Because everyone else is doing it...

...I'll do my own "movies of 2006" round-up.

According to S - who keeps our ticket stubs - we saw 100 movies last year. Probably more, actually, because I've sure I've seen some without him, and I can't believe we've been organized enough to keep every single ticket - but anyway, that's impressive enough, isn't it? So here's a totally subjective list of my favorites of the year, more for the sake of my poor memory than anything else. Yes, it's a long list. Because I'm a very indulgent critic who can find redeeming qualities in most movies. Hey, I was even tempted to mention Snakes on a Plane. After all, it made me laugh and Samuel L. Jackson rocks. And strictly speaking, some of these may be from 2005 - but if they weren't released in France until 2006, then that's when I saw them.

Brick
Brokeback Mountain
Casino Royale
Children of Men
The Constant Gardener
Conversations with Other Women
C.R.A.Z.Y.
Dans Paris
The Departed
Inside Man
Little Miss Sunshine
The New World
Quinceanera
The Science of Sleep
The Secret Life of Words
Shortbus
Syriana
Thank you for Smoking
Transamerica
United 93

Honorable mentions - otherwise known as movies that I really, really wanted to love but couldn't quite, or ones that were interesting enough to want to remember, albeit imperfect.

A Cock & Bull Story
The Ballad of Jack & Rose
Borat
Enfermés Dehors
Flags of Our Fathers
The Host
Indigènes
The Last Show
Mrs Hendersen Presents
Ne le dis à personne
OSS 117
Pan's Labyrinth
Pride & Prejudice
The Queen
Renaissance
Tsotsi
Volver

The Worst of the Worst, otherwise known as "I'd rather gnaw my own arm off than sit through this again":

Fair Play - as painful as last year's Domino, and that says it all.
Changement d'adresse - "Woody Allen with a touch of garlic", one critic said. Woody Allen my ass. Garlic my ass.
Rosario Tijeras - a Colombian film about a hit-woman. I thought that even if the film was bad, the soundtrack should be worth listening to. Nope. Simply awful on all counts.
Comme t'y es belle - a chick-flick about a group of sisters/friends in the Jewish community in Paris. Could have been interesting, was a mess of unfunny stereotypes. Utter cringe-inducing crap.