The good, the bad, and the 'Superbad'

If the ubiquitous print and TV blurbs from Fox TV's Shawn Edwards and Maxim's Pete Hammond were to be believed, 2007 was a year with nary a cinematic misstep. In truth, the year in film was much like any other (well, apart from a chipmunk named Alvin outgrossing Tom Cruise at the box office). What was good was very good indeed – as Monitor critic Peter Rainer observes in his Top 10 films of 2007, overleaf – and what was bad, was, well, "Superbad."

But, rather than dwell on the likes of the third entries in the "Shrek," "Spider-Man," and "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, high-grossing films that, in our eyes, were more lackluster than blockbuster, our end-of-year movie special hopes to celebrate some of the fun trends, events, and notable moments in film over the past 12 months (see page, opposite). Elsewhere, we look at why 2007 was such a high-profile year for women directors, musicals, and – who'd have predicted it? – Romanian cinema. – Stephen Humphries