The best of 2006

I’m not doing a best of list for new music 2006 because I have heard too little of it (being away in Germany during prime release season does that to you). Movies, however, I’ve seen a lot more of, so here’s some of the best of the year (and sorry about not reviewing them at the time):

• A Bittersweet Life – OK, so it’s no Oldboy, but this Korean tale of a mob enforcer having a fatal mid-life crisis is still kinetic, occasionally daft, visually stunning and extremely watchable. Fans of black humour and suddenly unleashed screen brutality will find much to enjoy here.
• Borat – No, it’s not tasteful. Yes, it is funny. And it has a Laurel and Hardy visual gag, which makes up for everything. Fun Easter egg: which language is it that Borat is speaking to his assistant?
• Casino Royale – At last, the Bond producers have listened to what fans have been saying for ages and brought Bond back to earth, and got a decent screenwriter (Paul Haggis) in to do it too instead of Purvis and Wade. If the next one’s more like this than Die Another Day I’ll be very very pleased. [Also, those danielcraigisnotbond people really need to go figure.]
• Children Of Men – It’s fantastic dystopian SF from a very British point of view. The scenes of day-to-day life in this movie have more resonance than all of the sadly over-Hollywoodised V for Vendetta. Alfonso Cuaron directs some stunning multi-minute apparent single takes. And Clive Owen is forced into acting, which is worth the cost of the movie alone.
• Clerks II – It could have been a complete waste of time, but unfortunately for Kevin Smith haters it turned out to be very, very funny. My favourite Smith film is still Chasing Amy, and I accept his limitations as a director, but he does know how to construct a good running gag and this has some very, very good ones. Also, he has got better.
• The Departed – No, it’s not as good as Infernal Affairs (which it is a pretty much expanded remake of) but it’s still really good and it’s still Scorcese. It’ll be a shame to see him denied the Oscar again, but if he gets it I’ll be cheering.
• Good Night And Good Luck – It could have been a vanity project, but George Clooney is a very good director and he didn’t let it happen. Beautifully shot in black and white, with its moral compass very much in shades of grey.
• The Host – Truly wonderful Korean horror with an initially dodgy monster and a serious case of genre confusion, expanding through horror, black comedy, political satire, slapstick, melodrama and countdown-clock thriller. As an added bonus, the hero’s search for his daughter is often thwarted by the most nasty case of unhelpful bureaucracy since Brazil.
• Pan’s Labyrinth – Guillermo del Toro’s adult fairytale manages to evoke both time and timeless within its short runtime. Beautiful film, fantastic child performances, and a very convincing look at the realities of the Spanish Civil War lie within.
• The Proposition – A beautifully savage, brutally adult “Australian Western”; Ray Winstone and Guy Pearce especially stand out here amongst a sprawling ensemble cast of some of the best actors in European and Australian cinema. Very well written by, yes, that Nick Cave.

Movies that I liked much more than I should have: Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Sorry. And V for Vendetta, despite my review.

Things I really should have seen: Far too many; I missed the summer season (everything was dubbed in my part of Germany, aaargh). At the very least: Superman Returns, United 93, Inside Man, An Inconvenient Truth, Snakes on a Plane.

Awful awful movies: Thankfully nothing I can recall. Hopefully it’ll stay that way long into 2007.