What the Flick

The past few months are a bit of a blur to your humble reviewer -- my clearest impressions of the weeks since mid-October are of the amenities and indignities of the United gates at LAX. Imagine how Christmas-y that was!

And yet. And yet, we did get to a batch o'movies... some losers, some of the year's finest, but all pretty much fun. So here goes, with a round up of movies from the past few months -- starting with those still in the theaters: Casino Royale and Children of Men.

My love for Denzel Washington knows no bounds. There, I've said it. So I am happy to report on 2 Denzel efforts, both well-directed by Tony Scott, one in the theaters and one on DVD.

Deja Vu. All over again. This time-twisting thriller pits ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel) against a home-grown terrorist intent on blowing up a Mississippi River ferry (hasn't New Orleans suffered enough?). With a weird time-travel dependent love interest mixed in...

The Golden Globes are tonight at the Beverly Hilton, which makes me think it must be time for a "my favorites" of 2006. You know the small print: I've obviously not seen everything. I feel an obligation to talk about movies people might actually see, not those in Mongolian or that never make it out of downtown Manhattan (really, some things never even get to LA - I mean you, Army of Shadows). So, without further ado, here are my faves for 2006 (click on links to see WTF reviews).

Finally, a movie has made me happy that I'm not engaged and sporting a gigantic diamond. First, because then I'd have to feel guilty about sooo enjoying that scene of Leo in a towel (which I think we can all agree, deserved to be a lot longer than it was). And second because, duh, conflict diamonds. Seriously, though, BLOOD DIAMOND brings home in a dramatic and brutal way the cruel shenanigans that went on in Sierra Leone in the late 90s as the diamond trade...