This is nothing like my top ten of 2007. I don’t not do top ten lists because I think they’re stupid, pointless or pretentious. I don’t do them because I never see enough films in the year to feel I’m adequately representing what is the best of the year. I don’t even feel I could represent my favorite of the year, since later on I’ll likely see some great films from this year that would qualify as my favorite(s). So, I’m just going to present some movies (or parts of movies) I really loved this year, and tell you what I loved about them. Because to me best of lists are merely a reminder of movies I still need to see, consider this a list only of things you might have missed and should definitely check out.

• Sunshine and The Last Winter - Two incredible science fiction stories that each ends rather disappointingly. Fortunately both are good enough until their denouements that they are completely recommendable to serious sci-fi fans and anybody else who wants to spark up some discussions about environmental issues and/or psychological implications of being out in the middle of nowhere.
• The Boss of It All - Not the most remarkable Von Trier film, but proof that he can make a simple comedy if that’s what he wants to do. I especially enjoyed it because I’ve had a passive boss who was exactly like the one in the film. Also, Ibn Hjejle has now been redeemed for her awful, out-of-place presence in High Fidelity.

• The beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - The surreal opening of the third Pirates movie makes more sense than the rest of the trilogy, and it’s something Salvador Dali could have enjoyed. Maybe it was Disney’s way of paying him homage in conjunction with their finally finishing Destino a few years ago.
• The Kingdom - I’ll keep saying it: this movie enacts what we all wanted to happen after 9/11. I don’t want to spoil the thing, but you need to know that EVERY BAD GUY DIES. Yes, even the one representing Bin Laden. The only thing that could have made it a more appropriate as an ’80s-action-movie response would be if it starred Schwarzenegger, Willis and Stallone instead of Foxx, Bateman and Cooper. Of course, then it wouldn’t have been acted quite as well.
• King Corn and The King of Kong - Because sometimes you don’t want a heavy documentary. Still, neither of these films is particularly fluff, either. King Corn is a perfect visual companion to Michael Pollan’s literary hit of this year, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, showing us how corn fills our entire food system. The King of Kong is a perfect tale of good vs. evil, but it also helps us forgive our friends who we thought were too obsessed with video games.
• This is England and Control - I liked both of these UK films for other more objective reasons, too, but subjectively I appreciated them on a whole nostalgic scenester level that I haven’t experienced since the silliness of SLC Punk.
• Darfur Now - Because I normally hate self-satisfying and self-congratulatory docs (like Born into Brothels), but I appreciated how almost meta this doc was with its acknowledgement of how celebs bring attention to a cause or a film.
• No End in Sight - Because unlike most critics, I normally don’t laud docs on merely being informative (almost all docs are informative), but this one is so packed with information that after feeling like I’d received a mini-series’ worth of knowledge about the Iraq War, I looked at my clock and realized only 40 minutes had gone by. I guess in terms of filmmaking quality, Charles Ferguson has to be awarded for being so concise.
• Ocean’s Thirteen - Because even if it wasn’t better than the second movie, it’s still the most frivolous, unnecessary guilty pleasure around.
• Ratatouille - Because Brad Bird should be directing every action sequence out of Hollywood. That scene in which Remy first enters Gusteau’s kitchen is so well-choreographed, it makes me hate the confusingly shot parts of Transformers, et al, even more.
• Breach - Because Chris Cooper should be the one in every movie, not Brian Cox.
• Life of Reilly - Because I’m not usually a loud laugher. Thanks and RIP, CNR.
• Vanaja and The Darjeeling Limited - Because now I want to take a trip to India, but I want it to be as beautiful and bittersweet as these two films present it as.
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut and Killer of Sheep - Because they were the best films of 2007 and very well could have been films made in 2007, but they were films made decades ago. Two perfect arguments for how things were better back when.
• Waitress - Because this is the year I became a fan of pie.
• Hot Fuzz and Run Fatboy Run - Because Simon Pegg.
• Black Book - Because I found a new foreign actress to fawn over (sorry Audrey Tautou) at least until she makes a bad American movie (she’s quickly taking care of that, I think).
• Paris, je t’aime - Because this year I got to see two great works each from Tom Tykwer (other: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) and the Coen Brothers (other: No Country for Old Men). Too bad I still haven’t gotten to see Paranoid Park yet, so I could say the same for Gus Van Sant and Christopher Doyle.
• My definite, definite, definite favorite film of 2007 was The Key to Reserva, Martin Scorsese’s commercial for Freixenet wine, in which he aped Hitchcock’s style so perfectly.  

Other films I really loved in 2007 include Zodiac, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, An Unreasonable Man, Persepolis, Juno, Superbad and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. And hell, I’ll give some love to Enchanted for at least providing me with a lot to write about recently. Love thine enemy and whatnot.