2006 Capsule Reviews

The Departed
rating: *****
review: A lot of people consider this inferior to Martin Scorsese's late '70s/early '80s prime (and/or Goodfellas), but for my money, the cast he puts together and the discipline Leonardo DiCaprio shows as the lead, in what I consider his best performance, more than justifies the Best Picture from the Oscars.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
rating: *****
review: In the whole series to date, even more than Curse of the Black Pearl, I think this one best exemplifies what these films have attempted to do, which is to produce a pure adventure.  In a lot of ways, Disney has attempted to duplicate this with its Avengers movies, and never quite succeeded.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
rating: *****
review: Will Ferrell's best solo film works as well as it does thanks not only to John C. Reilly but Sacha Baron Cohen.  Oh, and Amy Adams!  It's all the additional layers that aren't usually there in his movies that make it so memorable.

Hollywoodland
rating: *****
review: Here's Ben Affleck in one of his comeback roles, increasingly ironic in hindsight, playing Adventures of Superman actor George Reeves struggling with his career, years before Affleck himself jeopardizes that comeback by agreeing to become Batman.  Also a perfect noir role for technical lead Adrien Brody.

Superman Returns
rating: *****
review: This one doesn't, ah, fly with fans who want a straightforward, fun Superman adventure in the post-Donner/Reeve era, but it's ridiculously poetic, and probably the only time that's ever gonna happen.

World Trade Center
rating: *****
review: Oliver Stone in his most unexpected movie ever, in which he unabashedly embraces patriotic rah-rah, and just lets a couple of firefighters survive a hellacious experience.  An emblem of that fleeting period where the culture hadn't totally disintegrated from the post-9/11 effect.

The Da Vinci Code
rating: *****
review: Most people only mocked Tom Hanks' hairdo as the film version of Dan Brown's hero from the wildly popular book, but...yeah.  The movie is pretty great.  It's a continuation of Ron Howard's filmmaking from A Beautiful Mind, and features a killer turn from Ian McKellen, which in hindsight was basically the last time he got to have one in the post-Lord of the Rings glow.

Children of Men
rating: *****
review: To my mind, this was a truly great year in film, and you can tell by how adventurous filmmakers got to be.  Earlier I described Superman Returns as poetic.  There's little other way to describe this one, too.

The Pink Panther
rating: ****
review: My dad is a devoted fan of the Peter Sellers films.  I think this Steve Martin update is a lovely ode and version of them.

We Are Marshall
rating: ****
review: Sports movies play by a familiar playbook.  This one stands out for me thanks to performances from Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, and Anthony Mackie.

The Break-Up
rating: ****
review: I think the reception of this one comes down to expectations that it should have been a comedy, when it really just wanted to meditate on the painful realities some relationships take.  I think it's damn near a classic, and applaud Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn as deserving far better for having appeared in it.

Lady in the Water
rating: ****
review: Here's another one that's been traditionally buried, as part of M. Night Shyamalan's perceived creative decline, his greatest overreach to that point.  I think it's lovely, and it's Paul Giamatti's last great cinematic showcase.

The Proposition
rating: ****
review: This one's been routinely celebrated as a tragedy of an Australian western, and it deserves it.

The Illusionist
rating: ****
review: Out of this and The Prestige, I've always found it more magical.

16 Blocks
rating: ****
review: Is this another pattern from 2006?  That it was a last chance to shine?  This might have been Bruce Willis's last great performance, at least to date.

Miami Vice
rating: ****
review: This one's been winning greater respect in recent years.  I think the reason it was received poorly originally was that it was seen as a Colin Farrell movie, which for a lot of people means something different than it does for me.  Farrell's performance in it is one of his most understated, and it perfectly works with the tone of the movie around it. 

Stranger Than Fiction
rating: ****
review: It's not hard to see this as Will Ferrell expecting to find his Truman Show, and maybe for other viewers it is, but already having long ago decided Truman Show is one of my all-time favorites, it's hard to compete.

The Prestige
rating: ****
review: It's not that it's hard to appreciate, it's that having Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman compete with each other obscures Christopher Nolan's instincts, so that the ambiguity that usually works so well almost becomes a stumbling block.  It's hard to root for one without feeling you ought to root against the other.  It's just odd.

Brick
rating: ****
review: Rian Johnson's breakthrough was also Joseph Gordon-Levitt's a updated noir that's enjoyable for its novelty alone.

Ask the Dust
rating: ****
review: Colin Farrell again, in his most buoyant performance. 

Stick It
rating: ****
review: The range of movies I've seen from 2006 means I probably found material that I would otherwise not have seen or been able to appreciate.  I think this one is wonderful as a message about empowerment.

Candy
rating: ****
review: Heath Ledger in a harrowing study about addiction.

Marie Antoinette
rating: ****
review: Sofia Coppola does a wonderful job of making a period drama look modern without being false about it, with an increasingly appealing Kirsten Dunst in perhaps her ideal showcase.

Casino Royale
rating: ****
review: The story here is Daniel Craig's sensational debut as James Bond.

Letters from Iwo Jima
rating: ****
review: Clint Eastwood's unexpected companion to Flags of Our Fathers instantly eclipsed it.

X-Men: The Last Stand
rating: ****
review: My favorite single X-Men film, which like a lot of the opinions you'll find here goes against the grain.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
rating: ****
review: A lot of people have a lot more experience with Steve Coogan.  If this remains a fairly isolated one for me, it feels like a pretty ideal one.  And, I've read the book.  This feels like a better way to preserve its story.

Mission: Impossible III
rating: ****
review: After the artistic flourishes of its predecessor, this was really the birth of the rest of the franchise.  Seems about right, given JJ Abrams had perfected spycraft with Alias on TV.

Accepted
rating: ****
review: I never really got into '80s youth comedies, but I imagine that this is probably as close as any update could get.

United 93
rating: ****
review: It can't be considered entertaining.  But it surely must be considered cathartic, in ways World Trade Center couldn't be, as a cinematic vision of 9/11.

A Good Year
rating: ****
review: Russell Crowe in a fairly low-stakes drama, testing the waters for a more human persona.

Idiocracy
rating: ****
review: As Mike Judge's bid to follow up Office Space, which became a cult favorite, it's slowly reaching that status itself.  We'll see how close it gets.

The Fountain
rating: ****
review: Hugely artistic, hugely ambitious.  I personally think Aronofsky achieves this vision better in Noah, having perhaps realized his overreach.

Babel
rating: ****
review: A fascinating tapestry of a world filled with great complication.

The Pursuit of Happyness
rating: Will Smith in one of his most pure spotlights.
review:

Apocalypto
rating: ****
review: Mel Gibson dips back into the past, with another vivid experience.

Over the Hedge
rating: ****
review: Like sports movies, animated flicks can all seem alike.  There's just stuff that speaks to me in this one, including Bruce Willis in one of his many voiceover roles.

The Good German
rating: ****
review: Many observers claim this is a Casablanca wannabe.  It's really not.  Casablanca isn't noir.  Good German is more like Bogart's other signature flick, The Maltese Falcon, as if its stakes were Casablanca's.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
rating: ***
review: This third entry in the series, which at the time seemed like a last gasp, is best viewed as Han's spotlight and debut, because that's what it became.

Pan's Labyrinth
rating: ***
review: I have no problem with the expansive artistry Guillermo del Toro brought to this, but it just seems as if it's wasted on a dour narrative.  Limits its appeal.

Nacho Libre
rating: ***
review: Jack Black doing his best to emulate the Will Ferrell playbook.

V for Vendetta
rating: ***
review: If there was much more appeal to this than the pleasure of Hugo Weaving's voice, it's be much easier to appreciate.

Snakes on a Plane
rating: ***
review: Instantly a cult sensation thanks to the wise call to amplify the Samuel L. Jackson-ness of its appeal.

Beerfest
rating: ***
review: Loses the goofy appeal of the previous two Broken Lizard films by trying too hard to be liked.

The Devil Wears Prada
rating: ***
review: This is right about the time Meryl Streep, and critics, started loving Meryl Streep too much, for material that really just called for her to be unlikable.

The Good Shepherd
rating: ***
review: As a metaphorical study of Robert De Niro's relationship with his father, this makes a ton of sense.  As a standalone product, it tries too hard.

Tideland
rating: ***
review: Easily the weirdest Terry Gilliam has ever been.  Surely that tells you enough?

Down in the Valley
rating: ***
review: Edward Norton in a low-key attempt to reprise his most familiar act.

Factory Girl
rating: ***
review: Sienna Miller in a fine spotlight and look at the world of Andy Warhol.

Don't Come Knocking
rating: ***
review: Sam Shepard in a looks behind the scenes of a fading western star's career.

Saw III
rating: ***
review: As a culmination point in this series, and probably the point where it was clear the series had a story to its monster, it's rewarding, for a rare horror series I've followed to any extent.

Happy Feet
rating: ***
review: It would probably have been more fun in Robin Williams had voiced the lead character, too.

Little Miss Sunshine
rating: ***
review: As subversive a feel-good movie is ever likely to be.

Blood Diamond
rating: ***
review: DiCaprio's Oscar chances in 2006 were dulled by the belief his performance here seriously competed with what he did in The Departed.

Ultraviolet
rating: **
review: This attempt at another franchise for Milla Jovovich thought it was a comic book movie.  In another two years, this would have been impossible.

Unaccompanied Minors
rating: **
review: This was all but a Tyler James Williams showcase, back when he still had a name for himself as star of Everybody Hates Chris.  In hindsight, if it had been his showcase, it could've helped out both the movie and the sitcom.

A Scanner Darkly
rating: **
review: Fascinating artistic experiment, at least in theory.  In hindsight seems like another of the soft attempts at a Robert Downey, Jr. reboot pre-Iron Man.

The Shaggy Dog
rating: **
review: Tim Allen (and hey! Robert Downey, Jr.!) in an excellent excuse for another voiceover performance.

The Guardian
rating: **
review: Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner in a fairly standard drama.

Beowulf and Grendel
rating: **
review: Gerard Butler's calling card for 300.

Poseidon
rating: **
review: Standard catastrophe.

Zoom
rating: **
review: Tim Allen struggling to find a vehicle.

Cars
rating: **
review: There's two audiences for this Pixar flick.  One's the kid set, who'll embrace all the shiny cars.  The other's the adult set who doesn't care how saccharine this particular variation on the Pixar formula is.

Just My Luck
rating: **
review: Early Chris Pine, in the kind of role that made it so hard to discover him, a romantic second lead with no real nuance.

Haven
rating: **
review: Orlando Bloom in the kind of movie that sort of justified his fall from relevance.

American Dreamz
rating: **
review: An attempt to translate American Idol into a standard Hollywood product.

When A Stranger Calls
rating: **
review: A nice little light horror.

John Tucker Must Die
rating: **
review: A nice little young adult comedy.

One Night with the King
rating: *
review: Sort of proof of why religious movies generally aren't taken seriously dramatically.