Ten Movies We Wished We'd Seen This Year

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 27, 2007 6:05PM

So many movies, so little time. How true. Unless you're a professional cinephile, there's no hope of seeing even a fraction of what looks interesting in any given year. We actually tallied up the numbers and between theatrical releases, film festival screenings, and DVDs we've seen 175 movies this year — barely any at all. And with the industry's practice of backloading releases, a veritable midyear drought suddenly giving way to an avalanche of multiple releases at year's end, it's harder than ever to keep up.

All we can say is hooray for the DVD. On Monday we'll present a list of the ten best movies we saw this year, but for now here's ten that we wished we'd seen.

1. Away From Her
Julie Christie (and perhaps even first-time director Sarah Polley) could be up for some Oscar noms. This meditative story of aging and loss is already queued up on greencine.

2. Broken English
Parker Posey in a rare lead role, with Gena Rowlands playing her mom! Why the hell did we miss this?

3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Just opened at the Landmark Century. You bet your boots we'll be seeing it. We've liked every Julian Schnabel film thus far, and this looks like a stunner.

4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Taking top prizes at CIFF and elsewhere, this Romanian abortion drama should be as sinus-cleearing as Bella was sinus-clogging.

5. Manda Bala
Did this supposedly-stunning Brazilian documentary even make it to Chicago this year? We can't remember. But several friends in NYC have raved about it. We hope it gets some kind of distribution.

6. Michael Clayton
In our eyes George Clooney can do no wrong these days. So why didn't we see it? Well, between CIFF and the gazillion other movies released since October this one slipped through the cracks.

7. The Savages
Again, just opened. On our to-see list.

8. Southland Tales
A big fan of Donnie Darko, we were quite disappointed that Richard Kelly's truly perverse-sounding followup came and went so quickly. Sure, it looks like a mess; but an interesting mess is more fun to watch than a safe success.

9. Sunshine
Danny Boyle's metaphysical sci-fi picture about a voyage to the sun must've looked great on a big screen. Ah well. When it comes out on DVD in a few weeks, it'll be time to tap that friend of ours with the awesome home theater.

10. Year of the Dog
Mike White, one of our favorite screenwriters, makes his directoral debut, with Molly Shannon in the lead no less. Perfect DVD rental this winter.

How about you? Which missed flicks will you try to catch up with next year?

image via allposters.com