The best and worst flicks of 2006

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[HTML_REMOVED]The Departed:[HTML_REMOVED] "Give Him an Oscar already," read the Neptune's marquee when this film came out in October. It's hard to tell whether that was referring to Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson or Martin Scorcese, who put together one hell of a fall blockbuster. DiCaprio and Damon play moles planted in Boston's Irish organized-crime mob and the Massachusetts State Police Department, respectively, by the Massachusetts State Police Department and Boston's Irish organized-crime mob, respectively. The intensity of this film is outstanding, and yes, Oscar-worthy.

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The Descent

The Devil Wears Prada

Stick It

The Illusionist

Little Miss Sunshine

Thank You for Smoking

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The Break-Up

You, Me and Dupree

Miami Vice

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Failure to Launch

Click

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[HTML_REMOVED]Casino Royale:[HTML_REMOVED] Without a doubt the best James Bond film since 1995's Goldeneye, which was the last Bond film any critic would have called good. Daniel Craig, though perhaps not as refined as Pierce Brosnan, manages to be commanding yet vulnerable. He's aided by a script that has largely left out the cheesy one-liners Brosnan was forced to toss off and by Eva Green, one of the most stunningly beautiful Bond girls in history. Craig's second Bond film is set to be released in 2008. We can't wait.

[HTML_REMOVED]V for Vendetta:[HTML_REMOVED] Remember, remember, the fifth of November...technically, this film came out late in 2005, but it resonated at the box office in 2006. Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving star in this wonderful futuristic tale of a London ruled by a fascist-like political party and the mysterious Edmund Dantes-like figure in a Guy Fawkes mask who wreaks havoc on the empire by inciting the populace to revolt.

[HTML_REMOVED]Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest:[HTML_REMOVED] To its credit, Pirates doesn't try to be anything it's not. It's simply a rollicking great time with pirates and ships and swords and supernatural beasties and Davy Jones and Johnny Depp. The cliffhanger ending anticipates next summer's installment. One has to wonder how the heck its writers are going to explain it all.

[HTML_REMOVED]Snakes on a Plane:[HTML_REMOVED] Another film that doesn't pretend it's good, and is very good for that reason. This film gets props for its concept and that motherf*$%ing line by Samuel L. Jackson that people couldn't stop repeating all summer.

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[HTML_REMOVED]Superman Returns:[HTML_REMOVED] Lois Lane has a son, and Lex Luthor is trying to grow an island in the Atlantic. All the franchise's money to hire a great screenwriter, and this is the best they could do?

[HTML_REMOVED]Mission: Impossible 3:[HTML_REMOVED] Even though his character's name is Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise apparently thinks he can play James Bond. But even flashy cars, expensive pyrotechnics and exotic locales can't keep viewers' minds from wandering to the more sordid details of Cruise's personal life as they watch Mission Impossible 3. A scene in which Cruise, dressed as a Catholic priest, crosses the sun-dappled St. Peter's Square at the Vatican was enough to make me laugh out loud in the theatre. A lesson to movie stars: Never make your private life more interesting than your films.

[HTML_REMOVED]Marie Antoinette:[HTML_REMOVED] The much-anticipated Sofia Coppola biopic of France's beautiful, doomed queen featured beautiful costuming and long, elegant stills of the Palace of Versailles. Unfortunately, the script was so superficial it would have made the real Marie Antoinette blush with shame. The plot is two hours of scenery followed by 10 minutes of revolution. The music was excellent and the camerawork pretty, but this film could have been so, so much more.

[HTML_REMOVED]X-Men: The Last Stand:[HTML_REMOVED] Even with Hugh Jackman and Sir Ian McKellen, it doesn't even come close to the first two.

[HTML_REMOVED]The Da Vinci Code: [HTML_REMOVED]An hour too long and a few thrills too short. The script adhered strictly to the Dan Brown novel, but somehow the chemistry and the mystery failed to translate onscreen.

[HTML_REMOVED]Little Man: [HTML_REMOVED]Look this film up on imdb.com, read the synopsis and avoid it like the plague. This movie should be seen only when one is so drunk they'll never remember it in the morning.