2006 Best-of Lists
 

It's that time of year when film critics bring out their best-of-the-year lists, and it's always a good way to check out movies you might have missed during the year. Is there any site that compiles these lists? I thought Rotten Tomatoes would be a good candidate, but couldn't find any there. If not, let's post lists to your local newspaper or any others you can find here.

I'll start with Tom Long's list from The Detroit News (link):

1. United 93
2. The Departed
3. The Descent
4. Borat
5. The Queen
6. Little Children
7. World Trade Center
8. The Painted Veil
9. Hard Candy
10. The Fountain

Honorable Mention:
Heart of Gold
Little Miss Sunshine
Dreamgirls
Stranger Than Fiction
Lucky Number Slevin

I haven't seen any in my paper, but I'll post these two:

Personal Best-of-2006 (as of posting)
<ol><li>V for Vendetta
<li>The Last King of Scotland
<li>The Departed
<li>Over the Hedge
<li>Little Miss Sunshine
<li>The Queen
<li>Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
<li>Clerks II
<li>The Prestige
<li>Inside Man
</ol>

I also catalogued the 2006 Rank Em thread and ammassed a DVDTalk best-of list using a combination of IMDB's methods, ancient Phoenician numerology, and Excel.

DVDTalk's Best of 2006 (as voted by forum members in the Rank Em thread)
01. The Departed
02. United 93
03. V for Vendetta
04. Thank You for Smoking
05. Borat
06. Mission: Impossible III
07. Marie Antoinette
08. Inside Man
09. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
10. Little Miss Sunshine

Did Roger Ebert do a list this year? Anyway, here's four more lists. It's interesting in how different they are.

Here’s David Edelstein’s list (National Public Radio):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=6627794

1. The Queen
2. Iraq documentaries: Blood of My Brother, Iraq in Fragments, Iraq for Sale, and The War Tapes
3. Our Brand is Crisis
4. Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men
5. Flag of Our Fathers and Iwo Jima
6. Days of Glory
7 Neil Young: Heart of Gold
8. Religion documentaries: Jonestown, Jesus Camp, Deliver Us From Evil
9. A Prairie Home Companion
10. United 93

and here’s Peter Traver’s list (The Rolling Stone):

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/sto...movies_of_2006

1. The Departed
2. Dreamgirls
3. Letters From Iwo Jima/ Flags of Our Fathers
4. Volver
5. Babel
6. United 93
7. The Queen
8. Borat
9. Little Miss Sunshine
10. Prairie Home Companion

Lisa Kennedy’s list (Denver Post):

http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_4881615

1. Stranger Than Fiction
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. The Queen
4. Volver
5. Babel
6 & 7: “Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima"
8. Inside Man
9. Deliver Us From Evil
10. Nanny McPhee

MANOHLA DARGIS’s list (New York Times):

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/mo....html?ref=arts

1. Army of Shadows
2. Letters from Iwo Jima
3. Inland Empire
4. Our Daily Bread
5. L’Enfant
6. Children of Men
7. Three Times
8. Miami Vice
9. Brand Upon the Brain!
10. Borat

Metacritic has all the critics Top 10 lists.

Thanks. That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, although it doesn't look too up-to-date quite yet.

The Bus, do you think you'd be able to do something similar with the rankings if we get enough lists posted here?

Adding some from Metacritic:

John Hartl's list (MSNBC)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16317207/

(unordered)

Army of Shadows
Children of Men
Deliver Us from Evil
The Departed
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
United 93


David Ansen's list (Newsweek)
<ol><li>Army of Shadows
<li>Little Miss Sunshine
<li>The Queen
<li>Letters from Iwo Jima
<li>The Departed
<li>Half Nelson
<li>Borat
<li>Dreamgirls
<li>Venus
<li>Volver
</ol>

The thing that sucks about Top 10 movie lists, is that most of the really good movies come out right at the end of the year and in limited release. So maybe by May 2007 I'll be able to decide what the best movies of 2006 were.

What's with listing Army of Shadows as a 2006 film?

18 movies in a top 10?

Los Angeles Times: Kenenth Turan
1 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima (tie) Flags of our Fathers
2 (tie) The Ground Truth (tie) Iraq in Fragments (tie) My Country, My Country (tie) The War Tapes
3 (tie) Friends with Money (tie) Half Nelson
4 (tie) The Queen (tie) Venus
5 (tie) The Lives of Others (tie) L'Enfant (The Child)
6 (tie) Little Miss Sunshinem (tie) Thank You for Smoking
7 Volver
8 (tie) Pan's Labyrinth (tie) Children of Men
9 Dreamgirls
10 Sweet Land

I don't know, but I hope it gets Bruce Campbell an Oscar nod.

A couple more:

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune movie critic

1. Climates (or “Iklimler”, a Turkish film)
2. United 93
3. Little Children
4. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
6. Borat
7. The War Tapes
8. Casino Royale
9. The Queen
10. Hidden (or “Cache”, a French film)

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune movie critic

1, 2. Flags of our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima
3. A Prairie Home Companion
4. The Departed
5. Pan’s Labrinth
6. Happy Feet
7. Babel
8. Army of Shadows
9. The Queen
10. Casino Royale

Ive seen alot of these movies and I think The Prestige ranks among the top 5 even if the critics dont agree.

my favorites this year so far The Prestige, Apocalypto, Half Nelson.... i want to see notes on a scandal, looks like a campy premise played out dead seriously lol

How did CACHE make a top 10 when it came out in 2005!?

Not that anyone cares, but here's my top films of 2006;

Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
Ghosts of Ctie Soleil (Asger Leth)
Taxidermia (Gyorgy Palfi)
This is England (Shane Meadows)
Cronica de una Fuga (Adrian Caetano)
ILS / Them (David Moreau)
Time (Kim KiDuk)
Container (Lukas Moodyson)
Casino Royale
Babel

Army of Shadows is a '69 French Film. It's first US theatrical debut was in 2006, which is why it can get the nod. It probobly explains why Cache was given a nod also, even though it was released in 2005. I guess I answered the question I just posted above ;)

Sure thing. As long as all the lists are in order and a Top 10, it should be very easy.

Edited to Add: If members want to add their Top 10 list here, I'd be more than happy to do that as well. The Rank Em thread is a nightmare to go through.

Army of Shadows was released in US Theaters for the first time in 2006, so by most standards, it qualifys, despite being a film from 1969.

I've added all the Metacritic lists. For a simple unranked Best-Of, I am giving each movie an equal weight.

So far, here's what we have with 23 critics reporting. Movies with less than 3 mentions are ignored.

Best of 2006
01. Letters from Iwo Jima
02. United 93
03. The Departed
04. Children of Men
05. The Queen
06. Pan's Labyrinth
07. Little Children
08. Army of Shadows (tie)
--. Flags of Our Fathers
--. Borat
11. Volver
12. Iraq in Fragments

Jurgen Fauth, About.com
(is he a well-known critic?)

1) Inland Empire
2) The Queen
3) Pan's Labyrinth
4) Volver
5) Shortbus
6) Children of Men
7) Factotum
8) Lemming
9) Brick
10) Borat

http://worldfilm.about.com/od/toppic...jurgen2006.htm

My Top 10
1.Superman Returns
2.Clerks II
3.Mission:Impossible III
4.007:Casino Royale
5.Night at the Museum
6.V For Vendetta
7.X-Men:Last Stand
8.Snakes on a Plane
9.Lucky Number Slevin
10.Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest

looks like we've got a weak year... even weaker than last year

Huh?

Any year that can provide superbly crafted and entertaining films such as <b>THE DEPARTED, LITTLE CHILDREN, VOLVER, THE PRESTIGE, NOTES FROM A SCANDAL, THE QUEEN, SHORTBUS</b> and <b>CHILDREN OF MEN</b>, and satisfying pop entertainment like <b>SUPERMAN RETURNS, CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, THE PRESTIGE, POTC 2,</b> and <b>X-MEN</b> doesn't seem weak to me (and I have yet to see the Eastwood movies and <i>Pan's Labrynth</i> along with several other highly regarded movies, such as <i>Borat, Apocolypto, Happy Feet, Half Nelson, Dreamgirls</i>).

I suspect that more of this year's crop will retain their popularity over the next 20 years than last year's will.

Here's my list:

1. A Scanner Darkly
2. The Science of Sleep
3. Inland Empire
4. Little Miss Sunshine
5. Inside Man
6. Casino Royale
7. Borat
8. Babel
9. Children of Men
10. The Depahtid

This is one of the better years in recent memory. Sure, there were no huge fanboy guaranteed hits (Star Wars, Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Kill Bill) but if I look at my list, I've got movies like Miami Vice and Casino Royale in the low teens. Other years those spots were taken by Terminator 3 or Jason X. Or take this one: Stranger than Fiction versus Swimfan.

Swimfan!

mine.........

1. Little Miss Sunshine
2. Cars
3. Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Mans Chest
4. Mission Impossible 3
5. Casino Royale
6. Superman Returns
7. Thank You for Smoking
8. Over the Hedge
9. V for Vendetta
10.The last kiss



but I havent seen many of the ones listed in critics list and I missed the departed :(