The image above is from Children of Men -- and it's appropriate, as there were many films this year that went off in my head like bomb blasts, random and surprising and powerful. if desperate times call for desperate measures, then our time calls for powerful art -- films that can cut through cant and dogma and tradition and the way things have been to shock, provoke and entertain us. Here, in no particular order after #1, are my picks for the best films of 2006:

1) Children of Men

"This is how Children of Men breaks your heart: By showing you a world where the presence of a child is so important that it can end battles because that child must not be hurt. And you imagine if every war were like that -- in Iraq, in Chechnya, in Dafur, in our own communities -- and you weep because you know that they are not. Wandering the ruined halls of an abandoned school, Miriam observes that it's " ...Very odd, what happens in a world without children's voices. ..." We have the sound of children's voices, but do we truly hear them right here and now? Children of Men is full of bravura bravery and technical mastery, but what makes it moving is a rare combinations -- an understanding of the life-or-death stakes of modern existence, and an unflinching refusal to look away from the equally terrifying possibilities of our damnation or our deliverance."

(From the full review.)

2) The Queen

"Well, The Queen made me do something I don't do a lot. It made me cry at the movies. And with one scene. It's near the end of the film, it features Helen Mirren, and it's a glowing, hard-won moment when a human being, knowing they have done wrong, is offered a brief, casual gesture of sympathy at a time they need it most. ... Some of the dialog is a bit too on-the-nosey, and Michael Sheen's Tony Blair feels a little broad in some moments, but the film still left me wishing that an American filmmaker would look at the more recent past with The Queen's fearlessness and humanity."

(From The Editor's Desk, Nov. 6: Hail, The Queen.)

3) Why We Fight

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961


4) Pan's Labrynth

"But Pan's Labrynth is Del Toro's show, in more senses of the phrase than one. His visual sensibility is in every frame of the film, and the fantasy sequences -- mixing practical effects, computer animation and much more -- have a terrible, beautiful quality to them, while the scenes in the real world manage to contrast the peace and beauty of nature with the brutal blasts of warfare. Pan's Labyrinth is not for kids -- it's a bit too bloody and disturbing for that, including one truly terrifying image that Del Toro's borrowed from Goya's Saturn Devours His Children -- but adult fantasy fans will find it a glorious, gripping feast for the eyes that not only creates stunning images but also has the story and characters to make it penetrate past the visual cortex and linger in that place where you keep nightmares and dreams."

(From the Cinematical Cannes review.)

5) Jesus Camp

"There's the question to be raised of if Jesus Camp approves of the kids and their teachers. I went to a religious-themed camp when I was younger, too -- one named for St. Jean De Brebeuf, where we learned about the agonies of Christ and made s'mores -- but I don't recall, for example, being led in a pledge to be part of the generation that would overturn Roe Vs. Wade like Levi, Rachael and Tori are. Ewing and Evans frame the film against the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the nomination and confirmation of Samuel Alito, and the link between the pulpit and politics is made explicit. Haggard explains why he believes the children are the future: it's all about the growth of the Evangelical Christian church: "It's got enough growth to essentially sway every election. If the Evangelicals vote, they determine the election. ... It's a fabulous life!""

(From the full review.)

6) Deliver us From Evil

"Did you find that ... as in Watergate, the cover-up was worse than the crime?"

"Absolutely. Oliver O'Grady is despicable – he's a pedophile; he did terrible, terrible things. But the fact that he alerted his authorities – and they did nothing about it – that, to me, was the problem. Because if you're an employer and someone who works for you says "I have a problem; I am touching children inappropriately," and you say "Oh, okay, we'll just put you in a new church, and don't tell anybody what you just did. ...", then, you're advocating the problem."

(From the Toronto International Film Festival video interview.)


7) Half Nelson

"Why would someone who seemingly has everything easy -- middle class family, college education, a job he loves -- resort to using street drugs -- especially crack? What are the demons Dan is fighting? The script doesn't bang us over the head with obvious or stereotypical reasons for Dan's drug use, other than his disillusionment over his once deeply held belief that he could change the world. Dan looks around and sees that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and he no longer believes in himself and his own ability to do any good, fighting the good fight in the battlefield of an inner city middle school. Life is pain, as a Buddhist might say, and for Dan, the blissful, albeit temporary, oblivion of a crack haze makes it seem better, at least for awhile."

(From Kim Voynar's SIFF review.)

8) Borat

"Like Alexis de Tocqueville did in 1831, Borat's come to see how the American experiment is working. And, just as in 1831, the journey suggests it's a bit of a work-in-progress. Borat may be one of the most politically interesting comedies of the past 20 years, just in terms of the breadth and audacity of its ideas. ...

Oh, and there's livestock involved. And jokes about poop. And gratuitous nudity -- gratuitous male nudity -- and that really dumb joke where you tell someone they've just eaten something disgusting after they've put it in their mouth. Of course, the 'someone' in Borat is former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, and the 'something disgusting' is, in fact, truly disgusting. ... Mel Brooks was once told one of his films was vulgar. His response was " ... my film rises below vulgarity." And so it is with Borat -- there's something here to offend everyone, which is interesting in that it makes you stop and think about what it is you're actually offended by, and why."

(From the full review.)

9) Brick

"Brick, written and directed by Rian Johnson, is already being called many things: Hammett goes to high school; a teen noir; a distorted trip through two different genres, as if John Hughes directed The Maltese Falcon. All those things are right (or glib enough to be quotable, which is almost as good), but let's also cut to the chase: The first thing you need to know about Brick is that it's hands down the first truly great film of 2006, one worth seeing and seeing again and actually thinking about, with sharp, snappy dialogue giving it a lustrous gloss, and carefully-drawn, achingly human characters putting real weight and power under the sheen. What Johnson's done with Brick is something akin to taking two old pieces of wood – caked with years of dust and shoddily-applied paint, layers of uneven age-dulled wax, cheap veneer and hastily-applied stain – and banging them against each other so hard and so precisely that all the cover-up and concealment fall away revealing the true beauty and grain of each piece so we can see them both as new."

(From the full review.)


10) Casino Royale
"Early in Casino Royale, the head of British Intelligence, M (Dame Judi Dench) makes an offhand comment about how her job used to be much more simple: "Christ, I miss the Cold War." Well, that makes two of us, lady -- and the good news is that Casino Royale, the latest film celebrating the adventures of double-0 agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) is a great, gripping throwback to the Cold War intrigue, action and brutality of the early, best Bond films; in fact, Casino Royale is hands down the best action film of 2006."

(From the full review.)