The Best and Worst of 2006 (so far)
It’s been an interesting six months folks. The big Hollywood flicks have sunk and clunked and limped off to die. However there have been several small films that have made the year a quite interesting one. We’ll take a look at the first half of 2006, the good, the bad, and the overrated. Join us, won’t you…
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Big Hollywood is stubbing its toes big time this year, but little Hollywood and small independent films are making a terrific run. Smart and emotional films are winning out. Not only are two of my early favorites comedies, but they’re satires! Add to that a terrific documentary, two films about words, and Pixar’s hugely impressive Cars and it’s been a good first few months. Although, to be sure, not everything has been a winner.
Akeelah and the Bee – Warm hearted tale about a bright young girl (Keke Palmer) who hides her own intelligence until she discovers the world of the National Spelling Bee. It’s a film the celebrates learning, emotional and intellectual challenges, and shows how one small event can change not only the life of a single person but an entire community. Great fun and terrific performances all around; for more read the full review.
Thank You for Smoking – Could the best comedy of the year be about the tobacco lobby? The satirical look at the life of spokesman Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is wonderfully droll and witty, imensially enjoyable, and very, very funny. Check out the review.
An Inconvenient Truth – Al Gore’s documentary about the growing problems caused by Global Warming is a call to action. I said it was single most important film of 2006 in my original review and I haven’t seen anything yet to make me change my mind.
Cars – Pixar has done it again, this time giving us the world of racing hyper-realized in picture perfect animation. And they brought a very touching story along too about small towns and the change of culture due to the super highway. Could the best film of the year be an aminated film? Maybe. Check out the review.
American Dreamz – Okay, I’ll admit my hatred for reality TV helps color my reaction to this film which is a near perfect parody of the American Idol phenomenon. It gives me such dark and joyful glee; read the review.
Wordplay – Smart and funny. That may be the way to describe the best films of the year and this documentary on Bill Shortz, the New York Times Crossword, and those who rely on it is a heck of a good film. Read the review.
A Scanner Darkly – Philip K Dick has never been more accurately adapted than here. The stange world springs forth in mesmerizing Rotoscope. A big success for director Richard Linklater and the best performance of Keanu Reeves’ career. Check out the review.
Stick It – From writter Jessica Bendinger (Bring It On) comes a celebration and parody of the cut-throat world of female gymnastics. Good performance, great one-liners, and some intriguing film techniques lead to a memorable little film. Read the review.
Killer Diller – The small independent film about a half-way house, some remarkable young men and women, and the blues, didn’t get much national attention, and it certainly deserves some. With a warm heart and some terrific music this film hopeuflly will find a larger audience on DVD. Read the review or check out our interview with writer/director Tricia Brock.
Eight Below – Paul Walker and a bunch of dogs? Yeah, my expectations were pretty low going in, but then a strange thing happened. I got involved in this story and actually cared about what was happening. And the performances of those dogs have a depth and sincerity to them that 80% of the human performances I’ve seen this year have lacked. One of the few on your seat thrillers of the year (from Disney no less!). Check out the review
*NOTE – I’m not in anyway saying these are bad films (in fact I gave four of the five positive reviews). This group of films though is getting more acclaim than the films listed above which, in my opinion, are more deserving; given the talent and source material they began with I expected more from each of them.
X-Men: The Last Stand – Yeah, this is the one I didn’t give a positive review to. Hopefully the franchise dies here – unless they want to fight Richard Pryor in X-Men 4: The Lastest Stand (This time more lastier!!). Surprisingly many critics liked this trainwreck but none of us did – read my review or check out Aaron’s review or take a peek at December’s review.
Friends with Money – Given this cast of actresses (Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener, Jennifer Aniston) I just expected more from the film than a bland and uninteresting group of interlocking stories. If the story were given half the attention given to each actress’ role than the film would have turned out quite good. Instead all we get is a forgettable acting exercise. Read the review.
A Prairie Home Companion – Garrison Keillor and Robert Altman do a very good job of showing the final day of the small radio show before the curtain is pulled down for good. However when the film leaves the story for subplots involving an angel or the corporate hatchet man, it losses the feel and warmth that is so integal to making the rest of the film work. The end result is a very good film that had it been handled a little different could have been great. Read the full review.
United 93 – Director Paul Greengrass’ film is an interesting and captivating film without actually have much to say about the 9/11 terrorist attack. In many ways it can be compared to your average action/thriller but because the events that it deals with are both factual and terrifying one would thing it would try a little harder to be more. Read the full review.
V for Vendetta – This adaption of Alan Moore’s graphic novel, while very sleek, never quite captures the deeper meaning of the material. Hugo Weaving gives a fine performance, but the restructuring of the story and forced Matrix-like emphasis detract from the basis of the novel – anarchy, which is not even mentioned let alone discussed in the film. Read the review
RV – Wasted performances aplenty on this lame script involving a father (Robin Williams) taking his family cross country in an RV. It desperately wants to be a PG National Lampoon’s American Vacation but fails to realize that such a thing wouldn’t be worth watching even if if it could be done. read the review
Poseidon– Tepid action flick remake about a boat that goes down in the ocean and how people miraculously survive for hours and hours while audineces can only pray for the boat to sink and kill all these really stupid characters. Read the review.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – Ugh! The sequel to the remarkably good Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a huge disappointment. The characters and story are thrown away in favor of a series of (rahter unimpressive) stunts and action sequnces. Check out my review or for a slightly different perspective try Ian’s review.
The Omen – Why you should never remake films 101. Laughably bad remake involves a devil child who hungers for death and power. Even killing off Julia Styles can’t save this one. Read the review
The Break-Up – Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston (don’t forget Jon Favreau, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Bateman, and John Michael Higgins) and all you get is this? A contrived romantic comedy script leads to a story that never gets going despite a few funny bits. It’s just painful to watch. Check out the review.
Firewall – Firewall is one of those high tech terrorist action films that if you pay even the slightest attention to or know anything about computers you’ll actually laugh at how ridiculous it is. Harrison Fod stars in this clunky action thriller that is lacking in both action and thrills – though it does include a villain who is made out of dynaminte! Read the review.
Underworld Evolution – I dislike movies where as an audience member I spend more thought on the story than the writers, closer attention to the dialogue than the actors, and a keener eye on storytelling than the director. Underworld Evolution is just such a movie. Kate Beckinsale gets all rubbered up again in this sequel to take on vampires and werewolves in a story so convoluted you need Cliff’s Notes just to keep track of wha’t going on. Read the full review.
Running Scared – The film uses issues – child abuse, murder. children shooting guns, torture, inappropriate sex, children being beaten and threatened with guns and knives, child molestation and child pornography, and the total legitimacy of blowing away the bad guys as the right thing to do – as empty plot devices to keep the “action” rolling right along. This film isn’t even watchable let alone enjoyable. Read the review
Basic Instinct 2 – Sharon Stone returns to the role that made her a star, however it’s a few years too late. It’s hard not to notice the age of the actress and the rather inappropriate (and unintentionally hilarious at times) storyline for one such as Granny Stone to be starring in. Read the full review.
Freedomland – Seriously folks after this can’t we take Julianne Moore’s movie mother license away from her; it seems like every movie she’s in a kid of hers is killed or is a pornstar or doesn’t exist or has been abducted by aliens or whatever. Here her child is abducted by a black man which leads to race riots and violence. For a film to take on such topics as kidnapping, murder of children, race riots, and police beating down African Americans in such a loose, insincere, disrespectful, and disingenuous way made me want to vomit. Read the full review.
The Best and Worst of 2006 (so far) Read More »
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest is a perfect example why sequels shouldn’t be made. There’s nothing original here as the film gives us action scene after action scene, without any real story to hold them together. 
