dave / December 18, 2006 3:25 AM

1. The Science of Sleep

Other movies I really enjoyed include:
49 Up
A Scanner Darkly
Last King of Scotland
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You for Smoking

I know there were a bunch of blockbusters I really enjoyed, but they don't stand out for the obvious reasons.

Slash / December 18, 2006 6:35 AM

Borat! Man, that guy is a comic genius..that scene at the dinner party where he went to the bathroom and then put what he did in a bag and showed it to the hostess was priceless!
Take that, wealthy dinner party set!

Brandy / December 18, 2006 9:19 AM

I really, really love movies. I hate that I've felt so "meh" this year about them.

Only three movies got me all excited-about-movies-again and raving to my friends:
Little Miss Sunshine
Shortbus
Casino Royale

I hope to pick up pointers for ones I overlooked on this thread. And here's to hoping 2007 brings better flicks.

unmake / December 18, 2006 9:27 AM

Volver (Almodóvar's most recent)

2006 has been a pretty weak year for films.

annie / December 18, 2006 9:43 AM

I love movies too and I'd say that Little Miss Sunshine sticks out for me. I also enjoyed the Devil and Daniel Johnston.

michellemybelle / December 18, 2006 9:45 AM

Little Miss Sunshine!!!

(Casino Royale is 2nd)

Marilyn / December 18, 2006 9:47 AM

I'm not doing a top 10 on my blog because I wasn't able to get out to the movies enough this year. But without a doubt, the very best movie I saw this year was UNITED 93. Director Paul Greengrass has a special genius for film atrocity, and he hit his zenith with this respectful, informative, cleansing film. I recommend everyone who avoided it (like I did at first) go see it. It is a film that actually helped heal me.

jon / December 18, 2006 9:48 AM

Volver, or Casino Royale, in my book! I'd vote for "Sympathy for Lady Vengance" but that was originally released in 2005

p / December 18, 2006 9:54 AM

Doondoondoon da doondoondoondoon. Bagpipes. Rats. Jack. Leo. "What's a lace-curtains muhfucker like you doin' in the staties?" BangBang. Saw Stranger Than Fiction last night- liked that quite a bit. U.i.cccee greyness represented very well.

leah / December 18, 2006 9:54 AM

Little Miss Sunshine was very sweet & An Inconvenient Truth was very scary.

United 93 did nothing for me. I must've been extra spacey that day.

mike / December 18, 2006 9:56 AM

I don't get out to the movies much, but "The Science of Sleep" was pretty damn good. Easily the best new movie I saw this year.

Andy / December 18, 2006 9:59 AM

Lots of good movies last year, but the one that sticks in my head the most is the Illusionist. Absolutely gorgeous movie... well acted, well directed... pulled me in from beginning to end.

An Inconvenient Truth also gets my vote for being the most engrossing power point presentation I've ever seen.

Marilyn / December 18, 2006 11:12 AM

I liked The Illusionist, too. Requieum, a German film that played at the Music Box and at the CIFF, was killer, too. I'd recommend Venus, which I believe is coming out at the end of this month.

tyler / December 18, 2006 11:31 AM

my favorites include:

friends with money
strangers with candy
volver
shortbus
marie antoinette

Leelah / December 18, 2006 11:46 AM

I saw a grand total of THREE movies this year:

Brokeback Mountain
Snakes on a Plane
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D

I'm going with Nightmare...

madachode / December 18, 2006 11:52 AM

The one where the kid finds out that he has two dad's as parents, realizes that they are more than "just good friends" and then he sets them on fire.

joshua / December 18, 2006 11:55 AM

The Prestige puts the Illusionist to shame.

Casino Royale was freaking awesome and saved the Bond franchise.

Borat - very nice!

Cars was one of the best I saw.

I second the Departed.

V for Vendetta was briliiant

Lucky Number Slevin

Hard Candy - different and tough but really good

and Little Miss Sunshine is my favorite

Steve / December 18, 2006 12:20 PM

I feel so underqualified to answer this. I think we saw something like one flick per month this year, and just a couple each month through Netflix. Even the TiVo-ed flicks from cable movie channels are going unwatched. But boy, that 1997 was a good year for movies....

Most sadly unseen: Little Children (only showed downtown and Evanston, leaving a west suburbanite like me SOL)

Favorite theatre flick: Borat or Superman Returns

Favorite Netflix flicks: Art School Confidential, Lucky Number Slevin, Inside Man

Suckage: Pirates, X-Men 3, Bettie Page

Marilyn / December 18, 2006 12:23 PM

V for Vendetta was entertaining, not brilliant, in my opinion.

In the words of a buddy of mine: "Ah yes, the intellectually challenging and thought-provoking work of the Wachowski Bros. Or; let's grind everything into metaphorical toothpaste and hope an actor speaks it impressively enough to fool undergrad film geeks into thinking it's stimulating and philosophically consequential as well as being kick-ass entertainment."

staci / December 18, 2006 1:02 PM

The Departed, The Departed, The Departed. Wow. I loved it.

Tim Lacy / December 18, 2006 1:13 PM

In no particular order, I'd say:

- The Departed,
- The History Boys, and
- Little Miss Sunshine

But I still haven't seen Borat, An Inconvenient Truth, and Blood Diamond.

carrie / December 18, 2006 1:28 PM

Beyond the Call. A great documentary that opened in limited release. If it did well here and in SF, Landmark would put it in more theaters. I hope it does well- everyone should see it.

check it out

I saw lots more movies that ever before this year and the only one that really stands out as being crapsuck, not scary was Texas Chainsaw. I'm scared of scary movies, but I LOL'd a lot at this one.

I also LOL'd at Borat and Strangers with Candy, but those were meant to be laughed at.

Still need to see Little Miss Sunshine.

Josh / December 18, 2006 3:03 PM

I loved The Departed. Who would have guessed that with such a heavy-duty cast, Alec Baldwin and Mark Wahlberg would be the scene-stealers?

jj / December 18, 2006 4:22 PM

The Illusionist was my favorite, and I hated the Prestige.

I also enjoyed Stranger Than Fiction, An Inconvenient Truth, and Little Miss Sunshine. I also forgot until just now about Friends With Money, which was excellent and just what I needed to see this year in my life.

D / December 18, 2006 4:30 PM

Where is the love for Beerfest?

Of course I didn't see the vast majority of the movies the others are talking about, so perhaps Beerfest wouldn't seem so glorious had I seen all of those.

Meems / December 18, 2006 4:54 PM

Little Miss Sunshine for sure! I thought the Prestige was incredible but you can only watch it once. I was disappointed with the Departed and have no desire to see Borat. I'm waiting for Stranger than Fiction and Shortbus to come out on DVD. I was also disappointed with The Last Kiss, the original version is awesome however.

fluffy / December 18, 2006 5:14 PM

I made a movie........but none of you saw it. My cat's in it, and so are a whole bunch of puppets.

wordup / December 18, 2006 5:43 PM

Be careful, Fluffy, I have this feeling that your movie may attract a crowd you do not want.

wordup / December 18, 2006 5:44 PM

Oh - and my amateur vote goes to Thank You for Smoking. William H. Macy is golden.

PMan / December 18, 2006 6:47 PM

Little Miss Sunshine and United 93

I agree with Marilyn that United 93 was therapeutic. When I first started the movie I had a moment of panic, expecting to freak out by the end, but if not comforted, I felt stronger by the end.

Emerson Dameron / December 18, 2006 6:54 PM

I didn't see that many movies, either, although I was smitten with YouTube.

I'd nominate everything that didn't feature Zach Braff.

Carlotta / December 18, 2006 9:38 PM

I saw fewer films this year than any other year in recent memory, thus the basis of my judgment is less informed this time around.

Nonetheless, my "best film of 2006" award goes to "Heading South," Laurent Cantet's film set in 1970's Haiti about the unmarried American women who go to a resort for "companionship" from local males. The critics oohed over the depiction of older women's sexuality, but the class and race questions posed were much more interesting.

Runners-up:
-- "The Illusionist" -- for reasons mentioned above
-- "The Libertine" -- another bravura Johnny Depp performance
-- "Gabrielle" -- another sexually-charged Patrice Chereau film
-- "The War Tapes" -- National Guardsmen film their experiences in Iraq and their return home.

Honorable mentions:
-- "Forgiving Dr. Mengele"
-- "The Boys of Baraka"
-- "A Scanner Darkly"
-- "United 93"
-- "Thank You For Smoking"
-- "Army of Shawdows"

michelle / December 19, 2006 8:21 AM

The Departed times a million.

New Median / December 19, 2006 9:24 AM

Volver. Almodovar is a genius.

Matthew / December 19, 2006 9:58 AM

Nothing really stood out for me as the best film of the year. Which isn't to say there weren't some great films. Highlights from Oh-Six:
Idiocracy-A rather funny, but very harsh satire, by Mike Judge dumped by the studio, screened in a handful of theaters, and missed by too many people.
The Abominable Freedom-Great experimental short about sex, magik and, well, abominable snowmen shown at CUFF
Old Joy-Just a good film. Plain and simple, without being either...

fluffy / December 19, 2006 10:02 AM

If we're including 2005 movies (Thank you for Smoking) then my favorite movie for 2006 is Edmond.

p / December 19, 2006 10:17 AM

"plain and simple without being either"- i like that alot (no sarcasmo). i also enjoyed cheryl burton reviewing a film last night on Chicago Tonight. I had seen her doing her thing on state st. early in the day. What a stunner. I want her and debra pickett to be the next blockbuster review duo. That would be a perfect storm of insight, heat and hotness, freshness, and more hotness. Woo, that cheryl burton got me Fired up boy..

Spook / December 19, 2006 10:27 AM

Bu Blah was pretty good

bill / December 19, 2006 11:11 AM

The two movies I recommended most often to friends and colleagues were "Shortbus" and "Science of Sleep".

I was suprised by the magic of "pan's labrynth" just this past week tho. I'm suprised nobody has mentioned it. It was very good.

anne / December 19, 2006 1:01 PM

I really enjoyed "Brick" which I saw at CIFF in 2005, but was released nationally last spring.

Thankfully, "Casino Royale" did not disappoint. I have a feeling, though, that what I'll think is my favorite is one of a stack of movies I haven't seen yet (but plan to) like "Flags of my Father" "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "The Good Shepherd".

Bill V / December 19, 2006 1:36 PM

I missed plenty of movies and will catch up when they hit DVD. Little Miss Sunshine was good, but far from great. I think I liked Thank You For Smoking the best.

Nick / December 19, 2006 2:00 PM

I saw Idiocracy in an empty theater during its only screening of the day at 12:30 pm and without any doubt, it was my favorite movie of 2006. Wait until Mid-January when it comes out on DVD and it WILL become the next Office Space cult hit. Thank god it is coming out on DVD because I don't know anyone else who has seen this film. (I'm surprised that it was mentioned already here at GB!)

eep / December 19, 2006 2:03 PM

I didn't see that many movies until the end of the year. I thought Casino Royale was great, by way of the blockbuster movies. But like Leelah, The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D was my personal favorite. Anyone who knows me knows that's a given.

Allan / December 19, 2006 3:33 PM

Work has been crazy but I watched Thank You For Smoking Sunday night and thought it was the most enjoyable movie I saw this year. I also ate lunch at Subway today and it was good and I felt all healthy but now I am starving and am tempted to eat the cookies by the coffee maker. I also kind of liked Grizzly Man. That guy reminded me a little bit of me. The self-delusional part anyway.

jon / December 19, 2006 4:15 PM

THE DEPARTED

Spook / December 19, 2006 4:40 PM

Allan:

Eat the Cookies! Eat them all! They are better than the stuff that will be served at your companies X-mas party! Tiss the season

Allan / December 19, 2006 4:49 PM

No party this year. Found out yesterday.