Part 1 of the 2006 Reelfriction Filmies!!

2006 comes to a close, and Reelfriction is born again. What a better way to celebrate the two events then having a three part Head2head summarizing the years past films! The Reelfriction “Filmies” will be given out for several different categories, best and worst. LCD and I could not agree on the winners, so we each have our own. This three part event will culminate with a Head2head Top 5 of the year, so stay tuned!Enough about the rules. 2006 brought the promise of some great films. Unfortunately, most of them I didn’t see. I was quite busy, and since Reel Friction’s “web-hosting” company had gone the way of the dodo, there was no need (however much I wanted to), to keep up with great new cinema.

So many of you may say to yourself, “What of this film?” or “What of that film?” “Why aren’t they on his list?” Well, suffice it to say that I probably did not catch them yet. Either that, or I totally disagree with you. To find out which, just leave a comment below! And without further adieu, the Filmie goes to…

• Best - The Host - An old fashioned giant monster film with a modern twist. The poster shows a tiny glimpse of the creature, and that’s all that’s needed to show how good this movie might be. If its anything like Joon-ho Bong’s earlier films, we won’t be disappointed. Also, I love the exclamation points.
• Worst - Snakes on a Plane - First you see the tag line. Horrible. Then, you notice the lack of snakes. When your eye wanders over to the woman on the bottom, you wonder what in the word she is doing. Is that a karate stance? Then what’s with Samuel L. Jackson’s hand grabbing her? How unnatural does that look? Then you see the pilot getting ready to grab the woman and finally, you decide that maybe this film is not for you.

• Best - Brick - I had never heard anything about this film, and then I saw the trailer. It quickly went to the top of my must-see list. It shows how a great trailer can highlight a film without giving away anything of what makes the movie worth seeing.
• Worst - Bee Movie - Umm… what is this? Is this supposed to be for an animated film? This trailer is out a year before the film and it doesn’t make any sense. Its surprisingly unfunny even though it has Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock in it. Dreamworks is just preying on the mindless with this one.

• Best - Borat - In a year that had Jet Li’s final martial arts epic and Jackie Chan’s final Police Story film, I still had to go with the naked fight in Borat. I can’t believe the guts of those two actors to do that scene in their hotel room, let alone all through the hotel. When they burst in on that convention, I nearly died.
• Worst - Fearless - Jet Li’s final martial arts epic showed none of the flair that we see in Tai-chi Master or Once Upon a time in China. The final fight in the film is atrocious. It is anti-Jet Li. All we get to see is him puking all over himself. Where’s Yuen Wo Ping when you need him?

• Best - Brick, The Kingpin - He’s old… like 24. I won’t give anything way from this film. All I’ll say is that he is quite an interesting character. He’s not your standard run of the mill evil villain. Just look at where his office is.
• Worst - Slither, Grant Grant - Alien slugs invade his head and turn him into some sort of zombie. Not only that, but for some reason he starts turning into a big mess of tentacles and slime. It doesn’t make much sense, it’s not that scary, and it’s really not that funny either. What makes it worse is that it could have been good. Its a great big missed opportunity for a fun horror villain.

• Best - Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Geum-ja Lee - Can Geam-Ja really be seen as a hero? She can just as easily be seen as a more heinous villain than those she does battle with. Hero or not, that is what makes this character, and film, so interesting.
• Worst - Superman Returns, Superman - How many times can we see this invincible alien save helpless humans? He’s predictable, and invincible. He’s never going to die, so where’s the danger? And don’t give me that “burden of power” stuff. Spiderman does it much better.

• Best - The Fountain, Hugh Jackman - He takes three completely different roles and plays them to stellar heights in this wonderful film. If you want to see range, check this one out. Hugh Jackman shows enough talent to make up for every other movie he’s ever been in.
• Worst - Lady in the Water, M. Night Shyamalan - I respect him for doing what he loves no matter how many people tell him to stay behind the camera. Still, it pains me to watch his films, and when I see him appear it pains me even more.

• Best - Children of Men, Alfonso Cuarón - Although the picture fell short of being great, the directing was masterful. The film looked incredible, and Caurón kept the pace moving and the tension high without letting the film fall into horrible action movie mode. One amazing shot towards the end of the film has the camara follow Clive Owen through a battle in a war-ravaged city for a good two minutes. A shot I will never forget.
• Worst - Slither, James Gunn - Following in the footsteps of Fred Dekker and David Cronenberg, James Gunn tries to throw his hat into the ring on the subject of zombie slug thing movies. Its pretty hard to mess up a premise with fun written all over it, but somehow this movie falls flat. No charm, no style. Nothing.

• Best - Brick, Rian Johnson - The bread and butter of any film noir is its screenplay. Not only does Brick have a great story, but the dialog is in a world of its own. Its amazing to hear and it takes the viewer to a place that no other film has been before. The most original movie of the year, and the screenplay is its best part.
• Worst - Lady in the Water, M. Night Shyamalan - This film has a great opening scene but it just goes downhill from there. The trademark Shyamalan twists are there, and they are making less and less sense. The story is full of holes and all the characters buy into things much too quickly. Shyamalan writes his scripts with the idea of inserting his big surprises, and that makes them suffer tremendously.

Congratulations to all winners! Please come back next week for the Reelfriction Filmies Top 5 Best of the Worst!

LCD’s Response -

Jesus Christ TC. I know you’re afraid of arousing my ire over the internet and all but seriously, how can you only put one choice down from a movie I bothered to see? I’ll answer my own question: because you’re an idiot who watches sucky movies and I would expect nothing less (more?) from you. At least we agreed on Superman sucking as a hero. As to the rest, I’ll just say that your lists are probably inverted.