comment #1

NDH says ...

I agree with that assessment Jeff. I was getting swept away by the song and the images, but then the Juno dialogue at the end kinda killed it.

Nice video, but I wish it featured a few shots of 4 MONTHS, BOURNE ULTIMATUM, and THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE. At least LUST, CAUTION and ZODIAC made brief appearances.

comment #2

Joel says ...

Pretty damn cool. Glad he stuck Sunshine in there. But it just makes me sorry I missed Michael Clayton, Darjeeling Limited, and a few others.

comment #3

The Hoyk says ...

Yeah, I'm nitpicky, but I would have liked to see clips of CONTROL and THIS IS ENGLAND in there too.

Otherwise, that was beautiful.

comment #4

actionman says ...

Wow, that was fucking awesome...thanks Wells...just got back from seeing Charlie Wilson (LOVED it) and it was nice to see it included. This video reminds me of how amazing 2007 was and how it was probably the best of year of my life in terms of going to the movie theater. And now of course, after trying to get that song from Once out of my head for the last few months, it's now back in there! I gotta see There Will Be Blood again on the big screen.

comment #5

Aguirre says ...

am i really the only one who found this (and all other things jeff posts of its ilk) to be utterly worthless? moreover, i hardly believe it to be "exceptionally cut" just because he matched a few explosions. would have been far more effective if it were cut thematically rather than for the occasional aesthetic match, and the juno quote at the end suggesting that all of these films were somehow connected but the sentiment therein expressed... is patently ridiculous. wow, i don't know why i'm so grumpy about this, the rangers won tonight and everything...

comment #6

Glenn Kenny says ...

It's not just you, Aguirre; I dunno, the idea that someone could take scenes from the worst and the best films of the year and intercut them into some flat faux-middlebrow "epiphany" is depressing in a way that I don't even want to fully own up to...

comment #7

Zac Bertschy says ...

That song is so gorgeous that I think you could set it to footage of someone washing their car and it would seem poignant and touching.

Not a bad little thing but I guess I don't expect to see clips from Knocked Up and Ratatouille in a short titled "A Year for Dramas". Not that they don't have dramatic moments, I guess...

comment #8

insidah says ...

I guess this guy really liked sunshine and across the universe.

comment #9

actionman says ...

Hey Glenn...what's wrong with being reminded of how great a year it was at the movies? That's what this clip package did.

Insidah--Sunshine is flawed but excellent throughout much of its run time. I am sad I missed Across the Universe on the big screen

comment #10

MickTravis says ...

Yes, and in 9-10 months, HBO could just rip this wholecloth and use it as their preview for movies coming in December.

But at the same time, I have a profound and inexplicable weakness for HBO's snappy little promos.

comment #11

MickTravis says ...

But to play devil's advocate ... some of the clips do lose something if you know the context in which they occur.

Chigurh drawing antibiotics into a syringe, for example, looks awful dramatic but if you know the movie, it's kinda hard to see that in the heroic context that the music implies.

comment #12

Major Calloway says ...

Zac: "That song is so gorgeous that I think you could set it to footage of someone washing their car and it would seem poignant and touching."

OK, that notion seems to be worth testing out...though please forgive me for neither using a car wash nor starting at the lion's third roar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPUz2R0F9C8

comment #13

MAGGA says ...

Are you automatically seen as too low- or highbrow if you think that song is a derivative tweeinie-pop-mixed-with-dad-folk piece of crap? Nice images, but the music is like nails on a blackborad. Was going to see Once, but seriously... THIS is the "great" music we have been hearing about for months?

comment #14

Kim Voynar says ...

MAGGA,

Whatever. The music on the ONCE soundtrack is gorgeous and heartfelt (though I actually like IF YOU WANT ME and LIES almost better than FALLING SLOWLY, and Glen Hansard has been my top-secret boyfriend ever since I first saw this film. Derivative tweenie-pop? What crap. And Jeff, I must say, I'm impressed that you appreciate this song.

It's not often a movie moves me to tears, much less a song, and I cried my eyes out throughout this film (although admittedly, it hit a chord for personal reasons).

comment #15

George Prager says ...

That song gets old really fast. During his best years (70-75) John Martyn could've written a better song while comatose. Sounds like Cat Stevens singing a song from Al Kooper's score for THE LANDLORD. I did enjoy the movie, though, except for the scene halfway through when he sings to his laptop. They should've cut that scene out.

comment #16

rocco says ...

I agree with George...the song is like very rich chocolate...

I wondered throughout 'Once' if Hansard is a bastard child of Cat Stevens...at times the similarity is uncanny...

...as for the clip posted here, I thought the transitions were done too quickly and rotely (with EVERY beat of the song) and didn't find anything exceptional about them. Wells characterized this as a tribute to the "best" dramas...that's hard to support, more likely just movies this guy liked.

comment #17

George Prager says ...

I saw this movie with some like-minded people who enjoy the kind of music that is featured in this movie and we agreed that it had too much music in it. I think this is one of the reasons why it never took off the way people want it to take off. After a while you get exhausted by it. And a lot of chicks just don't dig guys with beards.