10 - Atonement
First up is this British romantic-tragedy. Keira Knightly, in her first showing on this chart, puts in an awesome acting display to dispel sceptics who thought she was all about beauty without any substance. Her Oscar-nominated role in Pride & Prejudice should have proved that anyway but in Atonement she shows she can act up a storm when her romance to James McAvoy (The King of Scotland) is turned on its head after he is accused of a crime he did not commit.
Director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) and the cast could be holding some Academy Awards come Oscar time.
Click here to watch the Atonement review9 - Hairspray
John Travolta in a fat suit playing the role made famous by drag diva extraordinaire Divine should have signalled disaster. Instead this remake of John Waters' 1988 campy classic proved to be a critical and commercial hit.
Newcomer Nikki Blonsky linked up with High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron for the tale of a chubby teenager's bid to get on a TV dance show in 1962. Michelle Pfeiffer revelled as the bitchy mom Velma von Tussle in a movie which shows that some remakes aren't half bad.
Click here to watch the Hairspray review8 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
You can't keep Captain Jack Sparrow down as Jonny Depp swash buckled his way into the chart. The third, and supposed final film of the series, picks up exactly where Dead Man's Chest left off as our heroic captain fights off all sorts of nasties. Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom also return, as do pretty much everyone that has appeared in the movies so far.
The whole event is a special effects extravaganza and although most people gave up trying to sort the confusing plotline out, the movie ties up all the loose ends from the first two flicks.
Whether Captain Jack sails again is still not known but with over US$1 billion taken from the series in the US alone, it would be a fool hardy land lubber not to bet on another sequel.
Click here to watch the trailer of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End7 - Knocked Up
Every year a small comedy, featuring modest celebrities and a handful of expletives, seems to cut loose from the pack and deliver huge numbers at the box office - this year it was Knocked Up.
Following the likes of Wedding Crashers and The 40-Year-Old Virgin (which was made by the same people as Knocked Up), this movie about a drop out and an ambitious TV presenter who, for the want of a better expression, bump uglies which results in a pregnancy, had audiences round the world laughing.
Seth Rogen became a star, director Judd Apatow became a Hollywood icon and Katherine Heigl cut her Grey's Anatomy strings in this hugely enjoyable comedy.
Click here to watch the Knocked Up review6 - Die Hard 4.0
Yippe-kay-ay as Bruce Willis dusts off his singlet and sets about saving world yet again in the blockbuster Die Hard 4.0.
There was a certain feel of nostalgia as John McClane finds himself in yet another absurd terrorist plot but the huge numbers at the box office proved you can't keep a good character, or franchise, down.
Big ridiculous special effects, baddies who want to rule the world through the internet, a wise-cracking sidekick (Justin Long) and even our own Cliff Curtis were thrown into the mix and the public lapped it up in droves.
Click here to watch the Die Hard 4.0 review5 - The Lives of Others
And now for something completely different! John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Jonny Depp - all big names, and all trailing behind this German-language movie in our top 10 films of the year.
Taking the Oscar for Best Foreign Language movie this year certainly helped broaden its appeal as the life of a secret police agent in East Berlin before the fall of the wall packed out art house cinemas around the world.
Ulrich Muhe is brilliant as the man who slowly becomes more and more absorbed into people's lives while listening in to their conversations and his recent death from stomach cancer has robbed the acting world of a great talent.
Click here to watch the The Lives of Others review4 - Eagle vs Shark
Isn't it great to see a Kiwi movie so high in our charts? Yes Taika Waititi's charming comedy about two misfits trying to find love proved a hit with audiences around the globe.
Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords) further established his reputation as one of New Zealand's comedy geniuses by playing Jarrod while Loren Horsley also showed she is a name to look out for in the future.
The movie's tagline "Finding love was never so... Awkward" has never been so apt for a film.
3 - 300
So after small German and Kiwi movies, we are back in blockbuster territory now with the blood-and-guts extravaganza 300.
Gerard Butler shouted up a storm as the leader of the Spartans who must battle overwhelming odds against wave-after-wave of Persian attack. Zack Snyder, who had previously directed the actually very good Dawn of the Dead remake, gave the film a unique look, shooting in front of blue screens before adding the backgrounds through computer trickery.
A huge body count (585 according to the Internet Movie Database), lashes of blood and graphic violence brought in the masses and a relatively cheap Hollywood movie ($65 million to make) turned into a huge blockbuster with takings in access of $200 million.
2 - The Bourne Ultimatum
You would think baddies around the world would know by now - don't mess with Jason Bourne!!
The series, which just kept getting better with each movie, showed that unlikely hard man Matt Damon could mix it with the James Bonds of this world as director Paul Greengrass rounded off the trilogy with the thrilling finale.
The fast pace never let up for the 115 minutes of running time as Jason is chased, and chases, around worldwide locations including Morocco, Italy and an unforgettable sequence at London's Waterloo station.
Are we going to get more Bourne? Let's hope so.
1 - Transformers And so to our number one film, narrowly beating Mr Bourne by just a single vote, yes those Transformers (robots in disguise) take out the top spot as the year's best movie, as voted by you and the team here at tvnz.co.nz.
Turning a children's cartoon into one of the biggest blockbusters of the year was no mean feat and credit where credits due to one Michael Bay. The director, who is reviled by critics for his over-the-top style of bombastic action (see Bad Boys 1 and 2, Armageddon, Pearl Harbour etc), bounced back after turning in his first true turkey with The Island two years ago.
But the nature of Transformers, which pits two warring robot clans against each other on little ole Earth, suited Bay's style perfectly. Throw in scorching hot actor Shia LaBoeuf and a whole heap of special effects and just sit back and watch the fireworks!
There is only one word to describe the movie - ACTION. The film grabs you by the collar and never lets go and proved to be the perfect popcorn movie of the year. Anticipation will be high for Transformers 2, set to hit the screens in 2009.
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