UPDATED: BEST OF 2007

What an amazing year at the movies. And to think, we still have AMERICAN GANGSTER, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, SWEENEY TODD, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, JUNO, LIONS FOR LAMBS, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD, BEOWULF, REDACTED, I'M NOT THERE, THE MIST, ATONEMENT, THE GOLDEN COMPASS, I AM LEGEND, NATIONAL TREASURE 2, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, and THE BUCKET LIST to contend with.

Here is my top 40 thus far, broken into 4 tiers:

Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD
David Fincher’s ZODIAC
Susanne Bier’s THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE
David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES
Tony Gilroy’s MICHAEL CLAYTON
Peter Berg’s THE KINGDOM
Zack Snyder’s 300
Paul Greengrass’s THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
Gavin Hood’s RENDITION

Jimmy Mangold’s 3:10 TO YUMA
Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS
John Carney’s ONCE
Werner Herzog’s RESCUE DAWN
Judd Apatow’s KNOCKED UP
Ben Affleck’s GONE BABY GONE
Paul Haggis’s IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
James Gray’s WE OWN THE NIGHT
Gore Verbinski’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END
Billy Ray’s BREACH

Jake Kasdan’s THE TV SET
Peter Hedges’s DAN IN REAL LIFE
Michael Moore’s SICKO
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 WEEKS LATER
Wes Anderson’s THE DARJEELING LIMITED
David Silverman’s THE SIMPSONS: THE MOVIE
Adrienne Shelly’s WAITRESS
Mike Binder’s REIGN OVER ME
Bong Joon-ho’s THE HOST
Joe Carnahan’s SMOKIN’ ACES

Michael Winterbottom’s A MIGHTY HEART
Steven Soderbergh’s OCEANS 13
Craig Brewer’s BLACK SNAKE MOAN
Terry George’s RESERVATION ROAD
Zoe Cassavette’s BROKEN ENGLISH
DJ Caruso’s DISTURBIA
Michael Davis’s SHOOT ‘EM UP
Scott Frank’s THE LOOKOUT
David Von Ancken’s SERAPHIM FALLS
Greg Mottola's SUPERBAD