The films of 2007.

Another year, another bunch of movies to look back at.

My ten favorite movies of 2007:

ENCHANTED
HAIRSPRAY
HOT FUZZ
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD
MEET THE ROBINSONS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END
RATATOUILLE
STARDUST
SUPERBAD
SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

Runners-up: American Gangster, Ocean's Thirteen, Shoot 'em Up, The Simpsons Movie and Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story

My favorite things in movies - 2007:

Albert Brooks as Russ Cargill in The Simpsons Movie

Anton Ego’s monologue about criticism in Ratatouille

The appearance of the flasher in Hairspray...and everything that follows

Barry and Adam's conversations in Bee Movie

Ben Foster in Alpha Dog (not that the rest of the players were slouches, but...seriously, watch the party scene)

The celebrity cameos in Reno 911!: Miami

The chase scene in Death Sentence, especially John R. Leonetti’s cinematography for it

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's script for You Kill Me

"Cool beans." - Hot Rod

The creation of the young woman in Stardust

Eddie Murphy as Mr. Wong in Norbit

The fake trailers "Don’t", "Thanksgiving" and "Machete" in Grindhouse...and especially the tagline of the latter: "If you’re gonna hire Machete to kill the bad guy, you’d better make damn sure the bad guy...isn’t you."

The familiar faces that dotted the cinematic landscape of American Gangster, from Bumpy Johnson to the racist government official

Geoffrey Rush in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

The gunfights in Shoot 'em Up

Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The innuendo in "Let’s Duet" and the dance moves in the Black nightclub in Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story

James Marsden in Hairspray and Enchanted

John Goodman in Death Sentence

Lewis gets acquainted with the titular family in Meet the Robinsons

Movies made of pure fun: Enchanted, Hot Fuzz, Live Free or Die Hard, Ocean’s Thirteen, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Shoot 'em Up, Stardust and Superbad

Names shift around a grid revealing still more names to unsettling Paul Haslinger music - the opening credits of Vacancy

The name of the law firm that Patrick Dempsey works for in Enchanted

Peter Andrews (Steven Soderbergh)' cinematography for Ocean’s Thirteen

Peter Dinklage and Patrick Warburton in Underdog

The post-mortem puppet show in Smokin’ Aces

Roger Deakins’ cinematography for No Country for Old Men

The Sandman’s regeneration in Spider-Man 3

Tom Hollander takes one last walk down the stairs of his ship - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

The vicarious thrill of seeing features and trailers the way they once were - Grindhouse

The violence inflicted on Andy Samberg in Hot Rod (I don't hate the guy, but that was freakin' hilarious.)

My basic criteria for this list is stuff that I really liked or really surprised me (or, in rare cases, a mix of both). Here's hoping for more surprises in 2008...and a better way of ending my movie-themed posts than that.