2006 Best Reviewed Movies (Page #5)

Based on the novel by Charles Bukowski, this drama follows the author's fictional alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, as he moves from town to town looking for work and women in the 1940s.

Based on a true story, the film recreates one Christmas night during WWI when enemies were able to lay aside their differences, visit each others trenches and celebrate the holiday.

Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked man (Hugo Weaving) known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he urges his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself—and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plan to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.

The Battle of Iwo Jima, which took place in the winter of 1945, was a turning point in the Pacific Theater. In one month, 22,000 Japanese and 26,000 Americans died, and the battle produced one of World War II's most enduring images: a photograph of U.S. servicemen raising an American flag on the flank of Mount Suribachi, the island's commanding high point.

A magician (Edward Norton) in turn-of-the-century Vienna falls in love with a woman well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to a prince, the magician uses his powers to win her back and undermine the stability of the royal house of Vienna.

"Stranger Than Fiction" is an inventive comedy about a novelist (Emma Thompson) struggling to complete her latest, and potentially finest, book — she only has to find a way to kill off her main character, Harold Crick, and she'll be done. Little does she know that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is inexplicably alive and well in the real world and suddenly aware of her words. Fiction and reality collide when the bewildered and hilariously resistant Harold hears what she has in mind and realizes he must find a way to change her (and his) ending.

Roddy is a decidedly upper-crust society rat who makes his home in a posh Kensington flat, complete with two hamster butlers named Gilbert and Sullivan. When a common sewer rat named Syd comes spewing out of the sink and decides he's hit the jackpot, Roddy schemes to rid himself of the pest by luring him into the whirlpool. Syd may be an ignorant slob, but he s no fool, so it is Roddy who winds up being flushed away into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis. There Roddy meets Rita, an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Roddy immediately wants out, or rather, up; Rita wants to be paid for her trouble; and, speaking of trouble, the villainous Toad who royally despises all rodents wants them iced literally. The Toad dispatches his two hapless hench-rats, Spike and Whitey, to get the job done. When they fail, the Toad has no choice but to send to France for his cousin that dreaded mercenary, Le Frog.

The explores dark adolescent issues through three friends' reactions after a boy (Conor Donovan) dies in a tree house fire set by local bullies. His twin brother (also played by Donovan) sets out for revenge, and an overweight survivor of the fire (Jesse Camacho) loses his sense of taste and smell, leading him to force his obese mother to lose weight. Their female friend (Zoe Weizenbaum) tries to seduce a grief-stricken patient of her therapist mother (Annabella Sciorra).

Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is a woman who wrestles with her dream of becoming a singer, her fitness as a mother, and daily life without her partner Lee (James Johnston). Her past is riddled with drugs and regrets, the result of which left Lee dead in a desolate motel room in Hamilton, Ontario, and landed Emily with a six-month jail sentence. The only thing that she desires for the future is a loving relationship with her son Jay, who is being cared for by Lee's parents, Albrecht (Nick Nolte) and Rosemary (Martha Henry). While Rosemary blames Emily for the death of Lee, Albrecht recognizes the importance of the bond between a mother and her son, and his faith sets the standard for the faith Emily must find in herself. Clean follows Emily to Hamilton, Paris, London and San Francisco and in three languages (English, French and Cantonese), as she battles for a place in a world reluctant to forget the woman she has been and unwilling to accept her as the woman she longs to be.

A man goes to sleep only to wake up 1,000 years in the future due to a top-secret hibernation program he was selected for. Living in the future, he realizes that civilization is so dumbed-down that he is the most intelligent person alive.

In the town of Cavite, Philippines, people will do just about anything to survive. This is the harsh reality for many Filipinos living in a poverty stricken nation. Adam, an American citizen visiting his home country for his father's funeral, soon realizes this when he arrives at the Philippines Airport and receives a phone call from an anonymous caller letting him know that his mother and sister have been kidnapped and will be killed if he doesn't comply with his demands. Helpless and alone in a country he barely knows, he must submit himself to the fanatic's every wish or face the consequences. Soon Adam realizes that the caller on the other end is with the country's most infamous bandits, the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim terrorist group fighting the Philippine government for Muslims to own the southern part of the country. Known for their kidnap, ransom and beheading of their victims if demands aren't met, he is at the caller's mercy. But when he finds out the caller's real motivation, Adam finds himself in a dilemma, having to choose between sacrificing the ones he loves, or commiting a horrendous act that will cost the lives of many.

Inspired by a true story, Eight Below is an exciting action-adventure about loyalty and the bonds of friendship set in the extreme wilderness of Antarctica. The film tells the story of three members of a scientific expedition: Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker), his best friend, Cooper (Jason Biggs), and a rugged American geologist (Bruce Greenwood), who are forced to leave behind their team of beloved sled dogs due to a sudden accident and perilous weather conditions in Antarctica. During the harsh, Antarctic winter, the dogs must struggle for survival alone in the intense frozen wilderness for over 6 months.