10. Zodiac

Yes, it's long. Yes, it has no single protagonist. Yes, it's a murder mystery that eschews standard dramatic beats for honest procedural and historical accuracy. David Fincher made a remarkable movie that's not only a feat of uncanny recreation and detail, but tremendous storytelling. With three captivating leads (and Mark Ruffalo giving his best performance to date), Fincher crafts a story that not only looks like it was made during the time of the Zodiac killings, but is as inscrutable, frustrating, and post-modern as the killer. And have you ever seen a whodunit that never tells you whodidit?

Highlight Clip: The opening shot of the car driving through a suburban neighborhood.

9. Hot Fuzz

Judd Apatow may be the smartest and funniest man in Hollywood. Knocked Up and Superbad are two of the best comedies of the decade as they're not only endlessly quotable but also smart, bittersweet, and thoughtful. But edging out both is co-writer/director Edgar Wright's ode to action films/Agatha Christie/Great Britain. Edgar Wright is like the Quentin Tarantino of comedy minus the arrogance and the motormouth. He's a film fan who is creating an amalgam of cinema and making it his own while providing a list of must-see movies to the viewer. For a movie that could easily mock Bad Boys II and Point Break, it loving embraces cheesy action movies without a hint of irony.

Highlight Clip: The battle in the model village.

8. There Will Be Blood

It's to the film's credit that after two and a half hours of watching power absolutely corrode the souls of men you want to watch the entire film again and give it an even closer study. Day-Lewis gives a performance that exceeds already high expectations and I pray we won't have to wait another five years for writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's next film. There Will Be Blood is a familiar morality tale like you've never seen before.

Highlight Clip: The scene that finally has human blood instead of the Earth’s blood.

7. The Mist

I will never see The Mist again. I may buy it on DVD so I can loan it to people I don't like. Writer/director Frank Darabont's films have always been about hope and while The Mist still has hope as a central theme, it's from the completely opposite direction of his previous uplifting fare, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. And the CG monsters, as scary and as well-designed as they are, do not compare to the horror of a world without hope.

Highlight Clip: Any scene featuring Marcia Gay Harden.

6. Gone Baby Gone

Film noir just isn't about solving crimes, gritty detectives, and sparse use of lighting. It's about setting and it's about morality and it's through those that writer/director Ben Affleck created one of the best films of the year. He not only finds both the beauty and the ugliness in the slums of Boston, but he ends the film with a moral question that will have you arguing with your friends for days. If no one can see all ends, then how can anyone act morally? Are all actions equal if done for the best intentions? If only all film noir had questions that were as hard as its edge.

Highlight Clip: The hardest choice a detective has ever had to make since Sam Spade at the end of The Maltese Falcon.

5. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

The Assassination… is non-fiction on screen but through the lens of legend instead of documentary. Even if you ignore the mournful score, Brad Pitt's soulful and internal portrayal of James, and the gorgeous cinematography, it's impossible to ignore Casey Affleck as the ineffable Bob Ford. Never has a man so historically insignificant been so meaningful.

Highlight Clip: The great train robbery.

4. Lars and the Real Girl

The best love story of 2007 was between a man and a life-sized doll. Its premise may seem contrived but the writing, directing, and the performances, not only Ryan Gosling as the titular Lars, but a powerful supporting cast, make the film a beautiful story of how not only finding love is difficult, but finding the ability to love can be a challenge all its own.

Highlight Clip: Re-build a bear workshop.

3. No Country for Old Men

I don't even care what kind of list you're making, but No Country for Old Men needs to be on there. And then you must mention the following: Javier Bardem's seductively psychotic Anton Chigurh; the mad survival skills of Josh Brolin's Llewelyn Moss; the sad fatalism of Tommy Lee Jones' Sheriff Ed Tom Bell. And if you so much as think about complaining about the ending, then I promise you there won't even be a coin-toss, friend-o.

Highlight Clip: Anton Chigurh vs. Llewelyn Moss in the dark and deserted small town streets.

2. I'm Not There

The biopic needed writer/director Todd Haynes to come along with I'm Not There, slap it across the face, and say, "Hey! You want to show some respect? Watch and learn." Haynes realized with his study of Bob Dylan that it's not necessarily about improvisation, but internalization. And with a man as rich and complex as Dylan, you need six actors and six stories to honestly explore the depths of a man known as a radical, poet, joker, thief, drifter, outlaw and more (or less). Even if Haynes' experiment hadn't paid off, it was an effort worthy of Dylan.

Highlight Clip: Ballad of a Thin Man.

1. American Gangster

This is one of the best crime films ever made and looking at other year-end lists, it looks like it will be the greatest crime film ever ignored. How can other critics not see that American Gangster is not just about a mafia mastermind; it's not just about a moral-to-a-fault cop; it's not just about the influence of drugs in the black community; it's not just about race and crime and business and morality. It's about how all those elements mesh together and how the exploration of it all would make your head hurt if you weren't so damn entertained by electrifying performances and Ridley Scott's honest direction.

The great crime epics of The Godfather, Scarface, and Goodfellas cast an endless shadow which can easily cover any contender. American Gangster confidently walks out of the darkness and stands alongside these giants of American crime cinema.

Highlight Clip: Frank Lucas doesn't bluff.