Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Best Movies of 2006

Well, the Oscar nominations are out. I suppose it has become an annual ritual to criticize the pick, and to offer up one's own suggestions as a vastly superior alternative. Well, I will humbly follow in this tradition!

So, in no particular order, here are my selections for the best movies of 2006:

Drama:

The Prestige
The Illusionist
Apocalypto
The Devil Wears Prada
The Departed
Blood Diamond
Hollywoodland
The Last King of Scotland
All the King's Men
Bobby
The Queen
Casino Royale (token action movie!)

Comedy:

Nacho Libre
Borat
Talladega Nights

Foreign Language:

Sophie Scholl: The Last Days
Pan's Labyrinth
Curse of the Golden Flower

Documentary:

An Inconvenient Truth
Jesus Camp
This Film is Not Yet Rated
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Saint of 9/11

Errors and omissions? Comments welcome!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

On things filmed, I finally feel somewhat qualified to write. With regard to "The Departed," I just didn't get it. If you haven't seen the movie, don't read further as I'll blow the ending for you.

Here's my major problem: you follow two character development storylines, that of DiCaprio and Damon, and reasonably assume that they will intersect by movie's end. I accepted that Damon might escape the double- and triple- crossing of the final shootout that killed DiCaprio. However, after Damon got waxed by Wahlberg, I left the theatre just saying, "What??!"

I understood the motivation of the guy (don't know his name) that killed DiCaprio - he was on the take - but Walhberg didn't make sense. I felt slighted in that there seems to have been this third character development storyline, that of Wahlberg, running parellel but out of sight to Damon and DiCaprio, that enters just before the credits roll.

I've asked a couple people who loved the film (admittedly not a significant sample set by any means) what Walhberg's motivation was for killing Damon and each gave me a different answer. Now, I don't mind ambiguity in a movie but I felt this as more of a Scorsese left-hook. I'd like to know your thoughts on it.

That being stated, I did enjoy the acting and thought the movie well-cast, even if Nicholson always plays himself.