'07 and '70s: When movies experimented, took chances

December 28, 2007 The New York Times' A.O. Scott solved that problem by first singling out two films ("4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" and "Ratatouille") as his top choices and then devoting his next eight slots to virtual double bills -- such as "The Savages" and "Away From Her," both dealing with the ravages of old age on a family -- consisting of movies that almost spoke to each other. Reviewing this year's best films, it's tempting to summon up the spirit of the early '70s, fondly remembered as a veritable golden age in which a new generation of American filmmakers threw off convention and produced a series of iconoclastic movies. There were, for example, movies that were explicitly set in the '70s, like David Fincher's "Zodiac," which doggedly pursued the police investigation of San Francisco's elusive serial killer.

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