As 2007 comes to an end we look at what Hollywood had to offer.
Hollywood has had its fair share of romance, drama, musicals, thrillers, big-budget blockbusters, sequels and trequels this year. Surprisingly, the trequels have raked in the most moolah this year.
However, most of these such as Spider-Man 3, Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End and Shrek 3 could not match the success of their predecessors, although they did do very well at the box office.
Let us see what Hollywood had to offer this year and which of these films left an impression.
Animations
There were some very original animated films this year and Ratatouille was by far the best, followed by the very interesting Meet The Robinsons. The Simpsons Movie became a must-see film for fans of the highly-popular animated series.
Surf's Up, the penguin tale, could not recreate last year's magic of Happy Feet, which had the children dancing in the aisle.
A surprise hit this year was Shrek The Third. While the first two installments were highly entertaining and expectations, the sky-high expectations from the third part were also successfully met.
The recently-released Bee Movie should now end the year on a cheerful note.
Special effects extravaganzas
Although the year started with the highly anticipated Nicholas Cage starrer Ghost Rider, which was average at best, it was the epic-graphic tale, 300 that mesmerised audiences with its amazing, graphically executed action sequences.
The summer blockbuster trequels Spider-Man 3 and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End both did exceedingly well, putting them among the top five global grossers this year. Rush Hour 3 however, failed to live up to the hype.
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer was an unwanted sequel that acted as a filler before the big blockbusters arrived in the form of Transformers and Harry Potter: Order Of the Phoenix.
The most sophisticated graphics-driven film has to be Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, which has wowed the audience. The year will end with three mega projects National Treasures: Book of Secrets starring Cage, I am Legend and The Golden Compass.
Romantic comedies and musicals
We were bombarded with comedies throughout the year. Eddie Murphy's Norbit; the all-male road flick Wild Hogs; the Will Farell comedy Blades of Glory; Adam Sandler's typical comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry; and the recent Dwayne Johnson starrer The Game Plan were all decent.
But the stand out comedy was the Jude Apatow-directed Knocked Up. As far as musicals are concerned, only Hairspray is worth mentioning.
The film is a must-see for John Travolta's unbelievable get-up as a plus-sized woman. Surprisingly, there was not a single poignant romantic tale to sweep you off your feet, though movies such as Music and Lyrics, Lucky You and The Nanny Diaries were good in parts.
In all probability, Across The Universe will attract the cozy couples this winter to become the date film of the season. Meanwhile, Fred Clause is adding to the Christmas cheer.
Horror and suspense
This genre has delivered the worst set of films this year. Movies such as Hitcher, Vacancy, The Number 23, Zodiac, The Messenger, Premonition and Halloween had their moments, but they were far too few to give us sleepless nights.
The most gruesome moment which will remain in the audience's minds is the opening stomach-wrenching scene from Saw 4.
Action thrillers and dramas
The ultimate film in the action-thriller genre was Bourne Ultimatum, which was not only the best trequel of the year, but also sparked a debate on whether Jason Bourne is better than James Bond. The heist thriller Ocean's Thirteen was a nice way to end the much-loved trilogy.
There were some decent thrillers such as Shooter and Die Hard 4. The big disappointments were The Perfect Stranger, The Brave One and Next. The Kingdom and the mafia thriller We Own the Night drew mixed responses.
Good thrillers came in the form of Russel Crowe's double whammy – 3:10 To Yuma and American Gangster – the Russian mafia-saga Eastern Promises and Bollywood director Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
The Oscar buzz will be strong for these four films, as well as for George Clooney's Michael Clayton and the critically-acclaimed No Country For Old Men, should make it an interesting battle at the Oscars.
Top ten movies
1 Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
2 Harry Potter & The Order Of Phoenix
3 Spider-Man 3
4 Shrek The Third
5 Transformers
6 Ratatouille
7 The Simpsons Movie
8 The Bourne Ultimatum
9 Die Hard 4.0
10 Ocean's Thirteen
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