MOVIES: Best of 2007 -- the top ten movies

Counting down from #10 to #1:

• There Will Be Blood -- A spectacularly ambitious movie that doesn't always reach as high as it aims, but damn, you have to love it for aiming in the first place. Gorgeously photographed by Robert Elswit, with the score of the year by Jonny Greenwood.
• Tears of the Black Tiger -- A melodramatic Thai western -- imagine a collaboration between John Ford and Douglas Sirk -- filmed in lurid pastels. It's a visual spectacle, to be sure, but what's most surprising is how moving it finally is, even as it gleefully wallows in standard plot tropes.
• Away From Her -- A movie this intelligent and understanding about aging would be unexpected if it came from a director in his 60s; that it came from 27-year-old Sarah Polley is astonishing.
• The Orphanage -- Standard supernatural thriller elements -- the missing chid, the abandoned lighthouse, the eerie medium -- remixed with great thought and ingenuity. How much more fun it is to see a movie like this, that earns its scares from crisp editing and impeccable timing, than to be gore-fested by something like the Saw or Hostel movies.
• The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters -- People following their obsessions are almost always interesting, even when their obsession doesn't much interest you. Here's another fine case in point, a rollicking documentary about two men and their attempt to outdo one another at Donkey Kong.
• 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days -- Not, despite what you may have heard, a movie about abortion. Yes, abortion is central to the plot, but what the movie's about is the dehumanization and the brutality of living under totalitarianism, in a society on the verge of complete collapse. A chilling movie, with superb performances.
• The Lookout -- Marvelous crime thriller, in which good must face evil with severely limited resources; the joy comes from watching how resourcefully he makes of the resources he does have.
• Once -- Wistful, romantic, and delicate are not words that normally have me running eagerly to the multiplex, but this movie is a jewel. There's not much plot, and there's no cheap attempt to generate phony drama; it's just a week in the life of two musicians, told with perfect control of style and tone.
• Juno -- Best ensemble cast of the year, with every actor perfectly in sync with director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody. Admittedly, the first few minutes are a bit scary (especially that awful scene with Rainn Wilson) and I feared this was going to be one of those Sundance quip-fests that we're cursed with every year, but there's a deep emotional core here.
• Ratatouille -- A fabulous comedy that is also a thoughtful meditation on creativity, criticism, friendship, and trust. Stunningly animated, and Michael Giacchino's score is a joy.

A few runners-up that might have made the list on a different day: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; Breach; Enchanted; Gone Baby Gone; Hairspray; Music and Lyrics; The Nines; Persepolis; Waitress.