Best Movies of 2006

Being a student with limited financial resources and a demanding seminary curriculum it apparently takes until August of the following year to go back and reflect on the best films and music of 2006. Some may wonder why it would even be worth doing a list of the best films and music of '06 this late and I really don't have an answer for you except this is what blogs are for...namely sharing your opinion that virtually no one has any reason to care about. I will first be posting my top 10 films of 2006. I don't necessarily have a list of criteria on what determines the better movies of the year. I merely have an amateur eye for understanding film techniques and in no way have a future as a film critic. Yet I love movies and understand film to be one of the most powerful mediums today. Is it necessary to watch movies in order to engage with our culture? Probably not. But I like movies because great movies like great literature accurately portray the world and humanity as it really is. Why are movies backed by Christian production companies typically so bad? That's easy, they portray a world foreign to us all. A world full of positive and encouraging people and circumstances and if by chance conflict and adversity arises, God will save the day. The fact of the matter is that the world isn't always positive and encouraging. Often it is quite the opposite and our God often fails to save the day as he is portrayed as doing in Christian movies. All he promises to do is be with us, suffer with us, and one day redeem and make right every messed up part of this world.
Without further ado, my top movies of 2006.

#10 - Babel
As the name suggests, biblical imagery and references permeate this film highlighting the confusion and utter frustration of human beings not being able to communicate with other human beings. With multiple story lines running throughout the film the one thing that binds them all together is the fact that not being able to verbally communicate with one another leads to confusion and ultimately tragedy. The profundity of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel is made vivid when we are shown the very real consequences of God's ancient judgment that is still experienced today.

#9 - Thank You For Smoking
A hilarious satirical film about the cigarette industry and all of the political and legal lobbying that goes on behind the scenes. The story revolves around the world of a top notch spin doctor who works for the tobacco industry and does everything from encourage Hollywood to bring back smoking in films to bribing the dying Marlboro man in order to avoid a law suit. It's not an easy task finding an intelligent film that is still laugh out loud funny.

#8 - The Prestige
Director Christopher Nolan continues to prove himself as one of the best new directors. This suspenseful drama about two rival magicians was one of the most intelligent films of the year begging to be watched multiple times in order to grasp all of the twists and "misdirections" present throughout. While The Prestige could have been just an edgy movie movie about magicians starring beautiful people, I was especially engaged by Hugh Jackman's portrayal of a man consumed with obsession for his rival (Christian Bale). Plus David Bowie can only help but make a good product awesome.

#7 - Marie Antoinette
While most likely one of the more historically dubious movies of the year, it was one of the most entertaining films of the year. Sofia Coppola's third turn as director is my favorite of what she's made so far (I never really appreciated Lost In Translation to the extent critic did). This biopic of Marie Antoinette probably makes my list because of Coppola's full use of her artistic medium. Roger Ebert makes my point better than I can, "Coppola has been criticized in some circles for her use of a contemporary pop overlay -- hit songs, incongruous dialogue, jarring intrusions of the Now upon the Then. But no one ever lives as Then; it is always Now. Many characters in historical films seem somehow aware that they are living in the past. Marie seems to think she is a teenager living in the present, which of course she is -- and the contemporary pop references invite the audience to share her present with ours."

#6 - Stranger Than Fiction
While not on most critics lists for the best film of the year, the fact of the matter is that I love Will Ferrell. In college when Cassie and I would have a bad day we would simply give each other the look and in went Anchor Man. Sometimes as a film viewer you just appreciate a creative story with a decent message, for me, that's what this movie was. It wasn't great and didn't win any prestigious awards, it was just a fun and entertaining film.

#5 - The Queen
By geographical default, the United States is an isolationist nation. Our local newscasts would sooner run a story about a pig that can windsurf than actual global landscape changing events on the other six continents in the world. The Queen makes my list because for two hours I was deeply concerned with the British government's handling of an event that was on the scale of a national crisis. It was bigger than just a retelling of the story of Princess Diana's death and the response of Queen Elizabeth. It was about a dying (if not dead) way of life. In the United States we have long understood the impotence of the British crown but seeing the power struggle between the Queen and new PM Tony Blair at the time of events gives those of us far removed from such an event fresh perspective.

# 4 - Brick
A teenage crime drama where modern 16 and 17- year olds in Southern California speak with classic film noir dialogue. While sounding like a recipe for disaster it some how miraculously works. Brick is one of the more engaging films of the year. We don't really care about the characters' fates because we know they are over the top, they are merely representing old school crime drama archetypes but we still watch to see what will happen next in a stylized way with overwritten dialogue.

# 3 - The Departed
When I was in high school I saw The Godfather for the first time. For three hours I was completely and totally engaged. From there I saw the rest of the Godfather series (te absolvo non Part 3) Goodfellas and any other moffia inspired movie that came out since. All of this to say I really liked The Departed.

# 2 - Little Miss Sunshine
What can I say, an iconic comedy with an iconic yellow VW bus and an iconic dance. A seriously messed up family going to a beauty pageant with more seriously messed up families ruining their daughters lives. Little Miss Sunshine is both hilarious and tragic, much the same as life.

# 1 - Children of Men
First of all let me say that I am embarrassed to admit that I had no idea that this was a novel before I saw the film let alone a novel by P. D. James. It was after listening to a Mars Hill Audio Journal with Ken Myers that I was informed that The Children of Men was perhaps her most blatantly Christian novel. In retrospect this doesn't surprise me. I still haven't read the book but this film portrays such a bleak outlook on the depravity of humanity. It's true that in the film there is no Gospel and there is no Christ. But there is plenty of hopelessness and sin, and that is after all half the equation. Director Alfonso Cuaron presents a visually stunning movie that takes dark, gray tones to a new level with Emmanuel Lubezki's breathtaking cinematography . I recall reading a Paste Magazine review of this movie where the reviewer expressed concern that the film (specifically its ending) was nihilistic. If nihilism was the only thing some viewers are taking away from a film like this, it is merely a reminder of how quickly this is becoming a depressing world where self-sacrifice and teleological ethics are interpreted as nihilistic.