2006: The Year in Review

What a fun year. Whether I was writing about movies (or my big-screen stories as I fondly refer to’em sometimes), music (oh-so-t-t-t-t-t-tasty, tasty in 2006), or TV (I heart TiVo), one thing remained a constant this year: There was plenty to keep me busy – and that’s always a good thing.

So here’s a review of the year that was. Happy 2007, everyone!

Best 2005 Leftovers: Little Fish and The World’s Fastest Indian

Best Action Sequence: The foot chase in Casino Royale

Best Butt-kicking Babe: Keri Russell (Mission: Impossible III)

Best Chemistry: Daniel Craig and Eva Green (Casino Royale)

Best Hair and Costumes: Marie Antoinette

Best Movie Line: Samuel L. Jackson’s “I have had it with these motherf---ing snakes on this motherf---ing plane!” in Snakes on a Plane

Best Poster: Nacho Libre

Best Soundtrack: Marie Antoinette

Best Trailer: Marie Antoinette

Best Prop: Little Miss Sunshine’s broken-down yellow VW bus

Best Use of Magical Thinking: The Illusionist and The Prestige

Best Use of Lindsay Lohan: A Prairie Home Companion, Bobby

Worst Use of Lindsay Lohan: Just My Luck

Biggest Scene-stealer: The Devil Wears Prada’s Emily Blunt

Can't Get Enough – Female: Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy)

Can't Get Enough – Male: Patrick Wilson (Hard Candy, Little Children)

Sexiest Female(s): Women of a certain age (American Dreamz’s Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Last Kiss’ Blythe Danner, The Queen’s Helen Mirren)

Sexiest Male: Casino Royale's Daniel Craig

Guiltiest Pleasures: Luke (My Super Ex-Girlfriend) and Owen (You, Me and Dupree) Wilson

Most Committed: Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) and Amy Sedaris (Strangers with Candy)

Most Devilish: Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)

Most Disappointing: Miami Vice

Most Disturbingly Hilarious: The hairy naked wrestling in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Most Impressive Ensemble in an Otherwise Unimpressive Film: Bobby's Harry Belafonte, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, and Elijah Wood, among others

Most Original: Stranger Than Fiction

Most Photogenic Duo: Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker (Failure to Launch)

Most Polarizing Crowd-pleasers: Summer Blockbusters (X-Men: The Last Stand, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Superman Returns)

Most Promising: J.J. Abrams (director of Mission: Impossible III)

Most Revelatory: Penélope Cruz (Volver)

Most Surprising Star of the Year: Al Gore (An Inconvenient Truth)

Most Underrated: The Break-Up

Breakthrough Performance – Female: Ellen Page (Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand)

Breakthrough Performance – Male: Brandon Routh (Superman Returns)

Thanks – I’ll Never Look at an Egg the Same Way: Shortbus

Best Supporting Actresses: Adriana Barraza (Babel), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), Catherine O’Hara (For Your Consideration)

Best Supporting Actors: Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), Jack Nicholson (The Departed), Michael Sheen (The Queen)

Best Actresses: Annette Bening (Running with Scissors), Penélope Cruz (Volver), Helen Mirren (The Queen), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Best Actors: Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan), Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed), Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

Best Directors: Todd Field (Little Children), Stephen Frears (The Queen), Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu (Babel), Paul Greengrass (United 93), Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

10 Best Films of the Year: (in alphabetical order)
A Prairie Home Companion
Babel
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Casino Royale
The Departed
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Thank You for Smoking
United 93

Photos: MGM/Columbia Pictures (Casino Royale); Fox Searchlight Pictures (Little Miss Sunshine); DreamWorks Pictures (The Last Kiss); Paramount Pictures (Failure to Launch); 20th Century Fox (The Devil Wears Prada); Paramount Vantage (Babel).