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(Rounding out the top three animated, if you're curious, is Shrek. As for older...Aladdin, and as for truly old school, probably Bambi and The Fox and the Hound. I was always partial to the really sad animal ones, even though I cried my eyeballs out. I like 101 Dalmatians too, of course, who doesn't?)
Hmm, I just realized that Ratatouille has Frenchiness just like The Triplets of Belleville. Maybe it's a French thing for me and the animateds. Anyway, Ratatouille was clever, fresh, filled with awesome little ratlets, and true to Disney form made a great statement. But this statement was even greater than some of their great statements, as it was about creativity. I won't spoil it here (yet). Watch it! Netflix it! (Don't forget, friendos, that I will happily send you a free Netflix trial to lure you in. Just ask me.)
All right then. Les rankings. I have decided that I need a ratings scale to elaborate to my readers how I feel about films. Since falling in love with Netflix, I have come around in many ways to their five-star scale, ranging from loved it to hated it, but differing from the traditional four-star movie review. And before even seeing Ratatouille, I had decided to look at my film taste like my taste in cuisine.
*****: Mexican Food Simply the best. I could eat/watch over and over. It offers so much, and I never get sick of it. I long for it when it's not around.
**** 1/2: Tibetan Food Like Indian food, but harder to find and therefore a bit more alluring.
****: Indian Food Flavorful, (ful)filling, varied, rich, consistently fantastic, and I'm almost never going to turn down the chance to partake of it.
***: Italian Food Solid. No particular critique, and I enjoy it, but it can be a tad overrated sometimes, and I am more likely to pick Indian or Mexican if they're around.
**: Thai Food It's OK, and I know some people adore it, but I never, ever crave it.
*: Korean Food Ugh. It can literally make me sick, and what few things I'm not allergic to I find distinctly unappetizing.
So, for example, Ratatouille gets four stars from me (Indian food) -- I really, really liked it -- while The Triplets of Belleville and 3:10 to Yuma are just a hair above so they get the four and a half stars (Tibetan food). Juno is very much Italian food. Atonement is serious Thai food, and I Am Legend? Korean food all the way.
My best of '07, as it happens, are the films that merited rankings of Mexican Food or Tibetan Food. I will now declare the order for you. One caveat: I have yet to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, and I have a feeling that my top eleven could become a dozen after I do. But until then...
Linda's Top
1. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
2. Into the Wild
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Charlie Wilson's War
5. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
6. Sicko
7. Once
8. Sunshine
9. I'm Not There
10. 3:10 to Yuma
11. Lars and the Real Girl
The top three are the best, in a class by themselves, like Olympic medalists. I would say they are the recipients of my Cheese Enchilada Prize. The Mexican/Tibetan food split comes between Sunshine and I'm Not There.
2 comments:
Ratatouille was very good. After watching it, though, it occurred to me: why was this an animated film? The answer, I think, is kinda depressing.
It's the story of someone whose career path is blocked because of who he is. It is, in brief, a story of discrimination. Because the someone is a rat, it's amusing, not an outrage.
The story could have been told perfectly well using live actors. But it would've been a story about class, or race.
It left me wondering what this story--which is all about Frenchness--would've been like had it been filmed by the French.
These are interesting thoughts. I am partic intrigued because I normally don't care for animated films and I liked this one so much. Ratatouille was just SO good. SO many levels.
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