- And I'm back, for Part II of my year-end round up, this time coming to you live from Bloomfield, CT. Yes, as of Thursday I'm back in the land of grey skies and suburban sprawl, and thus far my primary activity has been sleep, sleep, and more sleep. I think I've been averaging like 12 hours a night or something. But it's been relaxing so far ... Friday night dinner at the Baram household last night, and tonight my brother, my dad and I ventured out to see Rocky Balboa, which was a truly excellent way to cap off the year on an inspiring note - a great performance for Sly in possibly his best overall movie since the original Rocky. Great stuff.
So ... where are we at this moment? I'll stop for a minute and do some catch up here - the year that was, 2006.
2006 for me was another big year. In January I returned to CA after spending some time at home, and finished out my remaining time as an NBC Page. While it was interesting to go from being a naive rookie to an experienced vet, as old faces left the program and a new crop of fresh-faced kids started out, I was pretty immersed in the cut-throat world of Primetime Development, where we were in the final stages of giving the greenlight to shows like Heroes and Friday Night Lights. Now, I don't want to give myself too much credit, but I'd like to think that my initial enthusiasm towards Heroes had a tiny bit of influence over the Powers That Be to give it the go-ahead. Haha, okay, in reality I probably had zero influence, but I just had to point out that maybe, kind of, I did. Anyways, as February rolled around I was beginning to renter the place known as the Freakout Zone - my time as a page had been artificially extended thanks to my assignment, but it was coming to an end. It probably could have gone on even a little bit longer, but, in truth I knew I had to get out of there. My time in development had disillusioned me a bit though ... I saw how strong the personalities could be in the biz and how so much that fell under the aegis of "creative" was in actuality all about the dollars and cents. So while I had looked at development as a great way to learn more about a particular area of the industry, I wasn't sure if years of answering phones and scheduling meetings was where I wanted to be headed. Somehow though, I got very lucky and was able to do a last-minute interview with Lloyd Scott, who was being brought in to lead NBCU's iTunes and electronic sell-through charge. I got the job, said my goodbyes in the page program, got my picture with Leno (came out terrible) and so began my first Real Job. Even though things were, at times, slow, it was a good experience. I was working on the Universal lot and was nearby to many of my ex-Page friends, and even though my office could be quiet I felt like I was where the action was. I had a lot of fun eating lunch at the Universal commisary, or going to the grill and listing to the production people chat while the theme park tram drove by, as the tourists inspected us to see if we might happen to be famous. Still, the weirdest thing about that time was that Lloyd and I were on such a strange floor in the 2160 building - it was huge, sprawling ... and completely empty aside from our little area in the corner - eventually a handful of others moved in, but even with a few of us it was still a very odd, at times depressing place to work. Lloyd was a great guy to work for though, and I learned a lot on the job. Eventually though, Lloyd left NBCU for a post at MGM, and I was left in something of a state of limbo, unsure of what would happen to me. It got pretty weird there for a few weeks in the spring - coming into work in that big empty seventh gloor, me and this one other guy Lorne sitting at our desks under the glare of flourescent lights. Finally, things at NBCU sorted themselves out, and the New Media group was deemed in charge of iTunes and other EST dealings. The funny part was that this was such a new area that by default, I found myself as the only guy left in the company who had worked with Apple, suddenly, only a few months out of the Page Program, I was the iTunes Guy ...
So since the summer that's where I've been - working in New Media, mostly continuing to be the liason between NBCU's various "content stakeholders" and Apple. I moved out of the Universal lot and into the Pinnacle building, right across from NBC in Burbank, and a quick walk away from good ol' Guest Relations and the new crop of NBC pages. Now that I'm part of a bigger business unit, I've really gotten a crash course on business and management, and after having never taken a match class in four years of college, I'm now regularly dealing with budgets, revenue numbers, and headache-inducing Excel spreadsheets. In all this time I've been in the "must prove myself" stage, and I probably will be for a while yet ... But at some point I'll have to put the breakes on and remember why I came out to LA in the first place, because as lucky as I am to have this job, I can't see myself following this tract for much longer. But still - though I've been at NBC this whole time, I've essentially had three jobs this year. Not a bad pace ... but what it's all meant is a real transition from college to the "real world," which is a bit jarring but hopefully doesn't mean the end of the good times. And there were lots of good times this year - from concerts to birthdays to another great Halloween - visits to San Diego, trips back to CT, and despite being a few years removed now from the college days at BU I'm happy and proud that I managed to hang out with the likes of Aksel, Erica, Chris, Stephanie P, Bradd, and others, in addition, of course, to the many good times with all of the great people I've met out in CA. In fact, despite various interpersonal dramas and Real World-esque stuff, I'm happy to say that in the last few weeks alone, I got together with some great groups of people for dinners, concerts, parties, etc - I even rounded up a bunch of the O.G. NBC Page crew for a very nice holiday dinner last Thursday - a dinner that made me very happy to see us all laughing and getting along well over a year after any of us had worked together as pages. So ... I'm still out in CA, which I never thought would happen in the first place, still working in the 'biz, and still pursuing the dream - so as far as I'm concerned, 2006 was a good start, but merely STEP ONE on a path of bright lights and big dreams.
- As far as the bigger-picture year in review, well, there isn't much to talk about. It was yet another year under the Bush administration that saw us continuing our misguided war in Iraq, one that was riddled with problems to the point that Donald Rumsfeld became the sacrificial lamb. Hamas took control of the Palestinian government, and though there has been some measure of reduced violence in Israel, there remains a shadow cast over the nation by the constant threat of a terrorist-led Palestine and a potentially nuclear Iran. But with the US preoccupied in Iraq, everything from Osama's whereabouts to Iran to North Korea to the impending environmental crisis (thanks, Al Gore) have taken a backseat to the constant insurgent-caused violence in Iraq, in which no end is really in sight if we continue to, as Bush loves to say, "stay the course." But the big story of 2006, I think, is that despite it all there is some hope for 2007, and if it ever gets here, 2008. The Dems have taken back Congress - what this means right now is still up in the air, as the party is still, to some extent, a bit of a mess. But hey, as of now I am firmly aboard the Obama bandwagon and my one message, as the 2008 campaign draws near and candidates move into the limelight is: "Do you smell what Barak is cooking?"
- In the world of music, this was a year where I begrudgingly tuned out a lot of the stuff that was being played on the radio. In LA, where stations like KROQ consider themselves trendsetters, the trend of the day was an edless barrage of whiny, quasi-goth emo and/or "screamo" bands that really didn't do anything for me. I felt like the endearingly nerdy aesthetic that made bands like Weezer so enjoyable was replaced by a wannabe theatricality that tried to employ the operatic undertones of Green Day's American Idiot with thrown together tunes that supossedly emulate Queen but instead sound like a bunch of whiny losers singing about stuff that nobody cares about. My Chemical Romance, Panic! At the Disco, 30 Seconds to Mars ... to me, I just don't get it - I mean, I see how these bands' nerd=goth image has some appeal to disaffected youth, but musically, all these bands just kinda seem to suck. The one standout from the pack is AFI, who had a great year where they showed these wannabe kids how it's done. The Killers had a new album with some good singles but nowhere as great overall as their debut. Pearl Jam had their most rocking album in a while, and Tom Petty had a mellow but very solid new record. Fergie was clearly the pop diva of the year, with a few ridiculously catchy tunes, though its not like she had much competition, especially as Gwen Stefani disappointed with her latest oddball hiphop stylings. Of course, Weird Al himself proved again why he is the master, with another brilliant pop-culture send-up, tour de force of an album. And of course, Tenacious D returned to rock yer face off with a new album and a movie that included Dio and Meatloaf vocals in the same song! Gnarls Barkley has a great name and a great single with "Crazy," but I think people are getting a little carried away with the Barkley love (cough*Grammy's*cough). A lot of people are hailing the Chili Peppers' newest as the pinnacle of rock in 2006, but I think that's way too safe of a choice. No, the most rocking of 2006 was done by Jack White's new group, THE RACONTEURS, who had the best rock single of the year in "Steady as She Goes." But man, music just hit a low this year with the release of the Grammy noms, which was just a totally pathetic selection of lame pop crap that just says to me that pop music as we know it is on its last legs. Lucky for me, this year I wasn't overly concerned with pop - because I was lucky enough to see four of my all-time favorite bands EVER, live and in concert! Any year where I was in the presence of Aerosmith~!, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty (w/Stevie Nicks), and Guns N' by-god Roses ... well, that's a damn good year for music, baby. ROCK.
- Comics this year were dominated by a number of huge, cosmic, high-profile event books, but to me the greatest, most timeless stuff occured in the quality, month-in month-out kickass books like Y: The Last Man, Fables, and Ex Machina, not to mention other consistent great ones like Birds of Prey and Jonah Hex. A few specific shout-outs I'd like to give:
WRITER OF THE YEAR: Brian K. Vaughn
- This one is a no-brainer. Vaughn continued to write possibly the two best books on the stand, Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina, and wrote a stunning, instant-classic graphic novel in Pride of Baghdad, one of those rare, so good-it's-mainstream works that will be read and talked about for decades to come.
RUNNERS UP: Grant Morrison (7 Soldiers, All-Star Superman), Geoff Johns (Infinite Crisis, Teen Titans, Green Lantern)
ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Phil Jiminez
- My one issue with this guy is that his knack for insane detail led to many a last-minute fill-in artist on his magnum opus, Infinite Crisis, but the recent collected edition filled in many of those gaps. Jiminez produced countless beautiful panels and amazing action scenes, and gave IC the highest production value of anything else this year.
RUNNERS UP: Ivan Reis (Green Lantern), Dale Eagelsham (Villains United, JSA)
ONGOING SERIES OF THE YEAR: Y: The Last Man
- Runner's Up: Fables, Ex Machina
SUPERHERO SERIES OF THE YEAR: 52
- Runner's Up: Manhunter, Green Lantern, All-Star Superman
BEST SERIES READ IN TRADE: The Walking Dead
BEST RELAUNCH: Justice Society of America
WORST RELAUNCH: The Flash
BEST NEW SERIES: Checkmate
BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE: V For Vendetta
BEST COMIC BOOK TV SHOW: Justice League Unlimited
MOMENT OF THE YEAR: Ralph Dibney confronts The Spectre (52), Death of Superboy (Infinite Crisis)
- THE BEST MOVIES OF 2006:
Last year I said that I felt it was an underrated year for movies. People complained that the not much excited them, but I argued that a number of amazing dramatic movies made it a memorable year for film fans. This year, the feeling I'm left with as 2007 approaches is twofold:
a.) As I said in Part I of my Year End Best Of - this is a frustrating year because so many of the high-profile, Oscar bait movies are getting very limited, end-of-year releases. This means that I see movies like Letters From Iwo Jima and Children of Men hailed as best of the year by many critics, yet have not yet seen them because they simply aren't playing in more than a handful of theaters nationwide. In response, my Best Of list, more so than usual, feels slightly, at least to me, incomplete. One more related point to make - this was a year that A LOT of worthwhile movies were completely screwed over in terms of getting a wide release. The biggest debacle was undoubtedly Idiocracy, which came out in about five theaters for some unfathomable reason - if more people could see Mike Judge's first movie since Office Space, I'm sure that they would have. But even movies like The Fountain saw limited marketing and limited release ... what's up with that? The studios need to get behind their movies!
b.) This was the year that the Comedy returned. The funny was back, with Borat leading the charge, and I laughed a lot this year at the movies - especially compared to last year with its meager selection of comedies. The two surprise breakout hits of 2006 were both comedies (Borat and Little Miss Sunshine). We got a great Will Ferrell vehicle in Talladega Nights (his funniest since Anchorman). Kevin Smith returned to form with the often hilarious Clerks II, and Mike Judge had a pretty unique satirical flick in Idiocracy. Tenacious D was a very funny flick that finally saw the real Jack Black on-screen, even as we got a kid-friendly albeit hilarious JB in Nacho Libre. Then there was Thank You For Smoking - a sharp, well-acted send-up of Big Tobacco. So yeah, lots of laughs to be had this year.
Otherwise, this was definitely a year of movies that genuinely surprised me, for good and for bad. Despite early warning signs that it wouldn't be to my liking, I held out hope for Superman Returns, only to be bitterly disappointed in Bryan Singer's emasculated take on the Superman mythos. On the other hand, the previews seemed to indicate that Rocky Balboa would be a total dud, and yet just hours ago I sat in the theater with a constant smile on my face as I watched one of the most goosebump-giving movies I've seen in a long while. Little Miss Sunshine came out of nowhere over the summer and completely won me over, and yet For Your Consideration, on paper a sure thing to be one of the best comedies of the year, mostly fizzled. This has also been a year of sharply divided opinions. Some of my favorite movies of the year received scathing reviews alongside the raves, and the backlash on movies like Pirates 2, Little Miss Sunshine, Miami Vice, and The Fountain was almost as strong as the similarly impassioned praise from many fans and critics. Even the fanboys, usually single-minded in their rulings on what rules versus what sucks, couldn't seem to decide if the big geek movies of the year like Superman and X-Men 3 reeked of awesomeness or sucktitude. Only a few movies like The Departed, Cars, and of all things, Borat, rose above the arguments in the peanut gallery.
- Now, as '07 approaches, there's plenty to look forward to as many of the critical faves from 'o6 will finally get a wide release. Just for the record, some possible contenders for my list that I've yet to see: Stranger Than Fiction, Half-Nelson, The Queen, Curse of the Golden Flower, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Good Shephard, The Good German, Babel, Blood Diamond, The Illusionist, Volver, Venus, Monster House, Edmund, A Scanner Darkly, Dreamgirls, and perhaps most glaringly, Children of Men, which I am really anticipating.
So without further ado ...
DANNY BARAM'S TOP MOVIES OF 2006:
1.) The Departed
- I didn't anticipate making this my #1 movie of the year, but when I thought about what movie I really enjoyed most this year, what movie really wowed me both for its quality and its pure ability to entertain, this was it. Scorcese killed with this one, which was just so well-directed from start to finish, with an unexpectedly hilarious black humor that made this more than just a typical gangster flick. This is what happens when an all-star director comes together with an all-star cast and each player does what they do best. Wickedly great performances from Damon, DiCaprio, Nicholson, Wahlberg, and the rest - this is a gangster movie for the ages from a master at the height of his powers.
2.) Little Miss Sunshine
- I don't know if I've ever seen such an ostensibly dark movie that leaves you feeling so genuinely happy. I know this one has some haters, but I don't care, to me it's an amazing blend of mainstream comedy with indie sensibilities, and it simply elicits some of the best and biggest laughs of any movie I've seen. In it's own way, this movie has as much of an all-star cast as The Departed, with great performances from Kinnear, Carell, Arkin, Colette, and Abigail Breslin. An amazing (and yes, I'll say it - life-affirming) type of movie.
3.) United 93
- In terms of sheer ability to inspire awe, this is hands down the most remarkable and well made movie of the year. Never have I watched a movie and felt so immersed in what was going on - watching it was like experienceing a lucid dream where you wake up not when you die but only afterwards, when the lights come on and you find yourself in a cold sweat feeling like you've somehow survived a brush with your own mortality. As much as the movies above were pure entertainment, United 93 was pure intensity, and Paul Greengrass' direction is just amazing. I'm still not sure what, exactly, to take away from watching this film, but I know that it profoundly affected me like few others have.
4.) Cars
- As much as I've enjoyed Pixar's other films, Cars was perhaps my favorite to date. Something about its nostalgia-futurism just reminded me of everything that Walt Disney himself stood for - indeed, watching Cars felt like going on a trip to Disneyworld - along with the amazing imagery and animation lay a profound message of hope, frontierism, and the American Dream. It's amazing that a movie about anthropomorphized cars could carry such dramtic wight, but somehow Pixar pulled it off.
5.) The Fountain
- When I initially reviewed this movie, I said I couldn't be sure what I really thought of it until a few weeks had passed and the whole thing had really had a chance to sink in. Well, it's sunk in, and man, the amazing, surreal imagery of this movie is still burned into the inner sanctums of my brain. Darren Aranofsky created something truly special here, totally different from almost any other movie I've ever seen, with a sense of artistry and asimple, almost poetic narrative and artistic style that has to be seen to be appreciated. And what a year for Hugh Jackman - this, I thought, was his great work of '06, but he was great in Scoop, X-Men 3, and the Prestige as well. Speaking of which ...
6.) The Prestige
- Christopher Nolan did it again with this one. As in Memento, he created a dark, truly twisted logic puzzle that in addition to being one hell of a character drama was one beast of a mind-#$%&. The Prestige was a movie that slowly enveloped me as I watched, to the point where by the end I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails, and hanging on each new revelation with the utmost anticipation. And hey, it had Batman, Wolverine, Scarlett Johanson, and friggin' David Bowie in the same movie. What more do you want?
7.) Borat
- My only real disapointment with Borat probably came from the fact that, for a few years now, I've been such a huge fan thanks to the brilliance of Da Ali G Show. So for me, some of the material was old hat. But in the end it's a moot point, because years from now I'll pop in a DVD of Borat and inevitably laugh my ass off, because I won't have been bombarded with interviews and press and memories of Ali G still fresh in my mind. The fact is that Sascha Baron Coen is a comedic force of nature, and even if all he did with Borat was bring an already-great character into the mainstream, that's enough of an accomplishment that I bow before his ability to have the American public embrace a mustachoed, bigoted, and friggin' hilarious Kazakh reporter. Nice! How much?
8.) Rocky Balboa - As I write this, I am dumbstruck by the fact that the surprisingly great final installment of one of the great American film franchises is struggling to overcome the box office might of Ben Stiller and a bunch of CGI woolly mammoths. Sure, Rocky V was a dud, but like the Italian Stallion himself, this is a franchise that took a drubbing but got up and in the end, scored a kayo. A great companion piece to the original movie, this was another classic underdog story that had a real message of inspiration. Stallone does some of his best acting to date here - and the guy writes and directs as well - he's a machine. And is there a better film score out there than Bill Conti's classic Rocky theme? If you have a beating heart and don't get chills as Rocky begins his final training montage, you may need to have your pulse checked.
9.) Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man's Chest
- It's amazing to me how some fans of the original movie turned their noses up at the second - as if a Disney movie featuring needed to be anything other than a visually stunning, rollercoaster ride of an action movie. To me this was the most purely fun movie of the year, the definition of a summer blockbuster done right, with all the madcap action, imagination, and great characters you could hope for. The most crowd-pleasing movie of the year.
10.) V For Vendetta - Early this year, something amazing happened: a work by the great Alan Moore was made into a movie, and lo, it did not suck. In fact, V For Vendetta was a superb movie - one of the best examples yet of a mature graphic novel being put up on to the big screen. But despite a cool, thought-provoking plotline, a striking visual style, and a nice turn from Natalie Portman, the runaway star of the film was Hugo Weaving, whose nuanced, captivating perfromance of V, done entirely under a mask, screams for Oscar gold.
THE NEXT BEST:
11. Pan's Labrynth - From the genius mind of Guillermo Del Toro comes a hauntingly dark and disturbing fairy tale with some of the most incredible imagery ever put to screen.
12. The Pursuit of Happyness - A classic rags-to-riches tale with a nose-to-the-grindstone approach, this movie carries a great message of hope without ever being too cheesy.
13. Miami Vice - This underrated action flick is classic Michael Mann, oozing style as the director makes every shot look like a digital dream.
14. Thank You For Smoking - A great, biting satire of the business of vice, similar in terms of wit and cleverness to Little Miss Sunshine, with a great (Oscar worthy?) lead perfromance by Aaron Eckhart.
15. Brick - A stylish debut from a first-time director that merges the worlds of high-school drama and film noir to great effect. This is the best movie of the year that nobody saw - I hope it can find a following on video.
16. X-Men 3: The Last Stand - I know this movie garnered a lot of fanboy hate, but I recently rewatched it and was still highly entertained fro mstart to finish. From the great action scenes (conspicuously absent in 1 and 2) to typically great performances from acting titans Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan, this was perhaps the year's most underrated movie by critics and certain vocal fans.
17. Clerks II - This movie reminded me why I loved Kevin Smith back in the day. Sure, it retread lots of familiar ground, but like Rocky Balboa, in a weird sort of way, it was a welcome return to familiarity, and one last (I hope, in this case) salute to a classic.
18. Nacho Libre - This movie had a simplicity and innocence that made it offputting to some, but to me it was a funny, goofy, offbeat follow-up to Napoleon Dynamite that had some of the best lines of the year in a comedy. Nachooooooo!
19. Talladega Nights - Another very funny comedy, this one was pretty formulaic but had a lot of laughs and a lot of lines that are going to be repeated for years to come. Will Ferrell's best in a while.
20. Crank - Here's my oddball pick for '06 - a totally ridiculous Jason Statham actioner that is so over the top, so crazy, that it proved one of the most enjoyable movie experiences of the year. There were some other excellent action pics like Casino Royale and MI:3, but this is the cult classic pick of the bunch.
THE BEST COMEDIES (different standards may apply than in the overall list):
1. Borat
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Clerks II
4. Nacho Libre
5. Talladega Nights
6. Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny
7. Idiocracy
8. Scoop
9. For Your Consideration
10. Art School Confidential
The Worst: You, Me, And Dupree; American Dreamz
THE BEST ACTION FLIX (different standards may apply than in the overall list):
1. Pirates 2
2. X-Men 3
3. Miami Vice
4. Crank
5. Casino Royale
6. MI:3
THE MOST DISAPPOINTING MOVIES OF THE YEAR:
1. Superman Returns - DC and Warner Bros. shot on half of its superhero World's Finest team in the arm with with Batman Begins. Unfortunately, lighting didn't strike twice with Superman - a movie that turned Supes into a deadbeat dad, brought back the used-car salesman version of Lex Luthor that everyone was clamoring for, and featured a big, epic showdown between Superman and ... a giant rock. Nice.
2. The Da Vinci Code - Remember all the hype around this movie? Haha, yeah I barely recall any of it myself - it got drowned out in the utter lameness of this boring movie, with a lifeless Tom Hanks in the lead and pedestrian direction by Ron Howard, which even a valiant effort by Sir Ian McKellan could not save.
3. Snakes on a Plane - Sure, the movie had a number of amusing / ironically funny moments, but there's B-movies done right (Kill Bill, anything by John Carpenter), and there's just plain bad. And this was a bad movie with a funny name that tried after-the-fact to convince us it was in on the joke, but the self-aware inserts proved to be too little, too late. Disapointing, because in the right hands this could have been legitimately badass.
- And that wraps up my Year In Review. It's been fun writing, and I thank you all for reading, as it is often the comments I get, both supportive and critical, that keep me writing. I don't know what 2007 holds, but I'm aiming high and hoping big. Have a happy new year, everybody. I'll see you in '07. - Danny B
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