Best Movies of 2006

As I reflect on 2006, I'm struck with how weak a year it seems to have been for movies (Zhubin's Top Ten List drives that point home wonderfully). Of course, there are still a lot of films I have yet to see, due either to the fact that no theater in the area ever played them (This Film is Not Yet Rated, The Last King of Scotland), or the fact that I have been working my ass off and travelling a lot the last two months and missed them while they were in theaters (Stranger Than Fiction, Babel), or the fact that I just plain haven't gotten around to seeing them (Children of Men). But even if those films I've missed prove to be great, it still hasn't exactly been a stellar year filmwise. As I look on my list, I note that many of these would not have even shown up on the radar in a year like 1999. Oh well.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the list, in no particular order and of no particular number (I took a cue from Ben on this one. Also, our picks often overlap.)

• Thank You For Smoking
  Hilarious. The over-hyped Borat has nothing on this movie. I loved it both for its satirical wit and its surprising heart. Aaron Eckhart deserves an Oscar nomination for somehow getting the audience to sympathize with, and in fact root for, a guy who is, for all intents and purposes, a scumbag.
  
  
• The Departed
  Best picture of the year, in my humble opinion, which is always right. From top to bottom, there's nary a miss in the acting category. Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon are both brilliant in their roles, and Jack Nicholson embodies his character. If this movie doesn't win best ensemble at the SAG awards, something is seriously wrong. Beyond the acting, the story is compelling and the direction is absolutely top-notch. It may have a few too many twists, but by the end we've been so engrossed by the awesomeness of the filmmaking we don't care. If Martin Scorsese doesn't finally win that elusive Best Director Oscar, the Academy is in need of serious derectalization (an awesome word I borrowed from Jeff).
  
  
• Cars
  Even though it's Pixar, I was wary of this film initially, but Cars lives up to its predecessors. I'm still not sure why most critics put it at a slightly lower tier. There's a lot of humor for adults - at times, Yaz and I were the only two laughing in the theater ("Freebird!") - and the ending actually made me tear up a little bit. Pixar still hasn't missed yet.
  
  
• V for Vendetta
  Some of you will write this off as "oh, that's just Mike still being in love with Natalie Portman". While that is a valid point, I counter by pointing out that Natalie spends a decent chunk of this movie in no small amount of pain, which for my tender heart was just brutal to behold. But nay, this movie rises above that to be both a solid political thriller and a good action movie. Along the way, it raises some interesting philosophical questions about the divide between terrorist and revolutionary.
  
  
• Snakes on a Plane
  Yes, I'm completely serious. Good movies don't always have to be life-changing. They don't even have to be good. Sometimes they're best when enjoyed with good friends after a few drinks. It was a welcome change to see an eagerly anticipated movie live up to expectations. I spent most of this movie laughing at its sheer badness. See my earlier review for more.
  
  
• Lucky Number Slevin
  The trailer definitely misled me; I thought I was seeing a comedic crime film rather than what this movie is: a well-acted thriller with a solid cast and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. Josh Hartnett is very good as the title character, who plays two crime bosses against each other to suit his own means. As always, Bruce Willis plays the part of the guy with the cold exterior but soft center to perfection. Speaking of which...
  
  
• 16 Blocks
  Like Ben, I too fell prey to the buddy story. Bruce Willis plays a policeman who has to escort a criminal played by Mos Def 16 blocks to testify against some corrupt cops. Mos Def shows some serious acting chops by managing to turn his character from annoying to lovable. The action is low key, and the film relies much more on suspense, as well as the dynamic between both Willis and Def and Willis and David Morse.
  
  
• Miami Vice
  Maybe it's nostalgia because it's the last movie I saw with Ben before he bit the dust (i.e. got married), but I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. Few particulars stand out other than the wonderfully executed Mexican standoff in the trailer and the heart-racing final shootout. Michael Mann has done better (Heat, Collateral) but this is pretty damn good too, and thankfully far removed from the kitschy 80s series.
  
  
• Little Miss Sunshine
  This movie features the single most cathartic use of the word "fuck" I can possibly imagine. I'm not sure that will ever be topped. In spite of some morbid subject matter, Sunshine is a warm, fuzzy movie about family togetherness and being true to oneself, and it also makes you laugh your ass off a lot. Alan Arkin (not surprisingly) steals every scene he's in, while Steve Carell proves he can hold his own in a more serious role. Also, Greg Kinnear remains one of the best and yet most underappreciated actors of our time.
  
  
• An Inconvenient Truth
  Though it was structured like an early campaign video for Al Gore, you have to give this movie credit for elucidating the problem of global warming. It brought at least one very skeptical, "how do we know it isn't merely cyclical and really how much data on temperatures 1000 years ago do we really have" person (me) over to the side of "well, does that even matter, because the steps needed to reverse it are so simple and intuitive anyway", so that counts for something. I still don't regret voting for the guy (still the only decent presidential candidate we've had since I became eligible to vote).
  
  
• Flags of Our Fathers
  In most years, this would not be the best war movie of the year, but like I said, it's been a weak year for movies. Flags is compelling enough and tells a story I was unfamiliar with, a story that felt like it deserves to be told. Also, this is a particularly good year for a filmmaker to play to my love for the Marine Corps. The battle scenes aren't as harrowing as many other war movies, but then again this isn't a war movie so much as a movie about the political aspects of waging war in a democratic society. That may be more relevant these days anyway. (P.S. I still wanna see Letters From Iwo Jima too.)
  
  
• Rocky Balboa
  A friend of mine who hadn't seen this movie argued that it probably only seemed good in comparison to the last few. I disagree. Personally, I think this final chapter in the Rocky series (and it is decidedly the final chapter, as the film itself establishes) is second only to the original. It reminds viewers of what they may have forgotten as the sequels continued to pour out, that deep down Rocky was just a simple guy with the will of a giant and a deep abiding love for Adrian. This film goes back to the basics of the original to tell a compelling story, with boxing as only the backdrop.
  

Some of the year's disappointments include A Scanner Darkly (not a bad film by any stretch, but I thought it would be better), The Science of Sleep (maybe I was missing something), Inside Man (there is a lot to like about this film, but ultimately I just can't buy the main premise), and The Black Dahlia (I expect much more from the director of The Untouchables and the writer of L.A. Confidential).

And finally, I feel I would be remiss if I did not give a shout-out to Date Movie, which is now officially numero uno on my list of worst movies of all time. Certainly, I was not expecting it to replace Gone With the Wind, but I expected to, I dunno, chuckle a few times. But nope, never happened. Never before have I so thoroughly wasted 80 minutes of my life. Ordinarily, no matter how awful a movie is, I manage to find some redeeming value. This was the extremely rare exception. To call it utter dog shit would be insulting to canines everywhere. So congratulations, Date Movie!

Song lyric of the day:
"I should have come over
I couldn't break the shining chain
Of all the things that you wrote me
You wanted to be alone
And I don't want you to be alone"
- Robert Pollard, 7th Level Shutdown