Top Ten of 2006

Post Reply
Cinemanolis
Adjunct
Posts: 1187
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 9:27 am
Location: Greece

Post by Cinemanolis »

Totally agree. Excellent movie. One of the best endings ever. Besides Muhe, who who was excellent, i also really enjoyed the performances of Sebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck.
Heksagon
Adjunct
Posts: 1229
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 10:39 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Post by Heksagon »

It's tragic that Ulrich Mühe died so soon after playing what is definitely the perfomance of his career...

I don't like defining films as "masterpieces", but The Lives of Others is certainly a film that works. It has a solid (deceptively simple) story and a polished screenplay - too often, in Europe, screenplays have a few good scenes with most of the film's running time being just hastily written filler. But with this film, once you're drawn to the story, it won't let go. It feels like the filmmaker is always half a minute ahead of the audience - something that's lacking from most suspense films these days.

The infamous "epilogue" is unorthodox filmmaking (and it breaks the structure of the movie), but personally I think it's the cream of the movie. In the epilogue, characters slowly realize a lot of the things that the audience already knows - it shows how it is possible to come to terms with some issues only after a lengthy time of reflecting. I feel it concludes the film properly, because it eliminates the Hollywood-style instant-enlightenment-at-the-end-of-the-movie ending.
Sabin
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10747
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 12:52 am
Contact:

Post by Sabin »

Can I just say how pleased as punch I am that 'The Lives of Others' is being recognized as something of a masterpiece? I saw it at a sneak preview knowing only that it was something of a lock for a foreign film nomination and...well...

Let me just say this because my skills as a reviewer are incredibly mezzo-mezzo: rarely in a movie am I on the edge of my seat with no idea what will transpire. When Weisler walks into the interrogation room and Christa-Maria, I had no fucking clue what was going to happen. This is one of the most riveting moments in film I can remember. I don't care for the epilogue, but 'The Lives of Others' qualifies as one of the most singularly amazing screenplays of the decade. Thrills simply based on character choices and proximity! The only nominal flaw is Weisler's reformation character arc, and yet Ulrich Muhe carries it out flawlessly. It's the performance of Kevin Spacey's career. Fuck. That. Guy. When I saw 'The Lives of Others', I said it was only a matter of time before Kevin Spacey loses all his work to this guy.

R.I.P. Ulrich.
"How's the despair?"
Cinemanolis
Adjunct
Posts: 1187
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2003 9:27 am
Location: Greece

Post by Cinemanolis »

1. The Lives of Others
2. L'Enfant
3. Babel
4. Children of Men
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
6. Notes on a Scandal
7. Last King of Scotland
8. The Prestige
9. The Departed
10. Little Miss Sunshine
Heksagon
Adjunct
Posts: 1229
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 10:39 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Post by Heksagon »

Well, here's my Top Ten lists for 2006. I don't really like evaluating the quality of acting performances the same way I routinely evaluate the quality of films that I see, but this time, I also tried to list what I felt were the best male and female acting performances of the year in major roles. Also, I listed the best cinematographies of the year.

Best Picture:

1. The Lives of Others (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
2. Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
3. Volver (Pedro Almodóvar)
4. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
5. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée)
6. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
7. Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood)
8. This Film Is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick)
9. The Pursuit of Happyness (Gabriele Muccino)
10. Little Children (Todd Field)

Actor:

1. Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
2. Michel Côté, C.R.A.Z.Y.
3. Ken Watanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
5. Toby Jones, Infamous
6. Jackie Earle Haley, Little Chlidren
7. Ulrich Mühe, The Lives of Others
8. Michael Sheen, The Queen
9. Sebastian Koch, The Lives of Others
10. Hugh Jackman, The Prestige

Actress:

1. Helen Mirren, The Queen
2. Kate Winslet, Little Children
3. Lily Tomlin, A Prairie Home Companion
4. Penélope Cruz, Volver
5. Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
6. Julia Jentsch, Sophie Scholl
7. Carmen Maura, Volver
8. Juliette Binoche, Breaking and Entering
9. Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
10. Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion

Cinematography:

1. Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
2. Tom Stern, Letters from Iwo Jima
3. Dean Semler, Apocalypto
4. Vilmos Zsigmond, The Black Dahlia
5. Michael Ballhaus, The Departed
6. Tom Stern, Flags of Our Fathers
7. Phedon Papamichael, The Pursuit of Happyness
8. Martin Langer, Sophie Scholl
9. Wally Pfister, The Prestige
10. Newton Thomas Sigel, Superman Returns




Edited By Heksagon on 1200757359
Heksagon
Adjunct
Posts: 1229
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 10:39 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Post by Heksagon »

I haven't been around much lately, and it must have been an eternity since I last posted anything. Then again, (although the following list is pretty long) I haven't watched very many films in the last six months, so I haven't had much of a reason to visit this board. Maybe my interest in films is waning. Considering that I didn't like very many films released last year, it wouldn't be a surprise.

In any case, here is my "Top Ten" of 2006, at the moment. As always, I have had trouble seeing "rare" films like Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which is what happens when you live in Finland.

I'm probably one of the few persons on this board who didn't think 2006 was a good year for movies. I did like Lives of Others, which was the first film since Million Dollar Baby and Bad Education that I rated with four stars (although in retrospect I could have rated Good Night, and Good Luck with four stars also). The film is simple, focused and effective, unlike most of the films last year, which were simple, unfocused and ineffective. The story reminded me of Hitchcock, although the style, of course, is very different. Letters from Iwo Jima, Volver and The Queen were about equally as good, and their ordering on the list is pretty much random. I can't really compare these films.

But apart from these four films (and maybe C.R.A.Z.Y., which I should see again), the year was full of disappointments. The Departed was enjoyable, but not much more, IMHO. Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men have some good elements in them, but the clichéd and shallow characters and stories don't match the originality of their visuals. Directors whom I like, such as De Palma, Verhoeven and Gilliam didn't do their best work this year. Terry Zwigoff followed Ghost World with Art School Confidential, Bill Condon followed Kinsey with Dreamgirls and Sofia Coppola followed Lost in Translation with Marie Antoinette. Something didn't click this year.



****

1. The Lives of Others

***½

2. Letters from Iwo Jima
3. Volver
4. The Queen

***

5. C.R.A.Z.Y.

**½

6. The Departed
7. Flags of Out Fathers
8. This Film Is Not Yet Rated
9. The Pursuit of Happyness
10. Little Children
11. A Prairie Home Companion

**

12. The Good Shepherd
13. The Science of Sleep
14. Pan's Labyrinth
15. L'enfant
16. The Black Dahlia
17. The Prestige
18. Cars
19. Apocalypto
20. The Black Book
21. Infamous
22. Children of Men
23. A Scanner Darkly
24. Tsotsi
25. Sophie Scholl
26. V for Vendetta
27. Running with Scissors
28. Tristram Shandy



29. Borat
30. Blood Diamond
31. Running Scared
32. Shortbus
33. Babel
34. Superman Returns
35. Slither
36. Art School Confidential
37. Monster House
38. X-Men 3
39. Little Miss Sunshine
40. Inside Man
41. World Trade Center
42. Dreamgirls

*

43. Casino Royale
44. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
45. 9th Company
46. Tideland
47. Brick
48. Thank You for Smoking
49. United 93
50. Snakes on a Plane

½

51. The Last King of Scotland
52. The Da Vinci Code
53. The Devil Wears Prada
54. The Painted Veil
55. An Inconvenient Truth
56. Miami Vice
57. Dead Man's Chest
58. Eight Below
59. 16 Blocks
60. Joyeux Noël

no stars

61. Marie Antoinette
62. The Illusionist
63. Glory Road
anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6377
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

Post by anonymous1980 »

I'm through with 2006:

My final list:

01. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro)
02. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
03. Letters from Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
04. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
05. L'Enfant (Jean Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
06. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
07. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)
08. United 93 (Paul Greengrass)
09. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck)
10. Monster House (Gil Kenan)
Penelope
Site Admin
Posts: 5663
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2004 11:47 am
Location: Tampa, FL, USA

Post by Penelope »

78. Universal 93 (Peter Greengrass)


Freudian slip of some kind?
"...it is the weak who are cruel, and...gentleness is only to be expected from the strong." - Leo Reston

"Cruelty might be very human, and it might be cultural, but it's not acceptable." - Jodie Foster
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

My take on 2006's films:

4 Stars:

1. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée)
2. Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
3. The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu)
4. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund)
5. Dreamgirls (Bill Condon)
6. Been Rich All My Life (Heather Lyn MacDonald)
7. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
8. The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma)
9. Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell)
10. V For Vendetta (James McTiegue)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

3½ Stars:

11. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
12. Le Petite Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois)
13. Changing Times (André Téchiné)
14. Clean (Olivier Assayas)
15. Army Of Shadows (Jean-Pierre Melville)
16. The Departed (Martin Scorsese)
17. Whassup Rockers (Larry Clark)
18. A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman)
19. Volver (Pedro Almodovar)
20. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles)
21. Why We Fight (Eugene Jarecki)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

3 Stars:

22. The Painted Veil (John Curran)
23. Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World (Albert Brooks)
24. Scoop (Woody Allen)
25. Water (Deepak Mehta)
26. Infamous (Doug McGrath)
27. The Queen (Stephen Frears)
28. The Good German (Steven Soderbergh)
29. The Notorious Bettie Page (Mary Herron)
30. The Nativity Story (Catherine Hrdwicke)
31. L'Enfant (Dardennes)
32. History Boys (Nicholas Hytner)
33. Half Nelson (Ryan Fleck)
34. Sherrybaby (Lauri Colyer)
35. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
36. The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros (Auraeus Solito)
37. Woman Is The Future Of Man (Sang-soo Hong)
38. World Trade Center (Oliver Stone)
39. Tristram Shanty: A Cock And Bull Story (Michael Winterbotom)
40. For Your Consideration (Christopher Guest)
41. Monster House (Goddamn Cartoon)
42. The Devil Wears Prada (David Frankel)
43. A Stadium Story (Jevon Roush and Benjamin Rosen)
44. Stagedoor (Alexandra Shiva)
45. Giuliani Time (Kevin Keating)
46. The Road To Guantánamo (Michael Winterbottm)
47. Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby (Adam McKay)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

2 ½ Stars:

48. Children Of Men (Alfonso Cuaron)
49. Flags Of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood)
50. Akeelah And The Bee (Doug Atchison)
51. Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt)
52. Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady)
53. Notes On A Scandal (Richard Eyre)
54. Sweet Land (Ali Selim)
55. Bobby (Emilio Estevez)
56. The Good Shepherd (Robert DeNiro)
57. Venus (Roger Michell)
58. Brick (Rian Johnson)
59. Inside Man (Spike Lee)
60. The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti)
61. Curious George (Goddamn Cartoon)
62. The Prestige (Christopher Nolan)
63. The Proposition (John Hillcoat)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

2 Stars:

64. Blood Diamond (Edward Zwick)
65. X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner)
66. Ask The Dust (Robert Towne)
67. Hollywoodland (Allen Coulter)
68. The Last King Of Scotland (Kevin MacDonald)
69. Grey Souls (Yves Angelo)
70. Jailbait (Brett C. Leonard)
71. The Illusionist (Neil Burger)
72. Another Gay Movie (Todd Stephens)
73. An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim)
74. Joyeux Noël (Christian Carion)
75. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
76. Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
77. Little Children (Todd Field)
78. Universal 93 (Peter Greengrass)
79. Little Miss Sunshine (Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris )
80. Fur (Steven Shainberg)
81. Running With Scissors (Ryan Murphy)
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Kova
Graduate
Posts: 196
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:41 pm
Location: MI
Contact:

Post by Kova »

I have 3 or 4 films to catch up with, but this is my 2006 list for now:

1. Letters from Iwo Jima
2. The Proposition
3. L'Enfant
4. The Departed
5. The Lives of Others
6. A Prairie Home Companion
7. The Queen
8. Half Nelson
9. Children of Men
10. Volver
dylanfan23
Temp
Posts: 475
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 1:46 pm
Location: Belleville, NJ

Post by dylanfan23 »

Jones was pretty great in infamous and perfect in the painted vail which i'm happy to see wasnt' as overlooked as i thought it was. Also the character as a whole added a lot to the film i thought.
FilmFan720
Emeritus
Posts: 3650
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 3:57 pm
Location: Illinois

Post by FilmFan720 »

I haven't seen any of his 2006 film credits, but I saw Jones in "The Play What I Wrote" on Broadway a few years ago and he was hilarious. I was shocked to find out later that he is also a serious actor as he seemed such a natural comedian. What a versatile man.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
- Minor Myers, Jr.
The Original BJ
Emeritus
Posts: 4312
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 8:49 pm

Post by The Original BJ »

--Damien wrote:
--Precious Doll wrote:Funnily enough I just finished watching Elizabeth 1 with Helen Mirren which also co-stars Jones who was excellent in that too in a completely different role.

Great actor. I look forward to seeing more work from him.

He's also excellent in another vey different role in The Painted Veil.

I was just thinking the same thing!!

His very different turn in Painted Veil made me even more impressed by his sensational work in Infamous.

I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of him too.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1243662861
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

--Precious Doll wrote:Funnily enough I just finished watching Elizabeth 1 with Helen Mirren which also co-stars Jones who was excellent in that too in a completely different role.

Great actor. I look forward to seeing more work from him.

He's also excellent in another vey different role in The Painted Veil.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1243662869
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Post by Precious Doll »

--dws1982 wrote:I'm not exactly finished with 2006, but I'm in the winding-down process.

*** ½

10. Le Petit Lieutenant (Xavier Beauvois)
11. Infamous (Douglas McGrath)

Glad to see that I am not the only person to have seen the excellent police drama Le Petit Lieutenant which features another stellar performance from Nathalie Baye.

I finally saw Infamous last weekend at the cinema. I was blown away by Toby Jones' performance (my best actor performance on 2006). Perfection, he was spot on as Capote and I also liked the way the film moved back and forth from the New York socail set to Kanas. Great dialogue too, very Capote.

Funnily enough I just finished watching Elizabeth 1 with Helen Mirren which also co-stars Jones who was excellent in that too in a completely different role.

Great actor. I look forward to seeing more work from him.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1243662883
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Post Reply

Return to “2000 - 2007”