My Favorite Movies of 2006

I couldn't do just ten. Although it wasn't the greatest year in movies, the first five are outstanding, and there are quite a few that are very good, some of which had limited or no theatrical release.

A+
Half Nelson (Ryan Gosling is a god -- if you have the stomach for it, also see him in The Believers, about a Jewish neo-Nazi)



A
Little Children (Kate Winslet is a god, too)
CSA: Confederate States of America (what if the South had won? -- terribly and terribly funny)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (edited to great effect)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (neo-realist black humor from Hungary)



B+
Down in the Valley, Brick (modern day high school film noir), Sophie Scholl, War Tapes (3 American soldiers in Iraq videotape themselves), Forgiven, Wristcutters: A Love Story (as funny and dark as it sounds), Neo Ned (a neo-Nazi man gets together with a black woman who thinks she's Hitler), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Khazakstan (okay, perhaps he's unfair to some of these folks, but he didn't put words into their mouths and the satire is frightening and important), Marie Antoinette (not her best, but Sophia Coppola is a master of mood)

B
Infamous (almost as good as Capote), Stranded, Volver (not Almodovar’s best, but Penelope Cruz singing Volver is heaven), Kukumi, Paradise Now, The Last King of Scotland, For Your Consideration (I for one wasn't disappointed, and the end is tragic and funny at the same time), Princesas, No. 2, Quinceaneros