2006 Top 10

The Year's Best Films


1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Lady Vengeance
3. Inland Empire
4. Deliver Us From Evil
5. The Queen
6. The Departed
7. L'Enfant
8. Half Nelson
9. Three Times
10. Brick

Honorable mention: Army of Shadows.

Runners-up: Curse of the Golden Flower, The History Boys, A Scanner Darkly, Pan's Labyrinth, Old Joy, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, Venus, The Prestige , Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Casino Royale.

The Year's Worst Films (There But For the Grace of God Go You): See No Evil, Little Man, Failure to Launch, Just My Luck, The Covenant, Zen Noir, When a Stranger Calls, Ultraviolet, The Grudge 2, Everyone's Hero.

Overrated/Overhyped: Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima, Notes on a Scandal, The Last King of Scotland.

Underrated/Undersold/Overlooked: Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, Find Me Guilty, Linda Linda Linda, Duck Season, The Night Listener, The King, The Fountain, The Good German.

The Yellow-Bellied Coward Award goes to the studios that released Grandma's Boy, Bloodrayne, Underworld: Evolution, When a Stranger Calls, Date Movie, Doogal, Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, Ultraviolet, Stay Alive, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, The Benchwarmers, Phat Girlz, Silent Hill, Pulse, Zoom, Snakes on a Plane, Material Girls, The Wicker Man, Crank, The Grudge 2, The Marine, Saw III, The Return, Let's Go to Prison, Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, Black Christmas, et al—the 2006 films not screened for critics. (A few of these charmers played for critics on the night before opening at 7:30pm or even in some cases, 10pm. These are the times when you see "TOO LATE FOR REVIEW" in your morning paper, though some particularly hardy internet critics will burn the midnight oil to review them.)

Coolest Title: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Worst Titles: Lucky Number Slevin, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School, Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That, Bloodrayne.

Aptest Titles: Failure to Launch, Don't Come Knocking, Just My Luck, The Benchwarmers, Apocalypto, and, of course, Snakes on a Plane.

Inaptest Title: See No Evil.

Movies that Never Got Anywhere Near Me (whew!): Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, Don't Trip, He Ain't Trhough With Me Yet, Mendy—A Question of Faith, A Dog Lover's Symphony, Pokemon: Advanced Generation 2006, My Favorite Hitler Youth: Just Like You & Me, Lump of Sugar, George Bush Goes to Heaven.

Demented Double Features/Marathon Madness: