MUSIC
- FILM
for
updated lists of all years go music and
movies.
End
of year awards
Honorable
Mention:
click
on title for original review
Cache
wasn't
technically released this year, but it didn't hit wide release in the states
until this year. great great film about guilt and all sorts of things.
would have placed in the top five.
Heart
Of The Game
heart
warming documentary about a girl's basketball team. technically released
last year because it was screened at the toronto film festival late in
2005. excellent. would have placed around #7.
Brick
also
released last year, but was in wide release into may so you figure it out.
great film in the noir style. done quite well and has the twist that its
setting is a suburban high school. i'm as much of a noir snob as you're
likely to meet and i liked it so check it out. would have placed around
#6.
Best:
click
on title for original review
10.
Break-Up
every
top ten list has to have a film like this on it - a film that won't be
on the list in retrospect, but was surprisingly good and satisfying at
the time. it doesn't take the easy way out in the end and vaughn was a
comic force. let your girlfriend think she's twisting your arm to watch
this one.
9.
Stranger
Than Fiction
surprisingly
funny and poignant film with a somewhat disappointing (yet somewhat satisfying)
ending.
8.
Jackass:
Number Two
one
of potentially four documentaries on the list (#4, 5, and 6 could also
be considered documentaries). hilarious regardless of its designation.
like #5 this one says a lot about where our culture is these days.
7.
Little
Children
good
ensemble cast, nicely balanced and uniquely pitched film. definitely worth
a look.
6.
S&Man
this
and #4 are probably the two films in the top ten that are likely surprises
for most readers of this list. both were screened at the south by southwest
film festival. this one is part documentary on horror films and part commentary
on the nature of documentary film. thought-provoking, intelligent, and
entertaining picture.
5.
Borat
may
have been in the top two or three in 2005, but was only able to come in
fifth this year. i had a couple problems with the production and what was
portrayed as documentary vs. staged footage, but i can't be certain about
it and that's not enough to lower the ranking all that much anyway. very
funny and provides good insight into our culture.
4.
Summer
Camp
best
documentary of the year. screened at the south by southwest film festival.
a very human film. highly recommendable.
3.
United
93
possibly
the best-directed film of the year because of the delicate subject matter.
very impactful, but never cliche, trite, or contrived. performances were
all where they needed to be. harrowing.
2.
Little
Miss Sunshine (2)
(3)
gives
#1 a run for its money, especially since i've seen this one three times
and it has only grown with subsequent viewings. it's a great film and a
labor of love, i wish more films like this were made.
1.
Departed
phenomenal film with
a great balance of brutality, drama, comedy and raw emotion. the ensemble
cast is great, as is the storytelling.
Worst:
click
on title for original review
5.
Akeelah
And The Bee
like
the film below, akeelah and the bee is about as bad as a good idea can
get. the film has a measure of talent involved and an inspiring story,
but it fails in its execution at almost every single turn.
4.
Waist
Deep
pretty
much the definition of bad. it doesn't stray into the "truly awful" territory
because it's not a reprehensible film (like material girls) or a failure
in spite of its potential (like world trade center).
3.
World
Trade Center
this
film has a couple things in common with two films in the top ten of the
year: maggie gyllenhaal and its subject matter. gyllenhaal was in stranger
than fiction, and great in it. and united 93 took the events of the same
day and made a great film. meanwhile, oliver stone makes a $100 million
flop. how is it possible to take gyllenhaal, $100 million, oliver stone
and 9/11 and come up with something this bad?
2.
Date
Movie
with
this film i got to see what old people see when they see films of this
sort, well done or not. see, i like the scary movie series and other farce
films, but i know that 70 year-olds see those films and wince at the childish,
gaudy, outrageous style of humor. date movie has all that, but none of
the humor; and i consider myself still young enough to judge such things.
1.
Material
Girls
in
my review for "john tucker
must die" i wrote: "sometimes a film grows in stature as you
look back on it, this film shrinks with time. while i was watching it,
it was a mildly obnoxious little teen flick. now, a couple days later,
it's a pathetic shell of a film that may very well set back humanity 10/20
years. actually, it's not that bad, but it sounds good." when i wrote it
i knew it didn't quite fit for that film. sure, john tucker must die was
an awful film, but it wasn't that bad. as it turns out, the line
("it's a pathetic shell of a film that may very well set back humanity
10/20 years") was meant for this film, material girls. material girls is
absolute dreck and if i were ever to become a nazi it would be my goal
to eradicate the earth of this kind of filth.
AWARDS
Best
Actor
DiCaprio
- Departed
Sacha
Baron Cohen - Borat
Best
Actress
Meryl
Streep - Devil Wears Prada
Ellen
Page - Hard Candy
Best
Supporting Actor
Mark
Wahlberg - Departed
Best
Supporting Actress
Vera
Farmiga - Departed
Maggie
Gyllenhaal - Stranger Than Fiction
Best
Screenplay (Original/Adapted)
Original:
Little Miss Sunshine
Adapted:
Departed
Best
Director
Paul
Greengrass - United 93
Martin
Scorsese - Departed
Best
Cinematography
Fountain
Best
Ensemble Cast
Little
Miss Sunshine
of the following:
Night At The Museum
Good Shepherd
Rocky Balboa
Holiday
Queen
Last Holiday
Blood Diamond
Just My Luck
Little Man
Déjà
Vu
Fast Food Nation
American Dreamz
Stranger Than Fiction
Casino Royale
Fountain
Broken Flowers
Matador
Prestige
Borat
Employee Of The Month
Gambler
Man Of The Year
Saw III
Little Children
Departed
Lucky Number Slevin
School For Scoundrels
Jet Li's Fearless
Marie Antoinette
Jackass: Number Two
Idiocracy
Idlewild
Beerfest
Material Girls
Accepted
Little Miss Sunshine
Lady In The Water
World Trade Center
John Tucker Must Die
Talladega Nights
Scoop
Miami Vice
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Stick It
You, Me & Dupree
RV
Stolen
Cars
Pirates Of The Carribbean:
Dead Man's Chest
Benchwarmers
Sentinel
Waist Deep
Devil Wears Prada
Superman Returns
Nacho Libre
Omen
Click
Wordplay
Lake House
X-Men: Final Stand
Inconvenient Truth
Break-Up
Mission Impossible
III
Da Vinci Code
Failure To Launch
Poseidon
Akeelah And The Bee
Hard Candy
United 93
Thank You For Smoking
Scary Movie 4
ATL
Inside Man
Punk Like Me
Al Franken: God Spoke
Slither
Maxed Out
Population 436
Summer Camp
Awesome; I Fuckin'
Shot That!
Before The Music Dies
S&Man
Shadow Company
Even Money
Friends With Money
Wide Awake
Small Town Gay Bar
16 Blocks
Date Movie
Final Destination 3
When A Stranger Calls
Looking For Comedy
In The Muslim World
Glory Road
MUSIC
Best
studio albums by one artist/group (no compilations or live albums)
5.
AFX
(Aphex Twin) - Chosen Lords
a return for aphex
twin. not great, but good to know he's still making decent stuff.
4.
Black
Keys - Magic Potion & Chulahoma (EP)
this one is more stripped
of effects than some of their better work, but still worthwhile.
3.
Ali
Farka Toure - Savane
the guy dies and he
can't even get #1? jeesh. very good album, but not as good as some of his
other stuff.
2.
Jim
Gaffigan - Beyond The Pale
not music, i know.
two reasons this isn't number one: it's a comedy album and it has some
recycled material from his last album.
1.
Gnarls
Barkley - St. Elsewhere
just
about every track is interesting in some way and it has the biggest hit
of the year, so far as i'm concerned.
of
the following:
AFX (Aphex Twin) -
Chosen Lords
Ali Farka Toure - Savane
Bill Maher - New Rules
Black Keys - Chulahoma
(EP)
Black Keys - Magic
Potion
Border Crossing - Ominous
Cheikh Lo - Lamp Fall
Cut Chemist - Audience's
Listening
DJ Shadow - Outsider
Flaming Lips - At War
With The Mystics
Ghostface Killah -
Fishscale
Gnarls Barkley - St.
Elsewhere
Hard-Fi - Stars Of
CCTV
Johnny Cash - American
V: A Hundred Highways
Mr. Lif - Mo Mega
Muse - Black Holes
& Revelations
Neil Young - Living
With War
Paul Simon - Surprise
Prefuse 73 - Security
Screenings
Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Stadium Arcadium
Scritti Politti - White
Bread Black Beer
Tom Petty - Highway
Companion
Tool - 10,000 Days
Toumani Diabate's Symmetric
Orchestra - Boulevard de l'Independence