1. The Bourne Ultimatum – Among the most visceral and suspenseful action movies Hollywood’s ever made, it deserved a Best Picture nomination. Kick ass twist ending.
2. 3:10 to Yuma – The best western since Unforgiven, driven by powerhouse perfs by alpha-actors Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. Action plus morality tale plus crackling dialogue.
3. 300 – No matter the adjectives used to describe this movie’s envelope-pushing visuals, it sounds like empty hyperbole. But this one truly reinvents the medium.
4. Gone Baby Gone – Sadly flying under everyone’s radar last fall, this gritty mystery
thriller delivers big twists. And poses tough questions about right and wrong.
5. No Country for Old Men – Best Picture Oscar was well deserved. A stark, tragic tale about our inability to comprehend (or stop) evil. Every shot is a work of art.
6. Superbad – The police-character subplot doesn’t belong, but the Michael Cera-Jonah Hill scenes are sublime in their blend of horny vulgarity and adolescent awkwardness.
7. Enchanted – A genius idea (Disney princess enters our most un-fairy-tale world) elevated by a surprisingly snarky sense of humor and the effervescent Amy Adams.
8. Atonement – The obligatory lushly tragic English period piece, this is about as good as it gets for this kind of thing. Strangely underrated.
9. Michael Clayton – A complex story of complex characters, this film insists you pay attention to piece if all together. The most satisfying climax of the year.
10. Sunshine – The ending goes off the rails, but the first hour offers the kind of smart, gripping science fiction action thriller we all crave.
Honorable Mention: 28 Weeks Later; Dan in Real Life; Disturbia; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; I Am Legend; Into the Wild; Juno; The Kingdom; Knocked Up; Ratatouille; Right at Your Door; Waitress; and Zodiac.
The Invasion – Maybe 10 minutes here feels fresh. The rest is a dervative hodgepodge amalgam of zombie movies and pod-people movies.
Spider-man 3 – So lame it’s almost insulting. A visually confusing, narratively tedious, overall pointless exercise in filmmaking excess and ego.
Grindhouse – It’s time for Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino to grow up. Their arrested-development charm has worn off.
See also: "The Best and Worst Films of 2006" and "The Best and Worst Films of 2005"
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