Top Ten Movies of 2006

Each January, I like to pull together my personal Top 10 list of movies from the previous year. This list only accounts for movies that were officially released in 2006 so it's doesn't include Christmas Day releases from 2005. It only includes movies that I actually saw, so there may be a few good movies that I missed but I've written about those movies here.

[10] World Trade Center (Link)
Starring Nicholas Cage and directed by Oliver Stone. This a realistic look at how police officers on the ground tried to deal with the Twin Tower attacks of 9/11, how they gradually learned about what was happening and their efforts to simply survive. It's based on the true experiences of a few of the characters and it isn't preachy or sentimental, it's just a good bit of drama.

[9] Invincible (Link)
I always like a good crowd-pleasing rah-rah sports movie about the underdog, so here we go. Beyond the football and the real-life story, I really liked the authenticity of the 1970's period that they use. The city of Philadelphia seems authentic and the cast of characters is well played and well written as unique individuals. And yes, I like Mark Wahlberg in the lead role.

[8] Bon Cop, Bad Cop (Link)
This is an odd movie and I really enjoyed it. It ranks as one of the two most popular Canadian-made movies of all time, right along with Porky's. Bon Cop is an odd-couple movie with one cop from Ontario and another from Quebec as they are forced to team up to investigate a murder at the border. The movie shifts back and forth between French and English and you can get different subtitles depending on which version of the movie you're watching. The jabs and insults that are tossed back and forth are funny but the movie repeats itself when it moves from Quebec to Ontario and does the same jokes in reverse.

[7] Cars (Link)
Easily the best animated movie of the year, though we expect nothing less from Pixar. I had this competing against Monster House, Ice Age 2 and Open Season but they were only runners up, placing 2-3-4 in that order. My Little Brother loves toy cars so he obviously got a big kick out of this as well.

[6] Jet Li's Fearless (Link)
Billed as Jet Li's final martial arts epic, this is a superb martial arts flick. It does include various crazy wire-stunts but it gives you everything that you would want from this genre. Excellent ending note for Jet Li, whatever that means.

[5] Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby (Link)
I liked Anchorman and I liked Will Ferrell in this movie in much the same way, as both the actor and the writer. I rate this as my top comedy of the year, even though I did miss Click.

[4] Pursuit of Happyness (Link)
This is a true story about a guy that ends up homeless for a while as he tries to take care of his kid while his life falls apart. Will Smith is up for best actor for the Golden Globes, there's a spark between him and his real-life son Jaden Smith and I hardly even recognized Thandie Newton as she disappeared into her role. I recently bought the original book so I look forward to reading that as well. I recommend that y'all catch this if you haven't already since it's still in theatres.

[3] Casino Royale (Link)
Ah, the return of James Bond. I'm a big fan of the entire series and it's somewhat nostalgic for me since I've been watching the movies ever since grandparents used to tape them from american television for us. This movie comes straight from the original book and shows us how Bond won the "double oh" status and became 007. It's centres around his relationship with the only true love of his life and it shows us how he became the stone cold spy that we all know and love. There weren't too many action sets as they concentrated on character development, tense card games and love affairs but the action that it did have was fun.

[2] Inside Man (Link)
Directed by Spike Lee and starring Denzel, this was Lee's most successful film venture by far, making about $40 million more than his previously most successful movie (comparison). This is a tense and twisty bank heist movie. Great plot, great writing, great atmosphere, great acting. There's a reason that there's making a sequel next year.

[1] The Protector (Link)
This stars Tony Jaa, whom you may know from Ong-bak. He has his own version of a martial art form that he uses for his films, according to something I read somewhere. It involves a lot of knees and elbows to the head and monkey-like acrobatics. The plot setup is pointless and silly (he protects sacred elephants from poachers) but this is all about the action anyway.

The climax of the movie is straight from a Bruce Lee movie as wave after wave of guys come at him and he dutifully breaks various limbs in variois ingenious ways. The crowd that I was with was loudly cheering part way through this movie, that's how good this was. Granted, the crowd was made up entirely of guys but for straight up fight scenes and stunts, this was a beautiful movie. On an emotional level I declare it to be better than any other movie that I watched this year.

Honourable Mentions:
Blood Diamond
The Departed
The Prestige
Rocky
MI:3
16 Blocks

My Previous Top 10 Lists: 2004 & 2005
Reference: Top Grossing Movies of 2006