Here Are My 2006 Movie Favorites

Last year my wife and I saw more movies than we have seen in several years. Of course, we also do not desire to pay more than we have to when visiting the theater so we saw most of these movies at our local dollar theater. Since next weekend the Oscars will be the biggest news of the day I decided now might be a good time to talk about some of the really good movies we saw in 2006 along with a few real duds.

One of the good movies we watched last year was called “Devil Wears Prada”. This movie enabled Meryl Streep to prove to anyone that still had doubts about her acting ability as the years have gone by, that she still has the right stuff. In my opinion, Ms. Streep had the best performance of her life in this movie and she did a great job of making a nice looking woman appear mean and nasty in a very believable way. Another good movie in 2006 was called RV starting Robin Williams. Both Devil Wears Prada and RV were comedies and both made us laugh in different types of ways. However, when my wife and I watch movies we prefer lighthearted entertainment over complicated story lines that take hours to figure out.

Two other good movies we saw in 2006 included Nicholas Cage in “World Trade Center” and a movie called 8 Below. When I first heard about the Oliver Stone movie about the events of 911 from the experiences of two police officers that were trapped in all the rubble and eventually rescued in the most unusual way imaginable, I didn’t think I was ready for that type of drama. However, after the movie concluded, I understood that Oliver Stone had created a masterpiece on film that will be remember among his greatest works. 8 Below is a movie about a rescue worker near the South Pole that owned dogs that helped him in his work. One day as a terrible winter storm was moving into his area, everyone was forced to evacuate for the winter and this trainer was forced to abandon his dogs for months. This is a heart-warming story and people of any age will enjoy the story line of this simple but very effective movie. We also enjoyed the Adam Sandler movie called, “Click”, Sandra Bullock in “The Lake House” and of course the cult classic of 2006, “Snakes on a Plane”.

Now for the bad movies of 2006 and the sad news is that the terrible movies are easier to remember. Leading the bad movies of 2006 list includes “Poseidon” which I believe to be one of the worst remakes of a movie classic in the history of movies. “The Sentinel” staring Michael Douglas as a Secret Service Agent in charge of protecting the “First Lady” of the United States and “Superman” staring Hollywood newcomer Brandon Routh. As an older person who grew up with an image of Superman as Christopher Reeve, Routh’s performance was so unbelievable to me that I will never attend another Superman movie no matter how much hype is put into the promotion of that movie. I’m sure Brandon Routh is a great actor, but he was totally wrong for this role.

With the exception of “Devil Wears Prada” I don’t believe any of the movies I consider to be the best and worst of 2006 are nominated for an Academy Award, but few movies my wife and I enjoy watching are ever nominated for awards. Hollywood has a completely different viewpoint when it comes to movie quality than do the people that watch and rent their works throughout the country.

Related: Hollywood Tabloid Style, Narcissism Hollywood Style

2006 Movie Favorites