Top Ten of 2006

[rudeboy]

Looking back, 06 really wasn't such a bad year, I think.

1. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
2. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
3. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
4. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
5. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)
6. V For Vendetta (James McTiegue)
7. The Child (Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)
8. Perfume: the Story of a Murderer (Tom Tywker)
9. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
10. The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner)

[Jim20]

1. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
2. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
3. The Fountain (Darren Arronofsky)
4. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
5. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
6. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
7. Stranger Than Fiction (Marc Forster)
8. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
9. Happy Feet (George Miller)
10. Brick (Rian Johnson)

[Eric]

bumped

[anonymous1980]

L'Enfant (Jean Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne) - ****
The Departed (Martin Scorsese) - ***½
United 93 (Paul Greengrass) - ***½
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles) - ***½
An Incovenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim) - ***½
Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola) - ***½
The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros (Aureus Solito) - ***½
Monster House (Gil Kenan)- ***½
Casino Royale (Martin Campbell) - ***½
Inside Man (Spike Lee) - ***½
Little Children (Todd Field) - ***
The Prestige (Christopher Nolan) - ***
Cars (John Lasseter) - ***
Superman Returns (Bryan Singer) - ***
Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou) - ***
Happy Feet (George Miller) - ***
Snakes on a Plane (David R. Ellis) - ***
V for Vendetta (James McTeague) - ***
Manderlay (Lars Von Trier) - ***
Apocalypto (Mel Gibson) - ***
Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood) - **½
The Banquet (Feng Xiaogang) - **½
Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris) - **½
Babel (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu) - **½
Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick) - **½
Mission: Impossible III (J.J. Abrams) - **½
Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Gore Verbinski)- **½
Lady in the Water (M. Night Shyamalan) - **
X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner) - **
Poseidon (Wolfgang Petersen) - **
The Da Vinci Code (Ron Howard) - *½

[Penelope]

Finally! I have a four-star movie for 2006!


1. Pan’s Labyrinth -- ****

2. The Science of Sleep -- *** ½
3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan -- *** ½
4. L’Enfant -- *** ½
5. Marie Antoinette -- *** ½
6. Time to Leave -- *** ½
7. Little Children -- *** ½
8. Children of Men -- *** ½
9. The Painted Veil -- *** ½

10. Flags of Our Fathers -- ***
11. V for Vendetta -- ***
12. An Inconvenient Truth -- ***
13. Hollywoodland -- ***
14. Joyeux Noel -- ***
15. The Queen -- ***
16. Volver -- ***
17. Casino Royale -- ***
18. The Departed -- ***
19. Dreamgirls -- ***
20. The History Boys -- ***
21. Little Miss Sunshine -- ***
22. A Prairie Home Companion -- ***
23. Infamous -- ***
24. Inside Man -- ***
25. Something New -- ***
26. X-Men: The Last Stand -- ***

27. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest -- ** ½
28. The Devil Wears Prada -- ** ½
29. United 93 -- ** ½
30. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby -- ** ½
31. Superman Returns -- ** ½
32. She’s The Man -- ** ½
33. The Black Dahlia -- ** ½
34. Click -- ** ½
35. The Break-up -- ** ½
36. Thank You For Smoking -- ** ½
37. The Illusionist -- ** ½
38. Last Holiday -- ** ½
39. Changing Times -- ** ½
40. Water -- ** ½
41. Akeelah and the Bee -- ** ½
42. Eight Below -- ** ½
43. Guys and Balls -- ** ½
44. The DaVinci Code -- ** ½
45. Step Up -- ** ½

46. The Prestige -- **
47. Failure to Launch -- **
48. Tristan + Isolde -- **
49. Bobby -- **
50. Summer Storm -- **
51. Miami Vice -- **
52. Running with Scissors -- **
53. My Super Ex-Girlfriend -- **
54. The Lake House -- **
55. Poseidon -- **

56. Nacho Libre -- * ½
57. Stick It -- * ½
58. Shortbus -- * ½

59. Babel -- *

[rolotomasi99]

my top ten list of 2006. unlike last year, i actually really love all of these films rather than love most and like some. they are in numerical order. this is what i liked, not necessarily what was best (though pretty close). i saw almost all of the films being mentioned for oscar noms. the only foreign film i saw was PAN'S LABYRINTH, so VOLVER and others could make it on to this list later.

The Departed
The Queen
Children Of Men
Half Nelson
Little Children
Shortbus
Little Miss Sunshine
The Good German
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Painted Veil

[Akash]

I haven't seen as many as I'd like to this year (LSAT's, law school applications, trying to convince sort of girlfriend that sort of girlfriend status is better for us right now than girlfriend/boyfriend status and by "us" I mean "me"....) and there are still a few more I'm trying to get to right now (Notes on a Scandal soon) but for the most part here's my top 10.

I was very lazy so I only cared to numerically rank the top 10. Everything else I sorted only by star ranking (out of 4 stars) and nothing below the top 10 is in any order whatsoever, except for the star ranking the film falls under. Trying to decide whether Bobby ranks as the absolute worst or should at least be marginally better than Running With Scissors - if only because nothing about the obnoxious Augusten Burroughs is attached to Bobby - made me appreciate the futility of such an exercise and say, "F*ck it!" to anything below the 10 best.

****
1. Volver
2. L’Enfant

***1/2
3. The Departed
4. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
5. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
6. Letters From Iwo Jima
7. Brick
8. Children of Men
9. Army of Shadows
10. Pan's Labyrinth
11. The Black Dahlia
12. Inland Empire

***
The Queen
Marie Antoinette
The Lives of Others
Infamous (superior to Capote in EVERY way)
A Scanner Darkly
A Prairie Home Companion
Water
Gabrielle
An Inconvenient Truth
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
V for Vendetta
The Science of Sleep
The Fountain
Who Killed the Electric Car
Half Nelson
Iraq in Fragments

**1/2
Casino Royale
Clerks 2
Apocalypto
Little Children
United 93

**
Dreamgirls
Miami Vice
The Good Shepard
Flags of Our Fathers
Stranger Than Fiction
The Devil Wears Prada
Lady in the Water
Borat (almost put this at 1 and a half)
Step Up
Babel
Venus
Notes on a Scandal

*1/2
Blood Diamond
Superman Returns
Hollywoodland
Cars
Snakes on a Plane
X Men: The Last Stand
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
Miss Potter
The Last King of Scotland
The Pursuit of Happyness
Tristan and Isolde

*
Little Miss Sunshine
Ice Age: The Meltdown
The Pink Panther
World Trade Center

Zero stars
Poseidon
Failure to Launch
Running With Scissors
Bobby
The DaVinci Code

[Kova]

I have a long way to go, but here's where I stand:

1. The Proposition
2. L'Enfant
3. The Departed
4. A Prairie Home Companion
5. Half Nelson
6. The Queen
7. Tsotsi
8. Three Times (more like the Last Two Times)
9. L'Intrus
10. Flags of Our Fathers

[abcinyvr]

Here is my top ten post...

I have never experienced a year where I was so ambivalent about going to see movies. I think I saw perhaps three films in the first six months of the year. On the other hand I have been renting up a storm, mostly pre-2006. There are several late-season films that have not yet opened here and are obviously absent.
As usual the Vancouver International Film Festival in September was great and I have been in and out of theatres since then.

2006 Top Ten (eleven): (these are unrated as they are my favourites - this doesn't imply that I think Shortbus is a better film than The Departed, I just enjoyed it more)

Shortbus
The Departed
The Queen
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Vitus
The Lives Of Others
Water
The Last King Of Scotland
Volver/Babel (tie)


Film Festival Top Ten: (these films are rated in an earlier posting)

Shortbus
Little Children
Vitus
The Lives Of Others
The Host
Catch A Fire
Our Daily Bread
Two Sons Of Francisco
Colour Me Kubrick

The best non-2006 films that I saw this year, for the first time:
- The Ladykillers (1955)
- Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Best performances of 2006:
Lead Actor
Ulrich Muhe - The Lives Of Others
Lead Actress
Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson
Supporting Actor
Djimon Hounsou - Blood Diamond
Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada

[Big Magilla]

Ten Best Films of 2006

1) Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
2) Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
3) The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
4) The Queen (Stephen Frears)
5) The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
6) Flags of Our Fathers/Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
7) Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris)
Dreamgirls (Bill Condon)
9) Little Children (Todd Field)
10) Notes on a Scandal (Richard Eyre)



Edited By Big Magilla on 1246035282

[anonymous1980]

A different type of 2006 Top 10 list in my blog.

[Sabin]

Whippin' this bad boy out. And removing 'Army of Shadows'. Just not a 2006 movie. And hey, we've got more than enough good ones to go around.

****
1. The Departed
2. Children of Men
3. Old Joy

***1/2
4. Brick
5. L'Enfant
6. The Proposition
7. Half Nelson
8. Volver
9. Casino Royale
10. Slither
11. Neil Young: Heart of Gold
12. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
13. The Fountain
14. The Prestige (can't stop thinking about it)
15. A Prairie Home Companion
16. Notes on a Scandal
17. The Queen
18. Tideland (...or this one)
19. United 93

***
20. A Scanner Darkly
21. The Science of Sleep
22. Mutual Appreciation
23. Syndromes and a Century
24. Inside Man
25. Borat: Cultural Learnings for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
26. Shortbus
27. Apocalypto
28. Sherrybaby
29. Stranger than Fiction
30. Little Children
31. Snakes on a Plane
32. Down in the Valley
33. Bubble

**1/2
34. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
35. Superman Returns
36. The Puffy Chair
37. For Your Consideration
38. The Good Sheperd
39. Cars
40. Dreamgirls
41. Flags of Our Fathers
42. Thank You for Smoking
43. Clerks 2
44. Miami Vice
45. An Inconvenient Truth
46. Mission: Impossible -- 3
47. The Devil Wears Prada
48. Little Miss Sunshine (not really a ** film)
49. Factotum
50. Hollywoodland
51. Babel
52. Marie Antoinette

**
53. Blood Diamond
54. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
55. Hard Candy
56. X-Men: The Last Stand
57. Lady in the Water (so brilliantly flawed)
58. 12 and Holding
59. Final Destination 3
60. Scoop
61. Art School Confidential

*1/2
62. The Da Vinci Code

*
63. Bobby

WON'T SEE IT AGAIN, SO I NO LONGER CARE - Nightwatch



Edited By Sabin on 1167546381

[Precious Doll]

- The Beat That My Heart Skipped [France]

This was 2005.

[inky]

(Updated on Jan 26, 2007)

Only list down movies that were genuinely world premiered in 2006, i.e., certain 2005 movies like HARD CANDY and L'ENFANT are not listed.

Simply loved these:
- Election 2 [HK]
- Exiled [HK]
- Isabella [HK]
- Little Red Flowers [China]
- The Man of My Life [France]
- Rain Dogs [Malaysia/HK]
- Volver

Kinda liked these:
- After This Our Exile [HK] (based on its theatrical version ... looking forward to the supposedly more superior Director's Cut which is 40 minutes longer)
- The Black Dahlia
- Borat
- Breaking and Entering
- Children of Men
- The Comedy of Power
- Confession of Pain [HK]
- Courthouse on the Horseback [China]
- Crazy Stone [China/HK]
- The Departed
- Elementary Particles [Germany]
- Fearless [China/HK]
- The Forest Ranger [China]
- Friends with Money
- Half Nelson
- Hana yori mo naho [Japan]
- The Host [S. Korea]
- The Inconvenient Truth (documentary)
- Inside Man
- Invisible Waves [Thailand/Netherlands]
- Kamome Diner [Japan]
- Klimt [Austria/France/Germany/UK]
- Lady in the Water
- The Last Communist [Malaysia] (documentary)
- Little Children
- Marie Antoinette
- McDull, the Alumni [HK]
- Miami Vice
- Operation Undercover [HK]
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Professor and His Beloved Equation [Japan]
- The Queen
- Requiem [Germany]
- Snow Cake
- Stranger Than Fiction
- Time [S. Korea]
- Trouble Makers [China]
- V for Vendetta
- Where is Leili? [Iran] (documentary)

Marginally liked these:
- 2 Become 1 [HK]
- 3 Needles
- 16 Blocks
- 49 Days [HK/China]
- Akeelah and the Bee
- Almost Love [S. Korea]
- Apocalypto
- The Ant Bully
- Ask the Dust
- Babel
- The Banquet [China/HK]
- The Battle of Wits [HK/China]
- Bewitching Attraction [S. Korea]
- Blood Diamond
- The Break Up
- Cars
- Charlotte's Web
- Click
- Curiosity Kills the Cat [China]
- Curse of the Golden Flowers
- Days of Glory [France]
- Death Note [Japan]
- Death Note 2 [Japan]
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Diary [HK]
- Ding Jun Shan [China]
- Dreamgirls
- Eight Below
- Fast Food Nation
- Flags of Our Fathers
- Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus
- Glastonbury (documentary)
- Goodbye Boys [Malaysia]
- Happy Feet
- Helen and the Baby Fox
- The Hills Have Eyes
- Hollywoodland
- Hostel
- I Not Stupid Too [Singapore]
- I'll Call U [HK]
- Ice Age: The Meltdown
- The Illusionist
- The Knot [China]
- The Last King of Scotland
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Lives of Others
- Loose Change 2nd Edition
- Love Story [Singapore/HK]
- Lucky Number Slevin
- Monster House
- Night at the Museum
- The Night Listener
- The Oh in Ohio
- On the Edge [HK]
- Once in a Summer [S. Korea]
- Over the Hedge
- Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- The Prestige
- Re-Cycle [HK/Thailand]
- The Road [China]
- The Road to Guantanamo
- Rob-B-Hood [HK/China]
- Saw III
- Scoop
- Severance
- Shopaholics [HK]
- Silent Hill
- Silk [Taiwan]
- Singapore Dreaming [Singapore]
- Slither
- Smell of Rain [Singapore]
- Take the Lead
- United 93
- The Wedding Curse [Philippines]
- World Trade Center

Didn't like these:
- An American Haunting
- Basic Instinct 2
- The Benchwarmers
- Bitter Sugar [Italy]
- Black Night [HK/Thailand/Japan]
- The Covenant
- Crank
- Da Vinci's Code
- Daisy [S. Korea/HK]
- Date Movie
- Deck the Halls
- Deja Vu
- DOA: Dead or Alive
- Dragon Tiger Gate [HK/China]
- Eragon
- Failure to Launch
- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
- Final Destination 3
- Firewall
- Flyboys
- Flushed Away
- Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
- Ghost Game
- Ghost Tunnel [Japan]
- Gigolo Wannabe [Japan]
- A Good Year
- Grandma's Boy
- The Grudge 2
- The Guardian
- Harsh Times
- The High Cost of Living [Singapore]
- The Lake House
- Mission: Impossible 3
- The Music Box [China]
- My Super Ex-Girlfriend
- Nacho Libre
- The Nativity Story (Even though I visited Matera, Italy half a year ago ...)
- Now and Forever [S. Korea]
- The Omen
- Open Season
- The Painted Veil
- Poseidon
- Pulse
- Running Wild [S. Korea]
- S11 [Singapore]
- Scary Movie 4
- The Sentinel
- The Shaggy Dog
- She's the Man
- Sinking of Japan [Japan]
- Snakes on the Plane
- Stay Alive
- Superman Returns
- Telladega Nights
- Tristan & Isolde
- Ultraviolet
- Umizaru: Limit of Love [Japan]
- Underworld: Evolution
- We Are Family [HK/China]
- When a Stranger Calls
- You, Me and Dupree
- Zodiac: The Race Begins [Singapore]

Simply crappy:
- Big Momma's House 2
- Big Movie [probably China's first spoof movie]
- Dangerous Flowers [Thailand]
- Little Man
- See No Evil

[Precious Doll]

I'm not sure how old you are but when I was younger I watched every new film that came along. With age I realised that I was wasting precious time watching the 90% of crap that comes out every Friday. I now concentrate mainly on old Hollywood or International cinema but very few of the new stuff that is coming out every week.

True, but the problem is you can never really know what gems you are missing didn't see things in the first place. If I only saw films that actually appealed to me I wouldn't see very much, including most Oscar buzz films.

Of all the Oscar buzz films from 2006 that I have not seen (which is most of them) I am only really interested in Little Children, Pan's Labyrith, Dreamgirls.

And I still find time to review old favorites. Over the next week I'm planning to rewatch Letter from an Unkown Woman, Wonderland and some 1980's Resnais films.