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Week Of Janiuary 3, 2007 - Wed / Fri
January 3 , 2007
THE BEST OF 2006
Finally sitting down and doing this list has been a real foot dragger and I'm not 100% sure why. I think that part of it may be that I feel like I am missing a part of the world. I have over 40 films on my "consider" list and only three are from other countries. And in my gut, I know that is wrong. Dead wrong.
I worry that my world has gotten too narrow. But then I look at the MCN Top Ten chart and I have to say, I don't see a lot of the rest of the world there either. Even in the one-vote wonders, there just aren't a lot of films from other countries. Does this mean that American film is getting better, the world is getting worse, or more distant, or is it just some sort of cosmic glitch? I don't really know, but I do know that I would feel better if I had seen more films from other countries this year .. trying to come up with a better answer.
My four films that haven't been gotten distribution yet would all be among the most interesting and challenging on my whole list.
Day Night Day Night - Julia Loktev's challenging, arty, brilliant journey with a young woman who has committed herself to a horrible choice is minimalist and profound. You have the time to linger and consider all the issues involved.
Lake Of Fire - Tony Kaye should win the Oscar next year if this long-gestating documentary on abortion ever gets a release. Kaye does beautiful work, but it is the content that sticks right in your heart.
OSS 117: Nest Of Spies - French Director Michel Hazanavicius and co-screenwriter Jean-François Halin deliver the most movie-loving, witty, adult, silly spy spoof in history, based on the very serious pseudo-Bond series that hit in France in the 60s.
Wristcutters: A Love Story - Goran Dukic's afterlife comedy, a sociopath version of The Wizard of Oz in which people who committed suicide are stick in a grimy, gross low-grade fever of a world, was one of the best films at Sundance last year and is made to be a major college cult film on the level of Lynch's Eraserhead. This is the one they'll have to buy every year because they wore out the DVD.
My personal take on Army of Shadows is that it has no place on a 2006 Top Ten list. Others disagree and that is their prerogative. But it is not a new film. And to me, it deserves a special place, as the LAFCA gave it earlier in the season.
To that same end, I am taking Time to Leave, Tsotsi, Street Fight, and Why We Fight out of the competition for the Top Ten. I see them all as 2005 movies. And if you have missed any of them, you have a hole in your movie education and love.
That leaves 29 runners up:
10 Items or Less - A truly studio director, Brad Silberling, with a real studio actor, Morgan Freeman, and a breakout foreign actress, Paz Vega, shot in 15 days in a fit of real movie passion.
12 and Holding - A better movie than L.I.E., as Michael Cuesta and screenwriter Anthony Cipriano explored what kids are really like in a painful but kind way that was more effective in hitting the true notes since Kids overcooked it a bit.
4 - Ilya Khrjanovsky delivered what I consider the most effective of the post-post-Communist films of young, daring, almost abusive filmmakers. It defies explanation. You have to feel this one. And it will shake you from the first frames.
51 Birch Street - Doug Block's found footage doc, meant to explore his discomfort with his parents, turns into a much more profound journey when he actually gets answers he never saw coming.
Babel - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga are clearly brilliant, want to say profound and intimate things about intimate human experiences, and are daring in their scope. They also don't know when enough is enough… or this would easily be Top Five.
Beowulf & Grendel - Sturla Gunnarsson's take on the Beowulf story, about to be brought to life in motion capture by Bob Zemeckis next summer, offers a truly independent vision, creating humanity when icons exist and featuring a balls out performance by Sarah Polley.
Brothers of the Head - You need to see this film by Fulton & Pepe if you want a clinic on entertaining, funny, historic, sometimes sluggish, sometimes thrilling, sometimes exhilarating filmmaking. It is reflective of so much, but there really is nothing else quite like it.
Bubble - Steven Soderbergh's first experimental film of 2007 (The Good German was the second) was the more interesting of the duo, another necessity in the film school of life, so intimate that it is more special than pretentious.
Casino Royale - Great Bond Film.
Edmond - It doesn't get more disturbing than this old school Mamet with a breathtaking performance by Bill Macy and a direct assault on political correctness that dares you to laugh at the many glorious jokes.
The Ground Truth - Terrific documentary that takes a look at the residual pain of war, really unlike any of the other films, though it has had a hard time breaking out of the Iraq pack.
Happy Feet - My favorite animated film of 2007, George Miller is a madman and the result is insanely giddy with a message to boot.
Inland Empire - David Lynch's magnificent torture, I have no idea what I saw, but I do know that it was absolutely captivating for all three of its weird ass hours.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple - Stanley Nelson finally puts it all together, better than anyone else ever has… and manages to offer a story that actually has current resonance, as cultural obsessions and cultism seems so much a part of our daily lives.
Little Miss Sunshine - A delight, managing to deal with dark, dark characters and the most basic ideas of classic, Hollywood, familial love.
Miami Vice - Michael Mann's minor key epic is terribly underrated by people who expected him to deliver something else. When people finally get to let the film wash over them on DVD and cable, bits at a time, I expect it will build itself up into a must watch over time.
Neil Young: Heart of Gold - A great concert film with all the heart of Young and, equally importantly, director Jonathan Demme.
Notes on a Scandal - I am amazed when people hate this film, because I had a damned good time with this instant camp classic, especially with two actresses at the very top of their game and Bill Nighy to boot.
The Notorious Bettie Page - Gretchen Mol finally comes into her own in this goofy look at sex and repression and the loss of innocence from director Mary Harron.
Perfume - A very special movie from Tom Tykwer that may have jumped into the top ten had I been given the chance to see it a few more times. It feels like a cult movie in the making, a much bigger canvas variation on Run Lola Run.
The Pursuit of Happyness - A beautiful little movie from Gabriele Muccino, who I expect to see become a very important director of films of personal emotion. Will Smith and his son are both Oscar worthy here.
(EDIT 12:05p) The Queen - I completely brain farted this out of the list and really, really didn't mean to... more content later in this space...
Shortbus - An remarkable little freak show from John Cameron Mitchell, who somehow manages to make the most graphically sexual movie I have ever seen from an American mainstream director (albeit indie) into a movie about something about a lot more than the sex. Really demands more viewings.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - It just plain worked, much as Adam Sandler's The Waterboy worked. Nacho Libre was more sophisticated, but not quite as funny.
V For Vendetta - A terrific message movie in stupid thriller's clothing, the film got trashed for being something other than The Matrix, but actually offers more tough, serious content about community hatred than an overt drama like Brokeback Mountain.
Volver - Almodovar is just plain brilliant. This is not his most brilliant film, but it offered the same kind of feeling you have when you see a just-terrific Alexander Payne or Milos Forman or Curtis Hansen movie. He is always pushing for something new and as usual, though his mature run, offers a movie that belongs in your library.
Who Killed the Electric Car? - For me, a much more interesting movie on every level than An Inconvenient Truth. The choir knows the song. Here is a movie that gives the choir something real to get angry about.
World Trade Center - It's schmaltz of the highest order. People were thrown by the big title leading to the intimate story, but really, wasn't the great loss on 9/11 a loss of innocence, a challenge to the spirit of hope, and moment when we all needed to reconsider what was really important? WTC did just that.
And now…
E Me.
Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 15, 2006 - Premature Week - Oscar Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 22, 2006 - B-13 Mon / Inconvenient Wed / Fri
Week Of May 29, 2006 - Wed / Fri
Week Of June 5, 2006 - 666 Tue / Iraq Doc Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 12, 2006 - SIFF Mon / SIFF Wed / Fri
Week Of June 19, 2006 - Cinevegas Mon/Deliver Us Wed/Prada Fri
Week Of June 26, 2006 - Pirates Mon / Super Again Wed / Fri
Week Of July 5, 2006 - Wed
Week Of July 12, 2006 - M. Night Mon | You, Me & Wed | Monster House Fri
Week Of July 17, 2006 - 8 A Year Mon / Water Wed / Revamp Fri
Week Of July 24, 2006 - Comic-Con Mon / Gossip Wed / Fri
Week Of July 31, 2006 - Mel G Mon / Talladega Wed / Fri
Week Of August 7, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of August 14, 2006 - No Column Mon / Wed / Snakes Fri
Week Of August 21, 2006 - Snakey Mon / Anniversary Wed / Scoundrels Fri
Week Of August 28, 2006 - Mon Love / Berloff Wed / Fri
Week Of September 4, 2006 - Thur
Week Of September 11, 2006 - TIFF Mon / Bobby Wed / Fr
Week Of September 18, 2006 - Mon / TIFF 1 Wed / TIFF 2 Fri
Week Of September 25, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of October 2, 2006 - Atonement Mon / Wed / Indie Fri
Week Of October 9, 2006 - Flags Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of October 16, 2006 - Mon / Epagogix Wed
Week Of October 23, 2006 - TCIFF Mon / Wed / Catch A Fri
Week Of October 30, 2006 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of November 6, 2006 - Mon / Dead Girl Wed / Fri
Week Of November 13, 2006 - Bond Mon / Wed / TomKat Fri
Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Thankful Wed
Week Of November 27, 2006 - Mon / Auteur Wed / Blood D Fri
Week Of December 4, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 11, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 18, 2006 - Mon / Wed / COM Fri
Week Of December 27, 2006 - Wed / Worst of 2006 Fri
