Pollen's 2006 lists - #1

This time of the year I usually catch up on all the stuff I missed by trawling the net for other people's best-of lists. Before I do that and get all confused, I will start my own here, in the hope that my co-bloggers/ -horts will follow suit. It's not yet the definitive list, and as I remember things I will add them. Let's start off with 2007:

Most unfortunate disappointment:
The new Grinderman album, to be released in March '07. I was very excited, but it wasn't to be. I've heard it and it has patches of promise, but it is not overall good.

Best releases of 2006:

• Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
• Carla Bozulich - Evangelista
• Current 93 - Black Ships Ate The Sky
• DeVotchKa - Curse Your Little Heart
• Kokeshi Doll - Tantalus Rhythm
• M. Ward - Post-War
• Mono - You Are There
• This Will Destroy You - Young Mountain
• Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards
• Woven Hand - Mosaic
• Xiu Xiu - The Air Force

Disappointing release of the year:

• Asobi Seksu - Citrus

Movies I enjoyed most:
I can unfortunately not give an authoritative view of 2006 releases as I missed a helluva lot of movies and watch a lot of stuff on DVD. This is more of a list of movies I watched in 2006 and liked:

• Children of Men - those perfectly crafted, endless shots, the intelligence and the hyper-reality while stuck with a great anti-hero made this a winner.
• Everything is Illuminated - I admit being biased because I watched it partly for Eugene Hutz as Alex (who was excellent), but it's a good watch.
• The Proposition - Nick Cave's script was fresh because you could sense this was his first time and he wasn't constrained by the typical movie-making-by-numbers crap out there. I only realised how violent this was when I watched it for a second time. Excellent performances from all.
• Tom-Yum-Goong - my DVD version doesn't have English subtitles and it doesn't matter - it's that kind of movie. For great fighting sequences and stunts, this was pure pleasure. Honourable mention should also go to Banlieue 13 and Fearless in this category.
• Bin-Yip (3-Iron) - this was good enough to buy on DVD. The lack of dialogue works great. Best of the three Kim Ki-duk movies I saw (also Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring and Samaria).
• Samehada otoko to momojiri onna (Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl) - an old (1998) movie, the inane and surreal conversations among the different yakuza members in various stages of waiting makes it very funny.
  
• Sennen joyu (Millenium Actress) - I don't know why I waited so long to watch this. The scenes are beautifully constructed and animated.
  

Hmmm.... I need to think some more... this can't be all. And then there are still books to come...