The ability to sustain a sense of Seuss in a CGI scenario (I can't rhyme like the good doctor, but I can alliterate with the best of them) worked in the favor of Horton Hears a Who, last week's number one flick by a country mile, giving it the biggest opening weekend of 2008 so far. Like many of the folks taking part in our weekly box office competition (see the bottom of this post for details) I underestimated the tale of teen angst and kickboxing that is Never Back Down while overestimating the drawing power of the apocalypse with Doomsday, which finished seventh for the week with a mere $4.9 million. 10,000 B.C. dropped only as far as second place for its second week, though its total so far of $61.5 million has a ways to go before exceeding the film's $105 million budget. Here are the numbers for last weekend:

1. Horton Hears a Who: $45 million
2. 10,000 B.C.: $16.7 million
3. Never Back Down: $8.6 million
4. College Road Trip: $7.8 million
5. Vantage Point: $5.5 million

If you're determined to see something new this week, you have your choice of laughs, screams, and family drama. Here are this week's newbies:

Drillbit Taylor
What's It All About: A comedy in which a group of high school nerds search the ads in Soldier of Fortune magazine for a body guard to protect them from the school bully. They hire a homeless guy named Drillbit Taylor (it never pays to go with the lowest bidder) played by Owen Wilson.
Why It Might Do Well: Wilson, of course, has many comedic credits to his name, including Wedding Crashers which pulled in $209 million domestically. Also, Seth Rogen seems to have the midas touch and he co-wrote the screenplay.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Based on the TV spots I keep seeing, people who aren't comfortable with nerd on nerd violence may stay away.
Number of Theaters: 2,700
Prediction: $12 million

It was a damn fine year for movies, 2007. It's hard enough picking 10 top flicks from the crop after a just-decent year, so the task was especially tricky this time around. (At least at Moviefone we're able to pick the 50 best.) That's why I'm thankful for the unwritten critics' rule that Top 10 lists can start with a tie, so long as there's common thematic bond between them. Here are my 11 10 favorite movies of the 007.

10. Tie: Dan in Real Life / Grace is Gone (Widower Special)
What can I say, I'm a sucker for widowers. Some critics found the loving family in Steve Carell's poignant dramedy Dan unrealistic. I feel sorry for some critics. Plot contrivances aside, it succeeds both in capturing the dynamics of a large clan and telling a helluva love story. In a career-best performance in Grace, John Cusack is a flag-waving father of two whose wife is killed in Iraq. This tear-jerking drama might be misconstrued as a political statement, but finally it's a heartrending tale of human loss.

9. Hot Fuzz
Yes, this hilarious send-up of (tribute to?) Bruckheimer schlock tops Shaun of the Dead, the brilliant debut from Brits Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Whereas Shaun's first hour is pure bliss, it loses some steam in the third act. Fuzz gets better as it speeds along, offering up surprises and side-splitters in equal measure. Really, who would've thought anyone would ever pay homage to Bad Boys II?

8. No End in Sight
As you can surmise from the title, this ain't exactly a sunshiney look at the Iraq War. But it's the most thorough, eye-opening detailing of the mega-blunders made the Bush Administration in planning and executing the war to date (so THAT'S where the insurgency came from!), with nary a Michael Moore stunt in sight. Prepared to be educated, maddened.

7. Ratatouille
Like I've been saying it for a while now: The machines at Pixar appear to be challenging themselves more and more with each release: "What DON'T audiences think they'll fall in love with? How about a rat who cooks? Better yet, a French rat!" And of course, after 111 minutes of Pixar magic, most of us left with a newfound respect for rodents. (Reminds me of '91 when I saw Beauty and the Beast; haven't been afraid of beasts since.)

6. Superbad
Forget Knocked Up. Forget Walk Hard. This deliciously raunchy buddy comedy/love story will stand the test of time and prevail as the most influential Apatow movie of '07, defining a generation like Dazed and Confused and Fast Times at Ridgemont High did before it. Here's hoping Christopher Mintz-Passe (a.k.a. McLovin) will ever be able to convincingly play another character, though I wouldn't mind more McLovin.

Did you know that the Kansas City Film Critics Circle is the second oldest critics group in the country? Yep, they've been voting for their favorites since 1966, which is when they gave Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? their highest accolade. Members of the KCFCC include Loey Lockerby, Russ Simmons and my good pal Dan Lybarger ... but even if you're not familiar with their work, it sure looks like the whole crew has some pretty excellent taste in movies.

So here's what the KCFCC threw some love towards as part of their 42nd(!) annual awards presentation...

Best Film
There Will Be Blood

The Robert Altman Award for Directing
(TIE!)
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Marion Cotilliard, La Vie en Rose

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

Best Supporting Actress
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Original Screenplay
Diablo Cody, Juno

Best Adapted Screenplay
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men

Best Animated Film
Ratatouille

Best Foreign Language Film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Best Documentary
In the Shadow of the Moon

The Vince Koehler Award for Outstanding Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

So there you have it. Kansas City has spoken!

Want to know a dirty little secret?

Contrary to what you've heard recently, critics hate writing bad reviews.

No, they're not fun to write; they're exhausting. No, they're not less work than a good review; they're more difficult. And when you love movies -- which you better, as a critic -- you don't sit down in the dark before a film and think, "Boy, I hope the next two hours of my life will be wasted." But every movie is not, in fact, good -- and these were the high marks among the low points in 2007, from one critic's highly subjective perspective.

1. The Heartbreak Kid

Racist, sexist, misogynist -- and, even worse, not funny. The Farrelly Brothers proved their "King Midas in reverse" touch by turning a classic piece of comedy gold into a lump of trash. The only possible bright side comes in the fact that the Farrelly's status as box-office kings has now been tarnished, hopefully hastening their slide to straight-to-video film making.

The best movie year since 1999, 2007 offered a staggering bounty of cinematic delights. I keep track of all the movies I see in a given year and give each a letter grade, "A" through "F". Usually my Top Ten list consists of all of the "A's" and a few "B's." This year, "A" pictures made up my top twenty. With so many great films, I won't wallow through a "Worst of the Year" list, I'll simply present you with a few that didn't fully satisfy:

The Biggest Disappointment: The Darjeeling Limited -- A Louis Vuitton commercial stretched to feature length. The Darjeeling Limited is a perfect title for the film because it makes plain what a limited filmmaker the once great Wes Anderson has become. Hey Wes, people running in slow-motion while a Kinks song plays is always going to look pretty neat. But if there's absolutely nothing else going on in the scene, then that's all it is -- people running in slow-motion while a Kinks song plays. We all think it's really cool that you like The Kinks. Hell, I love those guys! The Rolling Stones are awesome, too! But I wouldn't ask them to do my job for me.

and...

The Biggest Question Mark: There Will Be Blood

Undoubtedly one of the year's most impressive technical achievements, There Will Be Blood is frequently stunning. It's so stunning, in fact, that it's easy to overlook how infuriatingly empty it all is. The film focuses on two main characters, and neither one changes a lick in thirty years and 158 minutes. How did Paul Thomas Anderson, creator of such deeply emotional rides as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love come up with a movie completely devoid of human emotion? (I'm not counting greed.) Beautiful, brilliant, and boring in equal doses, I've seen Blood twice, and I still don't know if it's a masterpiece or a mess. I just know I felt...nothing watching it. It's as hollow, as frustrating, as difficult to know as its "hero," Daniel Plainview.

On to my list. First, ten that didn't quite make the cut. Here's #20 through #11: (#20) Breach, (#19) Once, (#18) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, (#17) Sicko, (#16) Sweeney Todd, (#15) The Lives of Others, (#14) Eastern Promises, (#13) Zodiac, (#12) Atonement, (#11) Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

And my Top Ten is after the jump...

I've already done an "official" top ten list and all that year-end movie-critic jazz, but since today's my birthday I figured I'd spend an hour or two on a piece I'll simply enjoy writing. Most of the solid horror sites have done their own top / bottom lists, so I thought it would make sense to try a different approach. So let's start waaaay back in January and just tiptoe through the year in horror together. And then at the end we'll figure out how the horror geeks were treated in 2007. (All links lead to my review of that particular film, be it from FEARnet, eFilmCritic, DVDTalk, DVD Clinic, or right here at good ol' Cinematical.)

January!

01/02 -- Snakes on a Plane arrives on DVD. "The internet" still refuses to make it a hit. (0)
01/12 -- Giant croc flick Primeval advertised as a serial killer film. Doesn't help the box office. (-1)
01/16 -- Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning arrives on DVD. Thousands give it a second shot and realize it still sucks. (-1)
01/19 -- A predictably horrible remake of The Hitcher arrives in theaters. Nobody cares. (-1)
01/23 -- Saw 3 hits DVD and sells a whole bunch of copies, despite the fact that all the horror fans know a double-dip is arriving in 11 months. Weird. (0)
01/26 -- Blood and Chocolate. Ew, no thanks. (-1)
01/30 -- Forgotten Ricci flick The Gathering (finally) arrives on DVD. Turns out it was shelved for good reason. (-1)

January Total: -5 horror points!

February!

02/02 -- J-horror knock-off latecomer The Messengers hits theaters. With a PG-13. (-1)
02/06 -- The Grudge 2 hits DVD. Thousands realize oh yeah, there was a sequel. (-1)
02/09 -- A well-shot but horribly unnecessary prequel arrives in the form of Hannibal Rising. Collective yawn. (-1)
02/13 -- The "so good it's gotta be remade because it's foreign" 13 (Tzameti) arrives on DVD. (+1)
02/16 -- The comics nerds get a little (very little) horror infusion with the very silly Ghost Rider. (-1)
02/20 -- Lionsgate slaps the words "Open Water 2" onto a movie called "Adrift." (-1)
02/23 -- After Dark (brilliantly) chooses their dullest flick (The Abandoned) for a solo theatrical release. (-1)
02/23 -- Jim Carrey tries to get grim (and ends up goofy) in The Number 23. (-1)
02/27 -- The Return arrives on DVD. Hundreds remember that the movie exists. (-1)

February Total: -7 horror points!!

What are the movies that got away in 2007? What's the point of all these Top Ten lists, anyhow? When is hype welcome, and when is hype hype? And what movies are making us smile in anticipation for 2008? Tackling these questions -- and many more -- alongside James this week is Cinematical's Editor-in-Chief Erik Davis, rounding up 2007 and looking ahead to 2008. And speaking of looking forward, Cinematical's Podcast content is now in iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



As ever, you can download the entire podcast right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Even at the end of the lamest movie years, this is always too hard. I'm supposed to take a list of over 200 movies and cramp it down into one 10-title list? No way. That's not to say that there were too many films jockeying for position on my "best" list, but hell, I spent a LOT of hours watching all these movies, and I'll be damned if I'm only gonna cover ten of 'em!

Last year I went a little insane and did ten different top ten lists, but I have a little more of a social life this year, so I'm just going to list my favorite films and trash the year's biggest stinkpiles (and then, in a separate post, recap the year in horror). Let's try and generate a little tension by starting at the end. (That's what she said!)

10. Juno, Knocked Up & Waitress -- I hate it when critics put multiple movies in one spot, but I just had to cheat on my number ten, because it's really weird how the three best comedies of the year ... all have to do with pregnant chicks. One movie per slot from here on out, I promise.

9. The Bourne Ultimatum -- The perfect capper to a stellar trilogy. Masterful action, fantastic performances, and an energy that just never lets up.

8. Zodiac -- I went in expecting Silence of the Lambs, but got a fantastic "newspaper" story instead. And even at 160 minutes, I was never bored.

7. Hot Fuzz -- Pegg, Frost and Wright strike again in this wonderfully clever action flick send-up. It took multiple viewings before the flick really clicked with me, but it's easily the funniest movie of the year that doesn't have any pregnant women in it. (Superbad being a close second.)

6. Sweeney Todd -- It's not exactly the sort of musical I'm used to (that Sondheim is pretty weird), but between the stellar leads, the grimly gorgeous look of the piece, and enough gallows humor to fill ten good flicks -- this just might be Tim Burton's best movie yet.

Once upon a time, back when I started out this line of work, it was my aim to see every movie ever made. Then came the VHS player. Once the direct-to-video market began, numerous filmmakers stopped thinking of the pleasures and rigors of making films for the big screen. Instead, they started thinking of a quick payoff. VHS financed the rise of the indie movie for good (or often, ill). It all added up to a huge increase in the number of films released. Eventually, I realized if I wanted to do some ordinary things--hoisting an ale, listening to music, reading a book--I was going to have to let a few films slide. Coming attractions have been a huge help in picking which ones to avoid, particularly the ones that reveal every single plot point and the most likely resolution of the problem. So how can I really do a worst of 2007 list? I ducked a lot of contenders. Underdog, for instance.

I missed P.U., I Hate You, as those slashing wits at Cracked magazine will be calling it, but I really felt James Rocchi's personal agony at witnessing the last of Hilary Swank's trio of evil movies this year. Though some would call it a duo; some people fell for Freedom Writers. Maybe this kind of story can be told without Room 222-levels of obviousness and manipulation...perhaps from the POV of one of the students, instead of the earnest white teacher? I'm not going to get any prizes for prescience by saying Swank's agent needs to be renditioned to some country with deep dark dungeons. Swank's Lost Year has already been celebrated elsewhere.

But The Reaping (#1) was the worst of the three; no one wants to see this actress's career reaped anymore. The low-water mark of this swamps-of-blood Christian thriller was the scene where Swank is told by a yokel, "Some people just don't want to go to heaven." Meaning her, and the atheists, agnostics, and Odin-worshippers in the audience.

If I had to think of one moment that summed 2007 up for me as a critic and moviegoer, then that moment came before an early-morning press screening at Cannes. Two film writers were speaking about a film from the day before -- excited, animated, engaged. One of them said "Le Scaphandre et le Papillion?" She then made a hand gesture worth a thousand words, and then exclaimed "Cinema!" And I felt the same way about The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as she did -- that it was a work of pure cinema, using every possible element of film to make a powerful piece of art, one that was engaged with the real world we live in while also existing as a strong, expressive creative work in and of itself. That's worth looking for, at the movies -- and, this year, it was easier than you might think to find it. These, then, are the films that made me exclaim 'Cinema!" in 2007, in no particular order after #1.

1. No Country for Old Men

The best film of the year -- wildly engaging, supremely confident, completely thrilling. Lesser filmmakers would have turned Cormac McCarthy's book into a tedious shoot-'em-up; thanks to Joel and Ethan Coen, we get a pulse-pounding, thought-provoking existential action flick -- a Greek tragedy with shotguns, a story of the American West whose true themes and concerns are eternal. I've seen No Country for Old Men five times now, and I get something new out of it every time -- it's a rich and dense work that also has sugar-rush surface-level pleasures. With three of the best male performances of the year (Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem) and a tone that somehow both fulfills and thwarts what we expect from the movies, No Country for Old Men may be the Coen's masterpiece.