Is another list about films in 2007 really necessary? Well, sure. Why not? The year has passed, with several promising films released last year that never graced the big screen here. They are worth noting. Here is just a few I have seen:

Hot Fuzz

This second collaboration by the makers of the zombie parody Shaun of the Dead takes on the buddy-cop action movies, working as both a parody and homage to such films as Point Break and Bad Boys II, all wrapped up in dry, witty British humour. Directed by Edgar Wright, Hot Fuzz stars Simon Pegg as Nicholas Angel, a hard-as-nails, by-the-book London police sergeant who is sent to the countryside because his superiors are tired of his overzealousness. Naturally, he can't slow down once he's in the country, and finds himself at odds with the denizens of the small English town he's sworn to protect. Nick Frost gives a stand-out performance as Angel's new, awe-struck, gung-ho partner. A litany of UK acting talent rounds out the cast, including Jim Broadbent, Billie Whitelaw, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine and Edward Woodward. I caught this on the big screen back in April while on a visit to the States, and it's one of my favorite films of all time. It's been released on legal Region 3 DVD in Thailand, and is one that I watch over and over.

Sunshine

Another UK film, this is a sci-fi drama by Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, and it plays as an obvious homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey, the original Solaris and Alien. The story involves a spaceship on a mission to jumpstart the dying sun before Earth freezes. There's a great ensemble cast that features Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Cliff Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Evan and Hiroyuki Sanada. They all come into conflict as difficulties with the mission the arise, and take the drama and action in surprising, surreal directions. Released on legal Region 3 DVD in Thailand.

Children of Men

This dystopian sci-fi drama directed Alfonso Cuaron was actually released at the end of 2006, but gained traction during the early part of 2007. It is set in the not-too-distant future. England is a militarized police state, and is highly xenophobic, herding foreign 'fugees' into concentration camps. Also, birth rates have dropped to nothing. The murder of the youngest person in the world brings despair to the population. Into this mix comes Clive Owen as a weary, disillusioned former activist. He must somehow shake off his apathy and take up the fight to save the human race by escorting a young pregant African woman to safety, past warring factions of rebels and the government's lines. Michael Caine has a great supporting role as a marijuana-growing former mentor to Owen's character. Playing on HBO.

Grindhouse

Both Planet Terror and Death Proof were released as separate films in Thailand. Originally, they were a double feature, smashed together as one film, with some fake trailers between them. Planet Terror, a zombie-slasher comedy directed by Robert Rodriguez, held up better than Quentin Tarantino's overly long, overly talky, but still bone-jarring car chase flick, Death Proof. Together they made an entertaining package. Though I paid $8 to see Grindhouse in a strip-mall cineplex back in the US, I felt as if I was watching it in some ancient, run-down old-time inner-city movie palace and it had only cost me $1. Some of the magic was lost in separating the films. Lamentably missing was a string of fake trailers that ran between the two features. One of the best was Werewolf Women of the SS by Rob Zombie and featuring Nicolas Cage bizarrely cast as Dr Fu Manchu. Another good one was Don't, directed by Edgar Wright and featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in a take-off of the Hammer horror films. The only trailer to survive the separation was Machete, starring Rodriguez regulars Danny Trejo and Cheech Marin. Machete played before Planet Terror, and might be made into a direct-to-video feature.

Other films

There were several films I looked forward to seeing, but I never saw them because they weren't released in Thailand. Here's a few of them:

• No Country for Old Men - The Coen Brothers' western crime drama is on virtually every critics' top 10 list and is up for a bunch of awards. Posters for this are hanging at the Lido cinemas, so  I believe it will be released in Thailand in the coming months.
• 3:10 to Yuma - Christian Bale squares off with Russell Crowe in a remake of a classic 1950s western, based on an Elmore Leonard short story. It got rave reviews, but never got picked up for release in Thailand.
• The Darjeeling Limited - I'm a big fan of Wes Anderson's films - Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic - so I was sorely disappointed when 2007 passed and none of the cinemas screened his new film about three estranged brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman) on a trip by train in India. It's a colorful, highly stylised spectacle I really hoped to see on the big screen.
• Black Snake Moan - Probably too sleazy for release in Thailand, it involves Samuel L. Jackson as a blues guitarist who keeps a young woman (Christina Ricci) chained up. The film nonetheless gained a lot of fans. Itwas directed by Craig Brewer, who did the acclaimed rap-to-riches story Hustle and Flow in 2006, which Thailand also missed out on.
• Gone Baby Gone - A film that is topping the year-end lists by critics is proof that there's a reason Ben Affleck won an Academy Award for screenwriting on Good Will Hunting. Affleck makes his directorial debut with this gritty police procedural with Ben's brother Casey cast as a private detective on the case of a missing girl in Boston.
• Waitress - I'm really surprised one of the two film festivals in Bangkok did not bring in this film, which premiered to widespread acclaim at Sundance last year. A sweet comedy-drama, it's about a young woman (Keri Russell) who bakes pies as a means of channelling life's frustrations. The film was directed  by actress and indie filmmaker Adrienne Shelly and is all-the-more poignant because Shelley had been murdered after she made the film by a neighbor because the man "was having a bad day".
• Rescue Dawn - Directed by Werner Herzog, Rescue Dawn is a Vietnam War prisoner-escape drama, based on a true story about a US Navy pilot who was shot down over Laos. Director Werner Herzog made the film in Thailand in 2005, with star Christian Bale. Because of its connections to Thailand, it would have made a natural opening film for the World Film Festival of Bangkok, or that other film festival. I'm not sure why it wasn't picked up.