Here's a dirty little secret: sometimes film critics don't want to see movies. It's true. When we start out, ambitious and full of energy, we'll sit through any old thing, but after a while, when the formulas begin to wear on you, you can smell a turkey from watching the trailer. Sometimes you can smell a stinkbomb just from the title alone. I thought, for fun, I'd go over some titles I haven't seen and give you an idea of what might go through a critic's head. Of course, some of this is self-justification for not being able to see every single movie that comes through town. Frankly, it's impossible for one person to do, and so we resort to a porcupine-like defense, just in case anyone asks us about a movie we haven't seen: "It looked terrible."

Here's one: How to Cook Your Life (1 screen). What is that? Without even looking, it sounds like a bunch of actresses on a single set with too much dialogue, probably a lot of violin music and tears. And what could it mean? Why would I want to cook my life? It sounds painful, doesn't it? (It's really a film by the German director Dorris Dorrie about trying to equate cooking with Zen philosophy.) Then we have Hitman (9 screens), which irritated critics to no end, but seems to have pleased a fair number of moviegoers. Question: how many hitman movies have you seen in the past five or ten years? Is there an actor working today who hasn't played a hitman? What kind of brass cojones must it have taken to actually use the title "Hitman" on a middling, forgettable piece of work like this one?

I just started working the new spring semester as a graduate assistant for a cinema studies course. The professor has divided the semester up into two categories: image and story. This very simple division explains a lot about the movies and the way we think about them. Most people consider movies as stories, and that's it. They evaluate their experience on how well the movie told that story: was it plausible, enjoyable or unique? And it's true that most movies are nothing more than stories. But every so often a movie comes along that tries to do something with images, and I've always been attracted to them. I'm very definitely a "visual learner." I'm one of those people, when introduced to someone, their name goes right through my brain and disappears. But if I can visualize the name, or see it written down, then I'm aces.

This is most likely why The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (9 screens) appealed to me so strongly. Yes, the movie uses clever narration and dialogue but the main emphasis is visual, characters in relation to their surroundings and to each other. I'm also interested in movies that combine space and time; the shots last long enough that the visual schemes have a chance to sink in and mean something. (This is something that only movies can do.) That's probably why I generally despise shaky-cam and fast- cutting. But if you're telling a story, and the main goal is to get to the next turning point, then faster is probably better. I don't mean to say that image is better than story; the most important thing is the emotional result of whatever you're seeing. Some stories have affected me very strongly and provide some of the simplest entertainments: Speed, Run Lola Run, Memento, Spider-Man 2, etc.

As my wife said, it's just not the Oscars if there's nothing to complain about. However, I was impressed that two of the year's toughest films, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood (389 screens) and Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men took the most nominations. Typically, the Academy is attracted to much less challenging and easy-to-categorize films (like Atonement). Both films are fairly bleak in their vision, but I suspect There Will Be Blood will sneak out ahead for two reasons: it's an epic, and epics almost always win. And, to quote a character from Sunset Boulevard, it "says a little something" about the current sociopolitical climate.

One of the biggest controversies cropped up over the foreign film category, which came up with five nominations that no one has ever heard of. (The Counterfeiters opens sometime next month and Mongol opens in June.) Not to mention that they ignored top contenders like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (opening this week) and Persepolis (30 screens). Thankfully the outrage has begun discussions on changing the stupid, ancient rules for the category. Currently these rules require each country to submit one film, and multi-national films, such as The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (107 screens), to be disqualified. A small group of "specialists," rather than the Academy as a whole, votes on the small list of films. The documentary category was less obscure, and although I saw 19 documentaries in 2007, I only managed to see two of the five nominees, No End in Sight and Sicko. I have an Academy screener for Operation Homecoming that I hope to catch soon, and Taxi to the Dark Side (1 screen) is screening for Bay Area press next week.

It was a damn fine year for movies, 2007. It's hard enough picking 10 top flicks from the crop after a just-decent year, so the task was especially tricky this time around. (At least at Moviefone we're able to pick the 50 best.) That's why I'm thankful for the unwritten critics' rule that Top 10 lists can start with a tie, so long as there's common thematic bond between them. Here are my 11 10 favorite movies of the 007.

10. Tie: Dan in Real Life / Grace is Gone (Widower Special)
What can I say, I'm a sucker for widowers. Some critics found the loving family in Steve Carell's poignant dramedy Dan unrealistic. I feel sorry for some critics. Plot contrivances aside, it succeeds both in capturing the dynamics of a large clan and telling a helluva love story. In a career-best performance in Grace, John Cusack is a flag-waving father of two whose wife is killed in Iraq. This tear-jerking drama might be misconstrued as a political statement, but finally it's a heartrending tale of human loss.

9. Hot Fuzz
Yes, this hilarious send-up of (tribute to?) Bruckheimer schlock tops Shaun of the Dead, the brilliant debut from Brits Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Whereas Shaun's first hour is pure bliss, it loses some steam in the third act. Fuzz gets better as it speeds along, offering up surprises and side-splitters in equal measure. Really, who would've thought anyone would ever pay homage to Bad Boys II?

8. No End in Sight
As you can surmise from the title, this ain't exactly a sunshiney look at the Iraq War. But it's the most thorough, eye-opening detailing of the mega-blunders made the Bush Administration in planning and executing the war to date (so THAT'S where the insurgency came from!), with nary a Michael Moore stunt in sight. Prepared to be educated, maddened.

7. Ratatouille
Like I've been saying it for a while now: The machines at Pixar appear to be challenging themselves more and more with each release: "What DON'T audiences think they'll fall in love with? How about a rat who cooks? Better yet, a French rat!" And of course, after 111 minutes of Pixar magic, most of us left with a newfound respect for rodents. (Reminds me of '91 when I saw Beauty and the Beast; haven't been afraid of beasts since.)

6. Superbad
Forget Knocked Up. Forget Walk Hard. This deliciously raunchy buddy comedy/love story will stand the test of time and prevail as the most influential Apatow movie of '07, defining a generation like Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High did before it. Here's hoping Christopher Mintz-Passe (a.k.a. McLovin) will ever be able to convincingly play another character, though I wouldn't mind more McLovin.

I get very excited about the upturns some actors and actresses' careers take following awards season, especially when those performers end up Oscar winners. I always enjoyed reading the post-Oscar write-ups on "What's Next for ____?", though it's less of a thrill nowadays because I typically already know what is in their pipeline. For example, thanks to Variety, I now know that Amy Ryan will be co-starring in Paul Greengrass' "untitled Iraq war thriller". She joins the movie, along with Greg Kinnear, which already starred Matt Damon (who has worked with Greengrass on two Bourne films) and which reportedly began filming in Spain yesterday. While Kinnear and Damon will both play CIA agents involved in the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Ryan has been cast as a New York Times correspondent investigating the WMD investigation.

A front-runner for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (for Gone Baby Gone), Ryan has already had one heck of a year (she also appeared in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and Dan in Real Life). In fact, I'm sure I'm not the only one to admit I'd never heard of her until 2007. But she may still not be a household name, and that should surely change following her expected win (she's also the best bet for the Golden Globe this Sunday). The supporting actress category is sometimes a bit of a joke, as it was throughout most of the 1990s (starting with Whoopi and ending with Angelina, with a Mira in the middle), but Ryan is hopefully going to be one of the few actresses that shows us how much she deserves the accolades by continuing to take respectable roles. In addition to Greengrass' film, Ryan will be co-starring in Clint Eastwood's The Changeling, which also stars Angelina (whose "What's Next ... " in 1999 included Gone in 60 Seconds and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider). By the way, for those not keeping track, after making The Changeling, Ryan will have worked with four of the ten 1990s supporting actress Oscar winners (Marisa Tomei is in Before the Devil; Juliette Binoche and Dianne Wiest are both in Dan). Perhaps Greengrass can find a part in his new film for Anna Paquin?

While Juliette Binoche has had her share of diverse roles, I have to say that I never thought one of them would be a role in Dan in Real Life, where she dates Dane Cook, and presumably, Steve Carell. Nor would I have ever thought that along with this role, she'd be baring all. If you're a fan of foreign, nude, woman bits, you've probably heard about Binoche gracing the cover of the French version of Playboy. When word was released last month, horny men (or as Film Stew creatively calls them: "collectors and admirers of the female form") were fluttering with excitement.

That excitement has paved the way for disappointment. While the cover, which you can see to the right, has Binoche looking all nude, sexy, and aroused -- she made sure the inside wasn't quite so clear. See, the actress insisted that her inside photos be modified. This doesn't sound too surprising, given the amount of airbrushing that goes on these days, but she wasn't requesting a pimple removed here, or mole removed there. Binoche wanted her photos blurred until they looked more like abstract art than plain, naked photos of herself. Why? She says: "modeling naked for Playboy was equally an act of universal love as well as a feminist act of militancy to change the world."

I never realized nudity was an act of "universal love." I wonder then: if we all stripped nude and posted pictures of ourselves online, would we finally have world peace? Secondly, I highly doubt disappointing some Playboy readers is a militant act to change the world. I understand her motivations, but not her process. Nevertheless, it should bode well for the magazine. Even with the blur, the issues have sold out, and this seems to be working with editor Yan Ceh's plan to make it more high-brow.

But I ask you: What's the goofiest militant act or piece of activism that you've spotted lately?

As the end credits roll on Dan in Real Life, I imagine most people will have roughly the same reaction -- a smile and a shrug. You won't be angry at yourself for watching it, but you'll be hard pressed to remember the thing in two weeks. It's a relentlessly average movie, packed full of "nice" moments but lacking a single great one.

Steve Carell stars as Dan, a widowed advice columnist trying to be a good father to his three daughters, well played by Alison Pill, Marlene Lawston, and a very funny Brittany Robertson. A widowed man raising his three daughters is also the premise of the old sitcom Full House, and the comparison isn't far off. These daughters are fleshed out a bit more than the Olsen twins, but the relationship beats feel the same -- forced, cutesy, a little tired.

Dan and the girls go to visit their extended family in a lakeside Rhode Island cottage. Dan takes a trip to the local bookstore, and in a very Woody Allen-esque scene, he meets and develops a crush on a woman named Marie (Juliette Binoche). There's a "falling-for-each-other" montage that doesn't really convince, Dan gets her number, and heads home to brag about his new "hottie" and meet the girlfriend of his brother (Dane Cook). Surprise surprise -- his hottie and the girlfriend are one and the same -- Marie. Cue the laugh track.

I'm sure someone out there has or is going to make a joke about 30 Days of Night taking a big bite out of the box office, just as if the movie had tanked we'd be hearing about how the movie bites. Well, you won't hear that from me, although I guess you just did. In any case, arctic vampires translated into cold hard cash (yeah, that was just as bad) this past weekend as 30 Days of Night was the big winner. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married slipped only one position landing in second place. The Game Plan remains in the top five for the fourth week in a row with a total take of $69 million so far. I sooo did not see that coming. It was pretty close between the fifth and sixth place positions, with The Comebacks just barely outdoing Gone Baby Gone. And now, the numbers if you please...

1. 30 Days of Nights: $15.9 million
2. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? $12.1 million
3. The Game Plan: $8.1 million
4. Michael Clayton: $6.6 million
5. The Comebacks: $5.5 million

Only two major openings this week, and they couldn't be more different from one another. Whether people are looking for laughs or screams will be the deciding factor.

Dan in Real Life
What's It All About: Steve Carell stars as an advice columnist, widower and father of three who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend. Hi jinx ensue.
Why It Might Do Well: Since this week's other big release is Saw IV, there will be moviegoers looking for something a bit lighter, and this should fit the bill. Despite Evan Almighty's tepid box office performance, Carell is still carrying enough momentum from The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Office to entice ticket buyers.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Despite Carell, there's still Dane Cook's presence to consider.
Number of Theaters: 1,700
Prediction: $15 million

Saw IV
What's It All About: Just in time for Halloween, it's a new installment in the Saw franchise. Jigsaw is back, though he looks pretty dead in the trailer, and there are more traps, moral quandaries, and buckets of gore.
Why It Might Do Well: Opening weekend figures for the first three Saw flicks have increased each year. Saw has become such a known quantity that I suspect the trend will continue, and I see this being in the number one spot this coming weekend.
Why It Might Not Do Well: With Hostel II tanking at the box office, I suspect the torture porn fad may be on its last legs.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $31 million

Next weekend seems fairly straightforward, with Saw IV being the obvious number one film (blood and guts, Halloween, and a tried and true franchise) followed by the reliable Steve Carrel's Dan in Real Life, with last week's top three shifting down to make room for the new guys. So when all is said and done it might look something like this:
1. Saw IV
2. Dan in Real Life
3. 30 Days of Night
4. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?
5. The Game Plan

Hearty congratulations and a Cinematical Whoop-de-doo (I have no idea what that means) to Bubba8193 for the first perfect score our little competition has seen in awhile. Here's how everyone did:

1. Bubba8193: 16
2. Joseph J. Finn: 10
3. Neil: 9
3. Caddy: 9
3. Chris: 9
3. Anna07: 9
4. Ray: 8
4. Ethan Stanislawski: 8
5. Max: 7
5. Dre: 7
6. Matt: 7
6. Josh: 6
6. Dana: 6
6. Pete2169: 6
6. Nathan: 6
7. Gregory Rubinstein: 3
7. NPC: 3


Don't forget, please post your prediction in the comments section below before 5:00PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.

Before production even began on Dan in Real Life -- the funny, heartfelt and sometimes heartbreaking tale of a lonely widower named Dan (Steve Carell) who falls in love with his brother's girlfriend Marie (Juliette Binoche) -- writer-director Peter Hedges set an ambitious goal: to have Dan's soundtrack do for the film what Cat Stevens' music did for Harold and Maude and Simon & Garfunkel's classic tuneage did for The Graduate. In other words, Hedges wanted to find one artist to lend a unique musical voice to Dan; he wanted the songs to be unforgettable and inextricably linked to the heartbeat of the film; AND he wanted the soundtrack to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the most revered soundtracks of all time. Sounds like a job for a seasoned, world-wise-yet-hopeful music legend -- perhaps a Springsteen or a Bono ... or a 25-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter named Sondre Lerche. Though Lerche's brand of whimsical, romantic indie-rock has been quietly dazzling music diehards for years, he has yet to hit the mainstream -- but that could all change with this film. We talked with Lerche about playing guitar with Steve Carell, soothing Hedges on the film's set and making his big Hollywood debut.

Cinematical: How did you get involved with Dan in Real Life?

Sondre Lerche: Well, Peter [Hedges] had heard a couple of my songs and thought that my music had the right kind of sound and feel for the movie, and so he came to my apartment in New York and we talked about what he was trying to do. He wanted one musician to do all the music, and he wanted it to have a unique feel, like Harold and Maude. Then I played him a song that I had written a couple days before, and he loved it. So I read the script that Peter was in the process of rewriting and started attending auditions and rehearsals for the movie so I could get the mood right.

Cinematical: You were also on the set of the movie during filming. How was that? Care to share any anecdotes?

SL: Oh yeah, I was there as much as I could be -- whenever I was in town. I was there for the scene where the whole family puts on a talent show, and Steve Carell plays the guitar and sings 'Let My Love Open the Door.' I gave him some tips, showed him the best way to hold the guitar and stuff. That was very cool. And Peter also wanted me on the set in case things started going badly so that I could play some songs and calm him down [laughs].

Cinematical: Ha. And did you write the songs as the different scenes were being filmed, or did you wait until the end so you could see a finished product?

SL: I started working on them immediately. I actually wrote the first song a couple of days after I met with Peter. That was about a year and a half ago now.

Once again I don't see a theme forming in this week's gaggle of new previews, so I'm just going with stuff that I would plunk my hard-earned money down to see.

LOL
At first look I thought this humorous look at the relationships of three technologically obsessed young men was a documentary, and I think the realism the trailer conveys gives the film a sort of Blair Witch Project feel (that's a good thing). Director Joe Swanberg stars as Tim, who appears to be caught up in a triangle with his girlfriend and his computer. Tim's friend Alex is so obsessed with a beautiful girl he's met online that he doesn't notice the very real girl who is attracted to him. Chris finds himself separated from his girlfriend, and they are forced to continue their relationship through the technological filters of internet and cell phone. Karina Longworth reviewed LOL way back in March of 2006. The trailer grabbed my attention as something different, and Karina's positive review really has me wanting to see this one.

Dan in Real Life
Steve Carell may have taken a bit of a bath with Evan Almighty, but I suspect he'll be bouncing back with this one. He's still being funny here, but you can see a little more of the subtlety he brought to Little Miss Sunshine. Carell plays an advice columnist and single father of three girls. He meets a woman for whom he feels he has a special connection and she turns out to be his brother's girlfriend. As simplistic and sitcom-esque as the plot sounds, Carell really sells it with his usual warmth and likability. Scott found himself liking the trailer too and you can read his take on it here. The film goes into limited U.S. release on October 12 with a wider release following on October 19. Check out the trailer right here: