As the Academy Awards grow ever closer and the Golden Globes pass us by, audiences throughout the United States will be speculating as to what films may be nominated and who will take home the golden statues. This past year has been a fantastic one in the world of filmmaking, and although the following list is not necessarily a guide to what may or may not be Oscar-worthy, it will certainly be a useful reference for UW students heading out to the theaters in the coming weeks. Sure, there are quite a few movies left out that could and will become Oscar nominees, but these are my personal picks for the 10 best movies of 2007.

1. No Country for Old Men

In No Country for Old Men, the audience bears witness to two of the greatest performances of not just 2007, but of this decade. The first is that of Tommy Lee Jones, who scathingly and dryly narrates the story of Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a Texan who discovers $2 million and a truck full of heroin in the desert near his trailer. Jones plays Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a man who is steeped in Texas law enforcement tradition (he and his partner ride horseback to investigate a crime scene near the opening of the movie) and is slowly losing his faith in humanity. During a meeting with a fellow sheriff from another county, Bell quietly states, “It starts when you begin to overlook bad manners. Any time you quit hearin’ ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ the end is pretty much in sight.”

The second great performance, worthy of a best supporting actor win, is that of Javier Bardem, who steals the show as the vicious and daunting Anton Chigurh, a hired killer who painstakingly pursues Moss and the stolen money, killing nearly every person that stands in his way. Perhaps one of the most spectacular scenes this entire year takes place at a gas station, where Chigurh asks the attendant to flip a coin, undoubtedly staking the man’s life on the outcome. This chilling sequence will give you goose bumps. If you haven’t seen this film, get to a movie theater as soon as possible. If you have, go see it again or look up the showdown between Chigurh and Moss on YouTube.

2. There Will Be Blood

The Oscar for best actor this year should without a doubt go to Daniel Day-Lewis for his performance in There Will Be Blood. Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, a sinister oil tycoon with no respect for his fellow man and little interest in the well-being of society, or even his own family. The opening segment of the film depicts Plainview discovering oil in a dark and smoky cavern, followed by a painful injury and his subsequent rise to power. Not a word is spoken during this entire sequence. As the story progresses, we find Plainview in possession of an orphaned boy (Dillon Freasier), and in the process of milking a struggling town known as Little Boston for every bit of oil he can get find, Plainview meets his arch nemesis in Little Boston, a charismatic young evangelist named Eli (Paul Dano). Throughout the film we see this fanatical oil tycoon slowly unravel, shedding any signs of love for humanity and family as he turns to murder and trickery in order to gain wealth. At one point Plainview states, “There are times when I look at people and I see nothing worth liking. I want to make enough money that I can move far away from everyone.”

It goes without saying that he gets his wish, and the final 20 minutes of the movie, notably his final words, may in fact outdo the coin toss scene mentioned belowin No Country for Old Men.

3. I’m Not There

Perhaps the most imaginative film of the year, I’m Not There is Todd Haynes’ bizarre look into the life and work of Bob Dylan. Six different actors portray the musician in a variety of time periods, and the audience gets to see extremely different sides of Dylan’s personality. Undoubtedly the best performance in the entire movie is Cate Blanchett’s portrayal of Jude Quinn, an artistic, late-’60s version of Dylan, during his amphetamine-addled years of going electric and the controversy surrounding his louder and more commercialized sound.

4. Eastern Promises/American Gangster

Both are gangster movies. Both are intense. Both of these films have strong male leading performances. In Eastern Promises, Viggo Mortensen plays mystifying and callous Russian hit man, Nikolai, a driver and go-to guy for the Russian mafia in London. Nikolai becomes entangled with a midwife (Naomi Watts) who stumbles upon a dead mother’s diary that could contain evidence against his mob family. There is a fantastic fight scene in the latter half of the film in which Nikolai skillfully (and in the nude) defends himself from killers armed with knives in a steamy sauna.

There is little to say about American Gangster, since it was one of the biggest movies this year. Denzel Washington gives his standard amazing performance as Frank Lucas, a heroin dealer in Harlem who strikes it rich when he begins smuggling drugs in the coffins of dead soldiers during the Vietnam era. If you haven’t seen it, … what have you been doing the last few months?

5. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is Sidney Lumet’s artfully directed story of the fall of a dysfunctional middle-class family when the two brothers decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store. Murphy’s Law soon proves true, as everything that can go wrong does go wrong. Phillip Seymour Hoffman gives a fantastic performance as the conniving older brother who always manages to shock us with some new bit of depravity. A warning to everyone: The opening sequence involves a graphic sex scene between Hoffman and Marisa Tomei. The elderly woman behind me in the theater repeatedly asked, “Can they do that in movies these days? … Oh dear. … Is this even legal?”

6. Grindhouse

It’s two movies for the price of one. Robert Rodriguez does an awesome zombie film, Planet Terror, packed with CGI. Tarantino kicks it old-school and stays true to his car-chase-hungry, slasher-film roots. The final car chase in Death Proof uses no CGI, and the stunts are all done by the lead actress on the hood of a car. Enough said. Go rent it and watch that scene over and over again.

7. Rescue Dawn

Werner Herzog, whose mastery of panoramic beauty shots knows no bounds, directs the story of Lt. Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale), a U.S. fighter pilot who is shot down over Laos during Vietnam. Herzog skillfully keeps the audience in suspense as they witness Dengler’s escape from a hellish POW camp. It’s inevitable that he escapes and returns to the United States. It’s how it happens that will entice the viewer.

8. Juno/Knocked Up/Superbad

These movies tie because they all have a lot in common. Each film depicts youth (or youthful adults) reaching a profound moment in their lives where nothing can or will ever be the same. All three are utterly hilarious, and excluding Superbad, each has a sappy ending. Ellen Page (playing the title character in Juno) should be competing with Cate Blanchett for this year’s best supporting actress Oscar. Someone else will probably get it, but we all know Page really deserves it.

9. Hot Fuzz/King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Hot Fuzz is perhaps better than Shaun of the Dead (although it may be blasphemy to write that), and Simon Pegg yet again keeps the audience in stitches with his witty yet low-brow British humor. He’s a London super -cop who gets sent to work in a quiet little suburb that becomes the site of a good deal of mysterious “accidental” deaths.

Under the radar this year is another great film coming straight out of Seattle (to a certain degree). University of Washington alumnus Seth Gordon directs King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a documentary following local Eastside school teacher Steve Wiebe in his efforts to thwart evil hot sauce mogul Billy Mitchell in an all-out battle royale of Donkey Kong. The editing team behind this film is the true comic genius, as it casts Mitchell in a villainous light comparable to that of Darth Vader or Ben Stiller’s character in Dodgeball.

10. Ratatouille

This is another Pixar cartoon. This one involves rats, cooking and the cute slogan that “anyone can cook.” It is time well spent enjoying a children’s cartoon, so don’t let the animation steer you away.