My Best and Worst Movies of 2006
As regular readers know, I’ve been keeping track of all the movies I watch in the cinema this year. I’m up to 62. I did a little sorting and organization, and threw the whole list into a spreadsheet. What were my favourites and the total dogs?
Darren’s Top 10 Movies of 2006
10. The Good Shepherd
9. Cars
8. The Last King of Scotland
7. Munich
6. Hard Candy
5. Thank You For Smoking
4. The Departed
3. Babel
2. United 93
1. Blood Diamond
The Top 10 Worst Movies Darren Saw in 2006
10. The Break-Up
9. Running Scared
8. The Black Dahlia
7. Ultraviolet
6. Accepted
5. My Super-Ex Girlfriend
4. Man of the Year
3. Van Wilder 2: Rise of the Taj
2. Fun With Dick and Jane
1. Stick It
For at least five of the films on my worst list, I pretty much knew exactly what I was getting into. I’m as much addicted to the experience of going to a movie as I am to the movies themselves.
UPDATE: I just saw The Good Shepherd, and remembered two movies that I’d seen and hadn’t written about. I was reminded of Half Nelson by Steve Burgess’s year-end list.
Fast Food Nation – 5.5/10 – It’s kind of a polemic, more about the messages than telling a story. I’d read the book, so there wasn’t a lot for me to discover in the movie. There are some truly repulsive scenes of factory farming, and you won’t be going to McDonald’s afterwards, but it’s a pretty mediocre movie.
Half-Nelson – 7.5/10 – A terrific performance from Ryan Gosling. It’s unpredictable, which I appreciated, and not your average teacher-and-student movie, but it didn’t really stick in my memory.
The Good Shepherd – 8.5/10 – It’s a long, complex movie about the emergence of the CIA, but it’s neither boring nor difficult to follow. Matt Damon’s character is an emotional void who struggles with mixed loyalties to his country and his family. There are a half-dozen great performances, including director Robert De Niro and Tammy Blanchard.
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