Review Of The Year Pt.2 Film/TV/Video
I'll begin with a list of films that were released this year or the end of last. i won't quibble too much about the cinema release dates, since most people watch films on dvd, or download them anyway.

Best Films Of 2006



1. three times (hsiao-hsien hou)
2. cache (michael haneke)
3. volver (almodovar)
4. the child (dardenne bros)
5. canary (akhiko shiota)
6. the devil wears prada (david frankel)
7. linda linda linda (nobuhiro yamashita)
8. final destination 3
9. junebug (phil morrison)
10.. grizzly man (werner herzog)
11. united 93 (paul greengrass)
12. time (kim ki-duk)
13. the squid and the whale (noam braumbach)
14. container (lukas moodysson)
15. brokeback mountain (ang lee)
16. the road to guantanamo (michael winterbottom)
17.the death of mr lazarescu (christi puiu)
18. capote (bennett miller)

i intended to list 20 but got stuck after 18 - overambition is not too often my forte, but there you have it. i'm startled actually that there were 18 movies of any note, as i had figured it to be a disappointing year... and i'm certain i'll have missed a couple - we'll call these the ghost marks of films 19 and 20.

nothing looked as good, or moved me as much as 'three times'. i guess you could say it's a portmanteau film - 3 shorts interwoven and shedding light on one another. the word 'transcendental' is bandied about far too often in cinema, but it applies to this film as much as it applies to ozu or bresson. 'cache', despite not being 'code unknown (to my mind: the best film this decade) seemed to be haneke's breakthrough film - somehow people got it this time and went to the cinema in droves and i doubt they came out dissatisfied. 'volver' was almodovar back on form. after the truly abhorrent 'bad education' i hadn't hoped for much, but i got plenty.

there were the odd diamonds in the pile of horseshit piping out from hollywood too. final destination 3 was as fun, witty and cruel as horror films deserve to be - the crowning cherry in a trilogy with no cracks in it. the devil wears prada  was that rarest of films - high class breezy comfort viewing, harking back to the women's pictures of the 50s...and with a stellar performance by meryl streep. 'united 93' pwned anything else addressing that particular subject; and junebug and the squid & the whale were indie film making at its finest.

stinkies of 2006

these were numerous but i'll limit them to 5. avoid them like the plague, no matter what the critics say.

1. hostel
2.art school confidential
3. the hills have eyes
4. the queen
5. red road.

the critics say 'hostel' is a horror film that understands the conventions perfectly - and whatsmore is a poltical allegory to boot. (post 9/11, post 9/11, post 9/11 - fucking gottit?). actually it's a schlocky piece of trash, which undermines its conventions, barely understands them infact, has no grasp of tension or feeling for characterisation - and the allegory is sledge-hammer shite. 'art school confidentail' had a lot to live up to after ghost world; it failed at every turn - disastrous!  'red road' had its moments (the sex scene in particular was well done) but the tacked on endings were cop outs of the highest order and felt like bows of shit garlanding a mud pie.

television

i watch teevee nowadays in three ways. there is that which i download and watch with the same attention as i might a movie, that which i make a beeline to watch as it's broadcasting, and that which i catch haphazardly. my list reflects this combination.

best teevee of 2006

1. celebrity big brother (ch 4)
2. longford (itv1)
3. project runway - season 3
4. the amazing race - season 10
5. one life - tanorexics (bbc1)
6. flavor of love - season 2 (vh1)
7. little miss jocelyn (bbc3)
8. legends (bbc4)
9. x factor (itv1)
10. survey of religion with sister wendy beckett (ch4)
11. asbo teen to beauty queen (ch5)
12. myra: the prison years (ch5)
13. america's top model - season 7
14. unan1mous (ch 4)
15. janice dickinson modelling agency

ok - i took this list less seriously than others so i probably missed shitloads. i will say that big brother 7 started well, but then slid into a right old mess - let's hope next year will be better. america's big brother all stars was also a bit of a wash out. thank god for the celeb version.

music videos

as usual, most were horrible but 3 stood out. these were -

1. shakira - hips don't lie
2. will young - all time love
3. sugababes - easy.

i still get butterflies when 'hips don't lie' comes on - an amazing, sultry performance by shakira - with choreography that reminds me of all time favourite video ' love is a battlefield'.

ok - i'll do books and other things another day, as i have to get ready now to go out.