You know the annoying guy on the other end of 777-FILM (3456)? Well apparently he’s also a critic. I love movie lists of all kinds so I thought I’d post his here just for fun. Here’s his top 50 of 2006…

50)
X-Men: The Last Stand
The Science of Sleep
The Last Kiss
Mission: Impossible III
For Your Consideration
Beerfest
The Devil Wears Prada
Pursuit of Happyness
Volver
POTC 2: Dead Man’s Chest
40)
The Good Shepherd
An Inconvenient Truth
Infamous
Awesome, I Fu*king Shot That!
Cars
Aurora Borealis
The Ground Truth
Miami Vice
We Are Marshall
The Illusionist
30)
Notes on a Scandal
Road to Guantanamo
Superman Returns
The Queen
Catch a Fire
Why We Fight
Babel
Inside Man
Jesus Camp
Apocalypto
20)
Sherrybaby
The Groomsmen
United 93
Little Children
The Descent
Slither
Thank You For Smoking
Water
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
Children of Men
10) Brick
9) Stranger than Fiction
8) Dreamgirls
7) Shut Up & Sing
6) Little Miss Sunshine
5) Borat
4) Casino Royale
3) Half Nelson
2) Pan’s Labyrinth
1) The Departed

     That’s it. So wow. Lots of leftwing documentaries but not the best one (Who Killed the Electric Car?). Also I was shocked to see the inclusion of Beerfest, which beats out The Science of Sleep and The Last Kiss as a better picture? Ok. I haven’t seen it so I guess, whatever.

     VERY shocked to see Shut Up & Sing in the top 10. That is just WRONG! No way is it anywhere near as good as pretty much anything in the top 30. Well anyway, interesting list to be sure. If you’d like to see the list along with some commentary, you can see the whole thing over at MOVIEFONE.COM

Be sure to check out the MoviePatron TOP 10 of 2006 on next week’s cinecast with Andrew James and Kurt of Twitchfilm.net. You can download the newest episodes HERE

     The contest was over before it began. After seeing the illegal version of the trailer for Gindhouse a couple months back, I couldn’t have been more excited and I knew what I was most looking forward to in 2007. Now, with a little more depth and excitement comes the new trailer from Rodriguez/Tarantino of what is sure to be a masterpiece. Ladies and Gentlemen…. I give you… Grindhouse:

From NBR.org,

     For over 95 years, the National Board of Review, with no commercial ties to the motion-picture industry, has dedicated its efforts to the support of film, domestic and foreign, as both art and entertainment. The nonprofit organization celebrates the distinctive voice of the individual artist, honoring excellence and supporting freedom of expression in film.

     At year’s end, members receive a list of all films screened, along with final ballots, which are tallied by the awards committee in order to determine annual honorees.

Here are the 2006 Winners:

Best Film
Letters From Iwo Jima

Top Ten Films
Letters From Iwo Jima, (and, in alphabetical order) Babel, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Flags Of Our Fathers, The History Boys, Little Miss Sunshine, Notes On A Scandal, The Painted Veil

Best Foreign Film
Volver

Top Five Foreign Films
Volver, (and, in alphabetical order) Curse Of The Golden Flower, Days Of Glory, Pan’s Labyrinth, Water

Top Five Documentaries
An Inconvenient Truth, (and, in alphabetical order) 51 Birch Street, Iraq In Fragments, Shut Up & Sing, Wordplay

Top Independent Films
(in alphabetical order) Akeelah And The Bee, Bobby, Catch A Fire, Copying Beethoven, A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Half Nelson, The Illusionist, Lonesome Jim, Sherrybaby, 10 Items Or Less, Thank You For Smoking

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland

Best Actress
Helen Mirren, The Queen

Best Supporting Actor
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond

Best Supporting Actress
Catherine O’Hara, For Your Consideration

Best Acting By An Ensemble
The Departed

Breakthrough Performance - Male
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson

Breakthrough Performance - Female
(2) Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls and Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Directorial Debut
Jason Reitman, Thank You For Smoking

Best Adapted Screenplay
Ron Nyswaner, The Painted Veil

Best Original Screenplay
Zach Helm, Stranger Than Fiction

Best Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth

Best Animated Feature
Cars

Career Achievement Award
Eli Wallach

     This is where the Oscar race really begins; with smaller, yet prestigious award ceremonies earlier in the year. You can see more winners and the full list of past winners from The Nat’l Board of Review

     Here are excerpts from an interesting article in the NYT about Mel’s chances at the Oscars this year considering his drunken, anti-semitic tirade last summer:

New York Times
Published: December 5, 2006
By SHARON WAXMAN

LOS ANGELES, — With some early reviews lauding the audacity and innovation of Mel Gibson’s bloody Mayan epic, “Apocalypto,” Hollywood’s tight-knit community of Oscar voters may find itself facing a difficult dilemma in the coming weeks: Will they consider the film for an Academy Award?

Many people in Hollywood swore — both publicly and privately — that they would not work with him again or see his movies.

Most critics have yet to weigh in on “Apocalypto,” but the excitement of those who have — like that among journalists who lingered to debate the film after a screening ended in Los Angeles last week — has been palpable.

“ ‘Apocalypto’ is a remarkable film,” Todd McCarthy wrote in Variety. “The picture provides a trip to a place one’s never been before, offering hitherto unseen sights of exceptional vividness and power.”

Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone, “Say what you will about Gibson, he’s a filmmaker right down to his nerve endings.”

And yet, can the 5,830 voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences — an organization that like broader Hollywood, includes many people who are Jewish — ignore a film that may well be considered by critics to be among the best of the year?

Murray Weissman, who has worked on Oscar campaigns for many years and is working for the Weinstein Company on its hopefuls this year, said some voters would not see the film on principle.

“There is still a lot of resentment out there among the Academy members, certainly the Jewish group of them, over the incident,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are very unforgiving. I have run into some who say they will not see any more Mel Gibson movies.”

Yet, Mr. Weissman added, those who saw the movie and believed it deserving would vote for it. “The movie academy is of full of professionals; they will respect a good movie,” he said. “If the guy made a classic film and it’s absolutely brilliant — hey, I’m Jewish — I’d probably embrace it. But going in, I’m shocked and dismayed at his behavior.”

The problem posed by Mr. Gibson touches on an age-old question of whether an artist’s personal behavior ought to be a factor in judging his or her work.

Disney has taken a low-key approach to the Oscars, awaiting a general sense from critics and influential voices in Hollywood. The film was not on a list of screenings for Oscar consideration sent to Academy members, and no screenings are scheduled with question-and-answer sessions featuring Mr. Gibson, as has become the custom for movies vying for Oscar consideration.

But as the film has been gathering critical support, executives at the studio have begun to refer to “Apocalypto” as their “Million Dollar Baby,” the small movie directed by Clint Eastwood that came from behind two years ago to win best picture at the Oscars. And the studio is planning to send out “screeners,” DVDs sent to Academy members.

But in addition to the other issues, the film’s sheer violence — which includes decapitation and hearts ripped from the chests of human sacrifice victims — could turn off some voters, whatever their feelings toward the director.

“Once the reviews come out and it’s perceived to be a foreign language film with that kind of violence, you will have trouble getting people to actually go see it,” said one seasoned Oscar campaigner, who declined to speak for attribution because of business ties to Disney.

“There will be a degree of resistance, And Mel would be the first one to say, ‘I anticipate a degree of ambivalence,’ he knows that,” said Peter Bart, the editor of Variety . “The violence is an issue. But that’s the way he is. That’s the way he sees the world.”

     I know that’s a lot of words for this normally concise web site, but what do you think? Should Mel’s film be looked at more critically because of his feelings towards Jews; and will it be? Or should Apocalypto just be a piece of art and looked at as such, regardless of who put it on the canvas?

     My opinion lies with the latter. As the full article states, Gibson is not the first (nor probably the last) film maker out there with some more than questionable history (ala Roman Polanski and his win of best director for 1999’s The Pianist).

     Maxim Magazine online has released what they consider to be “The Crappiest Christmas Movies” of all time. THIS IS NOT MY LIST! I’m just republishing it. Don’t blame or praise me. Write to them.

I’m not sure why they made a top 14 list, that seems like kind of a random number, but here ya go. Merry Christmas!

14) Jingle All the Way
13) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey)
12) Home Alone
11) Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol
——–
10) Christmas with the Cranks
9) The Polar Express
8) Christmas Mountain: The Story of a Cowboy Angel
7) Scrooged
6) Benji’s Very Own Christmas Story
5) One Magic Christmas
4) Miracle on 34th Street (1994 version)
3) The Santa Clause 2
2) Surviving Christmas
1) It’s a Wonderful Life

And THAT, dear readers, is why I do not subscribe to Maxim Magazine.

     Apocalypto and Letters from Iwo Jima are the two latest films to be up for consideration in this year’s Golden Globes Awards. But, they’re not up for best picture. They’ll both be up for best foreign language film. Although Apocalypto was filmed in the US, it was shot using an ancient Mayan language with sub titles. Letters (directed by Clint Eastwood), on the other hand, was filmed in Japan and therefore is a true foreign film. The Golden Globes don’t distinguish where the film was made, only in what language. Also, The Hollywood Foreign Press (the organization that runs the Globes) has no limit on the number of submissions from any country. Hence, there are over 56 films contending for the nominations this year and many from the same country.

     The Academy (Oscars) on the other hand, have a more complicated set of rules. Only one picture from any one country can be submitted each year. These films are voted on by an organization within each country. The United States has no such organization, therefore cannot submit a film in the foreign language category for an Oscar. Even if a group got together to form such a committee (such as say, a native American group), it would not be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

     So this is just one more reason to hate the Oscars. There are several great films that come from Korea or China this year, yet only one is eligible for even consideration of a nomination. That’s stupid. Second, the U.S. cannot submit Apocalypto for consideration in the foreign language category, even though the whole thing is not in English (as was Passion of the Christ - also not eligible for an Oscar). However, these films can be considered for best picture; while in the Globes, a film up for best foreign, can be eligible for all other categories except best picture. This means that at the Globes, Letters and Apocalypto will not be nominated for best picture.

     Shouldn’t a movie filmed in a foreign language be eligible for best foreign language film and best picture? I guess I can see that since these are award ceremonies designed to recognize American films, I get why they can’t be up for both. It’s like the World Series: we claim that the winner is the best team in the world, though in reality, the winning team never played a 7 game series against a team from Japan or the Dominican Republic.

     Twenty-eight of the 56 films up for the Globe are also in contention for the foreign-language film Oscar. These include “After the Wedding” (Denmark), “Black Book” (the Netherlands), “Cinema, Aspirins & Vultures” (Brazil), “Curse of the Golden Flower” (China), “Days of Glory” (Algeria), “Golden Door” (Italy), “The Lives of Others” (Germany), “Pan’s Labyrinth” (Mexico) and “Volver” (Spain).

Golden Globe list of foreign-language contenders:
“9th Company” (Russia/Ukraine/Finland)
“After the Wedding” (Den-mark)
“Ahlaam” (Iraq)
“Alatriste” (Spain)
“Along the Ridge” (Anche libero va bene) (Italy)
“Angel-A” (France)
“Apocalypto” (USA)
“Avenue Montaigne” (France)
“Black Book” (Zwartboek) (The Nether-lands)
“The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” (the Philippines)
“Bosta” (Leba-non)
“Children of Glory” (Hungary)
“Chronicle of an Escape” (Argen-tina)
“Cinema, Aspirins & Vultures” (Brazil)
“Climates” (Iklimler) (Tur-key)
“Curse of the Golden Flower” (China).
“Days of Glory” (Algeria)
“El benny” (Cuba)
“Family Friend” (Italy)
“Family Law” (Ar-gentina)
“Frozen Days” (Israel)
“The Golden Door” (Nuovomondo) (It-aly)
“Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams” (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
“Il Cai-mano” (Italy)
“Ice Cream I Scream” (Turkey)
“The Island” (Rus-sia)
“King and the Clown” (South Korea)
“Lage Raho Munnabhai” (In-dia)
“La Mujer de mi Hermano” (Mexico)
“The Last Train” (Ger-many)
“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Japan)
“Libertas” (Croatia)
“The Lives of Others” (Germany)
“Love for Share” (Indonesia)
“Mario’s War” (La guerra di Mario) (Italy)
“The Missing Star” (La stella che non c’e) (It-aly)
“Nomad” (Kazakhstan)
“Offside” (Iran)
“O Major Amor Do Mundo” (Brazil)
“Omkara” (India)
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Mex-ico)
“Playing the Victim” (Russia)
“Pretendiendo” (Chile)
“Prince of the Himalaya” (China)
“The Protector” (Thailand)
“Rang De Basanti” (India)
“Reprise” (Norway)
“Requiem” (Germany)
“Retrieval” (Z Ozysku) (Poland)
“Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles” (China)
“Sweet Mud” (Adama Meshuga’at) (Israel)
“The Valet” (France)
“Vitus” (Switzerland).
“Volver” (Spain)
“Water” (Canada)
“The Yacoubian Building” (Egypt)

info taken from Variety.com