2006 in review … the best movies
posted by Fred Schroeder on February 13, 2007 at 12:28 pm in Film
Is February too late to list last year’s best films? I think we should all be following the Chinese calendar anyway.
Children of Men was by far the best film released this past year. It reached higher than any film (mainstream or independent) in pushing the art of cinema further. It was a reminder of what movies could do that no other medium can and therefore is at the top of my list.
The Departed was an almost definitive answer to the question of why do people go to the movies. Martin Scorsese is good. Camera moves, fast cuts, the Rolling Stones and performances with dialogue that are about as good as it gets and that’s all before the title appears onscreen.
Half Nelson proved you could make a good movie out of the teacher in the bad neighborhood sub-genre. All you need is Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps.
The Prestige and The Illusionist were two movies about magic and at the end of both you find yourself wondering if it’s too late to become a magician.
Borat was the funniest thing ever (or at least until the next funniest thing ever comes out.)
Casino Royale is not just a great James Bond movie but one of the best spy thrillers made in years.
Miami Vice looked and felt like nothing I’d ever seen before. If you want a plot or anything resembling a traditional action movie look somewhere else. If you want something entirely original that is somehow based on an 80s TV show …
The Descent was the scariest, The Hills Have Eyes was the most delightfully gruesome and Silent Hill was the most unique horror experience (more like a dream or nightmare) this year.
Brick was as fantastically inventive as Blade Runner in setting film noir in high school and made you wish you had thought of it first.
United 93 hit you in the chest with a sledgehammer.
When the Levees Broke wasn’t in theaters but hit just as hard and may be the best thing Spike Lee has ever done which is saying a lot.
Comment by Don Zacharias posted February 13, 2007 at 12:34 pm:
Speaking of Blade Runner… Since you probably don’t get “Sactown” magazine down there in Tinseltown, you missed its big interview with Joe Carnahan. In it, he recounts that he met Ridley Scott and asked him point blank whether Deckard is a human or a replicant and that Scott told him flat out that he is a …….
…….replicant. I don’t know if that is common knowledge though. If so, then Joe Carnahan comes off like a douche.
Comment by Fred Schroeder posted February 13, 2007 at 12:48 pm:
Ridley Scott has gone on record in saying Deckard was a replicant or at least he directed the movie with that in mind. Kind of makes the movie smaller …
Speaking of Ridley Scott, he sat in front of me a few weeks ago at “Rocky Balboa” of all movies. Taller man than you’d expect.
I will go on record as having seen Carnahan’s latest opus “Smoking Aces” and will declare him a douche for making that movie.
Comment by Don Zacharias posted February 13, 2007 at 1:50 pm:
It’s official: the new BLUE MAG’s first inside joke is calling someone a douche. Yay!
Next up: acquiring a fourth person to actually read the site.
Comment by Barbara posted April 18, 2007 at 11:38 pm:
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