The best of 2006

The best:

United 93 - Paul Greengrass' taut thriller about a story that we thought we already knew. When the screening I saw ended, no one moved. The most powerful filmmaking of the year.

The rest of the top ten:

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - Not as sharp a satire about America as it's TV counterpart, but this movie was astonishingly funny. Sacha Baron Cohen's nerve is a wonder. I question his sanity.

The Prestige/Inside Man - The 2 best traditional Hollywood entertainments of the year. Great scripts, great acting, great twists. If only everything Hollywood churned out were as good as these two.

The Queen - Now this is satire. A perfectly balanced blend of comedy and drama. Helen Mirren gives the performance of the year.

Dave Chapelle's Block Party - Pure joy.

The Proposition - An Australian western about what happens when the outlaw west gets settled (and it isn't quite ready for it.)

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story - Last year, a Michael Winterbottom ended up on my worst list (12 Songs. Eegads it was bad.) He more than makes up for it with this film about making movies.

Sweet Land - This isn't on here as a "isn't this a nice local film" charity case. It's the sweetest (not treacly) love story of the year and makes Minnesota's prairies look gorgeous. I have yet to meet a person who didn't like it.

The Departed - OK, it's a tad long (a little less Jack would have been nice) but still the best adrenaline rush of the year and the fuss over Leonardo DiCaprio finally makes sense to me.

The Syrian Bride - Politics in the Middle East on a personal scale. A Druze woman from the Golan Heights decides to marry a Syrian man, but if she does, she can never return home to her family.

I thought "Who Killed the Electric Car" was good work.

I was surprised to see Inside Man on your list of top 10. My wife and I were looking forward to watching it recently - and then were bored to tears 1/2 way thru the movie, to the point that we turned it off. Maybe we missed the best 1/2?

Borat? Bombarded by the critical commentary that it was the funniest movie ever, I went to confirm the fact that it wasn't. Surrounded by college students on opening night, who screamed Borat lines at the screen, only confirmed that it is a temporary success, a piece of forgetful pop culture. Critically acclaimed only because critics love hopping on the bandwagon of pointing out ignorance with humorous social commentary. Entertaining but nowhere near top ten material.

Perhaps the extended edition of Winterbottom's film 9 Songs (12 Songs, as you say) would be bad enough to prompt an 'egads'...(joking!)... regardless, I agree with you that A Cock and Bull Story is a step forward for the director.

I didn't like Sweetland. The produtction design was great but other than that it felt sappy and ham-fisted. I almost felt obliged to like it after all the good press it got but when I sat down to watch it something prevented me from liking the characters. I think it was that I felt talked down to almost from the beginning.
There are definitely worse movies out there and Sweetland was beautiful to look at. Nevertheless there are aspects of the film that deserve more criticism than they received in the general press, in my opinion.

The Proposition - why did you like this movie? I am very interested to know.

I watched Borat with my 23 year old son. He loved it. I thought it was one of the worst movies I have seen. Although there were some funny moments, most of it was just stupid. The critical acclaim it is receiving confirms the fact that most critics are sheep, following those who yell the loudest and trying to prove how smart they are.

I'm sorry but how is THE QUEEN satire? That makes no sense to me at all. What exactly is it satirizing?