So, it's that time again (no, not for the Wheel Of Morality). Time to look back on what I liked and hated this year in the world of movies. As a small side note, you'll see entries in this list for The Decent. Yes, I know it's actually a 2005 movie (the year it was released in the UK), but I'm going to consider it a 2006 movie (as the year it was released here in the states). It's my list, so I can do what I want. So, without further ado, and as little talk as possible about any previous ado, on we shall continue. Best Picture: Well, this race for Best Picture this year was a tough choice for me. I've changed my answer a couple times in recent months. Now that I've had the luxury of watching the contenders at the top of the list a number of times on DVD, I think I'm gonna stick with the items as listed below. Honorable mentions go out to Casino Royale, Eight Below, Lucky Number Slevin, Children Of Men and Flags Of Our Fathers.
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United 93
In a year with two excellent, dramatic 9/11 films, who would have thought it even possible to pull off one of them beautifully, and in good taste? I didn't. Yet here we have United 93 and the also excellent World Trade Center. United 93 is clearly the superior film, though (IMO). The real time, real environment, fly-on-the-wall approach to the story is staggering. -
Thank You For Smoking
Here we have a permanent entry for me best "dark comedy" films of all time list. Joining the ranks with films like Heathers, this film is actually more comparable to the recent, brilliant Lord Of War (though this one goes after the "comedy" in "dark comedy" with Lord Of War going after the "dark" part more). This is one of the greatest political satire films ever. -
The Descent
I should congratulate The Descent for being the first horror movie that I think has ever made my best picture list (in the last 5 or so years I've been putting my list together, anyway). I'm not usually one to be overly impressed with horror movies, but this one engaged me like few others have. And for the record, I prefer the longer, original UK ending for the film. -
Superman Returns
After all the false starts and breathtakingly bad ideas that had been floated for a new Superman movie over the last decade or more, I was fearing the worst. When Bryan Singer got his hands on it, I suddenly had hope again. And he didn't disappoint. His love for the original Donner film(s) is staggering. Despite a couple very minor flaws, I thoroughly loved this new entry to the franchise. And Brandon Routh nailed the role of Clark/Superman. He was absolutely perfect. -
Little Miss Sunshine
This indie, slightly fractured comedy is one that's hard to break down and analyze as to why it works so well. It's really rather unassuming, and kinda sneaks up on you. It slowly develops characters and comedy to the point where it's a dizzyingly brilliant piece of work. It's on many critics' list for best of the year, and it deserves to be. I have my fingers crossed to see it pick up any Oscar nominations it can...
Best Actor: Best Actor is comprised of a mixed set of performances and character. From the high pressure role of Clark Kent/Superman to the low key Pete Perkins, these actors really gave their all. Some notable runners up include Daniel Craig (for injecting new life into James Bond in Casino Royale), Ryan Phillipe (Flags Of Our Fathers), Will Smith (The Pursuit Of Happyness), Josh Hartnet (Lucky Number Slevin), Hugh Jackman (The Fountain), Vin Diesel (Find Me Guilty), Sylvester Stallone (for the unexpectedly great return of his beloved Rocky Balboa), Nicolas Cage & Michael Pena (World Trade Center), Matt Damon (The Departed), Aaron Eckhart (yes again - for his great performance in Conversations With Other Women), Ken Watanabe & Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters From Iwo Jima), Michael Sheen (The Queen) and others.
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Brandon Routh (Superman Returns)
Taking the baton from director Bryan Singer, Brandon Routh does everything he can to reach back to the original Donner production of Superman. Routh's channeling of Christopher Reeve is downright haunting in some scenes. I don't care what anyone says, Routh was a perfect choice for the role. -
Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking)
I've been a fan of Eckhart since seeing him in director Neil LaBute's first films (In The Company Of Men, Your Friends & Neighbors, etc). It's great to see him finally breaking into a leading actor. His performance as anti-hero Nick Naylor in this film is of the highest caliber. He absolutely nails the ambiguous role, bring depth and loads of comedy to the performance. -
Edward Norton (The Illusionist)
I've also been a fan of Edward Norton since his first films like Primal Fear (though it was Rounders that cemented him into my respected actors list). Ever since, he has been turning in consistently fantastic performances. This is no exception. Despite the predictable plot, this movie is wonderful, and Norton's performance is no small part of that success. -
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
DiCaprio may get more praise from his role in The Departed, but I thought it was this troubled African native character that really stood out from him for the year. In a great film, his performance is a highlight. He has gone that extra mile to pick interesting roles in the years since his mammoth success in Titanic. -
Tommy Lee Jones (The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada)
Not content to just make this film his feature directing debut, Jones also turns in a fantastically subtle and nuanced performance. He makes it seem completely effortless.
Best Actress: The order of these picks is a little bit arbitrary. Think of it more as more of a 5 way tie, I guess. Still, one of them has to be first, so I'll toss that honor to Shauna MacDonald. Some honorable mentions go out to Eva Green (for her radiant performance in Casino Royale), Cate Blanchett (Notes On A Scandal), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Rachel Weisz (The Fountain), Jessica Biel (The Illusionist), Helena Bonham Carter (Conversations With Other Women), Keisha Castle-Hughes (The Nativity Story) and others.
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Shauna MacDonald (The Descent)
I know it's tough to single out MacDonald as a lead actress from such an ensemble cast, but she does have the slightly primary role, and one of them needs to be singled out for this category. MacDonald brings to life all the levels of her traumatized character, from the pain of her past to the terror of her present situation, it all resonates. And then the unexpected happens, she becomes the aggressor - and really comes to life. It's a fantastic performance, elevated more by reaction and emotion than by any actual dialog. By the end of the movie, it's almost impossible to believe is the same actress from the beginning. And to pull off such a performance in a horror movie, no less... -
Judi Dench (Notes On A Scandal)
One of the most respected actresses in the game, Dench is pretty much incapable of a poor performance. For this film, she had to be both likeable and disturbing, and she pulls it off exceedingly well. She just nails all aspects of the character, and certainly makes it all sympathetic in some form or another. -
Kirsten Dunst (Marie Antoinette)
With or without the directing skills of Sophia Coppola, this movie lived or died on the lead performance of Marie Antoinette. Luckily, Dunst was easily up to the task. She finds a nice balance to the character, without playing into either side of story too much (balancing the childlike playfulness with the aristocratic indulgence). And she is breathtaking in many scenes of the film. -
Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns)
I was very impressed by this unusual casting choice for Lois Lane. Bosworth, despite being a bit young for the role in reality, manages to pull it off with style and ambition. Openly embracing many of Margot Kidder's goofiest character traits from the original (the flippant and aggressive nature of the character, and little quirks like bad spelling skills). And her chemistry with Brandon Routh is excellent on screen. She doesn't get enough credit for her performance. -
Jennifer Connelly (Blood Diamond)
I'm a sucker for pretty much any Jennifer Connelly performance. This is no exception. She pulls off the delicately balanced character of a hard-nosed investigative reporter, but also reveals a soft and sympathetic side at the same time.
Best Director: As usual, my Best Director category tends to follow the Best Picture category pretty heavily. After all, it's near impossible for a movie to be best picture quality without a fantastically talented director at the helm. This year is no exception. Honorable mentions to go Martin Campbell (for kicking the Bond franchise back in gear with Casino Royale - which is interesting as his previous Bond directing gig was Brosnan's introduction film, GoldenEye), Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (the husband & wife team behind Little Miss Sunshine), Paul McGuigan (Lucky Number Slevin), Clint Eastwood (Flags Of Our Fathers and/or Letters From Iwo Jima), Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain), Ed Zwick (Blood Diamond), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Mel Gibson (Apocalypto), JJ Abrams (Mission Impossible III) and many other talented directors.
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Paul Greengrass (United 93)
Probably the only time I'll ever give this honor to Greengrass. United 93 was a phenomenal accomplishment, and a particularly brave directing effort. I'm not usually a fan of Greengrass as a director, primarily for his aggressively terrible over-use of really bad hand held camera style. It pretty much destroyed The Bourne Supremacy. Even in United 93, the one thing that I would change in the film is to cut down on some of the overly hand held camera work, though at least in United 93, the style does work well for the material. -
Bryan Singer (Superman Returns)
It was so fantastic to have a director like Bryan Singer get to revive the Superman franchise, because he had such great love for the original Richard Donner film material. Whatever reinventions he may have done, they were all done in direct respect to Donner's original take on the material. And, his experiences with projects like The X-Men franchise helped lend a steady hand to the mammoth production. Ultimately, it's hard to not be thankful for his absolute love of the franchise, and I look forward to his next entry in the series in a couple years. -
Neil Marshall (The Descent)
After his impressive theatrical debut film, Dog Soldiers, Neil Marshall again came out swining. This time, he had a bigger budget, a hugely talented cast and crew, and a kick butt script to go off of. His clear understanding of films like Alien, Aliens, The Thing and other classics of the genre give this film a real edge and depth. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and is certainly one of the best of the year. Marshall is a clear driving force behind the success of the film. -
Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)
A chip off the old man's shoulder, Jason Reitman (son of comedy film legend Ivan Reitman) comes out swinging in his theatrical feature debut. After a handful of comedy short films, Reitman chose the dark, satiric book by Chris Buckley and brought it to life on screen. Unafraid of the political incorrectness of just about everything in the film, he also adds a great sense of style and comedic bravado. -
Frank Marshall (Eight Below)
Hmmm, two guys with the name Marshall in the best director category. Well, their films couldn't be much different if they tried. This wonderfully directed film is full of wide, bright spaces - and is a warm story of courage and friendship. It's one of the best family films to come along in a great while. Frank Marshall hadn't directed a film since 1995's dreadful Congo (though he did do an excellent episode of From The Earth To The Moon in 1998). While he may be a hugely successful producer, Marshall is actually a talented director who doesn't always get the greatest material to work from. In this case, he really got to shine.
Best Supporting Actor: I'll shake things up a bit with this category, picking an assortment of somewhat less-obvious choices as well as one or two more obvious. We have some very notable stars in this list, joined by one who is anything but. Other honorable mentions go out to Rob Lowe (Thank You For Smoking), Mads Mikkelsen (an unusual and particularly well chosen actor to play Le Chiffre, the main baddie in Casino Royale), Bruce Greenwood (Eight Below), Morgan Freeman & Ben Kingsley & Bruce Willis (Lucky Number Slevin), Michael Caine (Children Of Men) and others.
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Ben Sliney (United 93)
I'm gonna give this one to somebody who's not actually an actor. To call it a performance is a misnomer, actually. To even call it a reperformance is somewhat wrong. I suppose it was more a case of a re-experience than anything else. Ben Sliney has one, and only one, acting credit to his name - playing himself. I'm taking a bit of liberty calling it a supporting performance, but I think it's the right definition of the role. If you don't know how the film was made, it involved the cast (some actual actors, many the real life people from the event) reliving anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at a time, with multiple takes. But it's nothing short of them truly experiencing moments from that day being replayed. To watch it on film is breathtaking, and undeniably authentic. It's one of the key reasons it's my favorite film of the year. It took a whole lot of confidence and bravery on the part of Sliney to step into the role, and I commend him for doing so. -
Kevin Spacey (Superman Returns)
OK, so his role might be tough to define as a supporting performance rather than lead, but I'll go with supporting for the heck of it. In so much as Brandon Routh being perfectly cast as Superman/Clark Kent, Spacey was perfectly cast as Lex Luthor. Like Routh, he brought his own take on the character while at the same time perfectly reprising Gene Hackman's legendary performance in the role. He captures the same blend of playfulness and ruthlesness. -
Steve Carrell (Little Miss Sunshine)
From his suicidal introduction in the film to his transformed, energetic and downright playfully devious performance by the end of the film, Carrell nails it all. He's of course known for his comedic skills, but this film shows his talent for the dramatic as well. He's finally become an A-list star in the last couple years, and he deserves it. Kinda cool to see both him and Stephen Colbert achieving thier notoriety of late. -
Anthony Hopkins (Bobby)
Since it's basically impossible to single out anybody as the actual star of this film, and the fact that Hopkins has a somewhat smaller role than the others, it's fairly easy to define his performance as a supporting role. I'm not always a raving fan of Hopkins as an actor, though I do usually like most of his performances (except for his Hannibal Lecter, which I consider pathetically laughable). However, if there's one kind of role that makes Hopkins shine, it's playing wise, intelligent, dignified, older men. He's done it with perfection a number of times in films like Meet Joe Black and The Edge. In this one, it's a bit more downplayed and subtle, and it's beautiful to behold. His quiet regality embodies the role magnificently, and is one of the key highlights to the film (which is interesting, because it's one of the least significant roles in the film). -
Dustin Hoffman (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer)
Here's a somewhat random pick for the list, but one that still stands out in my mind. When Dustin Hoffman gets a role where he gets to intentionally overplay things a bit, I think he's at his best, particularly in period pieces. His performance in The Messenger: The Story Of Joan Of Arc is spot-on perfect. In this one, he takes away the restraint and just embraces the peculiar qualities of the character. Decked out in full wardrobe and make-up, it's almost tough to tell it's him at first.
Best Supporting Actress: Honorable mentions go out to Michelle Monaghan (Mission Impossible III), Judi Dench (as the one returning person in the new Bond film, Casino Royale), Julianne Moore (Children Of Men), Ellyn Burstyn (The Fountain), Geraldine Hughes (Rocky Balboa), Rachel Hurd-Wood (Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer).
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Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Completely worthy of her Oscar nomination, at 10 years old Breslin is a highlight to a great film, populated by an equally wonderful cast. Embodying the role with both comedic and dramatic levels, she always stands out in her scenes. As the catalyst character for the movie, the rest of the family has to revolve around her performance, to a point. Breslin is easily up to the task. -
Lucy Liu (Lucky Number Slevin)
It's almost impossible to underestimate Liu's capability to do quirkiness. If you look at her role in the Charlie's Angels films, you'll notice just how quirky she makes the character (including the hilarious stuff with her trying to bake). She's played somwhat silmilar characters before, but her all-out nuttiness and absolute charm in an already strange and sadistic film really keeps it moving, and gives it heart. And her banter with Josh Hartnet is of the highest quality. -
Maria Bello (World Trade Center)
Yet another actress that is pretty much brilliant in any role she gets. Playing one of the two wives who have feared the worst about their husbands at the World Trade Center, having to watch constant news coverage that all but confirm their worst fears, Bello has a challenging role to pull off. It has to be both a tragic and a hopeful performance, and it has to delicately balance those qualities. Bello also deserves a lot of credit for a very different, hilarious performance in Thank You For Smoking as a spin-control master for the alcohol industry. -
Maggie Gyllenhaal (World Trade Center)
Like Maria Bello, Gyllenhaal needs to pull off a very delicately balanced performance, and she has to do it in full pregnancy gear. Gyllenhaal gives it a definite blend of vulnerability and strength. -
Jodie Foster (Inside Man)
Foster comes out of left field with her performance in this movie. Playing a downright slimy and sadistic "cleaner" of sorts, she plays pretty heavily against her usually warm and caring type of characters. What really makes it work is how she goes through the entire film with a smile and faux sense of charm, barely hiding her raw aggression and venemous nature. Characters call her the worst of names throughout the film, and the character seems to wear them as a badge of honor. Foster really gives it all a weighted presence. It's definitely an unusual role, and she's very much up to the challenge.
Best Screenplay: Not going to bother with write-ups for each entry here (yes, appreciate the irony). Honorable mentions go to Lucky Number Slevin, Flags Of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Rocky Balboa, The Pursuit Of Happyness, Bobby and others.
Best Film Score: As anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm a film score fanatic. So, needless to say, this is an important category for me. The world of film scoring has changed a bit in recent years. After the recent deaths of film score kings Elmer Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith (my favorite music artist of any kind for all time), it became more and more clear that the next generation were taking center stage. Add to that the fact that John Williams didn't do any film scores in 2006 (taking a needed break after a busy 2005) and you get a fairly open playing field. Honorable mentions go out to Lucky Number Slevin (J. Ralph), The Illusionist (Philip Glass - probably the best film score of his career so far), The Fountain (Clint Mansell - a breathtaking score that I continue to love more and more every time I listen to it), Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (Tom Tyker, Reinhold Heil & Johnny Klimek - a gorgeous work), Casino Royale (David Arnold - yet another delightful Bond score from Arnold), United 93 (John Powell - his score is downright perfect for the film, and quite subtle), Happy Feet (John Powell - Powell's score is catchy and loads of fun, and he adds some nice levels to a few of the songs he produced/arranged), The Omen (Marco Beltrami - while not the masterpiece of Goldsmith's original trilogy of scores it's still quite good, and Beltrami was a student of Goldsmith's so it's cool he got the gig), Little Miss Sunshine (Mychael Danna - a kitchy and fun score), All The King's Men (James Horner - don't care what anyone says, this is a great score), World Trade Center (Craig Armstrong - a beautiful piano-centric score), Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Hans Zimmer - Zimmer takes over for Klaus Badelt for this sequel, and does a better job, including his awesome Kraken cues), Underworld Evolution (Marco Beltrami - a thundering a slick score from the talented Beltrami), Eight Below (Mark Isham - perhaps my favorite Isham score to date, featuring some lush thematic material and a rousing end title cue), The Descent (David Julian - a lavishly layered and extremely subtle score, which brings texture and environment to the film).
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Michael Giacchino (Mission Impossible III)
Having spent 5 years scoring JJ Abrams' brilliant TV spy/action series Alias, Giacchino was easily qualified to score this film (directed by JJ Abrams). Proving himself not only qualified, but brilliant, this score is the best of the 3 Mission Impossible scores. Well, it's pretty easy to be better than Hans Zimmers lame score for MI2, but Danny Elfman's score to the first is very good. Giacchino does soemthing that the other two composer didn't - he uses Lalo Schiffrin's fantastic "The Plot" theme from the series. In doing so, he helped make this third film feel more like the series it was based on (something that neither of the other two films really tried to do). Overall, this is a fantastic, thrilling, wild score. I love it. -
John Powell (X-Men: The Last Stand)
Without a doubt, John Powell was 2006's composer of the year. With four fantastic scores, ranging wildly in styles, he has joined the top ranks of the scoring community. I've been a bigger fan of his work more and more each year. He's now up near the top of my list. This third score in the X-Men franchise is certainly the best of the trilogy. Michael Kamen's score on the first film was a terrible mess, as most any Kamen score would be. John Ottman did a bang-up job for the second film, but as good as it was it could only dream of being as good as Powell's score to this third film. This is a hugely orchestrated, very powerful and rather heavily theme based score.. -
John Ottman (Superman Returns)
Next we have the reason that John Ottman didn't score the third X-Men film - the fact that he followed director and long-time collaborator Bryan Singer over to Superman Returns (as composer and editor - a frequent combo for Ottman on Singer's films). While Ottman doesn't approach the brilliance of John Williams with this score, he certainly embraces Williams' work. In its own right, it's a fantastic score that I love more and more each time I hear it. It's easily the best Superman score since Williams' original - but that's not too hard a task to accomplish. Like most everything else about this film, it ties into the Donner original as much as possible, while still having its own identity. This score is no exception. -
Marco Beltrami (The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada)
Beltrami delivers a very unique and quirky score to this underappreciated western (of sorts). Orchestrated with a weird variety of sounds, it embraces the musical style of the western while still being something very different. Rhythmic and catchy, it's a hard score to not love. While it may be fairly minimal throughout the movie, it's still one of my favorites from the year. -
John Powell (Ice Age: The Meltdown)
Here's another of John Powell's wonderful 2006 scores. Following up on composer David Newman's also excellent score to the first film, Powell embraces the bounce and fun of Newman's original without actually referencing any of it directly. Along with United 93, Happy Feet & the above mentioned X-Men: The Last Stand, Powell has had quite the year. This score deserves some special attention for the great sloth chant numbers and the thundering cue of the pack of mammoths appearing at the end. Not that the rest of the score isn't great as well.
Best Sound: This is a category typically dominated by big budget studio productions. Most of the ones I include in the list and honorable mentions are just that. I'm not gonna bother with individual write-ups on these. Honorable mentions go out to Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Casino Royale, X-Men: The Last Stand, Silent Hill, Happy Feet, United 93, Flags Of Our Fathers & Poseidon (yes, the movie did at least get the technical aspects done well).
Best Cinematography: This was an extremely difficult category for me to narrow down. This has been a particularly excellent year for great cinematography. Again, no individual write-ups. Man honorable mentions go out to The Illusionist (for some wonderful "old time" style), Flags Of Our Fathers (a masterpiece of muted color timing and crushed blacks), Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (featuring the always inventive Tom Tykwer directing), The Black Dahlia (De Palma's always gutsy cinematography is the key highlight of the film), Superman Returns (which broke new ground as the first user of the cutting edge new "Genesis" digital camera system), Mission Impossible III (for some good ol' fashioned mega-action production), Casino Royale (which, like all other aspects of the movie, returned the franchise to a true sense of class and taste), Miami Vice (Michael Mann - enough said), Lucky Number Slevin (quirky, dark & cool), Apocalypto (must have been a BRUTAL shooting job), World Trade Center (such style and grace), X-Men: The Last Stand (another huge scaled action spectacle), Inside Man (Spike Lee showing he actually does have directing talent and a good eye), Pan's Labyrinth (for it's blend of simplicity and style), The Hills Have Eyes (an exercise in raw and unfiltered), The Good German (a mostly successful throwback to another era), Conversations With Other Women (surely a tough shoot to plan out with the 100% split screening), The Prestige (dark, gritty & slick), Dreamgirls (one of the only good aspects of the film, period), Lady In The Water (a highlight of the somewhat flawed film) and last but not least, Poseidon (for some creative and over-the-top work).
Best Visual Effects: Plenty of choices for this category as well. Honorable mentions go out to Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (the ambition and scale is impressive), X-Men: The Last Stand (a film series that thrives on VFX), A Scanner Darkly (feature some gloriously weird VFX, which was surely a tedious pain to produce), Perfume - The Story Of A Murderer (which does a fantastic job of recreating ye olde Paris), The Illusionist (featuring some very cool mechanical effects amidst some modest but classy VFX), Mission Impossible III (featuring some breathtaking VFX sequences mixed in amongst the vast amounts of practical stunt effects), Pan's Labyrinth (which does some very nice fantasty effects), Underworld Evolution (yet another marked improvement this sequel made on the original), Flyboys (an overlooked film, with some fantastic aerial combat sequences), Night At The Museum (ridiculous but fun VFX), World Trade Center (meticulous recreations of a nightmare environment), Snakes On A Plane (another one that's a bit over-the-top but very cool and fun) and yet again we have Poseidon bringing up the rear (that opening title shot tracking all around the ship is very impressive).
Best Main/End Titles: One of my geekiest of moviegoer qualities is the love of a good title sequence. I'm sure I'm forgetting some cool or clever sequences in some of the films. Honorable mentions for ones that I can remember as cool go to The Fountain (end titles featuring simple visuals set to beautiful score), Eight Below (Mark Isham's triumphant score thunders behind some striking illustraions over the end titles), Silent Hill (end titles feature a dark and creepy roving camera), Inside Man (which has an neat opening title sequence well edited to a song cue), The Omen (a dark and stylistic main title narrative set to Marco Beltrami's ominous score), Flags Of Our Fathers (end titles feature tons of historical photos set to a downright disturbing piece of music by Clint Eastwood), Poseidon (that opening title fly-by of the ship is breathtaking), Cars (a fun and flashy opening title complimented by a funny motage of various materials over the end credits), Over The Hedge (an end title run featuring the fun Ben Folds music with the animated characters goofing off on screen) and Art School Confidential (which sets up plenty of jokes in the "college epic" opening title montage).
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Superman Returns
The opening title sequence follows the wonderful style of Donner's original, set to Williams' fantastic Superman march. Can't be beat. -
Casino Royale
Another great Bond opening title sequence. This one is less flashy than the ones from the Brosnan films, but it works great. -
Rocky Balboa
The end credit sequence is a montage of tons and tons of people making the famed run up the steps in Philidelphia, set to the classic "Gonna Fly Now." A brilliant idea for the end titles, and such a great way to say thank you to all the fans over the many years of the film series. A classy end. -
The Pink Panther
It wouldn't be a Panther film without a fun opening title sequence. -
Thank You For Smoking
The stylist and cool opening titles feature the credits as print on cigarette carton style designs. Quite clever.
Best Trailer: Another of my geekiest moviegoer qualities is the love of a good trailer. Not a heck of a lot of stand-out trailers this year, sadly. Honorable mentions go to Thank You For Smoking, Casino Royale, The Omen (for the simplistic single shot teaser of Damien swinging on a swing set), X-Men: The Last Stand, Rocky Balboa (which I actually witnessed get cheers from the audience a couple different times), Apocalypto, The Devil Wears Prada and World Trade Center.
Best Poster: One more of my geekiest moviegoer qualities is the love of a good "one sheet." Honorable mentions go to Underworld Evolution (poster link), Casino Royale (International) (poster link), Silent Hill (poster link), Snakes On A Plane (poster link), The Good German (poster link) & Pulse (poster link).
