The Best and Worst Movies of 2006

Let me preface this all by saying that I haven't seen many movies this year and also that I mostly only saw wide releases (forgive me)

My low five are (Ultraviolet almost made the list)
5. The Omen
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. Over the Hedge
2. The Return
1. X-Men: The Last Stand

My top five are (V for Vendetta and The Lady in the Water are up there too)
5. The Descent
4. Clerks II
3. The Wild
2. The Prestige
1. Superman Returns

The Best Movie of 2006: "United 93"

Honorable Mention: "Kekexili: Mountain Patrol", "An Inconvenient Truth"

Most-Overrated Movie of 2006: "The Departed"

The Best? Let's start with "United 93," "The Last King of Scotland," "The Illusionist," "An Inconveniet Truth," "The Departed" (sorry, Eddie), "V for Vendetta" (sorry, again, Eddie), "Cars," and I think I watched the worst just today, "Beerfest."

John

Boy, there's a long, long way to go in 2006 on the cinema calendar. Movies are so backloaded, I wouldn't be surprised if half of my eventual Top 10 list has yet to be released (or I just haven't seen it).

It's always tricky to figure out what counts in any calendar year. I saw several great films at the Toronto Film Fest, and most of them will probably never get an American release. So I'm counting them all as 2006 releases.

Best of 2006:

Offside (Panahi) - almost too perfect
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Puiu) -a masterpiece
Colossal Youth (Costa) - a film I can't stop thinking about
Syndromes and a Century (Weerasethakul) - ditto
Still Life (Jia) - Jia is the man
Opera Jawa (Nugroho) - there's pretty, then there's gorgeous
Coeurs (Resnais)
Manufactured Landscapes (Baichwal) - the only doc on my list? Bummer.
The Queen (Frears)
Bubble (Soderbergh)
United 93 (Greengrass)
This Filthy World (Garlin)
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (Lu) - this far down the list, and we're still talking about movies I really liked!
Old Joy (Reichardt)
Marie Antoinette (S. Coppola)
Casino Royale (Campbell) - Bond as a bull in a china shop? Works for me.
Scoop (W. Allen) - hey, I thought it was cute
An Inconvenient Truth (Guggenheim) - OK, a 2nd doc, but it's just pretty good, not great


Worst:

The Omen - even dumber than the original
Art School Confidential - misanthropic and unfunny
X-Men 3: The Last Stand - at least it was short
Superman Returns - unfortunately, it wasn't short
Who Killed the Electric Car? - good subject does not equal good doc.
The Black Dahlia - I still love 'Hi, Mom!'

Oh boy, this is going back a ways.

The BEST:
United 93 (most gripping, most emotional, best produced/directed/written...)
Catch a Fire (incredibly powerful film that resonates even today)
V for Vendetta (same as Catch a Fire)
The Departed (a very well done remake...that's the key...remake)
The Illusionist (the entire production is so spot on and the plot grows organically from the story)

The WORST:
X-Men: The Last Stand (didn't even try to live up to the promise of the second film)
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (just...horrible all around)
All the Kings Men (this one went so far off the rails it's not even funny)

Most Disappointing:
Babel (what it could have been is amazing, what it ended up as was...blah)
The Prestige (take out the last 20 minutes and you've got a winner)

Yet to DEBUT (and I'm interested in):
Blood Diamond
The Good German
The Good Shepherd
Ever Since the World Ended
Children of Men
Notes on a Scandal

I did not see many movies this year. But what I have seen:
1. Superman returns
2. Dead Man's Chest
3. Cars
4. Happy Feet

Best of 2006 (so far) has to be “United 93”.

Here are some films I’ve seen that I favorably enjoyed (films I’d give 10 to 7 on the DVDTown rating scale), but in no particular order:

The Departed
Ultraviolet
An Inconvenient Truth
Clerks II
Pirates: Dead Man’s Chest
Casino Royale
Cars
Talladega Nights
Over The Hedge
Little Miss Sunshine
X-Men: The Last Stand
Mission Impossible III
Inside Man
Brick
Thank You for Smoking
The World’s fastest Indian
16 Blocks


I’d say all the other films I’ve seen in 2006 (so far) I’d put in the mediocre category, but the ones that stand out as films I hated or I was totally disappointed with would be:

Superman Returns
Miami Vice
Little Man
Nacho Libre
RV
V for Vendetta
Silent Hill
The Benchwarmers
The Shaggy Dog
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (I love his stand-up, though)
Final Destination 3
Pink Panther


Tim =)

I saw "Stranger Than Fiction" today and loved it. It's a bizarre film, but it's cute and fun and sentimental and romantic, a sort of existential romantic comedy. Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman--they are all excellent.

John

john,

let's be honest here...you liked the movie because of its editing. =D

eddie

Tim, I can't believe you watched half of those movies in the disappointed list!

-Ben