2006 In Movies

[Dante]

I did not enjoy Borat.  Yes, it was funny.  No, it was not the be-all, end-all of comedy for me (Then again, I'm generally unimpressed with much of Family Guy's humor, so take it for what you will).  And no, I wasn't really offended by it, so rule that one out.   Maybe if I watch it again I'll like it better (that's what happened with Anchor Man), but for now, it's in my Over-hyped category.

When I was leaving the theater after having seen Borat (which I thought was hilarious, but nothing that will stand the test of time), a group of adults had this exchange:

personA: that was the best movie I've ever seen
personB: you mean comedy and this year right?
personA: no, not comedy, movie.  EVAR.
personC: yah, nothing will ever be funnier than that
.
.
.
120 seconds later they've all convinced themselves this was the next Caddyshack and is the best comedy of all time.

I mean it was hilarious, but it was no Caddyshack or Airplane.  Hell, it wasn't even Wedding Crashers, 40-year-old Virgin, or The Naked Gun.  No WAAAAAY was it better or more enjoyable than Thank You for Smoking or Little Miss Sunshine.  Frankly, it wasn't even overall as funny as the Borat skits during "Da Ali G Show" because there they at least play the whole skit out - in the movie, they truncate so much of each of the skits/scenes/whatever you want to call them, it could have been SOOOO much funnier/better if they had reduced the number of skits and drawn them out more (like they did with the southern hospitality and the poop scene).

[CCClark]

Keep in mind my wife is the usual one who picks out movies.  I usually just buy whatever I like.  I didn't buy much this year.


Annapolis (1/27/06)  Crap, almost a chick flick if it had anything to do with love scenes, but it doesn't so it just sucks.

The Ant Bully (7/28/06)   If you liked Ants or A Bug's Life, you'll like this, it's along the same lines and pretty decent.

Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (8/4/06)  It has it's funny moments, but that's about it.

The Benchwarmers (4/7/06)  Has it's funny moments, but that's it.

BloodRayne (1/6/06)  This could have been really good, too bad it wasn't and sucked the big one.

Cars (6/9/06) It's yet another Disney movie and a generally decent one, it's good for the kids.

Click (6/23/06) Definitely worth the rental, but I would have been disappointed to pay full movie price.   It's pretty good though

The Covenant (9/8/06)  I heard this sucked?  True? 

The Da Vinci Code (5/19/06) I liked it, but I didn't read the book.   Worth the rental

The Descent (8/4/06) An interesting horror flick that's more odd than scary.  Wait for it to hit the $1 rental section or HBO

Eragon (12/15/06)  I read the book, this made me sad.  That and wanting to kill the director for butchering such a good book.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (6/16/06)  Another Fast and Furious, if you liked the rest this ones ok too.

Fearless (2006) (Jet Li) (9/22/06)  Good flick, though I was hoping for more.   Loosely based on the original guy.

Final Destination 3 (2/10/06)  I don't know why I watched this.  It's like the others and I really didn't like them either.  Stupid wife keeps renting them though.

Firewall (2/10/06)  Straightforward really, read the box and you have the jist.

Lady in the Water (7/21/06)   You can easily tell who wrote the script.  It's a really strange movie, but if you follow the story close it's not too bad.

Little Man (7/14/06) Can you tell my wife has bad taste in movies yet?   wow this was dumb.

Madea's Family Reunion (2/24/06) I need to stop letting her have money or something.

Mission: Impossible III (5/5/06)  I mean seriously, her taste in movies is seriously deranged.

Monster House (7/21/06) Ok, she gets a good one here and there.

My Super Ex-Girlfriend (7/21/06) But usually it's crap like this.  though I found this one amusing.

Nacho Libre (6/16/06)  Usually though she just brings home stuff I want to use as Kitty litter scoopers.

Nanny McPhee (1/27/06)  or maybe I have to sit through a total rip of Mary Poppins.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7/06)  And then when I pick a movie it says "to be continued?"  wtf?

Poseidon (5/12/06)  Guess who rented this one.  I'll give you a hint, it sucked.

She's The Man (3/17/06)  I feel like I should shoot myself.

Silent Hill (4/21/06)  Ok, that was a weird flick.

Superman Returns (6/28/06)  I rented this one, but was a little disappointed.   I liked the old ones.  Well the first two anyway, the rest should have had "warning suckage" labels on the tickets.  This one just needed less love crap and more asskicking.

Take the Lead (4/7/06)  YES!  I fell asleep during this.

Tristan & Isolde (1/13/06)  Ok, I'm going out on a limb for this one.   It's a love story that's for sure.  Did I mention my wife likes chick flicks?  Anyway, it's actually damned good.  I highly recommend it. 

Ultraviolet (3/3/06)  Ok, I'm entitled to rent one that sucks occasionally too.

Underworld: Evolution (1/20/06)  As a movie, it's a little lackluster, though has it's moments, but man she's hot.

United 93 (4/28/06)  A very good movie, well worth it's rental.

V for Vendetta (3/17/06)  Probably the best movie I saw all year.

The Wild (4/14/06) Women suck, so does this movie.

X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26/06)   My single largest disappointment for the year.   It's X-men, how can you bash that?  I guess you can, sadly.

[Bram]

Aside from those two movies, nothing this year really stood out.

Oh, I disagree. While I agree that it's been a lousy year, I actually thought the first 3 on my list (The Departed, Perfume and Babel) are really good and memorable movies. I want you and Steve to go watch Babel and Perfume and talk to me again

[Moxlotus]

Wow.  Was I the only person who saw Scoop?  I mean, some of you guys have watched seriously infinite movies and nobody mentioned they saw it.

[dicemanx]

Given that the pickings were slim for 2006, my vote for best movie this year was:

Descent

This was one of the better horror flicks that I have seen in recent years, although I think the enjoyability came as a result of not knowing very much about it. I think that the previews for this film really do it a disservice (I made sure to avoid any previews before seeing it in the theater). Provided that you don't see the previews, the movie really blindsides you midway with something that you don't expect given how the movie develops to that midway point. I don't think I've ever heard as much screaming in a theater as I did for this movie, with the possible exception of the Blair Witch project back when quite a few people thought that the Blair Witch was an actual account of events.

[Machinus]

I saw Babel and I thought it was reallly boring. Also, it seemed like a film from the early 90s.

[Meddling Mike]

An American Haunting-This movie sucked HARDCORE, the opening present day scene? WTF was that about? In the end it turns out that it was just the father raping the daughter or whatever? I wanted my money back, this movie was one of the worst I've ever seen.
Borat- I was running late and missed up to the point where he gets the telegram about his wife being dead, but I really really enjoyed this film, it sparked in interest in Cohen's other characters and I've since seen Da Ali G movie and am working on the two seasons of Da Ali G show, all of which I also find quite funny.
Casino Royale- I came into this one very skeptical, I normally hate bond movies and I found this film to be a pleasant surprise. The acting and storyline was enjoyable and solid.
Clerks II- Not in the same league as the original, but still a very good movie and a solid wrap up to the story of dante and randal as far as I'm concerned, a nice bounceback from Jersey Girl for Kevin Smith.
The Departed- Being a lifelong Boston native I wondered if alot of the appeal of the film came from that, but it seems that it wasn't just that, it was a really awesome movie all around, but it did have some minor plot holes as far as I was concerned. Example, Leonardo DiCaprio has all the evidence he needs to expose Matt Damon as the double agent for the Irish Mafia, but does he make 10 copies of the info and send it to the police commisioner's office? Nope, just sends a copy to Matt Damon and asks to meet with him for some reason. Mark Wahlberg's character may not be officially on the force anymore, but he could still attest to Leonardo Dicaprio's being an undercover agent. It just didn't make any sense to me. BUT, this movie did make Leonardo Dicaprio a worthwile legitimate actor in my opinion.
The Hills Have Eyes- This film was both wierd and terrible
An Inconvenient Truth- Seemed a little sketchy to me, he uses alot of pictures and cites "my good friend" as the source for alot of them. The whole lack of snow on various areas, he doesn't specify the season in which the pictures were taken, perhaps there isn't supposed to be any snow on these places during the summer months. I'm not denying it's a problem, I would just prefer to hear this from a reputable scientist rather than a top rung politician.
Inside Man- who doesn't love a good cerebral heist movie.
Invincible- awwww, he makes the team..............didn't see that one coming
Lady in the Water- This was an allright movie, not great, much like alot of M Night Shymalan's recent movies, least the twist wasn't too overly dramatic this time, it was getting a bit hackneyed.
Lucky Number Slevin- A nice tight movie, nothing irrelevant, good acting, fun characters, a good film.
Mission: Impossible III- It was what it was, I knew what I was getting.
Ninjas of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest- I'd say this comic strip pretty accurately conveyed my own reaction to this film http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=204
The Prestige- One of the best movies of the year, a very enjoyable film all around.
Silent Hill- I wasn't really feeling this movie, maybe it's because I never played the video game, I was sort of burnt out on capcom survival horror games after Resident Evil. I was sort of burnt out on capcom video games based movies after resident evil.
Superman Returns- I'll go against the grain on this one, I REALLY disliked this movie. I guess we finally answered the question of whether or not Lois Lane could handle superman's supersperm and give birth to his child, but little else was resolved by this movie. The whole wierd love triangle thing caused me to just get pissed off when Superman loses to a guy who suspiciously looks alot like Scott Summers.
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby- This was a damn funny movie.
Thank You for Smoking- An awesome idea for a movie, hilarious.
V for Vendetta- Fantastic Film, fun action scenes, a classic message warning of the dangers of big government and you've got a pretty good film overall.
X-Men: The Last Stand- Being a long time X-Men comic book fan I was satisfied with this film, although not particularly impressed. I hope you all made sure to watch to the end of the credits for the very last scene, It made me more optimistic about future X-Men films.

[Atlatl]

I watch entirely too many movies, as my fiancee manages a theatre, but let me pick through the choices here...

16 Blocks (3/3/06)
Akeelah and the Bee (4/28/06)
All the King's Men (9/22/06)
Annapolis (1/27/06)
Apocalypto (12/8/06)
Beerfest (8/25/06)
The Benchwarmers (4/7/06)
The Black Dahlia (9/15/06)
Blood Diamond (12/8/06)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (11/3/06)
The Break-Up (6/2/06)
Brick (3/31/06)
Cars (6/9/06)
Casino Royale (11/17/06)
Charlotte's Web (12/15/06)
Click (6/23/06)
Crank (9/1/06)
Curious George (2/10/06)
The Da Vinci Code (5/19/06)
Date Movie (2/17/06)
The Departed (10/6/06)
The Descent (8/4/06)
Doogal (2/24/06)
Failure to Launch (3/10/06)
The Fountain (11/22/06)
Freedomland (2/17/06)
Happy Feet (11/17/06)
The Hills Have Eyes (3/10/06)
The Holiday (12/8/06)
Hostel (1/6/06)
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Inside Man (3/24/06)
Jackass: Number Two (9/22/06)
Lady in the Water (7/21/06)
The Lake House (6/16/06)
Lucky Number Slevin (4/7/06)
Miami Vice (7/28/06)
Mission: Impossible III (5/5/06)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend (7/21/06)
Nacho Libre (6/16/06)
Nanny McPhee (1/27/06)
The Omen (2006) (6/6/06)
Open Season (9/29/06)
Over the Hedge (5/19/06)
The Pink Panther (2006) (2/10/06)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7/06)
The Prestige (10/20/06)
The Pursuit of Happyness (12/15/06)
Scary Movie 4 (4/14/06)
Silent Hill (4/21/06)
Step Up (8/11/06)
Stranger Than Fiction (11/10/06)
Superman Returns (6/28/06)
Take the Lead (4/7/06)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (8/4/06)
Thank You for Smoking (3/17/06)
Tristan & Isolde (1/13/06)
Underworld: Evolution (1/20/06)
V for Vendetta (3/17/06)
The Wild (4/14/06)
World Trade Center (8/9/06)
X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26/06)
You, Me and Dupree (7/14/06)

And quite a few more titles from Netflix that I won't list.

I thought 2006 had some extremely good things and some extreeeemely bad ones.

And, I have a top 5.

1. United 93 - I've only ever teared up in two movies ever... John Q, and United 93. If you aren't American, perhaps this movie won't move you in the same way, but I couldn't speak for 20 minutes after leaving the theatre.

2. Blood Diamond - If you haven't seen it yet, go see it tonight. A very powerful movie that hasn't pushed my mind in this direction since last year's The Constant Gardener. Excellence.

3. The Fountain - Aronofsky has done it again. In his best showing yet, he overcomes strife and multiple cancellations to bring us one of the best movies of the year.

4. Stranger than Fiction - I've always had a problem with Will Farrell. He bugged me on SNL, he made me cringe in movies, and he stunned me in Stranger than Fiction. Who knew that such an amazing actor hid underneath such bad comedy roles? The screenwriter deserves academy recognition for this lovely piece of art.

5. The Departed - Very well written story with just the tiniest little ticks wrong with it. Could have scored higher if Nicholson had been held back a bit in the end.

Others that were very good, but not quite tip-top material included:

The Holiday
The Prestige
V for Vendetta
Happy Feet
The Decent
Casino Royale
Beerfest
Thank You for Smoking
Borat


And my nomination for worst movie of the year:

The Black Dahlia

15 minutes of story pertaining to the actual event, and 2.5 hours of total shit. I almost walked out three times. There was 30 seconds of goodness with a black-and-white lesbian scene with that chick from The L Word (though, you get plenty of those in L Word anyway) but the rest of it was a joke. Never see this movie unless you are contemplating suicide-by-film.

[Jacob Orlove]

3. The Fountain - Aronofsky has done it again. In his best showing yet, he overcomes strife and multiple cancellations to bring us one of the best movies of the year.

I loved his earlier movies, but somehow this one didn't quite work for me. The symbolism got so self-referential that it stopped actually meaning anything.

I think Borat may endure longer than people think. The movie was remarkably well-constructed for a comedy; there weren't many throwaway gags that didn't have a bigger payoff later.

[Robert the Swordsman]

I'm surprised to see such little mention of Blood Diamond. It was truly exceptional.

Also, not to sound cliche, but V for Vendetta was completely spectacular.

[Jacob Orlove]

V for Vendetta was good, but nowhere near as good as the graphic novel. How many people who loved the movie went back and read the book?

[Smmenen]

V for Vendetta was good, but nowhere near as good as the graphic novel.

I could not agree more.

I almost listed V in my "overrated" category, but I didn't want to irritate you all

The book is my second favorite work by Alan Moore (after From Hell, of course - which I own art from (anyone who comes to my place will notice I have art from  From Hell and Transmetropolitan on my wall)).  V was to the graphic novel was the movie From Hell was the graphic novel From Hell. 

[nataz]

some random standouts

Surprised
 (Negitive)
Talladega Nights: meh, previews had better jokes then the actual movie
Miami Vice: Fell asleep for 20 mins...twice
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: The TV show was better.

 (Positive)
Bobby: MIGHTY DUCKS!
Little Miss Sunshine: My G/f made me see it, wicked funny and touching
Casino Royale: Best Bond film in years. Way better then PB, maybe my favorite yet

Good

The Good Shepherd : <3 CIA movies
Clerks II : "Kelly is a guys name too"
Fearless : The last Jet L movie?
Lucky Number Slevin : Suddenly I remember Lucy is the hottest Angel
Thank You for Smoking : Hillarious
V for Vendetta : Made it okay to go to the theaters again after Ultra

Want to see
Apocalypto
The Pursuit of Happyness
The Departed
Blood Diamond

Worst movie of all time:
Ultraviolet: There was ten mins of stunned silence after the movie was over. Could it really be that bad? Also, maybe I missed this, but why did her sword catch on fire at the end? This may taint my remembrence of V which I say like two days later. Anything looks amazing in comparison.

[Jacob Orlove]

Little Miss Sunshine, like a few other movies I've seen (Garden State being one) not only beats you over the head with its message, but then has the characters literally repeat it to each other, as though you couldn't figure it out on your own. It was a good movie, but I'm not at all a fan of that tactic.

[Atlatl]

What was that movie Zach Braff was in this year? I saw it also, it was fairly decent... forget the name.

Fearless is Jet Li's last martial arts movie - he is trying to become a "serious actor" now.

[jpmeyer]

What was that movie Zach Braff was in this year? I saw it also, it was fairly decent... forget the name.

Fearless is Jet Li's last martial arts movie - he is trying to become a "serious actor" now.

Not only did The Last Kiss make me physically ill (I spent the rest of the weekend barfing, which I am blaming on the movie), but the entire theatre burst out laughing when Fake Natalie Portman In Garden State gave him the mix tape.

[Atlatl]

It was mostly just for the smoking hot girl that I enjoyed the show. I don't remember the plot or story at all.

[Vegeta2711]

It was mostly just for the smoking hot girl that I enjoyed the show. I don't remember the plot or story at all.

If only that had been the case... if only there had been anyone worth seeing in that movie...

[LotusHead]

Ultraviolet was the worst movie in god knows how long.

That movie was awesome!

It just occurred to me that I didn't see Ultraviolet in the theater.  I saw the DVD Unrated Director's cut of it.

When a friend made me watch HighLander II an age ago, I said nothing for like 10 minutes.  Then my friend got up and turned that crap off.  I hear the "Rogue" version is better, but I can't go back to that hideous place that is HighLander II.

Was Ultraviolet something like that?

[Atlatl]

Rachel Bilson is rather attractive, in my opinion.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1377375/

[Machinus]

Let me just say that I am something of a movie-addict, having rented, downloaded, and gone to theaters for movies very frequently for the past few years, and I am pleasantly surprised to see that other people have the same habit. A short time ago I began to regret not keeping a log of my viewings in case this kind of discussion came up, but I have a good memory of my impressions given the title of a movie.

I watch movies frequently, but I've also done so for a long time, so I usually have very high standards for 1) writing and 2) directing/editing when I watch films. The majority of the movies I encounter are weak in these areas, but it's worth it for the ones that succeed.

[jro]

Here's the movies I saw.

Apocalypto (12/8/06) ** Babel (10/27/06) ** The Black Dahlia (9/15/06) ** Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (11/3/06) ** The Break-Up (6/2/06) ** Brick (3/31/06) ** Cars (6/9/06) ** Casino Royale (11/17/06) ** Clerks II (7/21/06) ** Crank (9/1/06) ** The Da Vinci Code (5/19/06) ** Dave Chappelle's Block Party (3/3/06) ** The Departed (10/6/06) (Music From) (Score) ** The Descent (8/4/06) ** The Devil Wears Prada (6/30/06) ** The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (6/16/06) ** Fast Food Nation (11/17/06) ** Fearless (2006) (Jet Li) (9/22/06) ** Firewall (2/10/06) ** Flags of Our Fathers (10/20/06) ** The Fountain (11/22/06)  ** Friends with Money (4/7/06) ** The Grudge 2 (10/13/06) ** Harsh Times (11/10/06) ** The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (3/10/06) ** Hollywoodland (9/8/06) ** Idlewild (8/25/06) ** The Illusionist (8/18/06) ** An Inconvenient Truth (5/24/06) ** Inside Man (3/24/06) (Score) ** Lady in the Water (7/21/06) ** The Lake House (6/16/06) ** Marie Antoinette (10/20/06) ** Miami Vice (7/28/06)(Unrated Director's Cut)(Theatrical Edition) ** Mission: Impossible III (5/5/06) ** Nacho Libre (6/16/06) ** The Notorious Bettie Page (4/14/06) ** The Omen (2006) (6/6/06) ** Over the Hedge (5/19/06) ** Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7/06)(Widescreen)(2-Disc Special Edition) ** A Prairie Home Companion (6/9/06) ** The Prestige (10/20/06) ** The Proposition (5/5/06) ** Running with Scissors (10/20/06) ** A Scanner Darkly (7/7/06) ** The Science of Sleep (9/15/06) ** Scoop (7/28/06) ** Stranger Than Fiction (11/10/06) ** Superman Returns (6/28/06) ** Thank You for Smoking (3/17/06) ** This Film is Not Yet Rated (9/1/06) ** Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story (1/27/06) ** Ultraviolet (3/3/06) ** V for Vendetta (3/17/06) ** Wassup Rockers (6/23/06) ** The Wicker Man (9/1/06) ** X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26/06)
Also: ** Why We Fight ** The Matador ** Night Watch ** The Libertine ** The Promise ** The War Tapes ** The Road To Guantanamo ** Gabrielle ** Azumi ** The Bridesmaid ** The Protector ** Climates ** The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes **

I know there are others as well, basically small foreign / art-house / re-release stuff, but I couldn't find a good listing.  That site listed previously sucks; they didn't even have "The Libertine" listed, which was produced by the Weinstein Company (the guys behind Oscar darling Miramax) and stars the lead from 2006's top grossing film.  film-releases.com is marginally better.

Some films I saw not listed above that come to mind are an excellent French film called "La Moustache", a Bollywood film called "Don", and a Russian film called "4".  Oh, and the re-release of "Army of Shadows" (which was actually the first proper US release of the 1969 film).  And a screening of Bela Tarr's seven-and-a-half hour "Satantango".  And I'm not counting any of the actual art / experimental films I've seen, even though they're just about the only thing worth watching.

A few thoughts and pithy comments:
Scoop - One of the best lines in a WA film comes right near the start of this where a recently deceased journalist, finding himself on a boat across the river Styx, decides he has to go back to follow his biggest lead ever.  He tells the Grim Reaper looking boatman, who totally ignores him.  The journalist pulls some money out of his pocket and, in a complete deadpan, says "I don't suppose this means anything to you?"  This film also ends better than any of WA's recent films.
Wassup Rockers - Some of the most vicious satire of "Hollywood culture" ever committed to film.  The film is one part documentary and one part "Through the Looking Glass".
The Devil Wears Prada - Meryl Streep in this movie makes Emperor Palpatine look like a sissy.
Lady in the Water - M. Night Shyamalan is a lousy movie maker, and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better off humanity will be.
Crank - A well executed B movie with a sly premise and tons of action.  And an 87 minute runtime, thank god.  What idiot decided that action movies (I'm looking at you superhero films, new James Bond, etc.) should be two-hours-and-twenty-minutes long?
A Scanner Darkly / Fast Food Nation - Richard Linklater continually impresses me with his ability to make just about any kind of film.  He probably wins my vote for most interesting American film director.

Oh, and I also vote Ultraviolet as the worst movie ever made.  The film is joyless, something that's not even true of totally half-assed garbage like "Turkish Star Wars".

[skirge5]

For what it is worth, Blood Diamond was amazing. It really worked to highlight the evils in the diamond trade including the artificial shortage, but also had some interesting commentary on basically growing up too fast.

Plus, Decaprio has finaly come into his own as an actor which is swell. He is spot on for this one.

[Mr. Nightmare]

I just wanted to mention that while I haven't yet seen it, I'm much looking forward to watching A Scanner Darkly.  I'm a big fan of the director, particularly of Waking Life (If you haven't seen Waking Life, find it and watch it, it's completely surreal), and I'm kind of ashamed I haven't seen it yet.

I watch movies frequently, but I've also done so for a long time, so I usually have very high standards for 1) writing and 2) directing/editing when I watch films. The majority of the movies I encounter are weak in these areas, but it's worth it for the ones that succeed.

I used to care, but at this point, I'll watch pretty much anything.  I'm a wuss when it comes to horror flicks though.

[Atlatl]

The Libertine was an '05 movie.

[ctthespian]

52 seen from '06 between DVD and theater.
Starred are my favs for the year, and bolds were standouts.

16 Blocks (3/3/06)  
April's Shower (1/13/06)
Art School Confidential (5/5/06)
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (11/3/06
Boynton Beach Club (8/4/06)
The Break-Up (6/2/06)  
*Brick (3/31/06)
*Casino Royale (11/17/06)  
Clerks II (7/21/06)  
Click (6/23/06)
The Da Vinci Code (5/19/06)  
Deja Vu (11/22/06)
*The Departed (10/6/06)  
Dreamgirls (12/25/06)  (It’s a shame Jennifer Hudson gets crappy credits for this.  On Broadway she’d have the top billing, but in Hollywood it goes to Fox and Beyonce.  Hudson deserves best Actress for this one.)  
Eragon (12/15/06)
Failure to Launch (3/10/06)
*Fearless (2006) (Jet Li) (9/22/06)  
Firewall (2/10/06)  
For Your Consideration (11/22/06)
Friends with Money (4/7/06)  
The Holiday (12/8/06)
Hollywoodland (9/8/06)  
*The Illusionist (8/18/06)  
*Inside Man (3/24/06)  
Invincible (8/25/06)  
Lady in the Water (7/21/06)  
The Lake House (6/16/06)  
The Last Kiss (9/15/06)  
Little Miss Sunshine (7/26/06)  
Lonesome Jim (3/24/06)
Lucky Number Slevin (4/7/06)
Man of the Year (10/13/06)
Marie Antoinette (10/20/06)  
Mission: Impossible III (5/5/06)  
Night at the Museum (12/22/06)  
The Notorious Bettie Page (4/14/06)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (7/7/06) |
A Prairie Home Companion (6/9/06)  
The Prestige (10/20/06)  
*Running with Scissors (10/20/06)  
Scoop (7/28/06)
The Sentinel (2006) (4/21/06)  
Stranger Than Fiction (11/10/06)  
Superman Returns (6/28/06)  
Take the Lead (4/7/06) info | DVD
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (8/4/06)
Ultraviolet (3/3/06)
Underworld: Evolution (1/20/06)  
V for Vendetta (3/17/06)  
X-Men: The Last Stand (5/26/06)  
You, Me and Dupree (7/14/06)  

Suprises:
Good ones were Brick, a DVD release, which really impressed me.  Lots of twists and mysteries to unravel.
Click was also a pleasant suprise.  It was indeed very touching, though a "Christmas Carol" adaptation, it came through as one of Sandlers betters.
Inside Man also was much better than I thought it would be.  I was comparing it often to "The Usual Suspects" when describing it to folks who haven't seen it.
The Prestiege I figured out many of the twists early but it was still far more impressive than I thought it was going to be.
In Stranger than Fiction Will manages to mix some truly heartfelt moments and dramatic acting with his comedy.  One of his best in my opinion.  This truly was a very pleasant suprise to see how well everything worked.
And finally Take the Lead was a good suprise.  I was expecting mediocre trash aimed at teens and the movie was entertaining, had a message, and some really good moments.

The bad suprises:
Taladega Nights: not nearly as impressive as Stranger than Fiction, if you had to see one Fiction took the cake. (Though Ricky's wife in it is smokin' and I haven't seen her since "The Skulls")
X-men and the Sentinel and to a lesser degree Firewall.  Firewall was interesting and I loved Paul Bettanys character.  The ending had  a sort of “Fordesqe” tough guy feeling that we always see.

Movies I will see.
The Devil Wears Prada (6/30/06)  
Edmond (7/7/06)
Flyboys (9/22/06)    **What happened to this?  Did it bomb?**
The Good German (12/25/06)
The Good Shepherd (12/22/06)
A Good Year (11/10/06)  
Hard Candy (4/14/06)
The Last King of Scotland (9/29/06)
Miss Potter (12/29/06)
The Night Listener (8/4/06)
Notes on a Scandal (12/27/06)
The Painted Veil (12/20/06)
Pan's Labyrinth (12/29/06)  
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (12/27/06)
The Pursuit of Happyness (12/15/06)
The Queen (10/6/06)
School For Scoundrels (9/29/06)
The Zodiac (3/10/06)

’07 looks to be the year of the Sequels.  Die Hard, Pirates, Shrek, Fantasic Four, Spiderman, just to name a few.  And some really good nostalgia flicks too, like Transformers and TMNT.  

[Robert the Swordsman]

V for Vendetta was good, but nowhere near as good as the graphic novel. How many people who loved the movie went back and read the book?

This is exactly what I did.

The way I feel about it is that they could both each be appreciated as their own piece, and if only one existed and not the other, either one would still be pretty good.

The graphic novel, however, simply had more there. It allowed for an amount of depth that a two-hour movie really just can't convey.

Also: everyone go see Blood Diamond, still!

[Disburden]

I am a projection manager for a theatre chain in the New England area. I see movies every day, for free. So I'll give my list of movies I found enjoyable this year:

Rocky Balboa- This was just awesome. If you like Rocky, especially the first film, you' ll like this one. The whole Brain damage thing from 5 is unmentioned.

Borat - Funny as hell.

Casino Royal- I hate James Bond movies. Every single one of them, except this one.

Ninjas 2- Yeah, it's just good fun.

Superman Returns -  A lot of people didn't like it, but I did.

The Departed - Could be award winning. This was probably my favorite.

Overrated film of the year -

Miami Vice.

What the heck was this? I thought this was pure garbage.

X-Men 3- Um, I have collected X-men Comics for years. This movie sucks. It's not even accurate to the Pheonix Saga at all. What the heck was with Psylocke?


I'm sure I am missing a lot, I see movies daily and after awhile films are just ruined for you with my job. Now I just sit at my desk in the booth, make sure all 8 films run fine and work on my artwork. You're just more concerned about watching out for things like this:



Gah!

Edit: And to all you people that see movies on the holidays. I don't get holiday pay. Thanks a lot! Think about the guy in the booth!

[asi]

If I'm not mistaken, I've seen 1 movie in 2006, Ice Age 2, which I quite enjoyed. I wanted to see Pirates of The Carribean 2 (which is Curse of the Carribean 2 in Germany) and Borat, but didn't. I enjoyed the Pirate-attraction in Disney World in Paris (beautiful city by the way) and I liked the first movie, but thinking a bit, it was only nostalgia that made me like the pirate-scenario and the first movie was incredibly boring and only a good movie because of the beautiful pictures of the Caribic. I decided not too go and save the money for something magic-related, I think.

Borat is a movie I really wanted to see, but knew I would only like the english version (translations can be horrible) and didn't manage to go to the movies in time to see it. Lousy movie-year for me, I guess.

[Methuselahn]

If you don't think that Borat was the funniest movie ever made ever, then I want to fight you.  Serious.  There was so much funny in that movie that other movies like to hang out with it, just to maybe catch some of the excess funny. 

Snakes on a Plane,  Pira+es of the Carribean, and Cars were movies that I really enjoyed at the theatre too.