No matter you like their films or not, there is little doubt 2006 was a great year for Mexican filmmakers. Leading the way is Babel, which has been honored by a lot of awards already and is now the top contender in America's big prize (aka the Oscars). Babel's screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga also wrote "The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada", a very fine film which did not gain a lot of attention in North America (it's technically 2005, but I'll include it as 2006). Alfonso Cuaron's follow-up after his success with Harry Potter was "Children Of Men", a movie that received a decent dose of accalim and box office. I'm sure we'll see more of Cuaron's presence in American cinema. He also produced an independent mexican movie "Duck Season", which quietly came and go in American theaters. Let's hope "Duck Season" is a glimpse of what we can expect from the young mexican filmmakers in the future. And of course, Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" is the biggest hit right now. The hype is big, but this genre-blender is not to be missed (even speaking as a CGI-movie-hater).
As I've told Rory, I was not satisfied with the quality of movies in 2006. But here are my favorites:
Duck Season
The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada
Little Miss Sunshine
Bubble
49 Up
Volver
Pan's Labyrinth
(Babel and Letters From Iwo Jima are decent films, but I just don't like them as much as the ones above)
Movies I missed and I am open to see:
Little Children
Half Nelson (i hope it's not a Garden State Deja Vu)
Deliver Us From Evil
The Last King of Scotland
Jesus Camp
The Good German
movies I'm not interested in seeing are: The Queen (modern monarchs are just stupid leeches of society, sorry), Dreamgirls (Eddie Murphy's oscar nod could be a sign of apocalypse) The Departed (I hate remakes, especially the ones of a foreign movie a couple years old)
What are your favorites? (well, i know rory's)
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5 comments:
on the whole, I'll say that 2006 was a disappointing year for cinema...
my favorites were:
Little Miss Sunshine (the only film i gave 5 stars to this year)
Letters From Iwo Jima (mostly for the concept and the fact that Eastwood made two films in one year)
Stranger Than Fiction (i think i pretty much stand alone on this one)
An Inconvenient Truth
The Science of Sleep (the release date says 2005, but i don't remember it that way)
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
the Queen and Volver were both good, Children of Men had it's flaws, and my list of films to see before the awards show include:
Babel
Pan's Labyrinth
The Departed
Half Nelson
The Last King of Scotland
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
Jesus Camp
...and I've only got about a month
Oh, I forgot about The Science of Sleep. I like it a lot, but I don't know if it should be on my list....
And I want to to see Stranger Than Fiction, too. After Joe says so highly of it (and it sounds kinda interesting).
i just finished watching Jesus Camp (i was the first person to rent it at MOViES)
this is up there with Little Miss Sunshine as one the best films of the year... probably THE most frightening, insane, and sobering film i've ever seen.. these people really do exist in large numbers and will stop at nothing to destroy everything that matters to us... I'm serious.. these people are certifiably insane
it was a very well made documentary - the editing and photography were excellent
I didn't put "The Three Burials..." on my list only because it was technically a 2005 release. If I wasn't so anal then it would definitely be on my 2006 list.
i forgot one very good movie i watch:
The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
another great movie, oscar snub.
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