The Best & Worst Movies of 2006 Here are the best movies of 2006 - at least, the ones that I saw:

Inside Man: Okay, I'm a Spike Lee fan boy, but I can honestly say this is one of his best. No one remembers this genre picture with style and substance, and its shame.

United 93: Speechless. Stunned. Horrified. Inspired. And yet I knew what was coming every step of the way. That's how great this movie is.

The Descent: The scariest movie I've seen since 28 Days Later, maybe scarier. Do yourself a favor and watch the U.K. version, not the U.S., for the real ending.

Brick: A detective noir thriller graphed onto a high school movie, Brick is one of the most original and stylish movies I've seen in years.

Hard Candy: I'm not going to write a single word about this movie other than 'Go see it.'

Clerks II: Kevin Smith will never make another Clerks, and that's okay, because he can still make excellent comedies like Clerks II that are sharper than virtually all other comedies.

Little Miss Sunshine: A fantastic, poignant comedy from start to finish. Memorable characters, great writing, superb acting - what more could you want?

The Departed: Martin Scorcese's best film since Goodfellas - though I'm still puzzled as to how Mark Wahlberg got an Oscar nomination out of all those great actors.

Casino Royale: I'm still partial to GoldenEye, but Daniel Craig, Eva Green and a smart script made this Bond film the best.

[Blank]: I'm saving a spot for "Pan's Labyrinth," "The Fountain" or "Children of Men," which I've seen yet.

Runners Up: Half Nelson, The Prestige, Down in the Valley, An Inconvenient Truth, Slither, Grandman's Boy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Jackass Number Two, This Film is Not Yet Rated. Didn't See: Borat, Dream Girls, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Queen, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Last King of Scotland, or The Devil Wears Prada.

Worst Movies:

Hostel: Boring and not remotely scary. Eli Roth did far better with Cabin Fever.

Snakes on a Plane: A bad big budget studio movie trying to be a hip B-movie.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest: Great CGI effects and stunts, but otherwise a complete rambling mess that made no sense.

V for Vendetta: S for Sucks.

Lady in the Water: An arrogant M. Night Shamylan completely loses touch.

American Dreamz: Horrendous send-up of American Idol and the Bush Adminstration.

Posiedon: Could be the worst remake of the year.

X-Men: The Last Stand: Like a dagger in my gut, this one was so disappointing. The Godfather III of comic book movies.