2007 was a year for the ages. Many of the films to come out were not only rewarded at the most prestigious ceremony — the Academy Awards — but they also found box office success. Films like There Will Be Blood, Michael Clayton, and No Country For Old Men were a lens to look at the machinations of capitalism, criminality, and even had nihilistic virtues. But audiences went in droves to see them. Films often cited as some of the best of the century — like Zodiac — failed to bring back their budget at the domestic box office and were ignored at almost all award ceremonies, which shows how many great films came out.

Indeed, there were high marks across all genres. Comedy had gems like Superbad, Knocked Up, Walk Hard, and Juno. It was a year that seemed to prompt the best of the industry and indie movies alike. Even before a few releases were set. The Coen Brothers were filming No Country one hot Texas day and just a few miles away, black smoke engulfed the sky, forcing them to stop. It was of course, from Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood set. It was set for these films to be entangled and to be part of an immaculate collection of films, that made 2007 such a rich time to be a moviegoer. Here are 10 movies that made 2007 a great year for cinema.

Related: Movies That Made 2008 a Great Year for Comedy

10 Eastern Promises

Viggo Mortensen once again returns to the fold as the malleable David Cronenberg leading man. Abandoning the small-town posturing of his previous film A History of Violence, he instead embodies that stature of a sadistic Russian-mafia hitman. Eastern Promises leans on body horror in a subtle way, as Cronenberg grifts through the violence of the criminal underworld and how the Russian mafia marks their body with grisly tattoos to tell a story. While also featuring one legendary bathhouse fight scene that is not for the faint of heart.

9 I’m Not There

In a year brimming with straight-laced, brutal, and heartfelt masterpieces, experimental and at times, avant-garde, filmmaker Todd Haynes crafted a film about legendary songwriter Bob Dylan to a tune of his constantly evolving frequency. Telling Dylan’s story in a series of vignettes but having different actors portray the singer at different times in his life was a choice that paid off hugely in I'm Not There. Haynes wasn’t scared to play with gender either, as Cate Blanchett steals the spotlight from the other actors, playing Dylan near the height of his mythos. Haynes’ film is as ambitious as biopics get.

8 Ratatouille

Pixar has been laden with a bevy of heartfelt, original stories over the last three decades while also building its legacy of IP. Ratatouille found the sweet spot of originality from the man who helmed The Incredibles, Brad Bird. Starring a peculiar but talented rodent in Remy, whose immaculate sense of smell makes him one of the greatest chefs in a city known for its delicacies. Paris is the home to the heartfelt and warm adventure that ensues when Remy invades a famous restaurant. Ratatouille ranks as one of Pixar's best.

7 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Establishing the folklore of the outlaw Jesse James but also allowing for re-contextualization of the American myth while imbuing the frames and screenplay with Western poetry is what gives Andrew Dominik’s masterpiece its unique sensibilities. With a dark and brooding performance from Brad Pitt as the tension between him and his gang slowly mounts — especially with his gang mate turned foe, Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) — The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is gorgeously shot by the master Roger Deakins. Even though the film was largely ignored upon release, the film is rightly recognized as a haunting and unsettling look at the life of Jesse James.

6 Hot Fuzz

After the success of Shaun of The Dead, director Edgar Wright, the comedy-action maestro, brought his dynamic duo back together in another heap of bloody, awesome, hilarious madness. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are perfect for each other, as the action-loving pair find themselves caught up in a small-town conspiracy. Hot Fuzz is not only watchable for its humor as it pokes fun at big, dumb action movies, but also has its kinetic shootouts and chases, blending together a melody of laughs and bloodshed.

5 Michael Clayton

George Clooney proved why he was one of the most beloved superstars in the early part of the century with his leading performance in Michael Clayton. Broken by the hardship of working in corporate law, which strained relationships with his family, we find Clayton in the middle of a conspiracy, working as a corporate fixer. The poisoning of farmers by a huge billion-dollar firm is a bit of background noise that instead foregrounds Clooney attempting to save his soul as he navigates the pressures of being the arm of a cold, calculating machine. Equally compelling are Tom Wilkinson as the man Clooney fails to protect and Tilda Swinton (who won the Oscar) as the lawyer who knows no bounds to achieve her goals. But what stands out the most is Tony Gilroy’s god-level script, woven tightly to perfection.

Related: Here Are 5 Movies Where Tilda Swinton Completely Transformed Herself For a Role

4 Superbad

One of the great American comedies about a couple of best friends on a quest to lose their virginity before going into college, Superbad is a masterpiece of bromance, heartache, and pure lunacy. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg based the screenplay loosely on their own horny high school quests and found the perfect couple in Michael Cera and Jonah Hill. The plight isn’t just endured because of the non-stop onslaught of one-liners, but because the love Hill and Cera have for each other is genuine.

3 No Country For Old Men

The sparse, minimalist landscape of the Texas desert peppered with the nihilism-infused dialogue were not ingredients that screamed box office success and Oscar glory. And yet, the Coen Brothers added another masterpiece to their already tight oeuvre with No Country For Old Men. With a tour de force performance of pure evil manifest, Javier Bardem wanders from place to place killing anyone and everything in his path while going on philosophical diatribes about the importance of the coin toss. “Call it Friendo.”

2 Zodiac

Not properly recognized upon release as one of David Fincher's masterpieces and completely ignored at the Oscars, albeit in a stacked year, Zodiac is one of the finest films ever crafted about serial killers and the relentless pursuit to stop them. These are ideas that Fincher would later mine in his Netflix show Mindhunters. Fincher also took actors like Robert Downey Jr., Jake Gyllenhaal, and Mark Ruffalo — before they entered the MCU — to their absolute limits before breaking. The film is terrifyingly cold in the way it depicts the murders of the Zodiac killer but epic in scope and execution of the bureaucratic, detective processes it takes to bring a monster like the Zodiac killer to justice.

1 There Will Be Blood

The extremes of American capitalism, religion, greed, and fatherhood never collided as they did in Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterpiece, There Will Be Blood. Taking the blood and oil-soaked fields of Texas as a chessboard for money was the perfect breeding ground for a scorched earth performance from Daniel Day-Lewis as the wealthy and determined "Daniel Plainview". As he takes his life and the small town he mines to the extremes as he watches himself and his family slowly crumble, even though his fortune amasses beyond his expectations. While verbally sparring with the equally great Paul Dano who tries to make money too, it all comes to bear in the epic “I Drink your milkshake!” conclusion.