So that headline is a lie! Apologies. But yeah: To be honest, I kind of hate “best of” lists. Usually I think they’re just kind of arbitrary and redundant and self-aggrandizing.

That said, I couldn’t take two steps over Xmas w/o someone asking me what I thought the best movies of 2007 were, so I figured I should at least throw together a quick list of the films I enjoyed the most over the past year. These aren’t the best, mind you—they’re just the ones that I had the most interesting experiences watching, thinking about, and discussing. Which, at the end of the day, is all that really matters.

I’m probably leaving a few off of here, and I know a few of these aren’t that popular, but still, here they are, in no particular order. By all means, chime in with your thoughts and favorites; film is utterly useless if you can’t talk about it.

• No Country for Old Men — The Coens’ masterful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s killer book has gotten a whole lot of hype, and deserves all of it.

• Zodiac –- I liked this one way more than I thought I would. Director David Fincher is hit and miss, but there are a ton of really great moments in here, and the whole film’s so precisely and creepily put together that it ended up sticking with me for days after I saw it.

• Superbad — I fully expect to recant this when the people who won’t stop quoting McLovin become as pervasive as those fucking Napoleon Dynamite and Austin Powers people.

• Southland Tales — Heh. This masturbatory sci-fi art musical existential comedy is a mess, true, and god, how people love to hate it—but everything it got raked over the coals for also made it fascinating to experience and argue about. It will likely never be spoken of again.

• Kurt Cobain About a Son — Simple and visceral.

• Darkon — Nerds with too much time on their hands! And they’ve got Nerf weaponry!

• The TV Set — Judd Apatow & Co.’s skewering of the television industry is dark and mean and funny, and clearly the byproduct of Freaks and Geeks’ premature cancellation. Kind of required viewing for anyone who watches TV.

• Blade Runner: The Final Cut — Is it fair for a movie from 1982 to be my favorite movie of 2007? Probably not, but who gives a shit. Gorgeously restored and finally presented how director Ridley Scott intended it to be seen (no, seriously, finally, this is it, end of discussion, period), Blade Runner is still one of the most astounding films ever made. (This thing also gets my vote for DVD of the year, largely thanks to one of its special features—Dangerous Days, the fascinating 3 1/2 hour [!] documentary on the making of the film.)

Hit the jump for some honorable mentions.

Other movies I really enjoyed this year, but weren't my favorites:

• The Host -- A solid, smart monster flick. I wish there were more movies like this.
• Grindhouse -- Watching Tarantino and Rodriguez get each other off might not be the apex of their cinematic achievements, but anyone who doesn't get a goofy thrill out of this thing is no one I want to hang out with.
• Hot Fuzz -- A worthy follow up to Shaun of the Dead, which is saying quite a bit.
• Ratatouille -- Pixar's best yet, which is saying quite a bit.
• King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters -- Along with Darkon, this is one of the nerdiest (and most engaging) docs of the year.
• Shoot ’Em Up -- What Live Free or Die Hard should have been.
• Michael Clayton -- Can George Clooney do any wrong? Ah, yeah. But otherwise? Anything?
• Sunshine -- A scary, pretty, and (mostly) clever sci-fi thriller.
• The Good German -- Can Steven Soderbergh do any wrong? I mean, if we're going to get grumpy, sure, Ocean's 12, maybe, but c'mon.
• Black Snake Moan -- A lot of people had some pretty legit issues with this one, just as a lot of people had some pretty legit issues with Craig Brewer's previous film, Hustle & Flow. Still, Brewer's stuff is excellently put together and totally captivating; like it or not, dude's making films like no one else right now.
• The Wind That Shakes the Barley -- Nothing fancy or shocking, but it's about as rock-solid as historical dramas get.

I'm guessing once I see There Will Be Blood, that'll be on there too, and and I suppose I should mention I'm Not There, just because it was easily one of the films that I (and everybody else) talked about a whole lot--but yeah, haven't seen it yet, and didn't like as much as I was supposed to, respectively. And it feels weird not to mention Knocked Up and Rescue Dawn. Anyway, that's enough out of me: What'd I miss?