Movies of 2006

The Devil Wears Prada was actually really good...and coming from a GUY....

I would have liked Prada more if it didn't have that total tonal shift in the middle that killed all the energit had going.

Anyway, my top 10 looks like this:

1. L'Enfant
2. United 93
3. The Puffy Chair
4. Running Scared
5. An Inconvenient Truth
6. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
8. Thank You for Smoking
9. A Prairie Home Companion
10. Slither

As good as The Puffy Chair is, I was surprised when it got picked up. It's so obviously low budget that I couldn't see it having much of an appeal.

L'Enfant, though...wow. The thing is so hard hitting yet so quiet at the same time that it's just about perfect.

The Good
The Departed
V For Vendetta
United 93
Casino Royale
Brick
Inside Man
Pirates Of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Superman Returns
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Miami Vice
13 Tzameti
Running Scared
Thank You For Smoking
Silent Hill
A Scanner Darkly

The Bad
Underworld: Evolution
Dirty
Ice Age: The Meltdown
One Last Thing
Lady In The Water

The Ugly*
X-Men: The Last Stand
M:I 3
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Night Watch
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
Hostel


*--films that sucked, but had too much good in them to hate

I have seen only five this year, but the best were United 93 and A Prairie Home Companion.

Oh, I didn't say it was particularly good. But, I like the imagery, a bunch of the ideas being thrown around, and the subtitles were genuinely cool. And best of all, it left me wanting to see where they're going with this.

It was lackluster, not bad.

I'm glad Night Watch wasn't really embraced by the public. I hated that thing.

Hated it right to sleep.

Top Five So Far:
1. Brick
2. V for Vendetta
3. United 93
4. Inside Man
5. Pirates 2

Night Watch is fine, visually. It just doesn't make sense.

Top 10 (So Far)

01. Brick
02. Thank You for Smoking
03. Street Thief
04. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
05. Hard Candy
06. A Prairie Home Companion
07. Slither
08. American Cannibal
09. Superman Returns
10. V for Vendetta
11. Tristram Shandy (Technically this is 11, but it's been growing on me a lot lately. I need to watch it again, it might even place Top 5.)

The Good

Air Guitar Nation, The Devil & Daniel Johnston, Hills Have Eyes, Running Scared, The Notorious Bettie Page, Hostel, The Descent, District B13, Lady Vengeance, Night Watch

The Okay

X3, Lucky Number Slevin, Alone With Her, Game 6, Mission: Impossible III, Edmond, Why We Fight

The Bad and/or Indifferent

A Scanner Darkly, Hatchet, Nacho Libre, Bubble, Silent Hill, Ultraviolet

The Missed

Manderlay, Neil Young: Heart of Gold, Block Party, American Gun, L’enfant, Lonesome Jim, Inside Man, Blackballed, United 93, Art School Confidential, Down in the Valley, The Proposition, 12 & Holding, The King, Lemming, Over the Hedge, Cavite, Lower City, Wordplay, The Road to Guantanamo, Two Drifters, Strangers With Candy, Beowulf and Grendel.

Things I Might See

Clerks II, Lady in the Water, The Amateurs, 13, Little Miss Sunshine, Scoop, Brothers of the Head, Miami Vice, Talladega Nights, WTC, Snakes on a Plane, The Illusionist, Factotum, Beerfest, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Idiocracy, Crank, The Black Dahlia, The Science of Sleep, Borat, Jackass 2, Feast, Children of Men, The Fountain, The Departed, Sunshine, Flags of Our Fathers, Killshot, Marie Antoinette, Fast Food Nation, Southland Tales (This Year?), Babel, Volver, The Prestige, Stranger Than Fiction, A Good Year, Casino Royale, Tenacious D, Bug, Apocalypto, The Good German, Perfume, The Good Sheperd, Pan’s Labyrinth, Fincher’s Zodiac (?), Coens’ No Country for Old Men (?).

I very much enjoyed:

Superman Returns
Thank-You For Smoking
Mission:Impossible 3
Inside Man
V For Vendetta

I liked "Running Scared" but didn't think it was anywhere near as noteworthy as some here did. I think "X3" is terrible.

I've upgraded to a top 15 because it's fun.

1. L'Enfant
2. United 93
3. The Puffy Chair
4. Running Scared
5. 13 Tzameti
6. An Inconvenient Truth
7. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
8. Clerks II
9. Thank You For Smoking
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
11. A Prairie Home Companion
12. V For Vendetta
13. Slither
14. The Hills Have Eyes
15. Inside Man

I'm seriosuly considering sliding Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles in there somewhere near the bottom. I just can't decide.

Best, so far:
V For Vendetta
Brick
Lady Vengeance
Thank You For Smoking
An Inconvenient Truth
Slither
A Scanner Darkly

Enjoyed to varying degrees:
Superman Returns
M:I 3
Strangers With Candy
Hostel
Running Scared
POTC 2

Really want to see:
The Fountain
Talldega Nights
Pan's Labyrinth
Snakes On A Plane
Fast Food Nation
Borat
Children Of Men

Missed, unfortunately:
The War Tapes
United 93
Inside Man
The Hills Have Eyes
Hard Candy
Bubble

No one else saw Wordplay?

Tis a shame.

Here goes nothing...

1. United 93
2. A Prairie Home Companion
3. V for Vendetta
4. Superman Returns
5. The Proposition
6. Thank You for Smoking
7. Cars
8. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
9. Neil Young: Heart of Gold
10. Scoop

Subject to change.

How/where did you see The Puffy Chair?

Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, 2005

Guess I should start going to Sidewalk then.

If we're going to have Internet message board dialogues, it's better that you go ahead and figure out who I am... meaning that I assume you didn't go see SCOOP on Sunday (I did) because you didn't call me. How's your car?

Loved

The Proposition
Everything is Illuminated (scraped into January)
Tzameti

Serviceable

Silent Hill

Missed in theatres but will see on DVD

X-Men 3
Superman Returns
V for Vendetta

Must-See Movies

A Scanner Darkly
The Prestige
The Fountain

1. Miami Vice
2. United 93
3. Sir! No Sir!
4. Brick
5. Tsotsi
6. Wordplay
7. Darkon
8. The Proposition
9. The Hills Have Eyes
10. Inside Man

So far this year I think V, MI:3, and Superman were my favorites...I know, not that impressive.

I get to see a premiere of World Trade Center tomorrow, so I hope that shoots to the top of my list.

I want in, but I'll list the movies that haven't been available until this year, some of which may be from '05:

Loved
1. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
2. Munich
3. Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (cheating, I know)
4. The Proposition
5. The Hills Have Eyes
6. V for Vendetta
7. Running Scared
8. Descent

Liked
Cars
Final Destination 3
Inside Man
Mission: Impossible III
Over the Hedge
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
X-Men: The last Stand

Hated
Basic Instinct 2
BloodRayne
Hostel
Pink Panther Remake
The Ringer
Ultraviolet

I've seen some more, but don't think them worth mentioning either as positives or negatives. There has also been a lot of classics for me, which are not included here.

Most anticipated, yet unseen:
Brick
The Departed
The Fountain
Miami Vice
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige
Slither
Superman Returns
United 93

Did a pretty major overhaul on the list.

1. L'Enfant
2. United 93
3. The Puffy Chair
4. Running Scared
5. 13 Tzameti
6. V for Vendetta
7. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
8. Dave Chappelle's Block Party
9. Inside Man
10. Clerks II
11. Thank You For Smoking
12. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles
13. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
14. Slither
15. A Prairie Home Companion

It deserves more attention than it's getting, but I'm really just happy it's getting distributed. When I saw it last year, I didn't think it had a chance of getting picked up.

I really liked that too, but I kind of figured it was a 2005 film. I might add it, since I don't think it was ever shown in theaters here and the DVD came in March. I have also missed The Prestige on my "anticipated" list...

Shit!

As of August 5th,

Top 10 Films of 2006
1. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
2. V for Vendetta
3. Running Scared
4. Wordplay
5. Inside Man
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
7. Thank You For Smoking
8. Little Miss Sunshine
9. United 93
10. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Worst 10 Films of 2006
1. Date Movie
2. The Da Vinci Code
3. Lady in the Water
4. Final Destination 3
5. X-Men: The Last Stand
6. The Break-Up
7. A Scanner Darkly
8. Miami Vice
9. The Sentinel
10. Grandma’s Boy

I thought it was a 2005 flick too. I was pretty surprised when I found the January ticket stub in my pocket.

Everything is Illuminated is 2005 in most places. The only countries listed on IMDB as getting it in 2006 are Japan, Spain and the German speaking part of Switzerland.

Top 10 so far (I'll be seeing TALLADEGA NIGHTS soon, so that'll make my top 10 if it's anywhere near ANCHORMAN quality):

1. V FOR VENDETTA
2. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
3. DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY
4. SUPERMAN RETURNS
5. THE DESCENT (U.S. release)
6. SLITHER
7. RUNNING SCARED
8. MIAMI VICE
9. MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND (the biggest pleasant surprise of the year)
10. UNITED 93 (a film I'll likely never watch again)

Films that I liked:

CARS
THE HILLS HAVE EYES
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
X3
FIREWALL
INSIDE MAN
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

The Worst Films of the Year:

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III
LADY IN THE WATER
THE DA VINCI CODE
HOSTEL
THE LAKE HOUSE
SILENT HILL

Films I'm Indifferent Toward:

THE BREAK-UP
FINAL DESTINATION 3
LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN
OVER THE HEDGE
BUBBLE

Oh, what the hell.

1. V for Vendetta
2. Slither
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
4. The Hills Have Eyes
5. Running Scared
6. X-Men: The Last Stand
7. Marie Antoinette
8. Superman Returns
9. Silent Hill

I didn't even like Silent Hill, but I haven't seen enough movies in theatres this year to compile a top ten. Shit.