2007 at the movies: Dubious achievements

Continuing a long tradition begun by my honored Times movie critic predecessor John Hartl, here's a wrap-up of some of the year's achievements in film — stellar and otherwise.

Best performance in a lost cause: Zane Pais in "Margot at the Wedding," Meryl Streep in "Lions for Lambs," Emily Blunt in "The Jane Austen Book Club," Laura Linney in "The Nanny Diaries," Claire Danes in "Stardust," Michael Caine in "Sleuth."

Best performance by an animal: Nanu and Seela, the cute and very expressive bear and walrus cubs in "Arctic Tale."

Best performance by an inanimate object: Bianca, the doll in "Lars and the Real Girl," whose agent is undoubtedly juggling multiple movie offers this very minute.

Busiest bee: Don Cheadle, who turned up in three features ("Reign Over Me," "Ocean's Thirteen," "Talk to Me") and one documentary ("Darfur Now"), co-wrote a book ("Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond," with John Prendergast) and found time to play some poker — and organize a charity poker tournament (Ante Up for Africa).

Weirdest accent: Christopher Walken's whatever-it-was in "Balls of Fury," Dustin Hoffman's oddball lisp in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," and all those vaguely Nordic mumblers in "Beowulf."

Best debut: Nikki Blonsky's giddy perfection in "Hairspray"; Tang Wei's luminous emotion in "Lust, Caution"; Evanna Lynch's charmingly glassy weirdness as Luna Lovegood in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

Best popcorn movies: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Enchanted," "Fracture," "Michael Clayton," "Hairspray," "Hot Fuzz," "Spider-Man 3."

Most unnecessary sequel: Just who, exactly, was clamoring for "Daddy Day Camp"? Nobody, apparently. It earned an anemic $13 million.

Worst wait-for-the-sequel-ending: "The Golden Compass" didn't really end; it just kind of limply stopped, with a vague promise that the sequel would pick up where it left off. And will there be a sequel? Quite possibly not, due to the movie's underwhelming box-office performance.

Best evidence that the art of screwball comedy isn't dead: Leslie Mann in "Knocked Up," Amy Adams in "Enchanted," Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War."

Best dueling deadpan: Kevin Costner and William Hurt, playing monotone alter egos in the thriller "Mr. Brooks." Hey, where's Kevin Spacey when you need him?

Best villain: Michelle Pfeiffer takes this one, for her delightfully nasty turns in both "Hairspray" and "Stardust," but mention must be made of Anthony Hopkins in "Fracture" — nobody this year had more fun playing a bad guy. Also of note: Imelda Staunton in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," teaching us that villains can indeed wear pink.

Best kid performances: Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement," Dillon Freasier in "There Will Be Blood" (opening next week), Ed Sanders in "Sweeney Todd," Abigail Breslin in "No Reservations."

Best breakthrough: Casey Affleck, previously best known as Ben's little brother, did terrific work in both "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." Amy Ryan, chillingly good as a neglectful mother in "Gone Baby Gone," had moviegoers wondering where she's been all our lives. (For the record, she's been around for years; doing New York theater, TV shows like "The Wire" and "Law & Order," and the occasional movie.)

Best costumes: "Enchanted" (by Mona May), "Sweeney Todd" (by Colleen Atwood), "Atonement" (by Jacqueline Durran), "Nancy Drew" (by Jeffrey Kurland), "Talk to Me" (by Gersha Phillips), Diane Keaton's outfits in the otherwise totally lame "Because I Said So" (by Shay Cunliffe).

Best singing: Nothing this year had the pure joy of Nikki Blonsky's opening song in "Hairspray," which will ring happily in your ears long afterward: "Good Morning, Baltimore." Also, many happily-ever-afters to Amy Adams' dulcet tones in "Enchanted," and a wave of the razor to Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd."

Best lip-syncing: Marion Cotillard, who became Edith Piaf before our eyes in "La Vie en Rose."

Most muddled plot: The Sandra Bullock thriller "Premonition." Um, what?

Best performance almost certain to be overlooked by the Oscars because the movie came out too early: Remember "Breach," way back in February? Remember Chris Cooper's absolutely electric work as FBI turncoat Robert Hanssen? Good thing you do, because the Academy probably won't. Also, sadly, in this category: Robert Downey Jr.'s deceptively languid turn as an investigative reporter in "Zodiac" (out last March).

Actors turned directors — The Good: Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"; Denzel Washington, "The Great Debaters"; Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"; John Turturro, "Romance & Cigarettes."

Actors turned directors — The Not So Good: Alison Eastwood, whose weepy "Rails & Ties" did so poorly on its initial release that its Seattle opening was canceled.

Actors turned directors — The Inexplicable: If you caught Anthony Hopkins' mysterious, meandering "Slipstream" during its Seattle International Film Festival screening, and if it all made perfect sense to you, do let the rest of us know.

Most in need of career rehab: Nicole Kidman, whose 2007 movies ("The Invasion," "Margot at the Wedding," "The Golden Compass") all disappointed — and who hasn't made a really good movie in years.

Best chemistry: Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant in "Music & Lyrics," Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts in "Charlie Wilson's War," Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Ellen Page and Michael Cera in "Juno," Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor (no, no, they're just friends) in "Talk to Me," Téa Leoni and Ben Kingsley in "You Kill Me."

Best cameo: Sting as himself in "Bee Movie," John Waters as a flasher in "Hairspray," and that moment in "Across the Universe" when you realize that the sexy singing nurse who looks exactly like Salma Hayek is, in fact, Salma Hayek.

Most underwhelming cameo: After all the buzz about Keith Richards in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," didn't we all expect something more exciting than the two minutes we got?

Best reason to start a book club: To discuss the many very fine literary adaptations this year: "Atonement," "Lady Chatterley," "Lust, Caution," "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer," "Starting Out in the Evening," and "The Namesake," for starters.

Worst reason to start a book club: To emulate the extremely dull conversations in "The Jane Austen Book Club."

Heaviest baggage: Daniel Radcliffe as Not Harry Potter in "December Boys." (For the record, he was swell.)

Most welcome sight: A pair of veterans stepping up to rare leading roles, and doing so with grace and artistry: Julie Christie in "Away from Her," and Frank Langella in "Starting Out in the Evening."

Best clash of the titans: Meryl Streep and Vanessa Redgrave, showing the kids how it's done in their incandescent scene together in "Evening."

Saddest goodbye: The words "In loving memory of Adrienne Shelly" in the end credits of the sweet-as-pie indie drama "Waitress." The multitalented Shelly, who wrote, directed and co-starred in the film, was murdered in her New York apartment not long after the film was completed. She was 40 years old.

Best reason to look forward to 2008: If "Sex and the City: The Movie" doesn't do it for you, how about "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"? Meryl Streep in "Mamma Mia"? "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"? See you next year.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725

or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com