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2006 in Movies

The 2006 movie year officially ends in about an hour with the Academy Awards. I figure if I’m going to get my opinion out there, now’s the time. Both Kyla and myself saw an absurd number of films this year — maybe we really needed the escape, or maybe it was just a great a year for this particular art form. Either way, we spent some time going over the best 2006 had to offer, and boiled down the many worthy movies and individual performances into nice little top ten lists. We did these independently of one another, not wanting to influence each other’s lists too much. Nonetheless, you’ll find there’s a good amount of crossover, which just proves these are all really worth seeing.

Here they are:

10 Best Films of 2006
Rich’s Picks
Kyla’s Picks
  1. Letters from Iwo Jima
  2. The Departed
  3. The Lives of Others
  4. Pan’s Labyrinth
  5. Little Miss Sunshine
  6. United 93
  7. Inland Empire
  8. The Fountain
  9. The Queen
  10. The Prestige
  1. The Fountain
  2. The Departed
  3. Apocalypto
  4. The Lives of Others
  5. Letters from Iwo Jima
  6. V For Vendetta
  7. Pan’s Labyrinth
  8. Children of Men
  9. Venus
  10. Inland Empire
10 Best Leading Male Performances of 2006
Rich’s Picks
Kyla’s Picks
  1. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
  2. Peter O’Toole (Venus)
  3. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
  4. Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
  5. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
  6. Hugh Jackman (The Fountain)
  7. Ray Winstone (The Proposition)
  8. Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others)
  9. Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine)
  10. Hugh Jackman (The Prestige)
  1. Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others)
  2. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
  3. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
  4. Rudy Youngblood (Apocalypto)
  5. Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima)
  6. Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
  7. Hugh Jackman (The Fountain)
  8. Ken Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima)
  9. Daniel Craig (Casino Royale)
  10. Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking)
10 Best Leading Female Performances of 2006
Rich’s Picks
Kyla’s Picks
  1. Laura Dern (Inland Empire)
  2. Helen Mirren (The Queen)
  3. Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
  4. Penelope Cruz (Volver)
  5. Kate Winslet (Little Children)
  6. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby)
  7. Ellen Page (Hard Candy)
  8. Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page)
  9. Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine)
  10. Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
  1. Kate Winslet (Little Children)
  2. Penelope Cruz (Volver)
  3. Laura Dern (Inland Empire)
  4. Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page)
  5. Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth)
  6. Helen Mirren (The Queen)
  7. Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
  8. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby)
  9. Ellen Page (Hard Candy)
  10. Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette)
10 Best Supporting Male Performances of 2006
Rich’s Picks
Kyla’s Picks
  1. Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
  2. Sergi López (Pan’s Labyrinth)
  3. Robert Downey, Jr. (A Scanner Darkly)
  4. Brad Pitt (Babel)
  5. Steve Carell (Little Miss Sunshine)
  6. Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine)
  7. Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers)
  8. Michael Caine (The Prestige)
  9. Michael Sheen (The Queen)
  10. Paul Giamatti (The Illusionist)
  1. Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
  2. Robert Downey, Jr. (A Scanner Darkly)
  3. Michael Sheen (The Queen)
  4. Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers)
  5. Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)
  6. Freddy Rodriguez (Bobby)
  7. Sergi López (Pan’s Labyrinth)
  8. Alec Baldwin (The Departed)
  9. Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland)
  10. Michael Gambon (The Good Shepherd)
10 Best Supporting Female Performances of 2006
Rich’s Picks
Kyla’s Picks
  1. Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
  2. Adriana Barraza (Babel)
  3. Jodie Whittaker (Venus)
  4. Rachel Weisz (The Fountain)
  5. Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth)
  6. Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
  7. Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
  8. Shareeka Epps (Half Nelson)
  9. Lola Dueñas (Volver)
  10. Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others)
  1. Adriana Barraza (Babel)
  2. Rachel Weisz (The Fountain)
  3. Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth)
  4. Martina Gedeck (The Lives of Others)
  5. Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
  6. Bonnie Mbuli (Catch a Fire)
  7. Jodie Whittaker (Venus)
  8. Julianne Moore (Children of Men)
  9. Phyllis Somerville (Little Children)
  10. Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 7:16 PM and filed under movies.
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