask my fellow Sundance FIlm Festivaleers what they've seen so far. But that doesn't mean everything is middle of the road. There are plenty of films that I have outright hated, and plenty that were good, but "nothing great."

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Sundance Begins

The Sundance festival is just barely underway, but I've already witnessed a car accident and seen a few good films.

The festival opener, "In Bruges," which I reviewed for Film Threat, is one of the best films I've ever seen at the festival on opening night. That might not say a whole lot, but that doesn't mean the film isn't a great dark comedy.

I wrote a helpful guide to stereotyping your fellow festival-goers and participated in IN's staff's most-anticipated films list, even though I find it's best not to anticipate anything at Sundance, other than that you'll be surprised.

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I Moved, Don't Have the Internet and Sundance is Coming

I moved on Thursday and have since been living a sad, cold, Internet-less existence. It's a lonely world when you aren't wired to everyone else. I'll try to catch up on what I missed (including the apparent death knell for HD DVD) before Sundance starts.

In the last issue of IN, I turned in a second year-end column that touched on my favorite moments. I also lamented the awkward "Romance and Cigarettes."

This week's issue tackles Sundance, but not all the stories seem to be online. Yet they are, if you look in the archive section. I looked over the track record from Sundances past and compared the Salt Lake City and Park City festivals. My column is a list of my favorite films that came out of Sundance's Dramatic Competition category. I'm sure I left out some great ones, but that's how it goes some times. (Sorry, "Manda Bala." On the bright side, you didn't qualify for this list.)

It has the wrong rating on it, by my review of "The Orphanage" should reflect my admiration for the film. I also reviewed "Youth Without Youth," but that's not coming out this weekend any more so I guess we'll pretend that I never wrote about it at all.

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How Does It Feel? Like 2007 Rocked

It's official. Todd Haynes's "I'm Not There" is at the top of my best films of 2007 list. Check it out.

I also reviewed the sometimes outstanding and sometimes obnoxious"Juno" and Mark Forster's increasingly ridiculous "The Kite Runner."

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