2006 IN FILM

My favourite films released in the U.S. in 2006. Top 30 & many honorables. Also a "Best in Film" ballot for select categories of 2006. Here's the countdown:





30.                   BRICK

.
               TENACIOUS D
29.  IN THE PICK OF DESTINY

.

28.      MONSTER HOUSE 3D

.

27.               KODAK

.
     WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE:
26. A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS

.

25.           APOCALYPTO

.

24.               VOLVER

.

23.            INSIDE MAN

.

22.   LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

.

21.          THE DESCENT

.

20.        THE PROPOSITION

.

19.    A LION IN THE HOUSE

.

18.    THE CHILDREN OF MEN

.

17.      A SCANNER DARKLY

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

.

15.                LUNACY

.

14.       BATTLE IN HEAVEN

.

13.           THREE TIMES

.

12.
 THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU

.

11.              PUSHER II: 
    WITH BLOOD ON MY HANDS

.

-tie- 11.       PUSHER III:
    I AM THE ANGEL OF DEATH

.

10.
  NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD

.

9.             THE PRESTIGE

.

8.             THE FOUNTAIN

.

7.         MARIE ANTOINETTE

.

6.                   OLD JOY

.

5.           PAN'S LABYRINTH

.

4.      THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP

.

                   MIAMI VICE 

3.       [theatrical cut]

.

2.             INLAND EMPIRE

.

1.                   L'ENFANT

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED.

(the other titles from '06 I loved that could've placed)

YAJI AND KITA: 
THE MIDNIGHT PILGRIMS

.

THE GREAT YOKAI WAR

 
.

ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES

.

PERFUME:
THE STORY OF A MURDERER

 
.

JACKASS NUMBER TWO

 
.

MAN PUSH CART

.

4

 

.

KEKEXILI: MOUNTAIN PATROL

 

.

IDIOCRACY

 
.

DEAD MAN'S SHOES

 
.

CRANK

.

SUPERMAN RETURNS

 
.

EVERYTHING WILL BE OK

 
.

CASINO ROYALE

 
.

THE CAVE
OF THE YELLOW DOG

 

.

DISTRICT B13

.

LINDA LINDA LINDA

.

BUBBLE

.

ROMANTICO

 

 .

THE AURA

 

.

JESUS CAMP

 

.

THE SEEDS [NASIONA]

 
.

TWO DRIFTERS

 

.

CLEAN

 
.

MONGOLIAN PING PONG

 
.

DELIVER US FROM EVIL

.

AACHI & SSIPAK

.

A GUIDE
TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS

 
.

13 TZAMETI

 
.

DUCK SEASON

.

TALLADEGA NIGHTS: 
THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBY

 
.

SEVERANCE

 
.

GABRIELLE

.

THEM [ILS]

 
.

THE CURSE
OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER

.

HALF NELSON

 

 .

TRISTRAM SHANDY: 
A COCK AND BULL STORY

 

.

A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION

.

SLITHER

.

HAPPY FEET

 

.

SYMPATHY
FOR LADY VENGEANCE

 

.

MY FATHER IS 100 YEARS OLD

 

.

THE BLOOD 
OF THE YINGZHOU DISTRICT

 
.

PRIVATE PROPERTY

 

.

THE DEVIL
AND DANIEL JOHNSTON

.

SHORTBUS

.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS

.

DAVE CHAPPELLE'S 

BLOCK PARTY

.

DON'T COME KNOCKING

.

MEMORIES OF MATSUKO

.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

.

THE ANT BULLY

.

ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL

.

INDIGÈNES

[DAYS OF GLORY]

.

THE WAR TAPES

.

CLIMATES

.

GOD GREW TIRED OF US

.

WHEN THE SEA RISES

.

HOUSE OF SAND

.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
 DEAD MAN'S CHEST

.

DREAMS AND DESIRES: 

FAMILY TIES

WORLD TRADE CENTER

.

IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS

.

THE BRIDGE

.

THE DEPARTED

.

KIWI!

.

THE SAVIOUR

.*****

2006 recap
TOP 30

1. L'ENFANT (Dardenne Bros.)
2. INLAND EMPIRE (Lynch)
3. MIAMI VICE (Mann)
4. SCIENCE OF SLEEP (Gondry)
5. PAN'S LABYRINTH (Guillermo del Toro)
6. OLD JOY (Kelly Reichardt)
7. MARIE ANTOINETTE (Sofia Coppola)
8. THE FOUNTAIN (Aronofsky)
9. THE PRESTIGE (Nolan)
10. NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD (Demme)
11. -tie- PUSHER II (Winding Refn)                                           PUSHER III (Winding Refn)
12. DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (Puiu)
13. THREE TIMES (Hsiao-hsien)
14. BATTLE IN HEAVEN (Reygadas)
15. LUNACY (Svankmajer)
16. BORAT (Larry Charles)
17. SCANNER DARKLY (Linklater)
18. CHILDREN OF MEN (Cuarón)
19. A LION IN THE HOUSE (Julia Reicher)
20. THE PROPOSITION (Hillcoat)
21. THE DESCENT (Neil Marshall)
22. LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (Eastwood)
23. INSIDE MAN (Spike Lee)
24. VOLVER (Almodóvar)
25. APOCALYPTO (Gibson)
26. WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE (Spike Lee)
27. KODAK (Tacita Dean)
28. MONSTER HOUSE (Kenan)
29. TENACIOUS D: PICK OF DESTINY (Liam Lynch) 
30. BRICK (R.Johnson)

RUNNER UP:
YAJI & KITA (Kankurô Kudô), GREAT YOKAI WAR (Miike), ARTHUR & THE INVISIBLES (Besson), PERFUME (Tykwer), JACKASS #2 (Tremaine), MAN PUSH CART (Bahrani), 4 (Khrzhanovskiy), KEKEXILI (Chuan Lu), IDIOCRACY (Judge), DEAD MAN'S SHOES (Meadows), CRANK (Neveldine/Taylor), SUPERMAN RETURNS (Singer), EVERYTHING WILL BE OK (Hertzfeldt), CASINO ROYALE (Campbell), CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG (Davaa), DISTRICT B13 (Morel), LINDA LINDA LINDA (Nobuhiro Yamashita), BUBBLE (Soderbergh), ROMANTICO (Becker), THE AURA (Bielinsky), JESUS CAMP (Ewing/Grady), THE SEEDS (Kaspierski), TWO DRIFTERS (J.Pedro Rodrigues), CLEAN (Assayas), MONGOLIAN PING PONG (Hao Ning), DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Amy Berg), AACHI & SSIPAK (Jo Beom-jin), GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS (Montiel), 13 TZAMETI (Géla Babluani), DUCK SEASON (Eimbcke), TALLADEGA NIGHTS (McKay), SEVERANCE (C.Smith), GABRIELLE (Chéreau), THEM (D.Moreau/Palud), CURSE OF GOLDEN FLOWER (Yimou), HALF NELSON (Fleck/Boden), TRISTRAM SHANDY (Winterbottom), PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (Altman), SLITHER (Gunn), HAPPY FEET (George Miller), SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE (Chan-wook), MY FATHER IS 100 YEARS OLD (Maddin), BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT (Ruby Yang), PRIVATE PROPERTY (Lafosse), DEVIL & DANIEL JOHNSTON (Feuerzeig), SHORTBUS (J.Cameron Mitchell), FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (Eastwood), DAVE CHAPPELLE'S BLOCK PARTY (Gondry), DON'T COME KNOCKING (Wenders), MEMORIES OF MATSUKO (Tetsuya Nakashima), THE GOOD SHEPHERD (De Niro), THE ANT BULLY (John A Davis), ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (Zwigoff), DAYS OF GLORY (Bouchareb), THE WAR TAPES (Scranton), CLIMATES (N.Bilge Ceylan), GOD GREW TIRED OF US (C.Dillon Quinn), WHEN THE SEA RISES (Moreau), HOUSE OF SAND (Waddington), PIRATES DEAD MAN'S CHEST (Verbinski), WORLD TRADE CENTER (Stone), IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS (Longley), THE BRIDGE (Eric Steel), THE DEPARTED (Scorsese), KIWI! (Permedi), THE SAVIOUR (Templemen)