February 14, 2006 -- It is time to look back on the year 2006. Actually, I'm a couple of months late doing this. It was a good year for movies. I skipped most of the bad ones, so my “worst of” list is hardly definitive, but I've seen most of the best films of the year. Usually, there are six to eight A films (four stars out of four) and this year was no exception. I had six A films, and 13 B+ films on my list (I don't use an A- rating since I don't think there is a bit of difference between an A- and a B+. I also don't use an A+ rating.).

As usual, many of the top films are released in December. I saw a number of these films on screeners (thanks to the studios, publicists and the Online Film Critics Society). The rest, I saw in Laramie, Cheyenne, Fort Collins or Denver. I just finished getting caught up on my backlog of year-end movie reviews a few weeks ago. I published a blog review file this year and used that as a basis for my full reviews. Don't feel left out if you haven't seen all these films. Lots of people haven't seen them all yet. Some of them are already available on home video. There are some acclaimed films that I haven't yet seen yet mystelf. Many of these films were poorly distributed around the U.S.

I did see “Babel,” which is probably the film with the most awards that didn't make my top 10 list. For me, the multiple storylines did not mesh together very well. The whole of it seemed less than its parts. Unlike most film critics, or most film fans, I am both a philosopher and an amateur astronomer, which is one of the reasons I liked “The Fountain,” a challenging film that you won't find on most top 10 lists. This is the most ambitious film of 2006, and one of the hardest to understand. It requires an understanding of comparitive religion, an understanding of Buddhism and some knowlege of transcendental meditation. Another top 10 movie on my list is unusual, “Tsotsi,” the same film that won an Academy Award for best foreign film last year. I did not see it in 2005, and in fact, it was only released in the U.S. in 2006, so it made my 2006 list. For many critics, this film was last year's news.

In my honorable mentions list is “Neil Young: Heart of Gold,” the best concert film of the year, “Borat,” the year's funniest, most politically incorrect film of the year, along with “Thank You for Smoking.” Also on my honorable mentions list is the best documentary film of the year, “Shut Up and Sing,” about how fans of The Dixie Chicks abandoned the group after one of the singers criticized President Bush. The movie shows how the Dixie Chicks bounced back with a popular, multi-Grammy Award-winning album. L'Enfant is yet another fine foreign film about another young man, much like the young man in “Tsotsi,” who has some growing up to do. Clint Eastwood's “Flags of Our Fathers” made my list although his other, more critically-acclaimed film from this year, “Letters From Iwo Jima” did not. What a year for Eastwood, and what a year for the Mexican directors who shook up the film world with three films, “Pan's Labyrinth,” “Babel” and “Children of Men.”

Below the list of top films are a list of honorable mentions, followed by lists of my picks for top director, top actor, top foreign film, etc. Those lists are followed by a list of the worst films I saw this year. One thing that makes my list different than most is I've got more comedies in my list, and more films starring black actors. Most actors, directors and critics agree that it is a lot tougher to make a good comedy than it is to make a good drama, but then they go ahead and omit the comedies from their top 10 lists anyway. I practice what I preach.

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4. Little ChildrenThis film about an adulterous affair and various other goings-on in an affluent suburb generates an enormous amout of suspense for such a seemingly trivial story. This is probably the best film you've never heard of this year. It also contains the best supporting actors performance of the year as Jackie Earle Haley turns in a searing performance as a tormented child molester.

6. The FountainThe most ambitious and challenging film of the year takes on the little matter of the meaning of life, immortality and transcending the limitations of time and space. Oh, and it is a love story, too. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz play star-crossed lovers in the present, past and future in a story that spans hundreds of years and light years. Stunning cinematography, music and special effects combine for a one-of-a-kind movie experience.

7. Deliver Us From EvilThis is a very powerful documentary about the effect of sexual abuse by a priest on some of his victims. Interviews with both victims and the guilty priest uncover the dark underbelly of the Roman Catholic Church. It will horrify you and make you angry if you dare to watch it.

8. The PrestigeThis is one of those gimmick movies like “Memento” (written and directed by the same guy), but it has more going for it than just magic tricks. This is similar to another movie that came out the same year, “The Illusionist.” It is all about deception and misdirection. It is also about the terrible price some people pay for fame and for revenge. The script is very clever with plot twists and surprises reminiscent of those created by M. Night Shyamalan.

9. Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno)One of the best foreign films of the year, this Spanish language film set in Spain brilliantly blends fantasy and reality into a story of darkness and light. This film, set in the 1940s after the Spanish Civil War tells the story of an imaginative young girl, her sickly mother and sadistic stepfather. She is caught between warring factions in a remote village and tries to escape into her magical fantasies. It skillfully illustrates the best and worst in humanity.

Honorable Mention
(Listed alphabetically)

Blood Diamond (2006)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Flags of Our Fathers
The Last King of Scotland
L'Enfant
Neil Young: Heart of Gold
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
Rocky Balboa
Shut Up and Sing

More lists below

Links to reviews of all the films below are indexed in the following web pages:

A through B   C through D   E through G   H through L
M through Q   R through S   T through Z

While I saw most of the best films of the year, I purposefully missed most of the worst films, including Just My Luck, Date Movie, Epic Movie, See No Evil, Material Girls, Ultraviolet, BloodRayne, Underworld: Evolution, The Covenant, Employee of the Month, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Black Christmas, American Dreamz, Stay Alive, Beerfest, Doogal, The Benchwarmers, Deck the Halls, Unaccompanied Minors, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, Zoom, Little Man, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Shaggy Dog, She's The Man, RV, Wicker Man, Big Momma's House 2, Garfield: A Tail Of Two Kitties, Grudge 2, Hoot and Jackass: Number 2, among many others, so this is not in any way a list of the worst of the worst films, just the worst of the films I saw. After all, I don't get into the movies for free, and I don't like to waste my money, but I got fooled into spending too much on the following films anyway:

1 The Pink Panther (2006)
2 Man of the Year
3 Firewall
4 Failure to Launch
5 Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
6 The Marine
7 Poseidon
8 Click

Links to reviews of all the films are indexed below:

A through B   C through D   E through G   H through I
J through L   M through N   O through Q   R through S   T through Z

Copyright © 2007 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
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