’06 Sense

I See Movies - Lots and Lots of Movies

The Best and Worst of 2006 From Our Intrepid Film Critic

originally published December 27, 2006

2006 at the movies underwhelmed me. I’m reminded of the Great Malaise of 1999–2000, when only 10 films cracked the all-time box office 100 and what many call the worst Best Picture of All-Time, American Beauty, beat out such lackluster competition as The Cider House Rules and The Green Mile. The ’06 bumper crop hasn’t been much healthier. I had a dickens of a time rounding out a top 10. Blockbusters withered on the vine: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest failed to capture the inventive excitement of the original (though it took home the booty), and the weight of expectations and a savior complex affected Superman Returns' box office take like kryptonite (a near perfect first hour and a half was pummeled into submission by the ponderous near hour that followed). At least the X-Men were able to save the day. While the new James Bond and his tuxedoed Happy Feet rivals (next year, penguins are back and they surf) have perked things up a bit, the end of the year doesn’t look to hold too many award-worthy entries. It’ll be interesting to see if Clint Eastwood cancels himself out with two retellings of Iwo Jima (Flags of Our Fathers has lost serious momentum while Letters from Iwo Jima has garnered two best film prizes even before its wide release on Dec. 22). I’m not anticipating much besides Children of Men, Dreamgirls, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Good German. Black Christmas and Night at the Museum could be fun, and Rocky Balboa can’t be worse than Rocky 5. Still, looking back at this year’s prestigious potential nominees has me feeling queasy about the upcoming awards season. Let me imply how excited I am not about a potential battle between Babel, The Departed (my pick), Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima/ Flags of Our Fathers and The Good Shepherd.

The Departed could finally be Martin Scorsese’s best chance at an Oscar. No high-profile actor directorially debuted a buzzworthy pic, but with Marty’s luck, he’ll get beaten by a dead man. Speaking of Robert Altman and awards, my 3rd Annual “If Everyone Else Can Give Year-end Awards, Why Not Me” Awards for Excellence in Cinema Awards are dedicated to America’s late great cinematic maverick. Without much more ado, let's check out the best and worst Hollywood had to offer in 2006:

2006 MVP (Most Vibrant Personality)

Steve Carell. Be it on the small screen (“The Office”), as a disembodied voice (Over the Hedge’s Hammy), or bearded, homosexual and suicidal (Little Miss Sunshine), the range of Carell’s talent is truly impressive.

The Jude Law Award for What Movie Was He Not In This Year

Hugh Jackman. X-Men: The Last Stand. Scoop. The Fountain. The Prestige. Flushed Away. Happy Feet. Apparently, the silver screen’s Wolverine is taking it easy next year. Jackman only has four films on tap for 2007.

The Tom Cruise Award for Celebrity Gone Crazy

This one’s a no-brainer. Rantin’ Anti-Semite Mel Gibson is the runaway winner. No other nutter even comes close.

The Masters of the Universe Award for Biggest Disappointment

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The audience pick here would be Superman Returns. I’ll take Bryan Singer’s overly messianic superhero film over Gore Verbinski’s rotely mechanical and over-long sequel any day.

The John Travolta Award for Shortest Comeback

Woody Allen. The Woodster follows up his tightest, most intense film in years, Match Point, with Scoop, the sort of light, unfunny fare he’s been churning out since the 1980s ended.

The Joel Schumacher Award for Thank God He Didn’t Blow It Like Joel Schumacher

Brett Ratner for X-Men: the Last Stand. While Singer stumbled with Superman (Superkid?), the director of Rush Hour lightened the X-franchise with this very comic-bookish final entry. The climactic battle bests anything in X-Men or X2.

TheRudy Award For One Too Many Films About Football

Take your pigskin pick of Invincible, Gridiron Gang, Facing the Giants and We Are Marshall (which opens Dec. 22). I’ll give mine to Gridiron Gang.

The Why Hasn’t Anyone Made Him/Her a Star Yet? Award

Nathan Fillion. Hollywood didn’t notice the “Firefly” star in last year’s feature incarnation, Serenity, and I’m highly doubtful his terrific performance in Slither will net him any more high profile a role than he had on “Lost.” His understated good looks, roguish charm and precise comic timing would make him the perfect neo-noirish detective. Anyone interested in bringing Steve Niles’ Cal MacDonald to the big screen should look no further than Fillion.

The No Way the Academy’s Going to Award This Great Performance Award

Eight Below’s canine stars, Andy Dick’s voice (Hoodwinked), Channing Tatum’s dance moves (Step Up), Bobby’s acting ensemble, Jeff Bridges (Stick It), “[THOSE] MOTHERF---ING SNAKES ON [THAT] MOTHERF---ING PLANE” (Snakes on a Plane), Sacha Baron Cohen’s double-barreled fun (Talladega Nights, Borat), Kevin Spacey’s kookily creepy Lex Luthor (Superman Returns).

The Best of 2006

1. United 93

   A rare film can be so emotionally draining, so cathartic, that a single viewing sticks in the gut forever. Though I bought the DVD of Paul Greengrass’ raw docudrama, reenacting the events that took place on doomed Flight 93, I have yet to watch it. I can’t watch United 93 again. Still, the hundreds of subsequent releases have yet to dilute the power of this superb film. No film - not Superman, not James Bond, not Scorsese - has knocked Greengrass’ film from its perch. The reality Greengrass (best known for his superior spy film, The Bourne Supremacy) brings to the first cinematic version of 9/11 rips the scab from our nation’s deep, still-healing wound. Having real people perform their real jobs (air traffic controllers, etc.) and everyman character actors portray the passengers enhances the film’s “You Are There” sensibility. For those not ready to view this film, I understand your reticence. United 93 hurts. But those brave enough, those ready few, may have finally found the closure they needed. I did.

2. The Fountain

   Does Darren Aronofsky’s sci-fi romance make sense? Never. Is it flawless? Not even close. Still, The Fountain tugs powerfully at the heartstrings with earnestness, speaking profoundly about love, life and loss. The visual eloquence of cinematographer Matthew Libatique - he and the film’s production designer, art directors and entire visual effects crew all deserve Academy Awards - is comprised of some very complicated cinematic linguistics. But it’s Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, evoking pure love and emotion with mere glances, that keep Aronofsky’s film from becoming just another cold, intellectual exercise in science fiction excess. I can’t imagine original stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett being any better. Listen closely to Clint Mansell’s score, the year’s most hauntingly memorable (See "Our Favorite National Albums of 2006").

3. Brick

   The coolest crime drama since Memento just happens to be the hippest reimagining of Philip Marlowe since Altman’s Long Goodbye in 1973. Brick is “The OC” created by Dashiell Hammett. While trying to find out who killed his ex-girlfriend, loner Brendan (an amazing Joseph Gordon-Levitt… yeah, he was the youngster on “3rd Rock”) stumbles into the local drug racket led by The Pin (Lukas Haas, the cute kid from Witness). Soon, Brendan’s getting beaten, stabbed, pulled in by the VP (a winking Richard “Shaft” Roundtree), and bedding an upper-crust femme fatale in training. In a year of neo-noir, writer-director Rian Johnson’s debut bests Hollywoodland and The Black Dahlia, making him the hottest young double threat since Tarantino. This flick would be perfect on a dystopic, suburban teen triple bill with Over the Edge and River’s Edge.

4. The Departed

   

   The Departed

   The year’s most electric picture (if you’re not wearing rubber soles, you’re in danger during the shocking climax) is Martin Scorsese’s most entertaining film and his most deserving shot at an Oscar since 1990’s Goodfellas. Operatically violent and dramatic, The Departed, a remake of 2002's taut Hong Kong actioner Infernal Affairs, sticks to the plot of the original, but turns the cat-and-mouse gamesmanship between an undercover cop and a mob mole (Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon) into an acting clinic. The Departed could boast at least three potential Oscar acting nods (DiCaprio for Best Actor; Jack Nicholson (as mob boss Frank Costello) and Mark Wahlberg for Best Supporting Actor) from its exclusive “No Girls Allowed” boy’s club. Could the year’s best thriller be Best Picture?

5. Miami Vice

   Michael Mann’s big-screen version of the supercool '80s television show is badass in every way: Colin Farrell (while I usually vomit at Farrell’s nauseating aroma of cheap cologne, sex and b.o., his Sonny Crockett compels because of that manly scent) and Jamie Foxx - badass; the tough gals (Gong Li, Naomie Harris) - badass; me as I watched Vice - badass. How often is the year’s most underrated action flick also the most beautifully conceived? Artistic auteur Mann stages everything - violent meth trailer showdowns, shower sex, speeding boat chases - in cool blues and hazy grays and proves yet again to be the humanist in formalist clothing. God, he’s good (rent Manhunter if you’re a nonbeliever).

6. The Queen

   

   The Queen

   I never would have guessed the fictional account of Queen Elizabeth's and Tony Blair’s handling of the shocking death of Princess Diana would be so engaging and witty. You’ve definitely heard about Helen Mirren’s imperial impersonation, a virtual lock for an Oscar nomination, but director Stephen Frears’ film impresses with its “West Wing” insider trading and its humanity. Dame Helen deserves her nomination, but the true crime will occur if Peter Morgan’s insightful, acidic screenplay is left out of the top five. If you were fascinated by The Queen’s peek into the Britain’s government and enjoyed Ricky Gervais’ original “The Office,” check out “The Thick of It” when it returns to BBC America.

7. Little Miss Sunshine

   A superbly funny ensemble (Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and little Abigail Breslin) refreshed independent cinema with a family dramedy worth seeing. It’s doubtful the Academy will be able to single out any one performer, but I’ll throw my weight behind Carell and Kinnear, whose bickering brothers-in-law shouldn’t end their conflict on account of it being awards season. Quirky, languorous and a little familiar, Little Miss Sunshine may not be the prettiest in the pageant, but this flick has Miss Congeniality sewed up. Sunshine is the one movie this year that will just make you smile.

8. Monster House

   While everyone watched the Cars whiz by and those Happy Feet tap, tap, tap away, Monster House quietly crept up and devoured its animated competition. An honest, funny and frightening depiction of adolescence, Monster House proves executive producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis still have creatively viable inner children (I was getting worried). Director Gil Kenan and writers Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler refreshingly treat their childish audience with maturity. Some of the jokes border on risqué and the scares are genuine. Monster House is the most memorable kid-friendly pic in a year glutted by interchangeable animation.

9. An Inconvenient Truth

   Al Gore returned to the political stage (word has it he’s considering a 2008 presidential bid) and proved he’s not as woodenly boring as everyone believed. Funny and convincing, Gore’s Truth is scarier than any of the year’s actual horror films. The Truth might be one-sided (why should Gore do his opponents’ job for them?), but it’s never preachy. A snide cartoon by Matt Groening deflates the activist helium. Most importantly, Gore doesn’t just pile on the fear. He also provides some simple, everyday solutions that allow us all to make the world a better place.

10. The Prestige

    

    The Prestige

    I don’t know how Christopher Nolan so effortlessly pulls off these cine-magic tricks. Narrative sleight-of-hand and illusory performances continue Nolan’s hot streak. This was meant to be a little diversion twixt Batman films; his Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Alfred (Michael Caine) even vacationed with their director, yet Nolan has crafted one of his craftiest mysteries with this twisty tale of vengeful magicians (Hugh Jackman and Bale). Watch the film again to see just how well - and seamlessly - the pieces of Nolan’s puzzle fit together.

Honorable Mentions

The Devil Wears Prada, The Descent (year’s scariest), Slither, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, Thank You for Smoking, A Prairie Home Companion, Hoodwinked, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (year’s funniest), Casino Royale.

Worst of 2006

1. Running with Scissors

   Scissors tops the list of this year’s worst by virtue of its squandering rich source material (Augusten Burroughs’ blackly comic first memoir) and a terrific cast (Brian Cox, Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood and Joseph Cross). Everything’s wrong and nothing is right in the feature film debut of “Nip/Tuck” creator Ryan Murphy. This travesty is the worst high-profile literary disaster since Brian De Palma’s Bonfire of the Vanities.

2. The Wicker Man

   Neil LaBute’s renovated version of the 1970s cult classic is overly misogynistic even for a misanthrope like him. Nicolas Cage continues the downward spiral toward irrelevance and smaller paydays. The Wicker Man is not scary or smart; it’s insulting.

3. Deck the Halls

   Deck the Halls from the bowels of Hell. Thanks for the coal in my cinematic stocking, Santa. Next year, just mark me off your list, twice.

4. Ultraviolet

   Kurt Wimmer, I bet you thought I’d forgotten all about you and your Amazing Technicolor Turd.

5. An American Haunting

   This amateurish horror flick, from the hack credited with Dungeons & Dragons, is the single most boring movie I’ve seen all year. Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek must have needed a paycheck pretty badly to show up on Haunting’s set.

Drew Wheeler