Best Films of 2007 (for cash)

I submitted this list to the Film Comment 2007 readers poll in the hopes of winning some Criterion Collection DVDs. I am not a fan of lists like the one that I have composed. In my notes below, also submitted, I assumed the voice of what a person from New York City would assume a person from Baltimore would talk like. I do hope they find my comments delightfully provincial and earthy.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Syndromes and a Century
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Killer of Sheep
5. Starting Out in the Evening
6. Lady Chatterley
7. The Darjeeling Limited
8. Zodiac
9. Margot at the Wedding
10. La Vie En Rose
11. The Lives of Others
12. Golden Door
13. Black Book
14. Juno
15. Black Snake Moan
16. Control
17. Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
18. Inland Empire
19. Lars and the Real Girl
20. Michael Clayton

Notes: Well, there are a lot of films in my top twenty in which people "kept it gangsta," whereby they exacted revenge or commited horrible acts in the name of selfishness, competition, or justice ("There Will Be Blood", "Before the Devil"). Others "kept it gangsta" simply by getting on stage night after night ("La Vie En Rose"). To choose some of these films may lower my "cred" with certain cineastes ("Black Snake Moan," "Margot at the Wedding"), but I imagine other choices may please them ("Lady Chatterley," "Golden Door"). Ultimately, I do not care. I live in Baltimore and I take what I can get from our local film houses (Hey, I managed to catch "Syndromes" twice which ain't half-bad). I had to cut a few well-done films ("Sweeney Todd," "Rescue Dawn," "Superbad") in favor of others, but oh well. That just serves as more proof that it has been a good year overall.