Babel (2006) - ★★★★★

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Writers: Guillermo Arriaga, Alejandro González Iñárritu

Stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza, Boubker Ait El Caid, Said Tarchani, Mustapha Rachidi, Gael Garcia Bernal, Koji Yakusho, Sanae Miura, Yuko Marata, Satoshi Nikaido

Babel is one of the most emotional, powerful films I've ever seen. I'll never forget it... even if I never see this film again, the images are seared into my brain forever, as is the beautiful score. It's a masterpiece, thanks to the outstanding performances by its extremely talented, multicultural cast. Each story touched a piece of my soul, and left a lasting mark. This is the first film I've ever seen by Iñárritu, who is famous for his films displaying the human condition using an array of characters. All I can really say about Babel is this: it got to me. The young Moroccan brothers... the lonely Japanese teenage-girl... the kind Mexican child-carer... and the wounded American couple... These characters will stay with me forever.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) - ★★★★½

Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Writers: Yasutaka Tsutsui (novel), Satoko Okudera (screenplay)

Yet again, the great country of Japan has produced a near-perfect animated film. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a visually stunning, surprisingly emotional masterpiece. Its unique visual style separates it from other great animated films, plus the story and characters are beautifully developed. It piqued my imagination and made me wonder if there is more to this world than meets the eye. Without a doubt, the story is what makes this such a masterful film. Its other attributes are the cherry on the cake. The style lies somewhere between sci-fi and drama, with a twist of romance towards the end. At times the film had me feeling terribly emotional because there's so much happiness and innocence in the story, but also searing moments of tragedy and heartbreak. This is easily one of the greatest animated films ever made.

No Regret (2006) - ★★★★

Director: Hee-il Leesong
Writer: Hee-il Leesong
Stars: Nam-gil Kim, Young-hoon Lee, Seung-kil Jeong

Hailed by many as the 'first LGBT film of South Korea,' No Regret is an amateur, or 'raw' story of a young homosexual man that wants nothing more than to find a way out of his lower class life. It's very well made, although it was clearly shot on a small budget. The acting is fantastic, the cinematography is outstanding, and the music is soothing and beautiful. Some of the sequences are truly masterful, and its long running time just flies by quickly. Its shortcomings mainly deal with the coldness of the main character, who is pretty hard to connect with. I could understand his actions, motives, and feel sorry for his situations, but I could never truly like him. That doesn't make this a bad movie, because it's FAR from a bad film. It's a great film with such an important subject, making it a worthwhile watch for anyone interested in LGBT or Korean cinema.

The Lives of Others (2006) - ★★★★★

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Writer: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Stars: Ulrich Muhe, Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Tukur, Thomas Thieme, Hans-Uwe Bauer

The Lives of Others is one of the most interesting films I've ever seen. Not so much because of the story, but because of the character Ulrich Muhe plays. Muhe's performance is remarkable, no, it's masterful. The 'Sonata for a Good Man' will always remind me of him. I was riveted by this film. It was sometimes suspenseful, sometimes very touching, and always brilliant. 2006 was a good year for foreign films, and this film would be my second favourite of the year. My favourite being Pan's Labyrinth. I didn't know what to expect when I bought The Lives of Others, but after watching it, I can safely say that it's a pure masterpiece of cinema.

300 (2006) - ★★½

Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, Michael Gordon (Screenplay), Frank Miller, Lynn Varley (Graphic Novel)
Stars: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro, Michael Fassbender

300 is such a man's movie. Full of violence, blood, guts, and... half naked men? Well anyway, I didn't care much for this movie. It had stunning cinematography and awesome battle scenes, but I found it all to be overly ridiculous and cheesy. Gerard Butler wasn't very impressive, I imagine Russell Crowe would have been better for the part (if he had killer abs). This isn't necessarily a bad movie, it's just that nothing in it excited me. The film plateaued the whole way through, leaving me emotionless and scratching my head. I can see that many people got caught up in the epic battle scenes and insanely cheesy speeches... it just didn't do that for me.

The Tin Star (2006) - ★★★★

Author: J.L. Langley
Genre: Gay & Lesbian, Romance

For my very first book review, I've chosen The Tin Star. Let's just say that it had me hooked from the very first chapter and I couldn't put it down. It's sometimes funny, very unrealistic, and contains so much gooey romance that you can't help but love this book. If there's one thing The Tin Star does, it makes gay romance look beautiful and passionate. However, it fails to highlight the extreme difficulties of being in a same-sex relationship (especially since it is set in the deep-south). Overall, this book is intended to excite and enthrall its target audience, and it does just that.

The Prestige (2006) - ★★★

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writer: Jonathan and Christopher Nolan (Screenplay), Christopher Priest (Novel)
Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, David Bowie

Ah, what could've been. This is one of the highest rated movies of all time and I suspect it is because of the multiple twists. Unfortunately, I guessed the ending less than an hour into the movie. I knew what was going to happen before it happened, therefore nothing surprised me. I think this is an overrated movie, but I can understand why people would be amazed by it.

Ouran High School Host Club ‘Ôran kôkô hosutobu’ (2006) – ★★★

Written by: Bisco Hatori
Stars: Maaya Sakamoto, Mamoru Miyano, Masaya Matsukaze, Akaya Saito

I am torn between liking and hating this show. Maybe it was the ‘fake-incestuous’ twins, or the relationship between a ‘toddler-like-boy’ and a senior… something just didn’t sit right with me. It’s full of stupid stories and over-the-top characters. Popular opinion says that this is a great show, but I think it’s pretty average in comparison to other Shoujo anime series. With that being said, I enjoyed this show enough to watch it to the very end. It’s not good, and it’s not bad.

It’s about a girl named Haruhi (Maaya Sakamoto), who accidentally walks into a room full of handsome high school boys. They are the ‘Host Club,’ a group of boys who are in the business of escorting girls who want to be wooed and thrilled by their charm. The group is composed of: a very feminine leader, a boring manager, fake-incestuous twins, and another boring person (with his toddler-like companion named Honey). Basically, Haruhi becomes friends with them and you see all kinds of mischief they get up to.

First of all, there aren’t any likeable characters, save for Haruhi… not one. You never hear their thoughts (unless they’re joking), which makes it impossible to connect to the characters. The thing is, none of the characters have a particularly interesting story. They’re all either over-the-top and annoying, or too quiet.

The character that looked and acted like a toddler bothered me the most about this series. There is an implied romance story with this character that is just plain weird. This is a toddler for all intents and purposes, he’s there to look cute and represent a 3 to 6 year old boy. Even though he is ’17′ in the show, does that make his romance any less disturbing? Honey-Senpai is literally the most annoying anime character I’ve ever come across. He’s not cute, and the sound of his voice makes me cringe. I dreaded having to watch an episode that focused on him.

The incestuous brotherly love characters also made me feel a bit uncomfortable. It is as if someone made a fan-fiction of The Weasley Twins (Fred and George) from Harry Potter, with them being a couple. It’s like there’s no such thing as ‘Taboo’ in Japan. Crossing the line… what line? Nothing is off limits for their anime's. I guess that doesn't necessarily make it a bad show, it just wasn't executed in a way that made me care.

After seeing top quality anime recently, Host Club was above all, unimpressive. There was nothing new or exciting. If there was a hint of originality or heart put into the story-lines and characters then perhaps the show would have won me over. What saved it for me was its fantastic finale, which was thrilling and beautiful. Other than that, it was nothing special.

Casino Royale (2006) - ★★★★

Director: Martin Campbell
Writers: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
Stars: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Giannini

This James Bond is different to every other one I've seen by miles. He has a ruggedness to him that I like. Daniel Craig has thrown off the suave persona that has enveloped this character throughout the Brosnan and Moore era, and has breathed new life into him. He's unpredictable, he's likable, and most importantly, he is human.

After being promoted to a 00, James Bond (Daniel Craig) has been assigned his first mission, in which he faces the mysterious private banker to world terrorism and expert poker player, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). In order to recover a huge sum of his clients' money he lost, Le Chiffre sets up a high stakes poker game, believing that he will win the money back. Bond takes part also in order to prevent Le Chiffre from funding terrorism and to discover the secrets that he is hiding. He is accompanied by a stunning Treasury agent named Vespa (Eva Green) and the MI6 man in Montenegro (Giannini). 007 will not only discover the threatening oranization behind his enemy, but the worst of all truths: to not trust anyone.

You could say that Casino Royale explains the origin of James Bond. It explores how he became a 00, why he is a womanizer, and why he doesn't trust many people. It had me saying "Well that explains it" many times. This is an exceptionally well shot film. The cinematography was stunning in places such as Montenegro, where Bond would take part in the high-stakes poker game. I found the dialogue was intelligent and engaging, which makes it a cut above the Pierce Brosnan films. The film felt like it ran a little too long at just over two hours. I found myself getting disinterested in parts. That may be attributed to the lack of action this film had in comparison to previous films. I'm not saying that less action is a bad thing, I'm just saying that in this film it could have used more.

I wasn't very impressed with the opening scene. It had Bond chase an explosive-maker through a construction site, accidentally run into an embassy, then blow it up. I don't care that it's unbelievable, it just didn't bring anything new to the table. One thing that is a must for a Bond film is to not take them seriously, or else you'll be pointing out the many flaws throughout the action sequences. Unfortunately these flaws became too apparent for me, which made me lose interest during many scenes. These scenes included: Fighting African's with machetes on a hotel staircase, and Bond being poisoned then using a defibrillator in his car. I like a good laugh, but I couldn't get into it.

For me, the greatest thing about Casino Royale was Vespa. Now she was something else. She was highly entertaining, likable, vulnerable, intelligent and beautiful. I found myself liking her instantly, and grew more and more invested into her character as the film went on. Of course she has a love-affair with Bond, but this was different. It wasn't just sex between them, there was an actual connection. It was evident that this was the girl that Bond first fell in love with. Eva Green is an extremely talented actress who will hopefully have a long and bright career in acting.

I will say this for the film. It is one of the most emotional ones I have ever seen. This is mainly because of the ending, which was beautifully done. The acting was great on all parts, even if there was a stereotypical Bond villain in this film. Casino Royal was just a little too boring, and a little too ridiculous for me to really enjoy it.