Posted: 01/28/07

Gary's Best and Worst Films of 2006
by Gary Schultz


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Each year I struggle to see all the movies I can and have interest in. But there are always a handful of films I don’t see until after the year end reviews come out that didn’t make “my” year end review but would have. Last year was no exception. This could be because most of the really good films come out in the last quarter of the year and we end up trying to fit as many screenings in as we can during all the holiday brew-ha-ha. So quickly if you haven’t read my year end review from 2005 it’s archived here.

(Quickly adding a few films that rocked 2005 that I had not seen at that time, check out these additional films: Wolf Creek, Hustle & Flow, Oldboy, & A History of Violence. Now onto 2006!!)

MY TOP 10 FILM’S THAT ROCKED 2006

1) The Proposition- This is an Aussie Western set in the late 1880’s about a military man who apprehends a notorious gunman named Charlie Burns and his younger brother Mikey. He then makes Charlie a proposition; if he hunts down his outlaw older brother Arthur and kills him he will set his younger brother Mikey free and not hang him. This story becomes a chess game set in the outback with amazing performances. Best western I’ve seen since “Tombstone.”

2) The Departed – Scorsese back to his best. Great cast performances. I even thought Leonardo DiCaprio was awesome. It’s an outrage that he got nominated for “Blood Diamond” and not “The Departed.”  This stylized crime drama about Boston’s Irish Mafia is Scorsese’s best since “Goodfella’s.”

3) The Descent – A horror film so claustrophobic I had to leave my living room and run outside for air. Yes that’s right a caving expedition goes very, very wrong for this group of lovely ladies.  Just check out this film.

4) Brick – A true Neo Noir set in a high school. The dialogue is poetry in this one.

5) Invincible – Yep its football’s “Rocky”. Sure it’s Disney cheese but I’m a sucker for sports movies and stories about the underdog. Mark Walberg is a monster in this movie, he’s huge. HGH.

6) Borat: Cultural Learning’s of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – I was a fan of the Ali G show and was really glad to see this on the big screen. Well I was glad until the infamous naked wrestling scene. Come on…if you had a pulse you laughed at this movie.

7) Rocky Balboa – Rocky is back and can still take a hit at 60 years old! This movie is more of a sentimental homage to the other Rocky films than anything else but I love Rocky and this is a nice final chapter to the franchise. Screw those of you that criticize this movie being in my top 10. Rocky rules!!

8) Little Miss Sunshine – Is little Olive beauty queen material? We’ll find out after this long road trip with the family. Nice collection of characters and performances. I especially loved Alan Arkin and Steve Carell.

9) Lady Vengeance - Final installment in Chan Wook Park’s trilogy following “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “Oldboy”. What this very resourceful lady plot an elaborate revenge on the man responsible for having her incarcerated for 13 long years.

10) Crank – Jason Statham knows how to make action movies, period. 1 hour 24mins of kickass! Plus Amy Smart takes it like a champ.

Movies I didn’t get to see but will soon, I swear

Pan’s Labyrinth

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny

Children of Men

The Prestige

The Black Dalia

Hollywoodland

And Look at All the Great Stuff Coming Out in 2007!!

Grindhouse

Transformers

Spiderman 3

Ghostrider

Rob Zombie’s Halloween Prequel

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

(And that’s just off the top of my skull!!)

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Thanks for reading Film Monthly!!

Gary Schultz is a filmmaker living in Chicago, IL.

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