Best of 2006, Part II

Okay, I'll admit it: I cheated.

I looked at B's Top 5 Movies before sitting down to create my own list. I'm a bad human being. That being said, I'm going to cheat again by changing the topic slightly. Instead of a ranking of the "Best Movies of 2006," here are my selections for the "Best Movie Experiences of 2006." My only requirement: the movie had to blow me away when I saw it.

Honorable Mention

*Note: I saw this movie on DVD.

*Half Nelson - This film is light on plot yet heavy on fine acting performances. The subject also proves quite heavy, but as long as you're not expecting a popcorn flick, you'll be amazed by this gritty look at the troubled life of a Brooklyn middle school teacher. Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) reminds me of myself during my brief teaching career in East Harlem... minus the crack smoking and school-night bar-hopping, of course. (For more on Gosling, see the comment I linked to this post.) It took me a while to figure out was up with the burgeoning friendship between Dunne and Drey (Shareeka Epps), a soft-spoken female student. This movie proved much more subtle and complex than I had expected. (One dubious plot point: thirteen year-old students would never sit quietly and attentively through a lecture on the dialectic nature of history. I know from experience.) (2.5 PB Jars)

*An Inconvenient Truth - It's the cop-out pick for a "bleeding-heart liberal" like myself, but you've got to admit that Al Gore knows how to work the camera. For all the publicity Gore received on Oscar Night and the preceding six months, his slide show is the real star of the film. Whether you agree with Gore's politics or not, the statistics related to global climate change prove staggering. Truth is as entertaining a movie as a documentary about the imminent destruction of life on earth could be. (2 PB Jars)

Superman Returns - For those of us who grew up with X-Men comics and "Batman: The Animated Series," Superman always seemed a little…boring. Wolverine struggled with his anger issues and the pangs of unrequited love; Batman proved that tech savvy can make an ordinary man into a superhero; and Spider-Man took out his adolescent angst on a slew of arch-villains. By comparison, the Superman boasted such a bevy of powers that it appeared downright easy for him to defend Metropolis from evildoers like Lex Luther. On the contrary, Superman Returns reminds us that the "Man of Steel" has some serious chinks in his armor. We see glimpses of his loneliness as a child in Kansas and his awkwardness as a young man in the big city. Clark Kent appears to shrink into himself, but only minutes later, his alter-ego explodes across the big screen in all his glory. This film makes Superman accessible to a whole new generation of Americans (myself included) who have never seen the original movies. Director Bryan Singer certainly brings his X-Men magic to this venerable franchise, though I'll admit I was thrown by a few of his casting choices. (Ahem, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane.) Luckily, Singer brought along his pal Kevin Spacey to play the crucial foil to Supe. Who better to play a self-centered psychopath than the actor behind Se7en's John Doe and The Usual Suspects' Keyser Söze? (2 PB Jars)

Top 5 Movie Experiences

*5. Jesus Camp - At "Kids on Fire," an evangelical summer camp in North Dakota, children learn how to "be soldiers for Christ" so that one day they may "lay down their lives for the Gospel as they are over in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine" (according to camp director Becky Fischer). In between go-cart races and archery, Fischer and her instructors show campers how to speak in tongues, bow down to a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush, and use a hammer to smash ceramic mugs labeled GOVERNMENT with a black Sharpie. Twelve year-old Levi receives preaching advice from Pastor Ted Haggard (the former leader of the evangelical movement, who has since been disgraced by his admitted drug abuse and dealings with a male prostitute). Nine year-old Rachael practices walking up to "sinners" and asking them if they think they're going to heaven. If you haven't experienced Jesus Camp yet, you have to see it to believe it. (2.5 PB Jars)

4. Borat - I had to break my "no-wasting-money-to-see-a-comedy-on-the-big-screen" rule when Sascha Baron Cohen brought his Kazakh alter-ego to the silver screen. My $11 was well spent. I laughed continuously for 90 minutes, plus I enjoyed the subtler satirical jabs at Middle America. (2.5 PB Jars)

3. Pan's Labyrinth - Not sure how B missed this one, seeing as he has spent time in Spain, idolizes Earnest Hemingway, and has been known to quote Spanish poets… Regardless, he is in for a treat. The amazing thing about Pan's Labyrinth is that it not only crosses genres almost seamlessly, but it also seems to appeal to a wide audience. The same crowd that enjoyed Borat would find plenty to enjoy in this film, most notably the creepy monster with eyeballs in his hands. I didn't love every single moment of this movie; the sadistic Fascist commander actually stole the show and made me wish he was back on screen during a few of the more juvenile fantasy sequences. Yet this movie definitely has many of the elements of greatness. "Lord of the Rings meets Schindler's List… in Spanish." (3 PB Jars)

*2. The Prestige - This tale of rival magicians in turn-of-the-century London, which received an "Honorable Mention" nod from B, surely belongs among the Top 5 "Best Movie Experiences" for its pure theatricality. The showman Angier (Hugh Jackman) and the prodigy Borden (Christian Bale) play off each other like a throwback Penn & Teller… who hate each other. Bale should at last be recognized as the best method actor to come along since Robert De Niro. As in American Psycho, he convinces the viewer to sympathize with the villain despite his evil deeds. I've heard several people criticize the ending of The Prestige, but it seems to fit well with the overall themes of the film. B, will you at least agree with me that The Prestige is a tasty "movie candy?" (More of a dark chocolate than Starburst, I guess. 3 PB Jars)

1. The Descent - A group of people gets stranded in the wilderness. They discover they're not alone. They struggle to find their way to safety. It's a simple formula, for sure, but one which has been botched repeatedly in the long history of horror movies. Finally someone got it right.

As six women descend into the darkness of an uncharted Appalachian cave system, novice director Neil Marshall uses this cliched horror setup to explore the dark side of human nature. The greatest thing these strong-willed women have to fear isn't fear itself (or bottomless pits, or creepy crawly mutants). It's a lack of trust in each other. As the external dangers multiply, the internal dissension within the group intensifies. Of course, Marshall does provide the requisite horror staples: blood, gore, and killer creatures. Yet claustrophobic cinematography serves as his most powerful scare tactic. I couldn't help but glance toward the illuminated exit signs every few minutes, just to make sure I still had my own way out.

I leave it to film critic Roger Ebert, by no means a fan of the horror genre, to sum up this rare moviegoing experience: "I don't know how else to describe this: The movie made me feel bad. It filled me with feelings of unease and disquiet and anxiety. I walked outside and I didn't want to talk to anyone. I was drained. I'm not sure [this movie] is what we mean by entertainment. Yet I have to be accurate about this movie: It is a superb example of filmmaking craft." ("Aliens," Chicago Sun-Times, 18 July 1986) (3 PB Jars)

Addendum: The Descent also has one of the freakiest one-sheets of all time (above). The concept was borrowed from Salvador Dali's "Female Bodies as a Skull" painting.