T.S. Eliot wrote that April was the cruelest month, but he was a poet rather than a film critic, and thus he never endured weeks of January releases.
Hollywood’s annual dumping ground, January is where the movies with no hope of winning awards or making summer blockbuster bucks are banished to. For the films, January is one step up from sitting on a studio shelf forever; for the film critics, it’s one step up from being in hell (which, incidentally, only plays movies which originally opened in January).
I think that may be why the last weeks of December and the first week of January is why you see so many top ten and best of the year lists from critics and commentators. It’s not just that they need something to fill up magazine, newspaper or website space while they blow off work for the holidays (though there’s some of that too), but rather that they’re stealing themselves for what January will bring them. Looking back at and remembering all of the great films that came out in the previous year gives them the strength they need to face another year.
So as we prepare for Codename: The Cleaner, Happily N’Ever After, Primeval, The Hitcher and Epic Movie, lets take the opportunity that this annual ritual provides to remind ourselves that for every Pink Panther and Big Momma’s House 2, there’s also a Clean.
In alphabetical order, here are my favorite movies from 2006:
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