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Our pals at Londonist are the first to jump on the orgy of Best Of lists, so heres what they have to say...
A list for LA? Got to be film related, but because we don't have a film industry anymore I've had to alternate between a great flick of 2006 (with a British connection) and an associated great Brit. Don't worry you'll see what I mean. So in reverse order:
10 - Steve Coogan. One of the funniest men from this small island. We keep sending him over yet you keep paying attention to Sacha Baron Cohen instead. What is wrong with you?
9. Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story. Funniest film of last year for us and this year for you. Oddly it didn't resort to forcing sex aids onto the disabled.
8. United 93 - Most poignant film of the year. Every fibre of you knows how the film ends and yet you want it to turn out differently. Great cast, but greater direction and while it's not strictly a British movie the man at the helm most certainly was.
7. Paul Greengrass - maybe the subject of 9/11 needed the kind of distance that Greengrass could bring, but he certainly kept a steady hand on a difficult job. Stone's "World Trade Center" plays like a Police Academy movie in comparison.
6. V for Vendetta - The one film this year we were sure was going to suck and suck hard. Natalie's accent seems to have wandered in from a Federation trading planet and while the movie strays way off from the comic book we still loved it.
5. Alan Moore - you treat this man so badly he'll have nothing to do with you anymore. Please stop.
4. Daniel Craig - we took the piss because he was blonde, but we started to get an uneasy feeling after Munich that maybe the Broccolis knew what they were doing.
3. Casino Royale - A Bond that runs through walls, gets beaten up all the time and reacts to being outsmarted by picking up the nearest sharp object. And that's before we even get to 'that' torture scene.
2. Michael Caine - An institution that gets better with age (the exact opposite of the Monarchy).
1. Children of Men - Depressing, grey, violent, downbeat and yet filled with heart and great music - which confused us as we thought it was supposed to be set in the London of the future. Best film of the year.
PS We are so so sorry for Jason Statham.
photo by Findo
