HFCS Top Films of 2007

Your humble scribe, representing Free Press Houston, is one of the original members of the Houston Film Critics Society. The 15 member group will see two members leave in 2008 because they were laid off from the Houston Chronicle, but no doubt the total membership will benefit from other news and media organizations in town. Right now the critics of the HFCS review movies for websites like Comingsoon.net and Filmthreat.com, as well as radio stations KUHF and KILT, the Chronicle, and syndicated outlets not located in Houston. Likewise local outlets like the Houston Press are not repped because all their film critics are located in Dallas, New York or Peoria. The following selections are the results of the HFCS balloting for 2007. Special recognition was awarded to the Coen Brothers as honorary Texans for shooting parts of No Country For Old Men in and around Marfa; to Philip Seymour Hoffman for three powerhouse performances in a row (Charlie Wilson's War, The Savages, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead were all released within weeks on each other.), and the Greenway Three Theatre for over three decades of dedicated service to movie fans.
BEST PICTURE – "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN"
BEST DIRECTOR OF A MOTION PICTURE – TIM BURTON, "SWEENEY TODD."
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – DANIEL DAY LEWIS, "THERE WILL BE BLOOD"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE – JULIE CHRISTIE, "AWAY FROM HER"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – JAVIER BARDEM, "NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – AMY RYAN, "GONE BABY GONE"
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST – "HAIRSPRAY"
BEST SCREENPLAY – DIABLO CODY, "JUNO"
BEST ANIMATED FILM – "RATATOUILLE"
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – ROGER DEAKINS, "THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD"
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – "THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – "THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY"
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – "ATONEMENT" BY DARIO MARIANELLI
BEST ORIGINAL SONG – "FALLING SLOWLY" FROM "ONCE"
HONORARY TEXAN AWARD – JOEL AND ETHAN COEN
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMA – PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMA – THE GREENWAY THREE THEATRE FOR OVER THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE TO HOUSTON'S ART-HOUSE FILM COMMUNITY.

THE HOUSTON FILM CRITICS SOCIETY TOP TEN FILMS FOR 2007:
1. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
2. JUNO
3. ATONEMENT
4. MICHAEL CLAYTON
5. INTO THE WILD
6. SWEENEY TODD
7. THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
8. BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD
9. CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
10. I'M NOT THERE