Sammy's Belated Oscar Post

Could it be that 2006 became Martin Scorsese's year because his competition departed? Where were Tarantino, Payne, Polanski, Altman, Soderberg, Lee, or Coppola? Okay, Robert Altman's dead, so he's off the hook, and Sophia Coppola made Marie Antoinette, but the academy didn't like it much. Clint Eastwood finally made a movie I liked with Letters From Iwo Jima, but he's got enough Oscars to last him two lifetimes; and Alejandro Anarritu's Babel, while bold, was a film far too gritty and meandering to pose much of a threat to Marty.

Perhaps 2005 had so many quality films, 2006 was bound to be a let down. For this movie fan, no year is a bad year if at least a few great films get released, and so it was last year--you just had to root around a little to find the pearls among the swine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there were more duds in '06, just not as many surprises; and certainly no single film stood out as the clear winner for Best Picture.


On Oscar night, Little Miss Sunshine was my pick for Best Picture of the year. It was a long-shot for sure, but this film really surprised me: I laughed, I cried, and I cheered. And not just for Olive, but for the whole family: the wacky dad, the mute son, the suicidal brother-in-law, the drug addicted grandpa, and the caught-in-the-middle-of-it-all mother. IMHO all of these characters are fully realized, the plot never twists out of control, and the look of the picture-- the primary color pallet, the open-road vistas, and those faces, those determined faces-- is simply hopeful. If you haven't seen it, move it up to no. 1 on your Netflix list.

2nd on my must-see list is Pan's Labyrinth. It was my pick for Best Foreign Film (Mexico), but it didn't win either; although it did pick up Oscars for Art Direction, Cinematography and Makeup. It's full of dark fairy-tale characters and an even darker fairy-tale story. Imagine Spain in 1944--Fascists, freedom-fighters and a pair of siblings trapped on opposite sides. Into this mix put a 12 year old girl with an over-active yet academic imagination. Wonder Woman should be so brave! A must-see for sure, but definitely not for the young ones.

Easily my favorite Summer Blockbuster film was POTC: Dead Man's Chest--I thought it was even better than the first one. Now, I read many reviews before seeing it, and I must say, the critics couldn't have been more wrong. The naysayers seemed to have fixated on plot, character-arc and, most troubling, logic--missing completely the very natural coupling of Pirate legend and Sea-Lore. This time around we get a wicked Davey Jones and his half fish/half mortal crew. This film commanded the big screen like no other. Filled with so much fantastic detail it easily holds up to repeated viewings. I saw it twice in the theater, and I'm well on my way to wearing out my 2 disk Special Edition DVD. Can't wait for the next chapter this summer!



Dreamgirls should have been one of the 5 films nominated for Best Picture--it's that good. It's like a mini-history of Motown records that focuses on just one group, The Surpremes. It's not meant to be historical of course, but there are obvious parallels. None of that really matters because the top quality music, acting, and production combine to make a seamless and sensational picture that transcends time and place. Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy stand out, but the entire cast is wonderful. This film was a real bright spot in a year filled with dark stories and graphic violence.

Although I didn't pick The Departed for Best Picture, I did enjoy the film. So many times a big movie like this, with lots of star power and huge promo budget, sinks quickly beneath the weight of its own hype. But not this one. All the stars brought their A-game to the project, and Scorsese matched them. I found the story interesting, the characters believable and the setting, Boston, richly mystical. Now, do I feel this film equals earlier efforts by Mr. Scorsese, or any of the famous actors in his cast? No, I don't. Marty has better films, as does Jack, Leonardo, Matt, Mark, Martin, and Alec. But I don't begrudge Marty's win. IMHO he's long overdue for Oscar recognition, and sometimes it has to play out like this: the winner wins because he simply cannot be overlooked any longer.


I have to admit, there were a couple of nominated films I didn't get to see before Oscar night; but as usual, weekends in January and February turned into movie-marathons for the wee wifey and me. We'd see two, sometimes three a day. We were movie maniacs! Without a nice variety of stories and styles this practice can be mind numbing, but only a very few let us down.

So tell me, what were some of your favorite films from 2006?