Tag: Best of 2006
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2006.01.05 16:00:00 |
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10 movies that I really liked in 2006:
- C.R.A.Z.Y. - A fabulous, funny, rich, tearjerker coming-of-age film that won a slew of awards in Canada, played film festivals, then inexplicably went straight to video in the US.
- Gypo - A no-budget flick, the first UK film with Dogme95's stamp of approval is a fascinating, superbly-acted tale of a Czech Romany immigrant's relationship with a working class couple in England.
- Volver - Almodovar is back in form and brings Penelope Cruz with him in this female-powered story of mothers and daughters and sisters and aunts... and ghosts.
- Half Nelson - Much is said of Ryan Gosling's performance of a crack-addicted white teacher in Brooklyn, but how about the wonderful Sharika Epps who matches him scene-for-scene as his student?
- United 93 - I avoided this powerful and straightforward film for a long time. But there is something cleansing about "knowing what happened", even though it ends in the worst and most horrific way.
 Eight Below - OK, this selection may get me mocked, but this is the best animal-pal movie I've seen in a long time, and it made me sob for the whole second hour, OK?
- 49 Up - Imagine a camera crew showing up on your doorstep every 7 years to ask how your life is going. Michael Apted's "7 Up" series is the first, and best, reality show.
- V for Vendetta - How the heck did such a subversive movie, whose hero is a terrorist, ever get made and released by a major studio?
- The World's Fastest Indian - A sweet movie with a terrible title, Indian is the only movie on this list that I've already seen twice this year. This gentle road movie following curmudgeon Kiwi Anthony Hopkins culminates with thrilling speed races that rival the exuberance of The Right Stuff.
- The Descent - I was freaked out BEFORE the flesh-ripping beasties even showed up in this claustrophobic chicks-spelunking horror film.
Films that I missed that may have made the cut (or not):
Borat, The Departed, Little Children, Babel, Marie Antoinette, An Inconvenient Truth
This would have made the list, but it is a TV show:
I totally have to plug the television series Battlestar Galactica. This is the best sci-fi, movie or TV, that I've seen in years!
Breast performance:
Penelope Cruz in Volver. Her breasts are practically a lead character that dare you to call them sexy. You'd get slapped upside the head. I mean, if breasts could do that. (?)
Best non-human character:
The bleating Volkswagen bus in Little Miss Sunshine. Made me laugh every time.
Guilty pleasures:
Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, Scary Movie 4, The Guardian, She's the Man, High School Musical
Guilty, no pleasure:
Poseidon—and I even paid full price to see it in IMAX! Man, this movie was ASS!
Most wretched of the wretched:
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector—the movies I am forced to watch for you people!
The friends I'd most like to have a cuppa with:
Friends With Money's Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Aniston, and Frances McDormand
Biggest disappointments:
Flags of Our Fathers, Strangers With Candy, For Your Consideration, X-Men: The Last Stand
Most radiant performance (in a pretty good movie):
Gretchen Mol as Bettie Page in The Notorious Bettie Page
Most radiant (and sexy) performance (in a pretty darn great movie):
Penelope Cruz in Volver (see also Breast Performance)
 Speaking of hot...
Not only was Penelope Cruz sizzling, but, dear lord, Daniel Craig was a sexy beast as the new James Bond in Casino Royale
Best transgender family-values message movie:
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
Curious thematic trends:
Teacher/student seductions - Loving Annabelle, The History Boys, Notes on a Scandal
Orgy scenes - Shortbus, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Magician movies - The Illusionist, The Prestige
Best use of the national anthem:
Shortbus (we can't really tell you HOW it was used, as this is a family-friendly site!)
Best use of film title, opening credits:
The Queen, with Helen Mirren turning to the camera, one eyebrow raised, when the film's title appears on screen
Best use of film title, closing credits:
At the end of C.R.A.Z.Y., the film's title unspools to reveal a deeper meaning, causing audience to start sniffling yet again
Most fun to be had at the movies in 2006:
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Cool to see on the big screen, but even cooler to meet Tura Satana and get her autograph (OMG! She signed it her picture with my favorite quote!). Her saucy and candid on-stage interview with Peaches Christ had some jaw-dropping anecdotes involving dating Elvis, terrorizing co-stars, being the victim of gang-rape, and most impressive, wreaking awesome revenge for said gang-rape.
The best Moviepie controversy:
Speaking of Loving Annabelle... We'd like to give special recognition to the fans of "LA" (as the frothing obsessed groupies are calling it) for making Vickie's Loving Annabelle review not only the most-read Moviepie review of the year (if not ever), but also the catalyst of a forum flame war on IMDB (the thread of which has been mysteriously removed) plus plenty of hate, vitrol, and even death wishes (we kid you not!) aimed at the 'Pie, demanding a public apology for giving the film a negative review. Needless to say, no one apologized.
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Here we are at the end of another lackluster year at the movies. Out
of all the releases in 2006, I was passionate about seeing only three:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Lake
House, and Rocky Balboa. I watched Pirates twice,
bought a t-shirt, a key chain, and two boxes of Pirate cereal
(yummy!), and I'd still be hard-pressed to describe the plot. It just
goes to show that Johnny Depp can turn a flimsy sequel into a beloved
international blockbuster simply by showing up. The Lake House
truly defies logic, but it's the best romance I've seen in a long
time, and one of the few movies of '06 I can see myself revisiting in
the future. I'm still trying to make a day of Rocky Balboa,
but for some reason, everyone I invite says, "Hmmm, not today."
Whatever. Just seeing Sylvester Stallone tear up as he talked about
saying goodbye to Rocky lands him on my best of '06 list.
Though Little Miss Sunshine and The Devil Wears Prada
lived up to their hype, the big summer comedies You, Me, and
Dupree, Click, and The Break-Up couldn't have been
stinkier. It was the year's smaller films that resonated most with
me: the heartwarming Nanny McPhee, the tear-jerking Akeelah
and the Bee, the uplifting On A Clear Day, and the riveting
12 and Holding. Even so, I have yet to find my Napoleon
Dynamite of 2006—you know, the sort of movie that comes out of
left field, knocks your socks off, and becomes part of your life.
Gee, I sure didn't have that problem twenty years ago....
And now, back by popular demand (or more accurately, back because no
one physically stopped me), I give you my best of 1986—one of my
very favorite years in pop culture. Not only was it a great year at
the multiplex, it gave us some of the best soundtracks of the '80s.
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Stand By Me - Rob Reiner adapts Stephen King's novella,
"The Body" into one of the wittiest, most poignant coming-of-age
movies of our time.
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Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Compulsively watchable,
infinitely quotable: SAVE FERRIS!
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Pretty In Pink - OMD. The Psychedelic Furs. Suzanne Vega.
The Smiths. INXS. Echo and the Bunnymen. With a soundtrack this
good, who needs a story? Still, John Hughes delivers the ultimate
80's time capsule as the haves and have nots prepare for the prom.
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Karate Kid Part II - Daniel LaRusso wins our hearts again,
but Peter Cetera's "The Glory of Love" makes the movie.
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Top Gun - Before Tom Cruise turned our stomachs, he took
our breath away as Maverick in this 80's classic... I just wish Goose
would have stayed out of "The Danger Zone".
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Crocodile Dundee - Weather-beaten Aussie Paul Hogan takes
America by storm with his Outback charm and mad croc-fighting skills.
The final scene at the airport still makes me cry.
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Platoon - Oliver Stone depicts the gritty reality of the
Vietnam War...Doesn't Charlie Sheen look cute? And OMG did I just see
Johnny Depp?!
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Ruthless People - Bette Midler cranks up Billy Joel's
"Modern Woman" and launches one of the most unorthodox
self-improvement plans in history. By befriending her kidnappers, she
turns the tables on her sleazy husband (Danny DeVito) in this wonky
dark comedy.
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The Mosquito Coast - Genius inventor Harrison Ford packs up
the fam (including Helen Mirren and River Phoenix) and heads to South America with his amazing ice machine...Too bad he's also insane.
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Heartburn - Before Harry met Sally, Nora Ephron made Jack
Nicholson and Meryl Streep fall in love...and give each other
indigestion.
Charlie Sheen rounds out his big year with Lucas and The
Wraith, while brother Emilio battles out-of-control semi-trucks in
Maximum Overdrive. Ally Sheedy flirts with Number 5 in
Short Circuit, and leaves us all with El DeBarge's "Who's
Johnny?" running through our heads. Tom Hanks and Shelley Long find
out their dream house is actually The Money Pit. Richard
Dreyfuss and Bette Midler are Down and Out In Beverly Hills.
Fievel wonders if his family is "Somewhere Out There" in An
American Tale. Eddie Murphy goes looking for The Golden
Child while Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve Martin save the
day in The Three Amigos. Sylvester Stallone pays homage to
Dirty Harry in Cobra. Farrah Fawcett goes to
Extremities to make her rapist pay. Kurt Russell finds Big
Trouble in Little China, and Sean Penn and Madonna get a
Shanghai Surprise when no one wants to watch their movie.
There were certainly plenty of reasons to head to the theater (and the
record store) back then, but when the movies were bad, they were
REALLY bad. 1986 also gave us Howard the Duck, Soul
Man, and found Jackie Gleason pulling off his sock in a
restaurant to show Tom Hanks his black toe in Nothing In
Common. Weirdly, even that soundtrack made it into my collection.
I'm still scarred by the horribly creepy kid flick, The Peanut
Butter Solution, but it just goes to show that even the worst
movies of 1986 are firmly lodged in my memory. I wish I could say the
same about the films of 2006.
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Huh. Oh well. More than anything else, 2006 seems to have been the Year
of Mediocrity, where the vast majority of films wound up in the “meh”
pile, and only a few truly amazing or abysmally bad flicks stood out
for their respective awesomeness or sheer crapitude. Keeping that in
mind, here’s my look back…
Top 10 Movies I Really, Truly Enjoyed in 2006
Cars—Pixar once again rules the animation roost
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Casino Royale—turned this Bond virgin into an instant
fan
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Little Miss Sunshine—proof that small movies can pack a
punch
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Nanny McPhee—Emma Thompson rules, even when she makes me
cry
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Notes on a Scandal—blisteringly delicious!
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The Pleasure of Your Company—smart, sharp and witty
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Stranger Than Fiction—understated and wonderful
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Summercamp!—“baaaaaaaabeeeee shark!” and this year’s
Spellbound
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10 Items or Less—simple story and great performances (plus:
Paz Vega!)
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This is England—absolutely beautiful and brilliant
[ Honorable mentions: The Devil Wears Prada, The Departed, A Good
Year and The Prestige]
10 Movies That Blew in 2006... recapped in five words or less!
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All the King’s Men—Sean Penn screams at people
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Ask the Dust—why did this movie suck?
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The Da Vinci Code—Tom Hanks bores the audience
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Deck the Halls—cheap, crass Christmas crap
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Heading South—old broads look for sex
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Miami Vice—dull, loud, testosterone-fuelled mess
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Monster House—CGI humans are SCARY!
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R.V.—how desperate is Robin Williams?
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The Sentinel—Michael Douglas manifests his irrelevance
and, of course…
- Loving Annabelle*—just... blah
(*Never before has one of my ‘Pie reviews garnered so much
attention, positive or negative, so thank you to all the furious, rabid
LA fangurls who loathed what I wrote and called me ugly names
and told me to kill myself and basically got their panties in a serious
twist over my opinion. May I continue to disappoint you in 2007!)
Loving Annabelle
Behold My Shame: Movies I’m Kind of Embarrassed to Admit I
Liked
The Benchwarmers, Stick It, John Tucker Must Die, Open Season,
Flicka and Accepted (which almost made it into my top 10).
Behold Their Shame: Movies These Actors Should Be Embarrassed They
Made
Harrison Ford in Firewall (clearly just collectin’ a paycheque),
Kevin Costner in The Guardian (dude, seriously, give it up),
Julianne Moore in Freedomland (shameless overacting designed to
win raves…but didn’t), Lindsay Lohan in anything (the bloom is
definitely off the rose) and Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2 (I
defer to Eric on ridiculing this one).
Movies I’m Sorry I Missed in 2006
The Queen, An Inconvenient Truth, Sherrybaby (in my defense, it
was never released here), United 93 and Little Children
Dear Hollywood: Please Employ These People More and in Talent-Worthy
Projects in 2007
The luminous Carmen Chaplin (Day on Fire), the wonderful Sophia
Myles (Tristan & Isolde, Art School Confidential), the
always-great Kelly Macdonald (Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy…),
the quietly intense Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers), the
delightful James McAvoy (The Last King of Scotland, Starter
For Ten) and my fave young actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
(Brick).
Best Use of Water
Flushed Away
Worst Use of Water
Poseidon
Movie With “Water” in Its Title That Wasn’t Nearly as Awful as I’d
Expected
Lady in the Water
Best Use of a Can of Whup-Ass by an Actress in a Motion
Picture
Laura Harris tearin’ up the screen in Severance! (Honorable
mentions: Keri Russell in M:I:III, Natalie Portman in V For
Vendetta and the entire female ensemble in The Descent.)
Best Use of Bloodshed as a Plot Device
The “kill floor” sequence in Fast Food Nation—I dare you to
eat a hamburger after you see it. G’head. Just try.
Best Use of Needless Words and Punctuation to Test the Capacity of
Movie-Theater Marquees
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Talladega Nights: The
Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Best Repackaging of Every Chick Flick Ever Made Into a Gaping Hole
of Mind-Numbing Nothingness
Bonneville (as an added bonus for me, it co-starred Jessica
Lange!)
This Year’s Cinematic MVPs
Toni Collette, for crossing genres and still rocking; Helen Mirren for
being everywhere; Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan for bringing the funny
to Night at the Museum, and Emily Blunt for doing the same in
…Prada; Diane Lane for playing her age (and beyond) in
Hollywoodland and still looking totally hawt; Penélope Cruz’s
breasts for their supporting turn in Volver; Jessica Biel for
single-handedly making me even the least bit interested in the
otherwise uninteresting The Illusionist; and Michael Peña, who
gets the Javier Bardem Sea Inside Award for his role in World
Trade Center, which proved that you don’t have to be able to move
to play a compelling, heartbreaking character.
Proof That Gigantically Famous Movie Stars Do Not Necessarily a
Great Film Make
The Pursuit of Happyness, X-Men: The Last Stand, Dreamgirls, Click,
Running With Scissors
Proof That They Do
A Prairie Home Companion
Movies I’m (Cautiously) Psyched About for the Coming Year
Why do I bother? Every year, without fail, I pick a handful of movies
that, despite how good they look to me in advance, only wind up sucking
royally once they’re finally released. Whatever. Nonetheless, for the
sake of consistency…
- Fast Track—because, honestly, Zach Braff + Jason Bateman AND
Amanda Peet?? This has “Vickie” written all over it in big, block
letters!
-
Bee Movie—because, really, Jerry Seinfeld as an animated bee?
I’m there.
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Evan Almighty—because I ♥ Steve Carell. Period.
and -
Spider-Man 3—because I’d like one safe bet to make it to my
“best of” list next year at this time!
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