2B - Thursday, January 25, 2007

the b-side

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

orry, 2006, but it's over. No, we're serious this time - it's
ot you, it's us. All right, fine, it's you. Come on, we've
put up with a lot. It's hard to believe we've done this for
a whole year. We've had some good times ,yes, but oh,
so many had times. So this is it, our final farewell.
You did give us advice to live by. You taught us not to smoke
("Thank You for Smoking"), not to eat ('Fast Food Nation") and
not to waste ("An Inconvenient Truth"). You showed us that we
could dance away all life's problems ("Step Up," "Stomp the Yard,"
"Take the Lead," "Happy Feet"). But that just wasn't enough.
What happened to all the good things you promised us? You
said we would be awestruck by "The Black Dahlia." We weren't.

Hilary Swank can't play a seductress! What were you thinking?
You said "The Good Shepherd" wouldbe the best spy thriller
of all time. You lied. Where's the heart? Where's the soul?
Where's the real Matt Damon you replaced with an android?-
Most of the time we were just bored out of our minds. Seriously,
you gave us "The Wicker Man," "The Grudge 2," "Saw III,"
"Bloodrayne." Were those supposed to be scary? Really? We can't
believe you made another "Basic Instinct." Isn't Sharon Stone
like 60 now? And come on - we're in college. We know it's not like
"Accepted" or "Van Wilder 2." Hot chicks do not come running
out of the woodwork to get with guys who look like Justin Long.
We're tired of the lies.

Besides, we've kind of been seeing 2007 for a month now. Yeah,
you should be jealous. "Alpha Dog" will become the new "Scarface"
for our generation, "Epic Movie" is sure to make us roll in the
aisles and "The Hills Have Eyes II" looks like a really scary and
well-thought-out sequel. We've learned from our mistakes with
you. We know 2007 will treat us better than you did. It has to.
But we want to send you off remembering the best
things you gave us this year. And there were some gems
here and there, a few diamonds in the rough.
So here's to you: the best films of 2006.
- Paul Tassi

JEFFREY BLOOMER

United 93 - Paul Greengrass's
shattering vision of Sept. 11
uses unknown actors to bring
together his intensely focused view
of the only plane that didn't reach
its target. While it deftly avoids the
tragedy's politicization, its retro-
spective view points out how just
five years later, the actual events
have become immaterial to the
response to them.
2k Children of Men
-Alfonso Cuar6n's
dazzling dystopia is so
fiercely arresting that every
sequence - whether it's
the climax of civil combat

or the single-shot chase sequence
- puts the audience in the precise
place the movie wants it.
HalfNelson-RyanGosling's
introspective performance is
the centerpiece of this revi-
sionist inspirational-teacher movie,
where the black student discovers
the white teacher's drug addiction.
The contemplative story cuts into
the cycle of addiction and its after-
math through its layered study of
their relationship.
Little Children - The chil-
dren are an afterthought
in this cross-section of

upper-middle-class suburban life,
focusing on an affair between a
discontent housewife and a stay-
at-home dad christened The Prom
King. The model narration gives
the film a lyrical complexity singu-
lar in book-to-screen adaptations.
Letters from Iwo Jima
- Perhaps the most pro-
vocative suggestion of Clint
Eastwood's new masterpiece is
that the template of the American
war movie converts so easily to the
storyof itsenemy.The intricacies of
Japanese military culture are here,
but the film hints that the experi-
ences of the soldiers on the ground

9I

KRISTIN MACDONALD

1United 93 - No sermonizing,
no heroics, no big-name stars.
British director Paul Green-
grass brings a refreshingly real-
istic feel to his depiction of Sept.
11, entirely avoiding the potential
cheesiness of a typical Hollywood
action-movie treatment.
Children of Men - Alfonso
Cuaron's apocalyptic vision
of the near future moves at
a breakneck pace and keeps you
engrossed the entire time. Add Clive

Owen and some cinematography
magic, and you've got grade-A film-
making.
L'Enfant - Two French
youth puzzle over precisely
what to do with their new
baby in this slightbut moving drama
about street kids growing up and
straightening out.
Pan's Labyrinth - The
ads may make it out to be a
piece of children's whimsy,
but Guillermo del Toro's fantastical
re-imagining of Spanish fascism is
visceral, unpredictable and surpris-
ingly hopeful.
The Prestige - Twisting,
winding andunrelenting,"The
Prestige" is director Chris-
topher Nolan's best feature since
2001's unforgettable "Memento."
The entire masterfully layered
storyline is a magic trick in4
itself.
Children of Men
- The culprit of the
earth's demise is nei-
ther an asteroid or a plague
of zombies, but instead
widespread infertility.I
Cuaron artful direction
and editing gives us the a
despairing and caution-

The Proposition - The Aus
tralian outback is a dusty mes
of blood and sweat in this Nei
Kelly-inspired take on an outlav
band of brothers' final stand.
Thank You for Smokin
- Jason Reitman's under
recognized comedy takes o
America's favorite vices - booze
firearms and, of course, smokin!
- with smart cynicism and a bitinq
sense of humor
Brick - It takes about 30 min
utes of this underrated higl
Ischool drug-dealing dram
before you take its stylish noir dia
ary vision of the future.
The Queen - Helen Mirren
reveals the humanity locked
within one of society's most
untouchable personalities. The
onscreen transformation the queen
undergoes after Diana's death is
remarkable.
The Departed - Scorcese's
latest may be just enough
to win him his first Oscar
statue. It's not "Casino" or "Good-
fellas," but it is his most exceptional
film in the past decade as his love
affair with Leo DiCaprio finally
pays off.

logue seriously, but once
its world of kingpins and
never want to see a ty
school film again.
Borat - DoI neet
why this is on my
ity, plain and sin
hilarity. Even better.
Conversations w
Women - Hans
smart relationship
AaronEckhart againstH
ham Carter in a romant
cat-and-mouse. Canosa'
split-screen, though
gimmicky, keeps the wh

United 93 - With more taste
and class than any Fox News
"tribute to the fallen," "Unit-
ed 93" is an incredibly appropriate
tribute. Just because "you know the
end," that is not a valid excuse to
avoid the film that every American
needs to see.
Casino Royale - Daniel
Craig aspires to be remem-
bered along with Connery
rather than Lazenby in the annals
of James Bond fame. And he just
might. "Casino Royale" has no
need for brainless women or goofy
gadgets - just a man, a gun and a
name.

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IMRAN SYED

Children of Men - Direc-
tor Alfonso Cuaron's take on
a dark, not-too-distant future
was head and shoulders above any
other film in terms of purpose, exe-
cution and effect. You don't have to
look too deep to find politics, but
looking beyond it you find a peer-
less parable of hope, despair and the
inevitability of both.
2The Queen - Walking the
line between explaining
tradition and justifying it,
"The Queen" aptly avoids simplis-
tic answers and turns instead to
the difficult reality that monarchy
and government itself are based

on. It would be too easy for a film to
indict British royalty but it takes an
especially bold film to explore and
conclude as this one does.
Letters from Iwo Jima
- A film that every American
should see but only a handful
will, "Iwo Jima" concludes beyond
dispute that in war, we are every-
thing we hate.
Inside Man - The year's best
thriller, the film still finds
time for subtle jabs at soci-
etal guises. It continually keeps our
minds racing and actually manages
a solution worth the wait.
United 93 - This
is that rare bit of
docudrama that
hasn't a shred of insin-
cerity or Hollywood
sapped up in it. Although
it's emotionally draining,
"United 93" couldn't be
more spiritually uplifting.
This is the best of us.
The Queen - Thanks
to Stephen Frears's
smart direction and
Peter Morgan's sharp script,
"The Queen" perfectly blends
drama and comedy. Helen

Casino Royale - James Bond
begins anew with Daniel
Craig looking down the bar-
rel and what we have is arguably the
best Bond film yet. Shunning tired
cliches of rogue vanity, "Casino
Royale" creates a fantastic story arc
worthy of Ian Fleming.
Volver - Pedro Almodovar's
return (sort of) to normal
filmmaking, "Volver" is a
strange concoction of drama, mys-
tery, vengeance, awkward humor
and unstable relationships, In short
it's life, and the bonds it explores
and the flaws it uncovers seem all
too familiar.

ittle Children
unabashed portrait 01
bia, "Little Children"r
to probe deeper into our c
psychethanwe'recomfortab:
ting. It's dark and demandir
of the time, but only becn
unconsciously make it so.
The Departed - Mom
great mob movie, it's a
Jticated, humanist d
of criminality. With intrica
making that can't be unra
even three or four viewin
film rivals Scorcese's fines
in sheer gravity. And that'
something.

BLAKE GOBLE

Mirren gives the performance of a Goonies" or "Gremlins," this is the
lifetime channeling the icy persona first greatkids movie of the decade.
that is Queen Elizabeth.

minutes than most films do in two "Being There."
hours.

The Departed - To call
Martin Scorsese the grand
poobah of contemporary
directors is an understatement, and
"The Departed" proves it. It's prob-
ably his best since ... "The Aviator,"
but who would you rather be enter-
tained by? An OCD millionaire or
an Irish madman mob boss? Yeah.
Monster House - Who
doesn't like to reminisce
about the "good old days" of
youth movies? Reminiscent of "The

Little Children - Pedo-
philes, affairs, unhappiness
and all that is kept quiet in
suburbia is masterfully observed
in Todd Field's sophomore work.
It succeeds in its fabulous presen-
tation, which counter-balances its
gruff subject matter.
Tristram Shandy: A Cock &
Bull Story - Steve Coogan
and Rob Brydon execute
smarm and charm in this hyper-lit-
erate comedy. Working as an adap-
tation, "Shandy" does more in 90

Volver - An ode to all that
is woman, Almodavar's latest
was also one of his greatest.
Penelope Cruz's Raimunda is one
of the subtlest and subtlest depic-
tions of female empowerment since
"Norma Rae."
Borat - Sacha Baron Cohen
is incendiary as he gives
brilliant, scathing social
commentary through exploits of
one Borat Sagdiyev, and his quest
for the beloved Pamela Ander-
son. Quite possibly the latter-day

The Proposition - This
is one mean western. John
Hillcoat's gritty lawless Out-
back accentuates the true nastiness
of the west. Ray Winstone, Danny
Huston and Guy Pearce are a trium-
virate of sons-a-bitches with com-
plexity seldom seen in the genre.
An Inconvenient Truth
- If this film doesn't leave
you galvanized, then you
don't give a shit about Earth. For-
get red and blue state mantras. Al
Gore's PowerPoint will definitely be
enough to getyou worrying.

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