NYC Film Critic

The Top Ten Movies of 2006
1) Pan’s Labyrinth
2) Children of Men
Thanks to blockbuster franchises like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia as well as popular TV-shows like Battlestar Galactica and Heroes, science fiction and fantasy are steadily climbing out of their niche markets and becoming part of mainstream culture. At the same time, a solid block of the general public, not to mention the critical community, still views genre films as kids’ stuff—movies that offer escapism but little more. So it’s only appropriate that the two most politically relevant and socially conscious movies of the year happen to be genre pictures. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a potent and deeply emotional argument against blind obedience that’s framed as a gothic fairy tale. It also features one of the most fully realized fantasy universes I’ve ever encountered in a film and one of the few that feels as if it could exist right alongside the real world. Meanwhile, Alfonso Cuaron’s haunting sci-fi drama Children of Men offers the most convincing depiction of a dystopian future since Blade Runner. The film has won well-deserved raves for its technical brilliance–mark my words, those dazzling tracking shots will be studied in film schools for decades to come–but its message of hope in the face of absolute despair is as stirring as the visuals. Together, Pan’s Labyrinth and Children of Men represent a new standard for genre movies and filmmaking in general. (more…)