2007 Top Ten list

Like the other ones, expect this to be edited from time to time as I getting to seeing other '07 movies in the future.

1. Juno - An amazingly well written movie that takes a story about a teenage girl getting pregnant and spins it into a broader exploration into what happens when someone who is a complete non-conformist has to deal with some huge societal issues. Plus, it's really funny.

2. Michael Clayton - Awesome legal triller that both gets you involved in the plot while also offering a scathing commentary on the whole system in which corporate lawyers thrive.

3. No Country for Old Men - A movie with a lot of subtleties that I'm not sure I picked up on fully watching for the first time, but even at face value its a great cat and mouse story with a terrifying "the world is meaningless so I might as well kill everyone" sort of villain.

4, There Will Be Blood - Even though it looks like a period piece with a grand message about what it meant to live in that place and that era, this is in fact a movie that looks inward at its black-hearted, nihilistic main character. Daniel Day Lewis's performance is fantastic.

5. American Gangster - A lot of people called this a new Scarface, but Denzel Washington's character is more quiet and calculating than was Tony Montana, and Russel Crowe's parallel story as an honest cop in a dishonest city adds a lot.

6. Sweeney Todd - Great black humor and great visuals from Tim Burton. A musical for all of us who feel musicals are too sappy.

7. Once - Review of this coming soon. A very low-key and simple film about two people who randomly meet and realize that together they make a great musical voice.

8. Black Book - An intense film taking place in occupied Holland in World War II. An exciting espionage movie, and simultaneously a melancholy personal story.

9. Knocked Up - Judd Apatow's dialog is some of the funniest ever put to paper.

10. Zodiac - David Fincher, whose Seven was creepy as hell because of its black atmosphere, makes another creepy and intriguing movie here, and does it this time by sticking very close to the facts of a real life case. Probably one of most interesting murder mysteries out there.

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11. 310 to Yuma
12. Hot Fuzz
13. Bourne Ultimatum
14. Superbad
15. 300
The Darjeeling Limited
Breach
Transformers
Spiderman 3
Beowulf
Pirates 3

Movies I have not seen that I suspect could make the list: There Will Be Blood, Eastern Promises, Paprika, Persepolis, No End in Sight, Grindhouse, King of Kong, and probably some more.