Moments of 2007

It’s become tradition among some folks I know to list, as Film Comment used to, special moments from films of the past year that stood out. It’s a fun pastime and an easy post. Beware, spoilers abound. So here goes: - A chained and disheveled Christina Ricci throws off her shirt and leaps upon what has to be the luckiest teenager on Earth in BLACK SNAKE MOAN. - “Spider-Pig, Spider-Pig, does whatever a Spider-Pig does...” - Daniel Plainview explains oil, milkshakes, and the sheer depth of his genius in the glorious finale of THERE WILL BE BLOOD. - “I’m okay!” Zoe Bell pops out of the brush in DEATH PROOF. - Viggo Mortensen bloodlessly snips off the fingers of a corpse like they’re sausage links in EASTERN PROMISES. - The Sandman pulls himself together in SPIDER-MAN 3. - Captain Jack Sparrow finds that Hell is, in fact, yourself in PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: AT WORLD’S END. - Mrs. Lovett imagines life at the seaside, with Sweeney scowling in a Victorian bathing suit, in SWEENEY TODD. - The flopping ponytail of Amy Adams as she bounces excitedly down a corridor in CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR. - “Dark” Peter’s impromptu street dance in SPIDER-MAN 3. Yes, I liked that scene. - “No semen. Story of my life.” - Josh Brolin leaps into a stream to escape an attack dog before realizing that, yes, dogs can swim in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. - Anton Ego’s first bite of ratatouille and the memory it brings back. - From the opening song from AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE COLON MOVIE FILM FOR THEATERS: “Don’t Talk! Watch! Don’t Like It, Leave! We Still Have Your Fucking Money!” - Prosthetic-jawed drill sergeants croon “I Want You” to new draftees in ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. - The miniature town fight in HOT FUZZ. - A spaced-out astrounaut watches young women laugh and scream as waves buffet them in SUNSHINE. - Bill Murray appears out of nowhere to try and catch a train in THE DARJEELING LIMITED. - Every line uttered by Kristen Wiig in KNOCKED UP. - “How did it feel changing your name from Cat Stevens to Yusef Islam?”