My Top 13 (Because 14 Would Be Too Many, and 12 Too Few)

It was a rather hit-and-miss year for movies. I couldn’t help but think that a lot of the films which I really should have enjoyed, I only found okay-to-good. There were very few outright BAD experiences this year (“Nacho Libre” tops that list, but then I try hard to avoid obvious cr*p as often as I can), but very few great ones. Maybe that’s the baseline that moviemaking is reaching - the general level of technical achievement is so high that it’s hard for a film to have no positive qualities going for it, but there’s so much at stake financially that few films dare to take the necessary chances to be excellent. To paraphrase “Almost Famous,” welcome to the long journey to the middle.

Despite all that, here are 13 titles which gave me a wonderful experience this year, in one way or another. I’m not saying they’re all classics, but they certainly stood out from the pack in a year where mediocrity ruled the roost. (Keep in mind, there are many more I have yet to see, of course.) In alphabetical order:

“Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kasakhstan” - The year’s funniest movie, one which, like many great comedies, stirred up more than its fair share of controversy and debate. It walks the line of good taste in many ways, and its success, like humor, lies in the eye of the beholder. Me, I couldn’t stop laughing from beginning to end, and found it wonderfully subversive in its thinly-veiled analysis of American culture. And for those who got caught in the movie, as Dave so rightly pointed out, if you don’t want people to see you making a jack*ss out of yourself, DON’T make a jack*ss out of yourself.

“Clerks II” - Another of the year’s most hilarious, and a loving valentine from Kevin Smith to the characters which put him firmly on the pop culture map. 12 years later, Dante and Randal find themselves out of work when their beloved Quick Stop burns down, and have to take jobs at the local fast food place (Mooby’s, of course) instead. The usual Kevin Smith pop culture debates and sexual conversations result, but with it all comes a very sweet and - dare I say it - optimistic core, and brings his characters to a wonderful and thoroughly satisfying closure. Smith says this actually is the end of the “Jersey Trilogy,” and maybe this time I believe him, but I’m glad he decided to revisit it one more time.

“The Departed” - Martin Scorcese’s epic tale of inside informants operating on both sides of the law, with layers of betrayal heaped upon more layers of betrayal. Jack Nicholson may have had the most showy role with his mob boss (which he, of course, plays masterfully), but the core of the film lies with Leonardo DiCaprio, as a cop undercover in Nicholson’s crew, and Matt Damon, as an informant for Nicholson working within the police force. A remake of the Japanese film “Internal Affairs,” Scorcese, as always, adds his own little twist, namely that nothing is as simple as black and white, every character caught up in the story beings their own shade of grey. A surprising box office hit considering the subject matter (star power notwithstanding), it once again demonstrates a master at the top of his game, making it look so damn easy.

“Flags of Our Fathers” - From a surprising hit to a surprisingly weak box office performer, Clint Eastwood’s character study about the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima was all but ignored. But, of course, I don’t care. The movie is not a “war movie,” though there is war in it, it is about three men, brought from the front lines back to the states after the famous picture is snapped, to participate in a publicity tour to sell more war bonds. In essence, their lives may have been spared by a photo op, a fact which all three react to in varying ways, especially given how the photograph was, essentially, staged. A seeing and honest film with great emotional impact, which makes one deal headlong with the question of what really makes someone a “hero” in our society.

“The Fountain” - This ranking on this list may end up stirring more controversy than any inclusion, not least of which with myself. I would describe the plot but there might not be one. Hugh Jackman and Rachael Weisz appear to portray lovers at varying points throughout history, though some of the segments may be purely imagined, part of a separate story, a combination of both, who knows. The film also has no real closure point. All this is true, and to some, it is maddening. But what is also true is that the film’s striking visuals made it the single most unforgettable and imaginative movie of the year, one which is a pure joy to simply sit and watch for that purpose alone. And I rather prefer to view the film’s story as being obtuse on purpose, and I’ve found that the debates it inspires merely makes the film more intriguing with further reflection. It took a while for me to realize just how much I admired the movie, on so many levels.

“An Inconvenient Truth” - The year’s most purely emotional movie, stirring within the viewer a sense of understanding, passion and, oddly enough, empowerment. How odd, from a film where the vast majority is simply Al Gore talking. The former Vice President discusses the global warming crisis, presents us countless evidence that it indeed exists, debates why it is still treated skeptically in the media, and offers solutions. But the film’s visual excellence and the surprising revelation of how compelling a speaker Gore is makes this an exceedingly entertaining and involving film. To all those who gave the movie a pass because they felt it would be like attending a dull classroom lecture, I sincerely ask you to give it a second look.

“Jesus Camp” - In a year where cr*ppy low budget horror films ruled the roost at the box office, this was, for me, the most genuinely terrifying movie of the year. A documentary about a group of children attending a summer camp for Christians in North Dakota, lead by a Pastor who, in my opinion, exudes hypocrisy with almost every breath she utters. Through instruction and preaching, they are indoctrinated not only into Christian values and beliefs, but also in molding those values so they fit a solidly right-wing agenda. (At one point, a cardboard cutout of George Bush is produced, and the children are instructed to basically treat it with as much reverence as they would a picture of Jesus.) Heidi Ewing and Rachael Grady’s remarkable film does not choose sides or put its thumb on the scale, it merely puts its camera down and observes, to the point where almost everyone in the film does not have a problem with how they are depicted - which, when you see what they are depicted doing, is perhaps the scariest fact of them all.

“Little Miss Sunshine” - A more grown-up version of a “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movie is how one might describe this film - on the surface, anyway. At its core though, few films this year were as emotionally true as this one, on a subject that is close to all of our hearts - family. Many great comic actors (Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin) play eternally dysfunctional members of a family who set off on a cross-country trip to take little Olive (Abigail Breslin) to the fabled “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant. The end result is a hilarious film, but not a shallow one. These are genuine characters who we believe and like, which make the misadventures they encounter all the funnier, and by the time the film reaches its conclusion, it is impossible to leave without a big smile on your face, and maybe even a little lump in your throat.

“A Prairie Home Companion” - Robert Altman’s passing is still the saddest story to come out of Hollywood in 2006, but how wonderfully appropriate it is that this film would be his swan song. Ostensibly a movie about the last night in the history of Garrison Keillor’s weekly radio opus, it is a film about loss, obsolescence, death, life and touching rememberance of days gone by. A rip-roaring celebration of what has passed and will never be again - but then asking, why shouldn’t it be? The year’s best cast (including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, Virginia Madsen and, of course, Keillor himself) bring joy to their performances both onstage and off, in a movie that is wall-to-wall with music, touching human comedy, and heart.

“The Prestige” - As time passes, it becomes more and more clear that Christopher Nolan is one of the most consistently interesting directors of the new generation now sweeping through the entertainment industry, on both a visual and narrative level. From “Memento” to “Insomnia” and “Batman Begins,” he constantly makes films that are innovative and engaging in ever aspect of their being - films that are of their genres but not bound by them. In “The Prestige,” he once again plays with the expectations of storytelling and continuity to weave together the spellbinding story of two turn-of-the-century illusionists (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) whose rivalry spans years and leads to bloodshed, though not quite in the way we expect. A film that is engaging on many different levels, that only grows in resonance with a second viewing.

“The Queen” - On the surface, it sounds like an utterly dry and boring time at the cinema: a behind-the-scenes look at the British monarchy. I mean, yawn, right? Until you see it and realize that it is one of the most entertaining and engaging films of the year. Helen Mirren will win an Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth, in a film that depicts the week following Diana’s car crash, and is about the ensuing war of words between the royal family and newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen). Should Diana be given a state funeral? Should the flag at Buckingham Palace be lowered to half mast? Should the royal family cut short their hunting trip to mourn the loss with the public? The answers are furiously debated between Blair, who can see a public relations nightmare forming if no action is taken, and Elizabeth, who stands by her guns on what is appropriate by royal tradition. The performances and directing (by Stephen Frears) are top-notch, and the end result is an amazingly interesting film, leaving in the mind of the audience the very open question of who was right.

“Stranger Than Fiction” - What truth and beauty this film holds, both about life and art. Marc Forster’s piece about a man who begins to hear narration about his own life works as both a simple romantic comedy and so much more. Will Ferrell demonstrates the full extent of his acting chops for the uninitiated as Harold Crick, an I.R.S. agent whose life is interrupted by the mysterious voice. As he begins to try to piece together the reasons behind the narration, the film introduces many more wonderful characters, all of whom are brought to life by terrific performances (by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah and others), and none of whom end up making a silly misunderstanding or dumb mistake for the sake of the plot. And at the end, when Crick makes a choice that seems surprisingly out of character, especially for him, we understand, because we can see what he has gone through and know the personal evolution the events of the movie has stirred in him. I usually give a broad hint about this in these year-end columns, but this time I’ll be blunt: this was my favorite film of 2006.

“Superman Returns” - Yes, Brandon Routh is kinda bland as the Man of Steel, though I still say he makes an excellent Clark Kent. Yes, the basic story could have used some touching up. But as a valentine to a cultural icon and loving tribute to the earlier films, one can imagine few ways that Bryan Singer could have done better. From its visual and verbal references to the basic tone of everything, its clear this film was a labor of love for all involved - a love not only of Superman himself, but also of Richard Donner’s work on the first two Superman films. The end result is a more satisfying superhero film experience than we have seen in a while, and a much more satisfactory conclusion than Superman III and IV, for sure.