Top Ten Movies Of 2006

1. The Devil & Daniel Johnston
2. Shortbus
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Thank You For Smoking
5. United 93
6. Stranger Than Fiction
7. Quincinera
8. The Prestige
9. Slither
10. Borat

Honorable mention: The Departed, The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Sunshine

Top Ten Movies Of 2005

1. Me & You & Everyone You Know (Miranda July)
2. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Shane Black)
3. Syriana (Stephen Gaghan)
4. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
5. Junebug (Phil Morrison)
6. Walk The Line (James Mangold)
7. Tarnation (Jonathan Caouette)
8. Shopgirl (Anand Tucker)
9. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright)
10. Crash (Paul Haggis)

Mostly small name directors this year. Weird.

My Top-Ten Movies Of 2004

1. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
2. Napolean Dynamite
3. The Incredibles
4. Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
5. The Aviator
6. Shaun Of The Dead
7. Sideways
8. Kinsey
9. I, Robot
10. Million Dollar Baby
11. Primer

Fun Facts for each film above:
1. Michel Gondry directed trippy music vids first. See Cibbo Matto's "Sugar Water", and "Let Forever Be" by the Chemical Brothers.
2. Jared Hess also directed "Nacho Libre". What happened with "Gentleman Broncos"?
3. Brad Bird (Iron Giant, Ratatouille) is making a foray into live-action with the new "Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol".
4. Alfonso Cuaron made "Harry Potter 3" right after the sexy "Y Tu Mama Tambien".
5. Martin Scorsese finally won a damn Oscar.
6. Edgar Wright also directed "Hot Fuzz" and "Scott Pilgrim vs The World"
7. Alexander Payne already had an impressive resume with "About Schmidt", "Election" and "Citizen Ruth".
8. Bill Condon's next film was "Dreamgirls" which solidified Jennifer Hudson's career.
9. Alex Proyas (Dark City, The Crow) is currently directing "Paradise Lost" an action-heavy take on Milton's Heaven vs. Hell tale.
10. Clint Eastwood won Oscars for best picture & director. Hilary Swank & Morgan Freeman also won Oscars for their performances. Please explain "Hereafter".
11. "Primer" was an amazing, though methodical, quantum mind-bender. I'm looking forward to Shane Carruth's "A Topiary" due in 2013.

My Top-Ten Movies Of 2003

1. The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy)
2. Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola)
3. Winged Migration (Jacques Cluzaud)
4. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
5. Elf (Jon Favreau)
6. Big Fish (Tim Burton)
7. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton)
8. Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan)
9. In America (Jim Sheridan)
10. American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman)
11. School Of Rock (Richard Linklater)
12. Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (Peter Jackson)

My Top-Ten Movies Of 2001

This year a lot of my favorite movies had a stylized storyboarded feel. In fact, Ghost World and From Hell were adapted from graphic novels.

1. Amelie (Juno & Caro)
2. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch)
3. Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff)
4. Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly)
5. The Others (Alejandro Amenabar)
6. Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson)
7. Lord Of The Rings (Peter jackson)
8. Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
9. Anniversary Party (Alan Cumming, Jen Jason Leigh)
10. From Hell (Hughes Brothers)

Honorable Mention: Sexy Beast, Monster's Ball, Shallow Hal, Iris

My Top-Ten Movies Of 1996

1. Lone Star (John Sayles)
2. Welcome To The Dollhouse (Todd Solondz)
3. Angels & Insects (Phillip Haas)
4. Flirting With Disaster (David O. Russell)
5. Trees Lounge (Steve Buscemi)
6. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle)
7. Swingers (Doug Liman)
8. Secrets & Lies (Mike Leigh)
9. Shine (Scott Hicks)
10. I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron)

Where are they now?
1. John Sayles - He's working out his obsessions with S. America and the rural South.
2. Todd Solondz - Directed well-reviewed sequel to "Happiness" called "Life During Wartime".
3. Phillip Haas - Ain't doing shit.
4. David O. Russell - Directed Mark Wahlberg in "The Fighter". Yaay!
5. Steve Buscemi - Currently starring in "Boardwalk Empire" and directing "Nurse Jackie".
6. Danny Boyle - Directed "Slumdog Millionaire" and fantastic "127 Hours".
7. Doug Liman - Directed Nicole Kidman & Sean Penn in excellent "Fair Game".
8. Mike Leigh - Directed Oscar-nominated "Another Year".
9. Scott Hicks - Kind of a crap director, actually.
10. Mary Harron - Just wrapped production on vampire film "The Moth Diaries".