Top 10 of '06

this was a good year for movies, i had a tough time calculating this post. this is what i've come up with:

1)children of men
2)Babel
3)the king
4)little miss sunshine
5)the devil wears prada
6)the departed
7)the illusionist
8)apocalypto
9)casino royale
10)the fountain

honorable mention: for your consideration, thank you for smoking, mi3, the science of sleep, stranger then fiction, the prestige.

overrated movies: the science of sleep, the good shepard, united 93, brick, borat.

movies i havent seen yet: dreamgirls, notes from a scandal, the pursuit of happyness

children of men

i decided to write this review before doing my top ten because after much thought, children of men will be at the top of my list for this years releases. ive seen almost everything, some good some bad, some that made me think, some that made me think of leaving. children of men is an important movie, its a film that should be recognized and probably wont be. the story is fantastic, and clive owen, the person who we see it through, is at his best (better then "croupier") . after watching it, we were all trying to figure out what could have made the movie better. ive thought about this for 36 hours and still cant find an answer. the cinematography is beautiful, the soundtrack is compelling, the supporting cast (basically michael cane) is wonderful, i dont know what this movie lacked. best film of 06.

A Night at the museum

i first heard of a night at the museum last summer, when i read a report about the new ben stiller comedy thats budget had skyrocketed to a whopping $150 million dollars. i assumed that it would have a cast of vince vaughns and will ferrells for that kinda cash, but alas, i was wrong. there were no will ferrells and vince vaughn is certainly not in this. however, a hilarious ricky gervais and a charming owen wilson do appear as sidekicks to ben stillers physical comedy (as well as dick van dyke, paul rudd and robin williams). this was very entertaining but it also had that holiday feel to it that only a chris columbus movie can have, where it sorta feels like he's teaching you a lesson. i have no idea what this lesson is, but the movie was pretty funny

rocky

i probably should have sat through this entire movie to review it, but that would have been nearly impossible. i found the newest installment of the rocky series to be the absolute worst one! with terrible performances from sylvester stallone and burt young, the movie rested on the script, which was also terrible. the premise is that the current heavyweight champ only fights patsys, so espn fantasizes about a fight between the old heavyweight champ (rocky) and the current one. public interest is widespread so the fight is actually brought into fruition. i have no idea what happens, but from watching the first half of the movie, i can tell you that it's probably not that great. do not see this.

the bad shepard

in his third directorial feature, robert deniro tells the secretive tale of the birth of the cia. though a good book, this movie falls short in many areas (At 2 hours and 43 minutes its tough to sit through). matt damon excels as edward wilson, a rigid agent whos family life is a distant second to his work world. when the two get tangled he falls further into the the dark hole that has become his life. this would have been a great miniseries, but as a full length film its too long to be fluid. the skull and bones scenes are pretty freaky though. angelina jolie-b, matt damon b+, robert deniro-c/c+. i was looking forward to this one for a while

golden globe noms

Its that special time of the year again, and we've got an interesting list to check out. let's see what companies sent out the most gift baskets and payed off those already really rich judges. i would like to say that these noms are a bit ridiculous, where's flags of our fathers and the good shepard, not to mention a slew of other movies/actors that deserved the globes? Here's a list of the nominations, my pick is the one in bold:

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

BABEL


BOBBY

THE DEPARTED

LITTLE CHILDREN


THE QUEEN


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

PENÉLOPE CRUZ
VOLVER

JUDI DENCH
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL
SHERRYBABY

HELEN MIRREN
THE QUEEN

KATE WINSLET
LITTLE CHILDREN

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA

LEONARDO DICAPRIO
BLOOD DIAMOND

LEONARDO DICAPRIO
THE DEPARTED

PETER O'TOOLE
VENUS

WILL SMITH
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FOREST WHITAKER
THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND



BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

DREAMGIRLS


LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Room 9 Entertainment/David O. Sacks Production/Content Film; Fox Searchlight Pictures



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. ANNETTE BENING
RUNNING WITH SCISSORS

b. TONI COLLETTE
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

c. BEYONCÉ KNOWLES
DREAMGIRLS

d. MERYL STREEP
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

e. RENEE ZELLWEGER
MISS POTTER

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. SACHA BARON COHEN
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

b. JOHNNY DEPP
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

c. AARON ECKHART
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING

d. CHIWETEL EJIOFOR
KINKY BOOTS

e. WILL FERRELL
STRANGER THAN FICTION



BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

CARS
Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studio; Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

HAPPY FEET
Kingdom Pictures, LLC; Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures

MONSTER HOUSE
Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

APOCALYPTO (USA)


LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (USA/JAPAN)


THE LIVES OF OTHERS (GERMANY)


PAN'S LABYRINTH (MEXICO)


VOLVER (SPAIN)


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

ADRIANA BARRAZA
BABEL

CATE BLANCHETT
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

EMILY BLUNT
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

JENNIFER HUDSON
DREAMGIRLS

RINKO KIKUCHI
BABEL


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

BEN AFFLECK
HOLLYWOODLAND

EDDIE MURPHY
DREAMGIRLS

JACK NICHOLSON
THE DEPARTED

BRAD PITT
BABEL

MARK WAHLBERG
THE DEPARTED


BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE

CLINT EASTWOOD
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

CLINT EASTWOOD
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

STEPHEN FREARS
THE QUEEN

ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ IÑÁRRITU
BABEL

MARTIN SCORSESE
THE DEPARTED


BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE

GUILLERMO ARRIAGA
BABEL

TODD FIELD & TOM PERROTTA
LITTLE CHILDREN

PATRICK MARBER
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

WILLIAM MONAHAN
THE DEPARTED

PETER MORGAN
THE QUEEN


BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

24 (FOX)
Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox Television i.a.w. Real Time Prods.

BIG LOVE (HBO)
Anima Sola and Playtone Prods. i.a.w. HBO Entertainment

GREY'S ANATOMY (ABC)
Touchstone Television

HEROES (NBC)
NBC Universal Television Studios i.a.w. Tailwind Prods.

LOST (ABC)
Touchstone Television



BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

PATRICIA ARQUETTE
MEDIUM

EDIE FALCO
THE SOPRANOS

EVANGELINE LILLY
LOST

ELLEN POMPEO
GREY'S ANATOMY

KYRA SEDGWICK
THE CLOSER


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA

PATRICK DEMPSEY
GREY'S ANATOMY

MICHAEL C. HALL
DEXTER

HUGH LAURIE
HOUSE

BILL PAXTON
BIG LOVE

KIEFER SUTHERLAND
24



BEST TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

a. DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)
Touchstone Television

b. ENTOURAGE (HBO)
Leverage and Closest to the Hole Prods. i.a.w. HBO Entertainment

c. THE OFFICE (NBC)
Deedle Dee Prods. with Reveille i.a.w. NBC Universal Television Studio

d. UGLY BETTY (ABC)
Touchstone Television

e. WEEDS (SHOWTIME)
Showtime i.a.w. Lionsgate Television and Tilted Prods., Inc.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES -COMEDY OR MUSICAL

MARCIA CROSS
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

AMERICA FERRERA
UGLY BETTY

FELICITY HUFFMAN
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS
THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE

MARY-LOUISE PARKER
WEEDS


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL

ALEC BALDWIN
30 ROCK

ZACH BRAFF
SCRUBS

STEVE CARRELL
THE OFFICE

JASON LEE
MY NAME IS EARL

TONY SHALHOUB
MONK

blood diamonds are forever

since the turn of the century, mr. edward zwick has been churning out tasteful movies that touch those places we love to have touched (I am Sam, The Last Samurai, Traffic). Blood Diamond, though a good picture, is not one of those movies (but it's oh soooo close). Zwick has chosen to tell the tale of sierra Leone, Africa in the late 1990's, a time of civil war and chaos. we follow a diamond smuggler, an african fisherman, and a reporter as they all search for different things, eventually realizing they're all looking for the same thing-home. this was close to being great but there was definitely something lacking, Djimon Hinsou was amazing and I believed Leonardo Dicaprio's rodesian accent, but something was missing.

smell gibsons apocalypto

who doesnt love an epic mayan blockbuster? good question. i was surprisingly impressed by mels latest effort-a story of one civilization coming to an end, and another one beginning. this seemed to be the theme of the movie (which even comes with its own planet of the apes style ending), and it was not forgotten in it's 138 minute glory. the subtitles werent a bother at all, it was as if i'd been studying mayan all my life. good stuff. for some reason, i really did enjoy this one. there are more then a few scenes that are pretty hard to deal with (i.e. heads rolling down stairs, babies being dropped, mel gibson half naked with powder all over his body). although it seems like a historical memoir of the 15th century, it's actually an action movie with native american actors. you got us again mel, good trick, good trick.