THE R AWARDS: Movies/Performances of Note in 2006

My Favorite Flicks of the Year

Happy New Year everyone! It's 2007 and one of my New Year's resolutions is to beat around the bush a lot less. So forget the long preamble and let's get right to it, shall we?:

1. AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (Documentary) - Director: David Guggenheim. Stars: Al Gore. There was no overwhelming, instant cinematic classic that I saw this year, so choosing what I thought the Best Picture of the year was turned out to be a tough choice. So I followed an old formula--all levels of cinematic craft being more or less equal between the top films, which one had either a) the greatest emotional impact or b) generated the most discussion outside of film critic circles? Using that criteria, I chose this documentary of Al Gore's global warming lecture because it is never dry, always engaging and it did more to get people interested in both the environment and the future of our planet than any movie before it. One of 2006's few must-see films.

2. THE PRESTIGE (Drama) - Director/co-writer: Christopher Nolan. Co-writer: Jonathan Nolan. Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johannsen. No one I know likes this movie as much as I did and a lot of people may have forgotten it existed. When it comes to DVD, seek it out, it's well worth it. A cleverly constructed thriller which uses the story of a rivalry between two very different Victorian-era magicians as an allegory exploring Nolan's favorite themes of identity and obsession, The Prestige will keep you guessing to the very end but it is the performances of Jackman and, especially, Bale who will keep you invested in all the twists and turns.

3. THE DEPARTED (Drama) - Director: Martin Scorsese. Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga. Not Scorsese's finest in the macho gangster genre, but certainly one of the most visually exciting, well-crafted movies of the year. Nicholson's performance is over-the-top in a good way and Leonardo DiCaprio has top billing and some of the showier scenes but it's Matt Damon as the gangster mole within the police department that colors within the lines but still manages to portray an oily character of untapped depth who realizes too late that his main allegiance should be to himself.

4. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (Comedy) - Directors: Valerie Dayton and Jonathan Faris. Stars: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell and Alan Arkin. This summer's indie sensation was worth all of the hype even if the big payoff scene left me feeling vaguely creepy. I guess that's part of this movie's charm as this classic American road picture deftly balances slapstick, family dysfunction, absurdism and surprisingly dark drama into an often hilarious dissection of one family's search for happiness. The best performance in this picture? Carrell's, as the gay, suicidal, Proustian scholar uncle. (My fiancee strongly disagrees by the way--she also loved the movie, but insists that Alan Arkin gives the best performance in Sunshine. Either way, you can't go wrong.)

5. DREAMGIRLS (Musical) - Director/writer: Bill Condon. Stars: Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy. This isn't some newfangled, post-modern, hipper-than-thou "modern musical" (see Moulin Rouge), this movie is old school and true to it's roots and that will either thrill you or drive you crazy. It did a little of both for me, but I advise you to give into this movie's charms as it tells the story of a classic Black girl group and their ambitious manager trying to make it to the big time and how they sell their souls on the way to the top. Jennifer Hudson is as great as advertised (although she's still no Jennifer Holliday), Eddie Murphy will finally get that overdue (and well-earned) Oscar nomination and Jamie Foxx does his best work since RAY. Beyonce only shines in one scene near the end (her performance of the somewhat out-of-character song "Listen"), but as usual she's great to look at and never embarasses herself. If you don't find the musical transitions too jarring or hokey then, to paraphrase the musical's signature song, "you're gonna love" DREAMGIRLS.

6. BORAT (Comedy) - Director: Larry Charles. Written by Sasha Baren Cohen, Charles and others. Stars: Sasha Baron Cohen and the people of the U.S.A. The movie is essentially one long prank played on unwitting bystanders by a satirist and social observer with an agenda, but what a funny prank and what an agenda! Cohen is Borat and this mockumentary produced not one, but several of the funniest scenes of the year. It doesn't matter if it lived up to the hype or not--what movie could? I was redfaced from laughing (yes, that happens to black people too) and that's the most important thing.

7. BLOOD DIAMOND (Drama/Thriller) - Director: Ed Zwick. Written by Charles Leavitt. Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Honsou and Jennifer Connelly. It so wants to be a great movie but has to settle for being just very good...still, how many movies have you seen about the plight of living in a war torn, underdeveloped African nation where diamonds are the currency of choice and eight-year old boys with machine guns can terrorize an entire populace? I'm guessing this is the only one and fortunately it keeps the preaching and liberal piety to a minimum. Honsou's performance is fierce and heartwrenching and of the two starring DiCaprio roles this year, this one feature's his best work in the kind of role that Robert Mitchum would have taken sixty years ago.

8. AKEELAH & THE BEE (Drama) - Director: Doug Hutchinson. Stars: Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett. Long gone, but not forgotten (at least by me), this family drama about a young girl in Crenshaw with a special gift for spelling is totally predictable but so well-acted and well-directed that it didn't matter one bit. I'd love to see the movie Half Nelson(also about a poor, gifted student struggling to overcome with the help of a mentor with his own demons) to use as a contrast to this beautiful film.

9. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (Drama) - Director: Gabrielle Mucchino. Stars: Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Thandie Newton. This based on a true story tale of an ambitious but down on his luck father (Smith) who must endure homelessness and a greuling brokerage internship while raising his young son alone tugs at the heartstrings but generally avoids melodrama and easy solipsisms. Another movie where the predictable ending in no way detracts from the compelling journey the story takes arriving there. If Thandie Newton's character, as Chris Gardener's harried and unsupportive ex-wife, hadn't been written so shrilly and one-note, I'd actually rank this movie higher.

10. THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND (Drama) - Director: Kevin Macdonald. Stars: Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington. Script-wise, this movie takes a little time to find it's focus, wasting precious minutes of screen time on the flirtation and non-relationship between the Scottish doctor (McAvoy) trying to find himself in Uganda and a lonely relief worker (Gillian Anderson, aging nicely). But then Forest Whitaker enters the story as ruthless, unpredicable and charming dictator Idi Amin and from that point on viewers are in for a roller coaster ride--and one of the greatest big screen performances of all time. When Whitaker wins his Best Actor Oscar in March for his unforgettable portrayal, it will be well-deserved.

Honorable Mention - The Rest of the Sweet 16: Babel, United 93, A Prairie Home Companion, A Scanner Darkly, Inside Man, The Devil Wears Prada.

That's the end of Part 1. Call it a cliffhanger...next up, I'll give my awards to the performers and writers who I thought did the best work in film from 2006.

Peace & have a Happy 2007!