TOMAS
Best
The Host: I can quite easily say that this is the best creature film that I’ve seen in the last ten years. Cloverfield has a lot to live up to now.
Paprika: Satoshi Kon’s latest film while not his best work still is something to behold in all its wonder and beauty.
Aachi & Ssipak: A strange film but it entertained me and kept my movie nerd-dum alive and well with subtle pop culture references galore.
Worst
The Guyver V1: What could have been a great update to an old fan favourite just feels like a stale and passed by hobo.
GREG
Best
Branded to Kill: Noir, jazz, dead butterflies, chipmunk-cheeked protagonist, urine soaked shoes, and the smell of cooking rice. Perfect film.
Hana: Good movie, but I’m just listing it here as an excuse to make my first pointless Terajima Susumu reference of the year. Sadly, he does not claim to be Michael Jordan in this film.
Wild Zero: It’s nuts! Enough said.
Worst
A Dirty Carnival – I was lucky enough not to see any awful films in 2007, so this fairly average Korean gangster film will have to do.
SAMSON
Best
The Host: Multilayered and goes well beyond the basic premise of humans vs creature. A monster masterpiece.
Eye in the Sky: Solid directorial debut by screenwriter Nai-Hoi Yau (Expect the Unexpected). A top notch crime thriller.
The Detective: Features a good performance by Aaron Kwok and some exciting chase scenes. An entertaining ride.
Worst
Super Fans: Charlene Choi is cute, but not cute enough to save this uninteresting and pointless project.
DENI
Best
Ergo Proxy: Complex, mature and surreal, with many inspired episodes. It felt like a waking dream.
Le Chevalier d’Eon: French Revolution, gender bending, betrayal, occult conspiracies and swordplay all working together to form a grand thriller with unbelievable style. Also? Nothing at all like the manga.
Confessions of Pain: Style more or less over substance, with Tony Leung taking a back seat break and Kaneshiro in the acting spotlight. Good solid thriller material.
Worst
Spring Snow: Visually luxurious but ultimately emotionally unengaging study of an angsty ‘Victorian’ romance that by all accounts did nothing to justice the book it was based on.
JUSTIN
Best
Exiled: Johnnie To takes his signature style to Macau and gives us this beautiful revisiting of the central themes of his classic film, The Mission. One of To’s best films.
Tokyo Drifter: Seijun Suzuki’s ultra-cool, powder-blue yakuza film, just released on DVD from Eastern Eye. One of his more linear films, it follows Tetsu’s attempts to go straight, surrounded by gangsters who want to do everything the hard way.
The 47 Ronin: Inagaki’s take on the Japanese national story is a lavish, epic production that kept me hooked despite its length. Epic drama on a huge scale, with some excellent acting and great production.
Worst
The Myth: Poor, poor Jackie Chan. Despite one or two excellent action sequences that hint at the inventive genius for choreography that suffused his earlier films, THE MYTH is mostly pretty terrible (though not quite descending to THE MEDALLION standards). See it for the Serious Jackie subplot, though, in which he displays a surprisingly emotive dramatic side…
CY
Best
Om Shanti Om: Anyone who makes a rocking movie for the masses, pays tribute to Bollywood films of yesteryear *and* choreographs a badminton match into a song number is a shoo-in.
Exiled: The Mission goes to Macau with eye-popping set pieces. Stylish and utterly engaging. More please!
Woman on The Beach: A nail-biting, philosophical and humorous dive into romantic relationships, Hong Sang Soo style. You won’t be able to look away.
Worst
I really don’t have any 2007 stinkers (must have done well to forget them!): I am a Cyborg but that’s OK