Z At the Movies: 2006 in Review
Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 01.01.2007
Come in and see what I thought were the best and worst movies of the year!
Another 12 months at the cinema has come and gone, and while many will once again say that nothing good came from Hollywood, or that I am a "star whore" (copyright Erik Gustafson), but I really did find a tremendous lot to admire about the cinematic year 2006.
Let's start with my 10 Honorable Mention films. Each of these ten films was extremely good, and maybe could have cracked a Top 10 in another year. They are listed in alphabetical order.
- Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison
- Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, directed by Larry Charles
- Hard Candy, directed by David Slade
- An Inconvenient Truth, directed by Davis Guggenheim
- Inside Man, directed by Spike Lee
- The Last King of Scotland, directed by Kevin Macdonald
- Neil Young: Heart of Gold, directed by Jonathan Demme
- The Prestige, directed by Christopher Nolan
- Stranger than Fiction, directed by Marc Forster
- Thank You For Smoking, directed by Jason Reitman
10. Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell. I've long been a lover of James Bond films, and I was really looking forward to this for months before it came out. The series had become stale with Pierce Brosnan (not really his fault though), and it was in desperate need of an overhaul, and that's exactly what we got here. Daniel Craig portrays Bond as a rough around the edges tough guy that often needs to use extreme force to accomplish his directives. He's probably as good as Connery (though in a different way), and I think this is my favorite Bond film of all-time. Also, Judi Dench's portrayal of M was delightful, as always.
9. Dreamgirls, directed by Bill Condon. Musicals aren't necessarily my favorite genre of film, but I do find it an interesting story telling mechanism, and Condon's ("Gods and Monsters" and "Kinsey") methods are outstanding. Beyonce Knowles, Anika Nona Rose, and Jennifer Hudson (who will assuredly win the best supporting actress Oscar) give tremendous performances as a trio of singing sisters, but Eddie Murphy really steals the show with his Marvin Gaye-Otis Redding-James Brown amalgamation named James "Thunder" Early.
8. The Road to Guantanamo, directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross. I caught this little-seen gem at the Traverse City Film Festival and was transfixed through the entire film. It's a semi-documentary that follows what happens to three British-Arab men who are trying to get to a friend's wedding just a few days after September 11, 2001. They make the mistake of going over to Afghanistan to "check it out" or "see what's going on," and they wind up being shipped to the American prison at Guantanamo Bay for reasons no one can explain. This film is extremely powerful and I wish it could have reached a wider audience.
7. Jesus Camp, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. This is another film I was lucky enough to catch at the TCFF. It follows a fanatical Evangelical Christian named Becky Fischer, who wants to teach her Bible students to be militant Christians on the same level as the Muslim extremists. Directors Ewing and Grady watch on with a non-judgmental eye as we see the lengths some are willing to go to impose their beliefs.
6. The Queen, directed by Stephen Frears. Helen Mirren gives the performance of the year as Queen Elizabeth II; she is sure to win the Best Actress Oscar. Frears's film is rich in dialogue and character development as it focuses on the Royal Family's public reaction (or lack thereof) to Princess Diana's tragic death. Michael Sheen adds another Oscar-caliber performance as the newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose beliefs about handling the people is the polar opposite of the Queen's.
5. The Proposition, directed by John Hillcoat. I love Western movies and I love Nick Cave. When those two things come together it is an absolutely euphoric explosion of violent joy. Guy Pearce plays Charlie Burns, the recipient of a proposition from Captain Stanley, played to stunning perfection by Ray Winstone. Emily Watson adds another in her string of terrific performances as Stanley's wife Martha. However, it is Danny Huston that really steals the show as Charlie's older brother, whom Captain Stanley wants Charlie to kill.
4. Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. I've seen this film three times and it was as much fun the third time as it was the first. Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Alan Arkin, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, and Abigail Breslin give the best ensemble performance of the year as the Hoover family. The extraordinarily funny film chronicles the family's misadventures on their way from Albuquerque to Southern California for a youth beauty pageant.
3. Notes on a Scandal, directed by Richard Eyre. Judi Dench gives an absolutely riveting performance and Cate Blanchett is nearly her equal in this tense psychological thriller that is more about the Notes than the Scandal. Andrew Simpson and Bill Nighy add great performances as well as the two men affected by the decisions of the two women.
2. The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese. Many called it a return to form for Scorsese, but I just say he continues on the tremendous roll he's been on. This is the third straight year his film has made my Top 10, after "The Aviator" in 2004 and "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home" in 2005. "The Departed" is the most viscerally entertaining film of the year, one that's compulsively watchable from bell to bell, and displays phenomenal performances by Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, and Vera Farmiga. This could be the one that Marty finally wins for.
1. United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass. I understand that many people do not wish to see this movie. Some don't want to see it because it would be too emotionally difficult for them, and that is understandable. However, there is a crowd of people who refuse to see the film out of some kind of moral indignation. I've heard people tell me that they didn't want to see the film unless all of the proceeds were donated to the victims' families. What I think some people don't understand is that the families supported the project, and many of the actual air traffic control people and government officials played themselves in the film, and if that isn't a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is. The film itself is a harrowing, heartbreaking emotional epic filmed in real time while chronicling the events of the fated flight. The film makes no judgments and assumes nothing. It's a film few would have the courage to make, and it's not too soon. For better or worse, Motion Pictures are a big part of how we remember history, and "United 93" is no different than "Schindler's List," and those who refuse to watch it need to get off their high horse. This is truly the best film of the year.
The Worst
Conversely, there are twenty films that I absolutely hated this year. This list was pretty hard to pare down, as I did endure a lot of junk this year. Here are 10 that could be among the very worst in some other years.
- Barnyard, directed by Steve Oedekerk
- Basic Instinct 2, directed by Michael Caton-Jones
- Click, directed by Frank Coraci
- La mujer de mi hermano, directed by Ricardo de Monteruil
- Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, directed by Trent Cooper
- Little Man, directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans
- Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School, directed by Randal Miller
- Miami Vice, directed by Michael Mann
- Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, directed by Adam McKay
- Tristan + Isolde, directed by Kevin Reynolds
And now, here are the 10 worst, in descending order.
10. Lady in the Water, directed by M. Night Shyamalan. This is another pretentious, horrendously boring mess of a film by the most arrogant filmmaker in the business. He even cast himself in the role of the writer who would change the world. It's truly a shame that Paul Giamatti had to be wasted in this garbage.
9. The Wicker Man, directed by Neil LaBute. The laughs come aplenty in this one, though they are all unintentional. Nicolas Cage gives an embarrassingly awful performance as a detective who can't figure out what's happening on a strange island. "Killing me won't bring back your goddamned honey" is a quote for the ages.
8. Material Girls, directed by Martha Coolidge. The sisters Duff are parodying rich sisters who have no right being famous. Is that really a stretch? Well, they did go from Tiffany's to Target in one night.
7. Ultraviolet, directed by Kurt Wimmer. For those that loved "Aeon Flux," you also may like this tragedy of stupidity in which a woman carries around a boy in a briefcase. For everyone besides Rusty and Eugene, you'll see what tripe this is.
6. Phat Girlz, directed by Nnegest Likké. Mo'Nique tries to inspire with this alleged comedy, but the direction is shoddy, the gags lame, and the message clichéd.
5. Bloodrayne, directed by Uwe Boll. I know a guy who is friends with a guy that boxed Uwe Boll, and I really rooted for him to kick the crap out of Boll, who continues to unleash reel after reel of crap film and refuses to acknowledge it.
4. The Grudge 2, directed by Takashi Shimizu. This is yet another in the series of pointless interpretations of Japanese horror films. It's also a sequel, and the combination is deadly boring.
3. The Hamiltons, directed by The Butcher Brothers. I caught this at the "After Dark Horror Fest," and it was brutally boring. It's not scary, violent, tense, interesting, funny or anything. It is nothing.
2. Date Movie, directed by Aaron Seltzer. This is an aggressively bad "satire" that doesn't understand what a satire is. If you're trying to mock "Date Movies," one would wonder how "Kill Bill," "Napoleon Dynamite" and "Star Wars: Episode III – Return of the Sith." It also contains a plethora of dated references, forced gags, and idiotic humor.
1. London, directed by Hunter Richards. While the appeal of Jessica Biel may be enough to draw some to rent this thing, I would highly discourage it. What the film contains is vacuous characters talking about nothing while trying to be hip-trendy-cool. This is a vapid mess that should never have seen light of day.
That'll do it for the year 2006. Here's to another great year in 2007!
