10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

I’m always a disappointed by people who were disappointed by the sequel to the incredibly popular Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (I’m also a little surprised since some people must have liked it as it’s the year’s top-grossing film) Still, I understand the difference between the two films but where others may see only a bloated FX piece that lacks the freshness of the original, I see a sequel that does everything a sequel should: It expands the world without being more of the same. It upps the ante, twists the characters, and takes chances. Dead Man’s Chest can proudly call itself the Empire Strikes Back of the trilogy and not just because it’s the middle part. It’s, as Jack would say, “much more better.”

9. The Departed

I’m as shocked as you to find such a great film at such a low spot on the list, but that doesn’t mean I hold this film in low esteem. It’s the film that I feel Scorsese’s slowly been working his way to. It may be familiar ground insofar as its crime tale of betrayal, but it’s also more shocking, more powerful, and more quotable than its two close relatives, Hong Kong’s Infernal Affairs and 1990’s Goodfellas. I’m really pulling for Scorsese to get the Oscar this year because not only does he deserve it for this film, but it’s a lifetime achievement award that actually awards a film that could only come from a lifetime of Martin Scorsese’s achievements.

8. Wordplay

I’m a sucker for films like this. I missed a lot of documentaries this year, but all would have a tough time competing with such a joyful film that examines crossword puzzles and the people that play them. It’s one thing to look at a big issue like Global Warming or Christian Fundamentalism, but I like the history and the study of the highly specific and Wordplay takes me there. Even if it didn’t have the great celebrity interviews from Jon Stewart or Ken Burns or Bill Clinton, the non-celebrities and focus on just crosswords would still be just as fun and just as fascinating.

7. Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

It’s the funniest film of the year, the most controversial film of the year, the most quotable film of the year, and the most successful comedy of the year. Sasha Baron Cohen made a comedy classic that went beyond gross-out gags and the comedy of embarassment, but to an actual satire that exposed the prejudice that arises out of ignorance. Borat is a film with a brain, a heart, and a pair of testicles slapping against the collective agape mouth of the American public.

6. Running Scared

This film had it tough. It shared a name with a just-remembered-enough Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines film, and the MPAA worked their wonderful censoring magic to make sure that the film couldn’t be sold as what it was. You see, the film focuses on a child (2006’s most ubiquitous child actor, Cameron Bright) in peril. The MPAA says ads for the film can’t show a child in peril. And so what gets lost is Paul Walker’s revelatory performance, a brilliant dystopic fairy tale, and the world’s best game of ice hockey. Hopefully this film will find its cult and much-deserved appreciation for writer/director Wayne Kramer’s beautiful madness.

5. V for Vendetta

Alan Moore usually gets butchered on his way to the big screen. Let us not speak of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or From Hell. And yet his tale of a terrorist-as-hero wasn’t watered down but actually improved in its big-screen transisition. The Wachowski Bros. did an superb job of focusing the story, hitting the major character beats, and actually making V more of a character than just a symbol. Director James McTeigue then directed it with style, flourish, but never trying to just copy The Matrix as the trailers for this film would have led us to believe. This film is about as political as a mainstream film can get without being boring and without having enough of an audience. Now if only some enterprising theatre owner would show this on November 5th every year…

4. Lady Vengeance

Up until the last couple months of 2006, this film remained firmly planed as the #1 film of the year. I think it’s easily the best film of writer/director Park Chan-Wook’s “Vengeance Trilogy” as the other films Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy try to twist the revenge genre, Lady Vengeance approaches it and kindly inquires where vengeance and justice meet and if vengeance is ever truly acceptable. And while other films may lead to a message of “vengeance leads to damnation”, Chan-Wook crafts a vivid tale of vengeance leading to salvation.

3. Pan's Labyrinth

Guillermo Del Toro has taken the title of Arbiter of Imagination from Tim Burton. While Burton’s work has become tired, homogenized, and a little too obsessed with daddy-issues, Del Toro weaves modern-day fairy-tales that trust the maturity of the audience and showcase a directorial style that is unique but enriches the story rather than distracts from it. Del Toro is a true artist of cinema but one that embraces the audience and respects them. Pan’s Labyrinth is his most mature, daring, and overall best film to date. No matter what project he chooses, its never a step back. The passion and love he brings to his films puts no genre, no world, and no story beyond his talents.

2. Children of Men

How do you make a film about hope when everything is lost? How do you make a film about sacrifice when there’s nothing left to lose? How do you make a film about humanity eating itself alive and have the audience leave feeling hopeful? Ask writer/director Alfonso Cuaron. He gets riviting performances from his actors (especially Clive Owen, who with this and Inside Man has easily made himself one of my favorite actors working today). He completes breathless long takes that never once feel showy or forced. He has a story with more shocking and honest twists than M. Night Shyamalan could ever hope to achieve even in his wildest expository monologues. This isn’t a film about a world going to hell or how to save such a world. It’s about one intimate story going beyond the spectacle with honesty, courage, and most importantly, humanity.

1. The Fountain

This is the year’s most overlooked film, most critically unappreciated film, and my best film. In time, it will find its audience. It will find the respect it deserves. It is a masterpiece in the truest since of the word because it is meticulously crafted. Some call it “self-indulgent” but I only see that in the same way one might called a pointillist painting “too detailed”. I can’t think of another film this year or in recent memory that is so cerebral and yet completely heartfelt. The music, the visuals, the performances, the tone, the story, EVERYTHING about this film washed over me both times I saw this film and each time I was completely enraptured. I will watch it many more times on DVD as it yields not only new secrets, new ideas, and new perspectives, but an absolutely enjoyable and moving piece of cinema.