So I caught the ‘Best of 2007′ episode of the Totally Rad Show last night, and figured I’d put together my own list. I saw more movies in 2007 than in the last five years put together probably. That’s what happens when you move someplace that actually plays things you want to see.

So here are my picks, with the caveat that this is purely based on the movies I actually saw, either in theaters or on DVD, that were released in 2007.

1. Hot Fuzz
Fun, fun, fun. The team from ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (so far) can do no wrong. Definitely not the best crafted or written of my list, and won’t be up for an Oscar, but its energy and spirit more than makes up for it.

2. Planet Terror
Of the two ‘Grindhouse’ films, Robert Rodriguez’s contribution is definitely the strongest, taking zombie movies to the next level. The harsh, gritty, jumpy film effects really work well, making it feel like a real B movie.

3. No Country For Old Men
Great entry from the Coen Brothers, as usual. I still put ‘Fargo’ and ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ above this one, but I really enjoyed it. Definitely one of those films I feel I need to see again to really take it all in.

4. Bourne Ultimatum
Even though this Bourne installment feels a lot like Supremacy, it was still really fun. And we get to learn some interesting things about our friend Jason.

5. The Simpsons Movie
After many months of worrying that this movie might put the final nail in the coffin of my beloved Simpsons franchise, I was pleasantly surprised. This film was 10 times funnier than the past few years of the series. Makes me think that’s why the series has sucked so bad lately. All the writers were working on the movie. Maybe they should just retire the tv show and make more movies, like Star Trek.

6. Shoot ‘Em Up
Here’s one that just was a quick blip and was gone. This rates way up in my top 5 action movies of all time. It’s just non-stop, wall-to-wall, guns-blazing action from start to finish. Despite the fact that the plot is pretty thin and most of the action gags are unbelievably over-the-top, you can’t walk out of this movie not feeling supercharged.

7. The Golden Compass
I finally feel like I’ve found my ‘Harry Potter’. I’d never followed any of the books by Philip Pullman, and frankly never heard of them until this year. But I found myself really getting excited to see this film. Maybe it was because I felt like I was getting to learn about this new world, one that’s a lot more sophisticated than the Potter films, and kind of get started on the ground floor. I’m in the middle of listening to the audio book, which of course opens things up much wider.

8. Martian Child
Another film that barely registered on any radars. Amazing, funny, touching film with John Cusack about a single writer who decides to adopt a shy young boy….who insists that he’s from Mars. Definitely rent this one when it comes out.

Update, 01.27.08: I just now got around to seeing ‘Stardust’. What a fantastic movie! If I had seen it before I’d put this list together, it would definitely have been ranked pretty high. I think I may have liked it even more than Golden Compass. If you like stuff like Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc, you owe it to yourself to see ‘Stardust’. Quite possibly the best writing of them all. Yeah, you heard me.

Disappointments of 2007
Here are a few bummers of the year.

Transformers
I really wanted to love this, and it was definitely *good*, but it just has too many issues. While I don’t feel Michael Bay totally destroyed my childhood with this movie, it could’ve been so much better.

Spiderman 3
Again, I love the Spiderman franchise, and I think Sam Raimi is a frickin’ genius. But Spidey 3 just didn’t have the punch it should have. It may have suffered from what the Batman movies got stuck in, villain overload. It just felt like it was balancing so many competing characters and storylines it just got kind of muddy. And after years of waiting, we finally get to see Venom on screen, and I have to say it was a little disappointing.

Sunshine
The first two-thirds of this movie were amazing. Had the feel of a great submarine movie, only in space. But then the last act degraded into a bad monster movie and ruined it. I remember feeling like I enjoyed the movie a lot better when it was called ‘Event Horizon’.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
And finally, probably the worst movie of the year. The first Pirates is one of my all-time favorites that I saw twice in the theatre. The second one wasn’t as good, but had many redeeming qualities. This third one just plain sucked. The plot was just this tangled mess that seemed to go on forever. Regardless of the effects (and they were good), they couldn’t save this shipwreck.

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