Okay so I saw Stardust today and I guess this is mostly because of the fact that I saw it so recently so I haven't fully recovered and put it into perspective but right now Stardust is my personal favourite film of the year.

I don't really know what else to say. The cast all did a great job. The story was a wonderful mix of classic fairy tale and a bit of modern. But not so much modern that it didn't feel like a fairy tale. It had plenty of plotlines that intertwined and characters that you just would have loved to know more about and a wonderful world and all kinds of stuff. It lived up to my expectations and since I'm a huge Neil Gaiman fanboy my expectations weren't exactly low.

I thought that Die Hard was probably the best moviegoing experience that I had this year. It was pretty epic, your typical hard-core hollywood action movie, big-budget off the wall nonsense, and I had a great time watching it.

EDIT: Transformers was lame and sucked, and anyone who liked it hates movies forever.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others
aparently it is from last year but watched it on cinema this year

Black Book (Zwartboek)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Book_(film)
aparently it is from last year but watched it on cinema a month ago

Here's my (shortish) list:

The Fountain - Came out early in the year here in Australia. Not only was it a great story, but the imagery was absolutely incredible. The space segment totally blew my mind. Really liked this one.

The Simpsons Movie - Surpassed all my expectations. Didn't feel too 'Simpsonsy' but it was very funny which is more than I can say for the series as of late. Animation was great as well.

300 - Completely over the top but very enjoyable to watch. I can't imagine myself seeing it again any time soon, but as far as spending an hour and a half goes this was one of the better things I've done this year. A total visual orgasm.

Zodiac - Saw this on Pay TV and liked it very much. Was a bit drunk at the time and thusly I must watch it again so I can actually pay proper attention to it.

Black Sheep - So bloody funny. A great throwback to the ridiculous splatter comedies which New Zealand is king of. I loved this from back to front, very likable characters and awesome gore/special effects from WETA (who did LOTR).

Hot Fuzz - Bloody awesome. I liked Shaun of the Dead a bit more, but the massive action sequence at the end of this was done so bloody well.

28 Weeks Later - Another one that surpassed all my expectations. Better than the first in my mind. Loved the unrelenting brutality and feeling of hopelessness throughout. Can't wait for the next one, whatever it may be.


Can't wait to see Superbad and I Am Legend as well.

Nothing this year. I've thought of a few upon checking the topic (The Fountain for example) but then remembered they are 2006 movies.
Nope, nothing so far. Babel had really good  cinematography (it's an 2006 movie tho) and some of the movies you guys mentioned are interesting (such as Sunshine, before it turns into a generic slasher film), but none of them really stands out. I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Secret Sunshine. It was traumatic to watch, but it's a pretty damn good film. I don't know anything else that came out this year that I thought was better, so.

Death at a Funeral
It's a fairly black British comedy directed by Frank Oz. Alan Tudyk (Wash from Firefly) is one of the main stars (he's the only one I recognised).
Anyway, a failed author is preparing for his father's funeral. Guests arrive and hilarity ensues in the form of LSD, a little person and an old man in a wheelchair. Plus other stuff.
I laughed pretty hard at it.

I suppose Pan's Labyrinth counts because its nationwide release was this year.  I watched it last night and it was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time.

It's one of the only movies I've seen that came out this year, and I have to agree that it is a great movie.