Film Faves 2006
It's that time of year again, where I pick my favorite flick from the previous year. Here we go . . .
****
Casino Royale - The best James Bond film. Period. End of sentence.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Better than the original by a long shot (and the first film was great), with wonderfully creative action sequences and the best screen villain in a while make this film one of my faves of the year. The work that Gore Verbinski, Bill Nighy and the wizards at ILM did to bring Davy Jones to life is worthy of a special award on Oscar night, IMHO. He's the most entertaining character in any film I've seen this year. Pirates 2 also had the best ending of any film this year . . . I love a good cliffhanger with a twist or surprise. Bring on Pirates 3.
Superman Returns - My favorite film of 2006. This is the first true post-9/11 hero myth to hit movie screens (even if the filmmakers didn't even know they were doing it) and it came in the form of a hero created in 1938, a character that has symbolized "truth, justice and all that stuff" ever since in many forms. It's appropriate that he should do just that for this new century.
United 93 - I could never call this movie my favorite of the year, it was simply too hard to watch. But I do believe that it is the best film I've seen all year. Watch the Academy ignore this amazing film about true heroes in favor of the usual nonsense (gangsters, drug abuses, serial killers, etc).
EDIT (January 23rd, 2007): As predicted, United 93 was not nominated for Best Picture. It was nominated for Best Director and Best Editing, though.
I suppose that's Hollywood's way of saying "we enjoy the way in which
the story was told, but we really don't feel like honoring the film or
subject matter as a whole". I wonder why. Actually, I don't. I think
we all know why. I have a feeling it's the same reason that, of the
two Eastwood films worthy of nomination this year, the one told from
the American point of view was not nominated. I love movies, but Hollywood continues to make me sadder and sadder each year.
X3: The Last Stand - Boy did people hate this movie. As usual, I found myself on the other side of popular thinking and came away thinking it was the most emotional, most visually impressive, most entertaining X-film to date. This is the series entry that, to me, felt most like the Uncanny X-Men comics I grew up reading and loving. I was shocked that so many others came away with such a bad impression of the movie. If you did not enjoy X3, I suggest watching all 3 films in order in a single sitting and see if your impressions of the 3rd movie change.
****
Overall, I thought is was a pretty good year at the movies. Of course, I didn't actually go to the movies much, since theaters are awful these days. And I still have a number of films I'd like to see that came out in 2006 (Flags of Our Fathers, The Lake House, Letters From Iwo Jima, Children of men, Little Miss Sunshine), so one or more of the movies I've chose as faves could get bumped.
Later.
-Otis
Previous Film Fave Entries:
Comments