Jess Cagle's Best And Worst Of 2007

Bank-breaking blockbusters, a few celebrity meltdowns, and a two-month old writers' strike have all helped in making 2007 a rollercoaster year for Hollywood.

The Early Show contributor and People magazine Executive Editor Jess Cagle stopped by to share some of the best and the worst of the 2007 entertainment world.

Five Best Movies
The Bourne Ultimatum - "This was an enormous hit," Cagle says. "It made over $200 million, and it's kind of a Christmas miracle because this was the third Bourne movie, and each one got better and better, not only in quality but they kept making more and more money. There's no other three-part series that has ever done this before."

Juno - "This is a great little comedy," says Cagle, "incredibly moving, a first-time screenwriter, it's going to make a star out of Ellen Page, and it was such a difficult topic to take on, but it did it in such a humane wonderful way. Plus there's a great supporting cast, Jennifer Garner, Allison Janey, Jason Bateman and there's talk that Jennifer Garner is going to get a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role."

Ratatouille - "This was really, really surprising, a Disney animated film. Because it was about a rat, it had a slow start at the box office. But it got incredible word of mouth but went on to make a pile of money. It was one of those rare movies, it was so imaginatively done, had an incredibly unpredictable ending; a masterful story," Cagle says.

There Will Be Blood - "This is NOT a mainstream movie," says Cagle. "It's really for cinefiles, it's based on a novel by Upton Sinclair, and it's about how greed destroys this character played by Daniel Day Lewis. It's an incredibly powerful movie, lot of religious imagery, at its core it's a real indictment of the coming century. It takes place in the early 20th century, but addresses the issue of greed that became such a huge part of the century. It's an incredible, powerful film."

3:10 To Yuma - "A western remake of the 1950's western. Just again, great storytelling, really great performances by Russell Crowe and Christian Bale," Cagle says. "I doubt they'll get nominations, but it's definitely the most underrated of the best movies. The ensemble cast got a SAG nomination, but there's not a whole lot of other buzz. Since it did get some notice from SAG, it could get some more attention. We'll have to wait and see."

Worst Movie
Fred Claus - "This just didn't work. It didn't do well, it was really expensive," Cagle says. "I'm sure there was some schlocky horror movie I didn't see that was worse than this, but it couldn't get much worse. There were great expectations, but it was a flop. Instead of being a funny Christmas movie, there was a lot of family psychobabble, Fred went to a support group where there was a Baldwin brother and Sly Stalone's brother. It wasn't lighthearted or funny. And there was a great cast - Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Kathy Bates. It looked great on paper but just didn't translate at all."

Celeb With The Best Year: Patrick Dempsey
"He had twins in February, which was a big personal moment. Then Grey's Anatomy did gangbusters in the ratings, then he had a surprise hit movie with 'Enchanted,' which has made over $100 million. And at almost 42, he still has an incredible head of hair. Overall, a great year," Cagle says.

Celeb With The Worst Year: Britney Spears
"At the end of 2006, she had a great moment when she left Kevin Federline and she had baby number 2," Cagle says, "but then 2007 was meltdown. There were several stints in rehab, episodes of hitting paparazzi with an umbrella, head shaving. In custody hearings, she was ordered by the court to undergo drug testing. We thought she was going to have this big comeback with her appearance on the VMA's, and it was a disaster. Nothing went right for her this year. The amazing thing about Britney is there is incredible good will for her from the public. Her single did really well, the record was fairly well received, and people want her to do well. The reason the MTV awards were such a crashing disappointment was because people want her to bounce back. People kind of see her as a victim."

Hollywood News Story Of The Year: Tie Between Jamie Lynn Spears & The WGA Strike
"These stories sort of reverberated toward the end of the year," Cagle says. "It was sort of a slow year for news, and then all of a sudden here at the end of the year, the strike happens, and it's really ugly and no one knows how long it's going to go on. And I think in TV, you're going to see the effects for a very long time. The biggest impact is going to be the award shows. Not only are people losing their jobs, but all of that red carpet stuff with all the award shows, you're going to see a big difference. They may not even happen, but if they do they're probably going to look a lot different than they have in the past. And in 2008 you're really going to see the effects of this strike."

"Jamie Lynn Spears, it's a juicy celebrity story, but it really has raised a lot of questions about abstention programs, education, and teen pregnancy," Cagle says. "Also for parents whose children held up Jamie Lynn as a role model, it has forced a lot of families to sit down and talk about teenage pregnancy."