My pre-Charlie Wilson's war Top 10 of 2007

Having the slew of Top Ten films of 2007, as well as the top ten 'flops' of 2007, come out on the blogs and entertainment sites, written by the so called critics, is making me wonder why the film critics are writing in the first place. Films, or movies, don't succeed at the box office on the basis of a critical 'pat on the back' yet films seem to 'bomb' more easily based on a critical bruising.

So the critics must love giving a film a pasting and then happily reporting that they were right all along when the movie only recoups or not as is sometimes the case; or do they?

All I know is that Top Ten box office hits seldom compare to the critical top ten in the same time frame - yet the films that struggle seem to be the ones that the critics decide are not for you or I to see.

I went to see The Brave One back in the summer and thought the film was well directed and well acted by Jodie Foster yet a day or so later i read a local film critics destruction of the film which was, frankly, unfair and far too up it's own arse for it's own good.

I wrote to the local paper that ran the critique and tried to point out that a critic's job is not to laud or destroy a film via their writing but to guide people in their choice of 'see or not see'. Where they seem to have lost the plot is in their forgetfulness of the place they should hold in the public services and the place that they want to have in the 'failed journalist/failed director/failed producer' post career.

What I want to know is what kind of film it is, who is in it and whether it's well made, covering the basics of plot, direction, casting and actor performance. That's it.

I don't want to get into the personal opinion of this critic or that - it's totally irrelevant - after all, if I want to see my Tuesday Movie and it happens to be a choice between a couple of Sci-Fi films why would I seek counsel from someone who hates sci-fi.

My point here, that I'm realising that I'm getting to in a very long-winded way, is that films, much like music, are very subjective forms of art. No critic should be so arrogant as to use their 'column' or 'site' or 'blog' to toss the movie into the cinematic toilet bowl.

With that in mind here is my Top Ten of films I've seen in 2007. There are two points to make here; 1) I have not yet seen Charlie Wilson's War and I expect that film (having just finished the book) to enter at number one 2) I obviously have not seen every film on offer over the year - this is in no way a top ten of all films - just the ones I've seen either on DVD (could be prior to 2007) or in the Cinema.

1: Eastern Promises - under-rated film of 2007 in my book - brilliant! *****
2: The Bourne Ultimatum - I'm a Bourne fan and this wasn't Supremacy ****
3: Elizabeth, The Golden Age - gripping stuff,superb acting and direction. ****
4: Shoot 'em Up - Clive Owen again? Paul Giamatti is brilliant! ****
5: A History of Violence - (DVD) 2005 but a classic Cronenburg ****
6: No Country for Old Men - Crap ending but best man hunt film ever ***
7: Transformers - Starts great, middle is crap - end fight is amazing! ***
8: American Gangster - Denzel in best form since man On Fire. ***
9: War - Good vehicle for Li and Statham. Fight romptastic! ***
10: Live Free or Die Hard - best Die Hard yet - Willis still has it. ***

Honorable mention to The Brave One.

I toyed with a top 5 worst films but after my initial bit of the post.....

However, films that I saw that did NOT live up to my expectations from watching the trailer - I like to call it 'Trailer was the best thing about the film' are:
Superbad, Balls Of Fury, Lions for Lambs and Dan in Real Life.

I still have to see Charlie Wilson, Sweeney Todd and I am Legend this year and all three would probably edge in to my Top ten at various points.

....anyway - whoever you are - enjoy checking out my best films of 2007.

...and now......introducing my Bread Sauce recipe!

OK, so I forgot about this blog for far too long and it's just inexcusable, but as I probably have 2 readers out there it's no big loss to my circulation if i lose them! :-) The reason for this rare post is that I needed a place to distrubute my recipe for the best sauce you can ever have with Christmas turkey and strange as it may seem - the North Americans don't seem to know about it - well that just has to change as this sauce, called Bread Sauce, (I know! not a great title and probably puts people off right away!) is not only the best thing about a Turkey dinner but it's also the best thing to smother on turkey sandwiches the next day - as it gets thicker and tastier left in the fridge.

Ok - first that name - would it be more appetising if we (I) called it Sauce A'la Pan? Here is MY recipe - you can forgoe the pre-prep stage if you want and play around with the onion/clove algorithm but I have made this many times and this really is the best way to get the fullest flavour.

The Pre-prep stage (can be done on the day but best done a few days in advance and lets face it - advance stuff for Christmas dinner or lunch is best, eh?) Get a large jar - maybe a large pickle jar or a large mason jar - it needs to have a wide opening as you need to get the onion in there.

Chop up some onion - 2 -3 medium - or a large one - up to you doesn't matter too much but the onion needs to be small enough to fit in the jar. Take about 6 or 8 cloves and add to the onion in a pan - pour over a litre or so of milk (your choice on the milk and just make sure you don't use too much that the milk and onion and clove don't fit in your large jar. Don't add any salt but I add a grind or two of black pepper.

The 'on the day' method for this often state that you stick the cloves in a whole onion and add to the milk - this is fine and aids the separation of the onion and clove from the milk but I feel this doesn't get the full flavour from the onion.

Bring to a light boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Cover and let it cool a bit. Pour it all into the jar. Cool with the lid just on - then when cold pop the lid on and stick it in the fridge to be forgotten about a few days.

On the day...... Get the liquor (the milk/onion/clove milk) out of the fridge about an hour before you plan to make the sauce. I would make the sauce about the same time I make the gravy.

Now - you need to prepare some breadcrumbs - white, no crusts and I tend to have a loaf that I've had in a brown bag for a couple days and let it go a bit stale (not mouldy). A whole loaf is usually enough. Cut off the crusts and whizz in a food processor - just make sure you don't have any big bits but conformity isn't that important. Sieve (pass) the liquor from the jar into a pan and bring to a simmer - add half the bread crumbs and mix. Now it's up to you how thick you have it - I tend to like it so I can spoon it from a sauce bowl rather than pour it.

Add the rest of the bread and decide your thickness as you do it - keep it warm, don't burn the bottom of the pan and transfer to a sauce bowl as you pour the gravy into your boat. people will probably balk at it if you call it bread sauce - so make something up - it's better than the cranberry sauce and almost as good as my gravy which I have just made the stock for - make as much as you can as the real delight is spreading it on a turkey sandwich the next day.

Here is your shopping list: Onion - white not red - 3 medium or one large one. Some cloves - at least 4 up to 8 Milk - 2% is best about a litre or so.
Bread - white and let go stale and made into breadcrumbs sans the crust. Some fresh black pepper.

There you have it!