Best movies of 2006

I might have to update this list this weekend, because I intend to catch a couple flicks during the holiday.

Best sequel: Clerks II
Only twice in my life have I gone into a movie filled with equal parts high hopes and great fearand left extremely satisfied. The first time was with Richard Linklater's Before Sunset, the second was with Clerks II. Both instances were sequels to indie films that held a special place in my heart, and neither of them really needed a sequel. They both ended on rather ambiguous endings, leaving you to wonder what happened to the characters next, but not really wanting to see what happens. Life goes on as the message goes. Kevin Smith managed to satisfy my appetite for his brand of crude humor, while not skimping on the deeper, underlying meaning he does so well. Besides, Pillow Pants is worth the price of admission alone.

Best Pseudo-Sequel: Superman Returns
The goal with Superman Returns was to make a film that could stand alone as well as serve as a sorta-sequel to Superman 1 & 2...I'm more than willing to block out 3 & 4. There isn't another story that a filmmaker could pull this kind of trick with. Bryan Singer perfectly balanced the backstory, giving the uninitiated all they needed to know without boring those of us that know the whole story forwards and backwards. I'm thankful that the film was just enough of a hit to warrant the sequel they're making now. I would've loved seeing how great this film would've done if Pirates hadn't come out so close to it.

Best Re-Imagining: Casino Royale
Like any series that gets a little too long in the tooth, the only way to survive burnout is to go back to the beginning. Daniel Craig knocked it out of the park as a new, unexperienced Bond. He's not nearly a suave as we're used to, nor is he the cold-as-ice assassin we've seen in the past, and that works as a great benefit.

Best Comedy: Little Miss Sunshine
I hear a lot of people calling this film overrated now, but I absolutely loved it. Great characters, great story, great writing, and great laughs. I caught it at an advance screening, before the word of mouth really caught on, so it hit me without warning. A pleasant surprise.

Best Sci-Fi: A Scanner Darkly
Richard Linklater lost a lot of credibility in my book when he re-made Bad News Bears, and A Scanner Darkly redeemed him. What better way to make a film about futuristic drug culture than to make the whole movie look like a drug trip. Sure, I got vertigo leaving the theater and it took me about twenty minutes to re-adjust to reality, but that's just a small testament to the power of this movie. No other movie has sucked me in to the point that I lose my sense of the real world like that.

Best Stoner Flick: Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
I so wish I was high when I saw this. I laughed my ass off just fine without enhancement, though.

Best reason not to lose all faith in Disney: Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
Let it be said that 99.9% of everything Disney puts out is absolute crap. Pirates proves that .1% can go a loooong way.