Top Ten movies of 2006

[Tullaryx]

The year is almost over and I'm sure people here have at least seen enough movies throughout the year to have their own personal list of what their top ten movies have been. Some will probably have choices heavy on independent, art-house movies while some will have films that leans heavily on what they see as fun and exciting titles. No list will be wrong and it'll be interesting to see what people's taste in films will be once they've made their list.

Top Ten Movies of 2006

1. Pan's Labyrinth - Guillermo Del Toro's dark fantasy tale set in the waning end of the Spanish Civil War has to be one of the best film's of the year and, in my opinion, one of the best and most original film of the past five years. Del Toro's always been a favorite filmmaker of mine, but most only know him as the director of Blade 2 and Hellboy. They forget that he's done some of the darkest and most original takes on the vampire and ghost story genres with Cronos and The Devil's Backbone. With Pan's Labyrinth he goes back to his independent roots and crafts a film that defies being labeled as just being a fantasy or a horror. It has everything and he's been able to deftly combine differing themes together to make the definitive dark fantasy film since John Boorman's Excalibur.

2. The Fountain - Darren Aronofsky's third feature-film would be my top film of 2006 if not for Del Toro's. Instead I consider The Fountain less a number 2 and more of a 1A. But I cannot take that easy way out so I will just call this earnest and honest look at the themes of life and death, the meaning of man's quest for immortality and the role our inevitable mortality has shaping each individual. Aronofsky's film is so visually stunning that one forgets the story he's telling. I know some who hate this film and have called it the worst of the year, but that is their opinion and their reasoning have always been a cop-out. Where they see a jumbled and unresolved mess, I see a director who doesn't treat his audience as being stupid whose hands must be held throughout and everything explained to a satisfactory conclusion.

3. The Prestige - Christopher Nolan's film before he begins production on The Dark Knight could easily have been a throwaway project after the success of Batman Begins. Instead, The Prestige manages to be one of the best films of the year and one of the better mystery thrillers of the past decade. Once again Nolan does wonderful work in telling stories about the nature of obsession and how individuals could become so consummed by it that it affects everyone. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as the duelling magicians at turn-of-the-century London were great in their performances. Bale never seems to have a bad performance in him and Jackman shows that he's not just Wolverine. The story itself was complex, but not condescending to the audience and Nolan doesn't rely on red herrings and fake clues to create a twist in the end that wasn't hinted at earlier. A better and greater film in all aspects than the earlier duelling magician film, The Illusionist.

4. Children of Men - Alfonso Cuaron makes the list and at three for his wonderful and epic dystopian tale of a world on the edge of extinction. Children of Men does something which V for Vendetta was only average in pulling off and that's making me believe that the world I was seeing on the screen was a definite and plausible event. Except for the mention of the story's year, the film could be a mirror into our current time. Cuaron pulls out every trick in the book and direct's this film to an inch of its life. There wasn't a bad performance from any of the cast and it solidifies Clive Owen in my eyes as one of the best dramatic actors of this generation. This film almost never made my list since it hasn't been fully release in the US but advance screening tickets has solved that problem. This is how hard science-fiction movies should be made and Cuaron did a great job in pulling it off.

5. The Proposition - This little-seen Australian period piece marks one of the best Westerns I've seen in quite awhile. Despite it being set in late 1800's Outback, The Proposition brings to mind the dark, unglamorized look at the Old West. I've been a major fan of Western author Cormac McCarthy and his seminal work Blood Meridian. If any film mirrors that dark tale of the Old West it is this one. Guy Pearce was excellent as the torn Charlie Burns who must hunt down one of his outlaw brothers to save a younger one. This is a film that shows the battle between civilization and the primal instincts of an untamed nature as fought between the law and order of Ray Winstone's character and that of Danny Huston's elder Burns' brother. A wonderful and dark film all-around.

6. Hard Candy - David Slade and Brian Nelson's film about a suspected pedophile having the table turned on him by a prospective little girl could've turned out into a typical exploitation film whose sole purpose was to either disturb or tittilate depending on the viewer. Instead, the film turns out to be another film that continues the small renaissance of the revenge-driven films of the late 70's and early 80's. What makes the film one of my top ten has to be the performance of one Ellen Page. Only 16 herself when the film was made, she pulls off a performance that would've been difficult to do for an actor twice her age. She dominates the screen from the first few minutes up until the end. This is her story and she's able to pull off being an innocent, naive young lolita and then quickly becoming the wolf in sheep's clothing. Without her this film would be farther down the list and not even make the top 10. I highly recommend this film for her acting job alone.

7. V for Vendetta - What can I say other than "it's about damn time" that someone was able to take an Alan Moore graphic novel and adapt it to the screen without ruining it. I know that Moore disassociated himself from the film, and I understand why, but it still doesn't ruin the fact that V for Vendetta has to be one of the best films of the year if not one of the most subversive. It's message is quite timely despite the story itself originally a stab against the Thatcher administration during the height of the Cold War when nuclear annihilation was a major possibility. Taking that base story, the Wachoski Brothers and James McTeigue were able to tell it as a mirror to the war on terrorism age we now live in. The character of V was brought to eerie life by the mannerisms and voice of Hugo Weaving and that alone merits this film a place in my top 10. What other film could say that their hero could be seen either as a freedom fighter or as terrorist and both labels would be seen as being correct.

8. Letters from Iwo Jima - The companion film to Eastwood's earlier Flags of Our Fathers, this film tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima but from the Japanese soldier's perspective. Where the earlier film dealt more with the nature of heroism and how it could change as propaganda and hero-worship weighs on the survivors, Letters from Iwo Jima gives an intimate glimpse into the mindset of the opposing force who typically have been demonized as unnamed and soulless zealots whose death before dishonor code of conduct seems alien to those in the West. Some have called this film as revisionist storytelling in showing the Japanese in a more sympathetic light, but I disagree. The film neither glosses over the brutality the Japanese soldiers committed during the war or makes them into monsters. It shows that no matter which side one was on both had mothers, wives and family waiting back at home and that war made both sides more similar than we'd care to admit. Ken Watanabe as General Kuribayashi continues to impress me and it seems old age has made Eastwood an even better director than before.

9. Running Scared - One of the most over-the-top films of the year and it surprised me to no end to realize that Paul Walker could indeed act. Wayne Kramer's follow-up to The Cooler was one great, psychedelic ride through an urban and modern Grimm's fairy tale complete with monsters of all kinds. Rife with innovative use of camera angles and use of color and shadows to set a mood, Kramer's film goes for the jugular and never let's go like the pitbull that he is. The violence was graphic and so was the one instance of sex in the film, but it just made the film cool to watch. There's a pulp fiction quality to the movie and Kramer doesn't get too artsy in his execution. He pretty much steps on the gas and never let's up with each successive sequence in the film helping keep the adrenaline level on a higher plane with the audience told to either accept and hold on for dear life or get out. Most I've recommended the film to chose the former, held on for dear life and felt those G's.

10. Superman Returns - Pretty much does what the title say. It brought Superman back to icon status in the realm of film. It brought back memories of why the Richard Donner Superman films were well-loved as they were. I was very leery of this reimagining and so-called official sequel to the Donner films. Superman has always been the harder superhero character to adapt to film. The man wears tights and in red and blue colors no less. Bryan Singer I'll never forgive for leaving the X-Men franchise, but I'll give him his proper respect for giving his all in bringing the true Superman back. No evil-causing kryptonite and no Richard Pryor in sight, Superman Returns shows that the Last Son of Krypton is still relevant as a character and for the first time ever on film or tv, he is shown for just exactly what he is: a god amongst mortals. That scene with the continent is awe-inspiring and just made the comic-book geek in me scream in delight.
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[Amyral]

I've been slacking off. I haven't seen 10 movies this year, or at least not 10 I would put in a list like this, so I'll do it in a slightly different way.

The Jack Black Award- For the movie that only seeks to deliver on its original premise.

Snakes on a Plane- For a movie that didn't pretend to be anything else, and delivering on what it did set out to be. It didn't pretend to be deep, or even good. It set out to have snakes on a plane, and delivered that. The movie existed solely for those internet fans who hyped it up (and proved that just because something is popular on the internet doesn't make it successful), and they even went back to re-film to fit that crowd. Most popcorn flicks of recent years have tried to be more, they've tried to be an intellectual popcorn flick. Most have failed horribly. While Snakes is entirely forgettable, it doesn't fail on it's simple premise. And for that, I salute it.

The Sean Penn Award- For the movie that is just misunderstood.

V for Vendetta- Perhaps the best movie of the year, but one used as a rallying cry for both sides, one of which praised it for being a criticism of current world affairs (even though it stayed true to it's story, which was written more than 20 years ago), and criticized by the other for similar reasons. While themes from the past have an eerie way of repeating themselves, both sides tried to turn the movie into a political cry, rather than what it really was. The movie is as much a history lesson as anything else, a comparison for the way things were. V was neither terrorist nor freedom fighter. Putting him into either category diminishes what the character represented, not a man, but an idea. It wasn't simply about anarchy or overthrowing the government, it was about being heard, about not letting them push you around. It wasn't about either party, it was about the entire system. Those that misunderstood it didn't want to recognize that, they wanted to solely base it as an allegory for the current party, which fails to capture what the movie was really about.

The Matrix Award- For the movie that thinks it is better than it really is.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest- A pretty enjoyable popcorn flick that just went out of hand. The first one was enjoyable for what it was, and this one should have been as well. However, they tried to make it an epic, and it doesn't work as one. The movie fell into middle-movie syndrome, however, the first wasn't shown to be part of a series. It was a small miracle that a pirate movie did well (Cuthroat Island, anyone?), and they tried to expand it. While it could have been expanded, it was done so on a movie that shouldn't have been. As such, it tried to do a lot, but didn't really do much of anything.

The Christian Bale Award- For the movie that relaunched a classic franchise.

Superman Returns- It was either going to be this or Casino Royale, and I chose this because I thought Casino Royale was seriously hurt by its ending. This movie, however, did exactly what it should have. The premise is a difficult one. Superman isn't the angst filled character that any of the X-Men, Batman, or Spiderman are. He doesn't have as many obvious weaknesses. This makes him a hard character to do and do well. He seems, well, untouchable. However, Singer made him touchable. Yes, it recycled the plot from the first movie. That was a hindrance to it. However, the Christian Bale award is for the movie that relaunches it, and to relaunch a franchise, it has to be taken back to its roots. You have to see the character, you have to get to know him, what makes him tick. You can't just throw him in and have him kneel before Zod (or Doomsday, or Darkseid). To relaunch a franchise, you have to show us why he was popular to begin with, and Singer did that.

The Tolkein Award- For the movie that should have been shorter.

Casino Royale- Up until around the last half hour, Casino Royale was a great movie. Craig played a different type of Bond. He wasn't sleazy, he wasn't even all that suave. He was scarier, rougher, and a little bit creepy. His performance made me forgive, well, having a prequel set after every single movie in the series for the sole purpose of product placement. Craig made Bond interesting again. However, then the movie went on, and on, and on. Just when the movie should have ended, it continued, adding a hasty subplot and characters that would have made a good second movie, but weren't given any time to develop. Had the movie ended before this, it would have easily been a top 5 movie. However, it lasted just too long, which earns it the Tolkein Award.

The Barbed Wire Award- For the overhyped movie that sucked.

The Da Vinci Code- For all the hissy-fitting the religious made about this movie, they failed to protest it's most obvious fault, it's crappiness. The movie failed. It was too pretentious, but couldn't back itself up. The acting was bad, the special effects were silly, and Tom Hanks looked ridiculous with long hair. They took a popular but mediocre book and turned it into a hyped but terrible movie. For that, they get the Barbed Wire award.

Other awards not expanded on in this post:

The Dakota Fanning award- For the unintentionally creepy movie- Little Man
The "The Wild" award- For the proud and unashamed rip off- Accepted
The George Romero award- For the movie that reminded us why reviving the dead is always a bad idea- Miami Vice
The Ewok award- For the lack-luster conclusion to a series- X-men 3- The Last Stand

[Tullaryx]

[Gil-galad]

I haven't seen too many movies, so I'll make a list of the top 10 movies I need to see. I can't really write anything about them though, because I haven't seen them. ^^

1. The Departed
2. Letters From Iwo Jima
3. Babel
4. The Fountain
5. Children of Men
6. Borat
7. Little Miss Sunshine (I have this on DVD waiting for me to watch....)
8. The Queen
9. Blood Diamond
10. Live of Others

Out of the movies I've seen this year, Pan's Labyrinth is by far the best. However, I've not really seen too many movies this year. I'm almost ashamed, but I'll catch at least all the ones I've mentioned on DVD. For those of you who haven't seen it, I highly reccomend you seeing Pan's Labyrinth on it's release this coming week.
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[Tony Stark]

Well I don't see all the little fancy dancy Indie movies that Tullaryx and other see, but by God, I'm going to make a list.

1. The Departed - This was a difficult decision to make, as almost all the movies on this list are so enjoyable. It took me a while to get a good word to describe this movie, but I finally found it. Shakespearean. Everyone was pretending to be someone else in a crazy persiflage of mobsters and cops. It's ending is one of my favorite this year, and it is certainly one of the best movies of the year.


2. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - THE funniest movie of the year, by far and away. Like "Thank You For Smoking" it did present somewhat of a message in addition to being funny. It amazes me that they got all these people (particularly Pam Anderson) to sign waivers to let themselves be put on video after saying the stuff they did.

3. V for Vendetta - This is probably one of my favorites because I was so impressed by the strength of the plot. As far as film making goes, it probably wasn't the best of the year, but it interested me and got me more involved than any other film. Natalie Portman was actually pretty good in it as well. Overall, it was a good flick, but the plot brought it over the edge for me.

4. Thank You For Smoking - I am unsure about putting this movie so high up, but it is this sort of political satire that I really love. The movie presented my personal view of argument, as well as had some wonderful character work, plot development and acting. It was funny, yet had a clear and present point to it.


5. Little Miss Sunshine - I am a bit of a Steve Carell fan. Were this last year, The 40-Year-Old Virgin would have been near the top of the list. Putting that aside, this movie struck a deep blow into me because my family is dysfunctional, which is why I think it worked as a movie. It made us sympathize with the characters because all of our families are just a little nuts or maybe even more nuts than this model.


6. Stranger than Fiction - First of all, let me say that Emma Thompson is my favorite person in Hollywood. She is too good sometimes. Her work in the Much Ado About Nothing movie was spellbinding, and in Wit she was marvelous. In general, she is just a superb actress. I love Emma Thompson. Anyway, this movie is also a truly novel concept (no pun intended). And, I think overall, it was done pretty well. Farrell actually did pretty well, surprisingly to me. As his role was somewhat serious.


7. Strangers with Candy - Let me offer yet another preface. Stephen Colbert is probably my favorite personality on television. His character always gets me, and does both on his current show and in this movie (as well as the old series). There wasn't much "meaning" or whatever to this movie, but it was just amazingly funny. Amy Sedaris (the sister of one of my favorite authors) was funny as always, and while they may have repeated a few too many gags from the show, it was a fantastic movie.

8. Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest - So sue me, I liked this movie a lot. I like Johnny Depp and I thought that the storytelling they used as well as some of the direction and cinematography were quite good. I also love the characters, and of course, the pirates.


9. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - Just another funny movie, like "Strangers With Candy". I put this lower on this list because I didn't laugh out loud as much, and because I think it's somewhat "dumber" comedy if that makes sense. The SWC people can actually be quite clever, whereas most of the Talladega Nights stuff was just ridiculous.


10. Superman Returns - This movie is on the list for two reasons. One, it kept me entertained for 2 and a half hours without me really noticing that much. That's quite a feat. Even in the Lord of the Rings series, I thought they went on forever. Two, Kevin Spacey was the best choice for Lex Luthor they could have made. His speech to Louis Lane where he goes "say it", it priceless. Instead of playing the calculating Luthor that Hackman played, he plays a one-second-from-going-over-the-edge, sadistic mastermind. Although, his brains were not really as stressed as in other titles.
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[Shrew]

Like a lot of other people in this thread, I haven't yet gotten a chance to see all the films I wanted to. I was prevented mostly by time and availability, and not a little stupidity and laziness. Thus, my list will look very strange. To get it out of the way, here's what you won't see on the list.

Need to See:
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth
The Departed
Stranger Than Fiction
Brick
Half Nelson
The Queen
Letters From Iwo Jima
Marie Antoinette
L'Enfant

And here's what I did see.

Lady Vengeance- Lady Vengeance has a lot of problems, I'll admit. In fact, I would have to say it's the worst of director Park Chan-wook's Revenge Trilogy (Oldboy and Sympathy of Mr. Vengeance). At times things get too carried away and certain scenes hit a bad note, but still the film is filled with this wonderful feel of dark humor crossed with an unrelenting obsession, creating a beautiful and moving tale of the consequences of revenge. Plus, Park is willing to experiment and play around, and there's a strong sense of someone enjoying himself making this film underneath, even when it doesn't necessarily work. And that's why I love it. Technically this came out in Korea in 2005, but I didn't get a chance to see it until this summer, so it's 2006 for me.

United 93- It's very difficult to describe this film. But what I can say is that it is not excessive; there's no excess patriotism or damnation, no love story, no real action. It's quick, it's harrowing, and it's not very fun. In fact, I believe the best way to describe it is as if someone bottled up the emotions and confusion of September 11 and drenched this film with it. Perhaps I'm giving it too much credit, and the emotions solely come from the power of those images of a plane crashing into a building, but I doubt it. Call it exploitative, but we needed to have this film now, so that 30 years from now people can understand the impact of these events, lest we try to create a movie as inane as Pearl Harbor.

Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story- Another really more of a 2005 film, but it come to the USA in 2006, and the USA determines everything! Tristam Shandy is just a great deal of delirious fun. Moving from the adaptation of an unadaptable 18th century novel to the making of that adaptation, Shandy has a lot of momentum and British wit that helps push it through the confusion. Throw in dream sequences and the lampooning of the insane task of filmmaking. It helps that stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon have a great improvisational chemistry and are quite willing to mock themselves.

Little Miss Sunshine- Is it really original, or does it just follow Indie film conventions instead of Hollywood. Yeah, it does, and it is predictable, but it's still very charming, and very funny. Is it the greatest movie ever made? No. Does it do anything really new? No. But it's still quick, smart, and it knows when to skip along nice and concise, breezing through exposition, and when to take its time.

The Prestige- I didn't really like movies with twists. Too often it becomes the centerpoint of everything, and if its a good movie it distracts from the good stuff. And if it's a bad movie then it's just plain damn annoying, and you feel like you wasted your time. The Prestige handles its twists pretty well, but at times it seems too wrapped in its own secrecies to address everything else it contains. Often it balances between slapping you with the theme of obsession and seeming to forget about it. And at times it lacks anything truly striking to see, and when there is it's whisked away before it sinks in. Still, the film is fun, and deeper than it first appears under all those twists.

Casino Royale- Yes, the last half-hour kind is unnecessary and its plot goes from tight to twist in a twist in a twist in a twist in a what?, but I can forgive it. The rest of the movie is great fun and excellently paced, keeping itself full of intensity. And the ending is cool enough to repair the damage done by the last 30 minutes. Plus they at least had an elaborate set for all their madness.

A Prairie Home Companion- This is when I start getting less certain about my choices. A Prairie Home Companion seems to be filled with nostalgia and death, and I can only relate to it so much. When I'm 70, I think I'll appreciate the film a great deal more. But for now, I can just appreciate the great ensemble cast and the fluid camera. And scratch my head at many of the subplots that never really resolve. That's fine in a 15 minute radio sketch, but it doesn't work as well in a 2 hour film.

The Science of Sleep- In many ways, this film reminds me of The Fountain. It's a love story wrapped in a confusing world of dreams with lots of striking imagery. Only Sleep is funny and not so overbearing, and it's a lot more original. The sheer kinetic energy behind it all elevates the film to something watchable, even if the audience never truly feels the heart of the love story and the pain involved like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Borat- I like Borat, but I don't think it's genius. It's funny, it's smart, it's satire. But I really don't feel it presents anything new. Frat boys are jerks. Duh. Feminists can be real nasty. Okay. New Yorkers are angry. The south is creepy. Yep. Rodeos are frightening. Uh-huh. And, there are also times where I have to wonder: what did they leave out? Were there worse things? Was there a time where people didn't act like dicks?

The Fountain- I don't hate The Fountain, but I don't think it's particularly great. I understand it, and I can appreciate it from an intellectual level. But the desire, fear, and love never struck a chord with me, and the film left me feeling hollow. This and Borat, while interesting, are really just placefillers that I would expect would be replaced quickly by a few of the Yet to See list.
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Fear our Vagueness.

[Ujitsuna]

I can only remember about 5, so I'll list those.

1. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Out of all the movies this year, I remember this one the best, it was funny, offensive and no thought was needed on what he was doing why he was doing it etc. I enjoyed it. Apparently "Bruno" the gay nazi from Austria is now in production for a movie... I don't know if it'll top Borat.

2. The Departed.

Great modern gangster movie with the psycho Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio who look a bit too much like eachother.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

It's a bit cheesy but it was pretty good, and Keith Reichards in the next installment will be good to see. :P

4. James Bond: Casino Royale.

Actually this ties with 2 or 3, great movie, reviving the Bond franchise. Daniel Craig showed his critics he can be the best Bond out there and then some, I hope we see more of him, and more preferably the women.

5. The Pink Panther.

I thought Steve Martin was a pretty good inspector, obviously I don't think anyone will replace Peter Sellers as the definative version, but Steve did a pretty good job, good luck to him, I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel.

[Parallax]

Films of 2006

Okay, well, like Shrew, I did not have a chance to see everything that I wanted to see this year. There are a few notables which will be absent from my list. I won't even make ten, so I won't try putting them in order, since of the movies I saw, at least half of them were terrible. I also don't really bother seeing foreign films or a lot of indie films because the only theaters they play at here are an hour's drive. I'm not willing to make an hour trek to see a two hour movie, because that means as much driving as movie. Grrr.

Black Dahlia (even though I've heard it's not as good as I was hoping it would be...)
Brick
The Prestige
The Illusionist
The Departed (this one stings...)
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima

Okay, that having been said, here we go...some notable movies that I liked:

V For Vendetta - I thought this film was quite simply spectacular. I understand that there were a number of cuts and alterations from Alan Moore's original work; always a shame, but in this case, even somewhat understandable. Unlike From Hell and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, this film gives due justice to the original graphic novel. It's primarily made by Hugo Weaving's tremendous performance as the faceless ideal, V, and by a remarkably good (since she's normally remarkably awful) performance from Natalie Portman as the girl, who's name I can't even recall. This one was one of the few movies this year that I didn't mind sitting through, even twice. That's impressive!

Little Miss Sunshine - I've heard others say that the topics in the film are too serious, or strike a particular chord that makes them dramatically unfunny for some people. For my part, I thought the damn thing was hilarious from start to finish, without question. Shots taken at indie film by the wayside, the film is well put together, and I can't really knock anything that I laughed almost the entire way through. Good see.

Casino Royale - I didn't really mind the last segment of the film where the plot manages to change itself from the tight British intelligence mission in Montenegro into...whatever the last half hour is. The setting also did not bother me, despite the vagueness of the timeline of the Bond films, and where this one rests, and why there's suddenly a new James Bond every now and then. Why do we need to tackle that issue anyway? If you want them to stop making the films, that's another matter, but I digress. I really liked the new James Bond. I'm not really a fan of Eva Green, but she's a tolerable actress, so the whole film was very bearable for me. I enjoyed it. I think I'll buy it.

Superman Returns - A good, fun, superhero movie, that tackles the difficult Superman character very successfully. Personally, I think the main appeal of this movie was Kevin Spacey's portrayal of Lex Luthor which I very much enjoyed (tough to follow in the Gene Hackman portrayal of the original series). The rest of the movie is honestly pretty forgettable until you get to the continent scenes at the end, which are breathtaking, suitably epic, and suitably Superman. That's really all there is to it. Good film!

The Good Sheperd - I already wrote this review. Anyway...This film is excellent in many ways. The performance by Matt Damon is powerful beyond imagination. He is so cold, so callous, so believable. His character is honestly a bit frightening; you are watching the story of a man who never once in his life said anything to anyone. Think about it. Bad news! All the other performances are predictably good; Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Joe Pesci, etc. There's nothing wrong with the acting. Nothing is wrong with the staging. It's missing some things too, though. The first few scenes are extremely disjointed and difficult to follow. They introduce a lot of things in no particular order before ever advancing to the meat of the movie. Flashbacks which follow are much more well placed, but can still be distracting. Its main problem is that there is only one relatively weak central plot thread which hooks the film together and it takes forever to really build up steam, and doesn't really connect large chunks of the movie together in any meaningful way. It was still pretty good though.

Movies that I did not enjoy. These always spur better discussion anyway:

X-Men 3: The Last Stand - This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my entire life...well, perhaps not, but one of the worst big budget Hollywood movies I've ever seen, to be sure. It ranks right up there with the Lord of the Rings trilogy for biggest disappointments in my movie seeing life. I think I'm just going to stop seeing movies like this. Anyway, there is nothing good about this movie. Even the special effects sequences I would expect to be cool were much less interesting than I was hoping for, right down to an obscenely anticlimactic showdown between "Pyro" and "Iceman". Ugh. Terrible. Pass.

Lady in the Water - Inexcusably lame. It's very obvious that M. Night Shyamalan is capable of creating decent movies. The trouble is, he doesn't do it anymore. Take my advice and skip this one; you're not missing anything.

Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man's Chest - This honestly probably shouldn't be on a 'worst movies' list because it wasn't a bad movie by any means. It has its problems of course, but nothing like the other movies that I genuinely thought were bad. What I thought was unenjoyable about Pirates 2 was that for me it totally failed to recapture what was good about the first Pirates of the Carribean film. The acting is good, the sets and special effects were spectacular, but it doesn't have the same 'grand adventure' feel. It's definitely got some 'middle movie' problems, not quite as bad as the middle Matrix, but not good either. I thought the sea monsters were a bit much. I handled the zombie pirates, but at my core, I guess I'm not much of a big screen fantasy fan, and this one just bugged the hell out of me. I have mixed feelings on it though, because I will see the third one, and I can't say I would be unwilling to watch this middle movie again, but I sure won't be purchasing it.

Eh. Most of the other movies I saw this year were pretty forgettable. I guess this will do for now, but I'm comfortable adding things or subtracting or editing them at a later time. Happy 2007, Hollywood...
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He's a victim - not a perp - and I'm choosing to let him go.

[Shrew]

So, a month and a half later, I'm bored and want to update my list, now that I've seen a good portion of what I didn't get to before hand.

1)Children of Men- When I first saw this, I was amazed. Then after I watched other films, I found myself wishing I had just gone and watched Children of Men again. The first 3 minutes are some of the finest exposition I've ever seen. The mentality of this desperate world, tetering on the edge of insanity, the grasping at any sort of hope, the apathy toward the sufferings of other people; it's all there. The rest of the film has its weak points, but the great performance from Clive Owen, the incredible cinematography, and the tense long shots raise it to above and beyond the best film of the year.

2)Lady Vengeance
3)Marie Antoinette- I liked this movie a great deal more than I thought I would. Most period pieces focus on the sets and the clothes and the accents; they become so caught up in evoking the era that they neglect to evoke any humanity. Marie Antoinette takes Versailles as the set, steps up the clothes a bit, and forfeits the accents, since no one can ever do them properly anyway. It ends up being the freshest biopic I've ever seen, less caught up in extraneous trappings and cliches than its modern contemporaries like Ray and Walk the Line. It's an endearing portrait of a girl in distress.

4)United 93
5)Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
6)The Departed- I prefer this to Infernal Affairs, if only because I think the ending is much better, though IA had the better beginning. Still, the dialogue is fun, the plot is tight, and even if the psychologist character's position between the two men was underused, it's still a nice film. Nothing in particular is stellar about it, but there's nothing very weak about it either.

7)Little Miss Sunshine
8)The Prestige
9)Pan's Labyrinth- I didn't like this film nearly as much as everyone else did. While I was amazed by the fantasy sequences, the rest of the film wasn't particularly exciting for me, it felt lifeless. To me, the two halves were almost totally disconnected, or at least Ofelia's place in the real world was never fully realized. Still, those fantasy sequences are enough to land this list on their own.

10)Casino Royale

Honorable Mentions:
A Prairie Home Companion
The Science of Sleep
Borat
The Fountain
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Fear our Vagueness.

[retrospect.]

I'll try and get mine together without too much description.

1) The Fountain- all the while Aronofsky being my favourite director, I love Jackman in this, and with the supporting cast he's given, it's taken me for a very unique ride: the first movie i've watched to make me shed tears. Holding my girlfriend's hand while watching the most painful parts of this movie made me die inside for tommy, and the weeping oh the weeping.

2) Children of Men- maybe it was the camera nerd in me that did it for me, but I found it so outrageous that Pan's Labyrinth stole out cinematography and didnt get foreign in it's place. One of the most stunning jobs of visual and auditory stimulation I've come across, the scene with King Crimson's Court of the... playing made me appreciate the movie a lot more.

3) Pan's Labyrinth- Awesome, all around, but unfortunately I didn't feel any pull or relation with the characters and for that it killed it a little for me, still getting top 3 for the most awesome concepts put together and it being great, but it could even fall a little more on this list if time wears on.

4) The Prestige- Another Hugh Jackman flik to make me giddy, this time around I love the characters, the twisting narration, and the stunning climax (or prestige if you will) coming together for a sweeping masterpiece by our good friend mr nolan.

5) The Departed- while not being one for a lot of mob/crime movies, i can't help but praise this dive into a swamp of masculinity and verility for being witty, sharp, and just plain fun. My soft spot for boston accents shines through as well scoring a few points.

6) Running Scared- Big points in my books simply for taking the extra effort into making it as over the top and stepping on as many toes as possible while making it incredibly fast paced and in your face. the amount of pot i had smoked before seeing this also factors into my rating it higher than most people, the experience was topnotch for me.

7) Casino Royale- I can't believe that this movie actually made me enjoy something attached to the 007 franchise, but the price is just too right in this movie, brilliant job by daniel craig (catch layer cake if you havent already) and a great new take on making him manly as opposed to sleazy.

8) The Black Dahlia- Again, movies I rate higher than others, I loved this movie based out of my deep love for old detective stylings seen in fliks like LA Confidential or Seven Times Lucky, and the flaws aren't as glaring or upsetting for me.

9) Gridiron Gang- My love for the Rock only grows as I see more movies with him being a very lovable guy. I've always thought he was a great actor and can't wait to see what he has in store next, far too great a resource to let stagnate into a casttyping as a wrassler.

10) Invincible- Again, a weakspot for Mark Wahlberg made me scrounge up this for 10th, I was having a hard time remember what came out this year, and having watched it recently it really made me appreciate how much better it is than Rudy.
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