Last week I posted on Christianity Today’s 10 Most Redeeming Films of 2006 — a list which I wasn’t terribly impressed with. This week they have released their Critics’ Choice Awards for the Top 10 Films of 2006. This list is a bit better — primarily because I tend to agree with it more (though there were some surprises!).

Here is the list in all it’s glory:

• 10. Little Children (directed by Todd Field)
• 9. Tsotsi (directed by Gavin Hood; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 8. Little Miss Sunshine (directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 7. Casino Royale (directed by Martin Campbell; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 6. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (directed by Marc Rothemund; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 5. The Queen (directed by Stephen Frears)
• 4. United 93 (directed by Paul Greengrass; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 3. The New World (directed by Terrence Malick; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 2. L’enfant (directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; Buy DVD from Amazon.ca | Amazon.com)
• 1. Children of Men (directed by Alfonso Cuarón)

I quite liked Children of Man, though I’m not sure I would give it top nods (of course, I’m not entirely sure what I would put at the top of the list, though I do make a suggestion below). I am still not convinced about The New World, though the fact that it made both of CT’s lists means that I probably should view it again. I was a bit surprised that there were no documentaries on the list. What about An Inconvenient Truth (Davis Guggenheim; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) or Jesus Camp (Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com)?

In terms of movies released in 2006, my vote for best movie of 2006 would be The Departed (Martin Scorsese; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). This is a great gangster film and all of the actors had great performances, especially Jack Nicholson. Second runner up would be Casino Royale (Martin Campbell; IMDB), which did for Bond what Batman Begins did for the Batman franchise last year. Honourable mention goes to Thank You for Not Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2005 [I watched it in 2006]; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com). In addition, I found Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq (Andrew Berends, 2005 [I watched it in 2006]; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) to be quite interesting for its portrayal of life in Iraq.

I watch a lot of kid’s films with my children, so I thought I would pick a best kid’s movie. I haven’t seen Charlotte’s Web or Lassie, so I can’t pick either of them. It would be easy to pick Cars (John Lassiter; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), Over the Hedge (Tim Johnson; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (Carlos Saldanha; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com), or even Curious George (Matthew O’Callaghan; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com).

Instead of any of those movies, I’m picking Hoodwinked! (Cory and Todd Edwards; IMDB; Buy from Amazon.ca or Amazon.com) as my favourite kid’s movie of 2006. I found this deconstruction of Little Red Riding Hood quite amusing. While some have slammed its animation as cheap, I kind of like the minimalist CGI animation — after all, it is supposed to look like a cartoon isn’t it?!

All in all, however, I don’t think 2006 was as good as last year for movies.