11 November 2006

For my own benefit

I've been thinking about that end of the year "best of" that I feel obliged to do every year and how scarce the list is so far (when X-Men: The Last Stand is sitting in your top ten for the year, you know something is the matter). So, for my own benefit, I'm going to make a list of notable 2006 releases that might (or might not) affect the list this year (this year's "best of" list will mark one year that I have been blogging on here, so it feels kind of special). So, without further adieu (and in no particular order)...

Little Miss Sunshine - dir. Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Volver - dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Babel - dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Changing Times (Le Temps qui changent) - dir. André Téchiné
Marie Antoinette - dir. Sofia Coppola
The Notorious Bettie Page - dir. Mary Harron
The Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing - dir. Barbara Kopple, Cecilia Peck (I know this sounds like something I wouldn't normally be interested in, but one of my most trusted film professors sang its praise to me last night, and as long as Kopple isn't making a narrative, I'm game)
Factotum - dir. Bent Hamer


Old Joy - dir. Kelly Reichardt
Heading South (Vers le sud) - dir. Laurent Cantet
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - dir. Steven Shainberg
Jesus Camp - dir. Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady
Gabrielle - dir. Patrice Chéreau
Half Nelson - dir. Ryan Fleck
Infamous - dir. Douglas McGrath


Little Children - dir. Todd Field
The Queen - dir. Stephen Frears
Wild Blue Yonder - dir. Werner Herzog
Rescue Dawn - dir. Werner Herzog
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - dir. Larry Charles
This Film Is Not Yet Rated - dir. Kirby Dick
Tideland - dir. Terry Gilliam


Inland Empire - dir. David Lynch
The Science of Sleep (La Science des rêves) - dir. Michel Gondry
Deliver Us from Evil - dir. Amy Berg
L'Enfant - dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
The Departed - dir. Martin Scorsese
For Your Consideration - dir. Christopher Guest
Candy - dir. Neil Armfield


Perfume: The Story of a Murderer - dir. Tom Tykwer
Venus - dir. Roger Michell
Children of Men - dir. Alfonso Cuarón
Dreamgirls - dir. Bill Condon
Pan's Labyrinth (El Labertino del Fauno) - dir. Guillermo del Toro
Factory Girl - dir. George Hickenlooper
3 Needles - dir. Thom Fitzgerald


Time to Leave (Le Temps qui reste) - dir. François Ozon
The King - dir. James Marsh
A Prairie Home Companion - dir. Robert Altman
United 93 - dir. Paul Greengrass
The Host - dir. Joon-ho Bong
The Bridesmaid (La Demoiselle d'honneur) - dir. Claude Chabrol
The Devil Wears Prada - dir. David Frankel


The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes - dir. Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints - dir. Dito Montiel
Conversations with Other Women - dir. Hans Canosa
Drawing Restraint 9 - dir. Matthew Barney
Edmond - dir. Stuart Gordon
Idlewild - dir. Brian Barber
Lady Vengeance - dir. Park Chan-wook
Miami Vice - dir. Michael Mann


The Proposition - dir. John Hillcoat
Scoop - dir. Woody Allen
A Scanner Darkly - dir. Richard Linklater
Sorry, Haters - dir. Jeff Stanzler
Three Times - dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien
Wassup Rockers - dir. Larry Clark
Thank You for Smoking - dir. Jason Reitman
Quinceañera - dir. Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

I realize I won't see all of these films, and definitely not before the new year, but I found it helpful to make this list for myself. And, yeah, I know some films have a better shot at making the best of list than others. This is all I could think of though, any suggestions? Send 'em my way. I also focused mainly on fall titles, so if I missed something at the beginning of the year, please let me know.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are so self serving. Maybe once you can think about others.

Anonymous said...

When do we get to see the Reese and Ryan retrospective? Since there perfect marriage is breaking up so harshly?

Anonymous said...

L' Ivresse du pouvoir? I ate it up and loved it. and while I wanted to hate it, I was slightly impressed with Quinceañera, but that may be due to low expectations and my new torrid love affair with Jesse Garcia. But I'd put it on a list that was going sofar as to list Marie Antoinette, The Notorious Bettie Page and Scoop.

word.

ps. you're my favorite reviewer, by far.

reassurance said...

Thanks for the recommendation -- I actually was quite fond of Wash West and Richard Glatzer's The Fluffer against my better judgement, so I will certainly add that onto the list.