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Metacritic FilmFilm Critic Top Ten Lists

2006 Critics' Picks

Individual lists are displayed below, followed by a summary of all top ten lists.
Note that some critics offered an unranked list of the top ten movies; those are listed in alphabetical order without numbering below.

Austin Chronicle
(Marjorie Baumgarten)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 Volver
3 United 93
4 Letters from Iwo Jima
5 Army of Shadows
6 The Queen
7 Borat
8 A Prairie Home Companion
9 The Proposition
10 Apocalypto
Austin Chronicle
(Marc Savlov)
1 Babel
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 The Science of Sleep
4 The Departed
5 The Devil and Daniel Johnston
6 Brick
7 Half Nelson
8 United 93
9 V for Vendetta
10 Borat
Baltimore Sun
(Chris Kaltenbach)
1 A Prairie Home Companion
2 The Departed
3 Russian Dolls
4 The Queen
5 Jet Li's Fearless
6 L'Enfant (The Child)
7 Akeelah and the Bee
8 V for Vendetta
9 Bobby
10 (tie) Hamilton
(tie) Swimmers
Baltimore Sun
(Michael Sragow)
1 United 93
2 Army of Shadows
3 Neil Young: Heart of Gold
4 Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
5 Heading South
6 The Queen
7 Borat
8 The Departed
9 The History Boys
10 Dreamgirls
Boston Globe
(Ty Burr)
1 Borat
2 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
3 United 93
4 Old Joy
5 Letters from Iwo Jima
6 The Departed
7 Children of Men
8 Duck Season
9 The Queen
10 Pan's Labyrinth
Boston Globe
(Wesley Morris)
1 Shortbus
2 Army of Shadows
3 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
4 Children of Men
5 Inland Empire
6 Half Nelson
7 Inside Man
8 Dave Chappelle's Block Party
9 Borat
10 Old Joy
Charlotte Observer
(Lawrence Toppman)
1 United 93
2 The Prestige
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 Thank You for Smoking
5 Little Miss Sunshine
6 An Inconvenient Truth
7 The Queen
8 Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
9 Hard Candy
10 Why We Fight
Chicago Reader
(Jonathan Rosenbaum)
1 Cafe Lumiere and Three Times
2 Army of Shadows and Statues Also Die
3 The War Tapes and Iraq in Fragments
4 Cuadecuc-Vampir and Warsaw Bridge
5 Find Me Guilty and Half Nelson
6 Citadel and The Power of Nightmares
7 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and The Illusionist
8 Ask The Dust and Hollywoodland
9 Moments Choisis des Histoire(s) du Cinema and My Dad Is 100 Years Old
10 Fast Food Nation and Bobby
Chicago Reader
(J.R. Jones)
1 United 93
2 Tsotsi
3 The Ground Truth
4 Little Children
5 Down to the Bone
6 Borat
7 The Last King of Scotland
8 Notes on a Scandal
9 Thank You for Smoking
10 The Proposition
Chicago Tribune
(Michael Phillips)
1 Climates
2 United 93
3 Little Children
4 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
5 Letters from Iwo Jima
6 Borat
7 The War Tapes
8 Casino Royale
9 The Queen
10 Cache (Hidden)
Chicago Tribune
(Michael Wilmington)
1 Flags of our Fathers
2 Letters from Iwo Jima
3 A Prairie Home Companion
4 The Departed
5 Pan's Labyrinth
6 Happy Feet
7 Babel
8 Army of Shadows
9 The Queen
10 Casino Royale
Christian Science Monitor
(Peter Rainer)
  A Scanner Darkly
  Borat
  Children of Men
  The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
  Happy Feet
  The History Boys
  Letters from Iwo Jima
  Notes on a Scandal
  The Queen
  The Road to Guantanamo
Empire
1 United 93
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 Casino Royale
4 Little Miss Sunshine
5 The Departed
6 The Prestige
7 Children of Men
8 Good Night, and Good Luck
9 Borat
10 Munich
Entertainment Weekly
(Lisa Schwarzbaum)
1 Letters from Iwo Jima
2 Borat
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 Half Nelson
5 The Departed
6 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
7 The Proposition
8 Old Joy
9 The Queen
10 Days of Glory
Entertainment Weekly
(Owen Gleiberman)
1 Casino Royale
2 United 93
3 The Good Shepherd
4 Sherrybaby
5 Dave Chappelle's Block Party
6 Deliver Us from Evil
7 Infamous
8 Sweet Land
9 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
10 Cars
Film Threat
(Staff Consensus)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 United 93
3 The Host
4 Borat
5 This Film Is Not Yet Rated
6 Clerks II
7 Iraq in Fragments
8 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts [HBO]
9 Jackass: Number Two
10 The Queen
The Globe & Mail [Toronto]
(Liam Lacey & Rick Groen)
  Babel
  Borat
  Cache (Hidden)
  Children of Men
  Dreamgirls
  L'Enfant (The Child)
  Pan's Labyrinth
  The Queen
  Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
  Volver
Hollywood Reporter
(Kirk Honeycutt)
1 Flags of our Fathers
2 Letters from Iwo Jima
3 Happy Feet
4 United 93
5 The Queen
6 The Lives of Others
7 Children of Men
8 Volver
9 Pan's Labyrinth
10 Borat
Hollywood Reporter
(Sheri Linden)
1 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2 United 93
3 The Queen
4 Army of Shadows
5 Half Nelson
6 Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
7 La Moustache
8 Infamous
9 Duck Season
10 Marie Antoinette
Hollywood Reporter
(Michael Rechtshaffen)
1 United 93
2 The Queen
3 Babel
4 An Inconvenient Truth
5 Letters from Iwo Jima
6 Borat
7 Little Miss Sunshine
8 Who Killed the Electric Car?
9 The Departed
10 Dreamgirls
Hollywood Reporter
(Richard James Havis)
1 V for Vendetta
2 The Departed
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 The Road to Guantanamo
5 Curse of the Golden Flower
6 Inland Empire
7 Army of Shadows
8 Iron Island
9 Lunacy
10 The Proposition
Hollywood Reporter
(Ray Bennett)
1 Babel
2 Children of Men
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 Volver
5 Flags of our Fathers
6 The History Boys
7 Little Miss Sunshine
8 United 93
9 Apocalypto
10 Dreamgirls
Hollywood Reporter
(Frank Scheck)
1 The Queen
2 Letters from Iwo Jima
3 The Departed
4 Babel
5 United 93
6 Little Children
7 Dreamgirls
8 Borat
9 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
10 An Inconvenient Truth
LA Weekly
(Scott Foundas)
1 Army of Shadows
2 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
3 United 93
4 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
5 (tie) L’Intrus
(tie) Inland Empire
6 (tie) Happy Feet
(tie) Apocalypto
7 (tie) Climates
(tie) Miami Vice
8 (tie) Children of Men
(tie) L'Enfant (The Child)
9 A Prairie Home Companion
10 (tie) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
(tie) Jackass: Number Two
LA Weekly
(Ella Taylor)
1 Army of Shadows
2 Old Joy
3 The Queen
4 (tie) Iraq in Fragments
(tie) Our Brand Is Crisis
5 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
6 Family Law
7 (tie) Venus
(tie) 49 Up
8 (tie) Lassie
(tie) Monster House
9 Fateless
10 Borat
Los Angeles Times
(Kenenth Turan)
1 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
2 (tie) The Ground Truth
(tie) Iraq in Fragments
(tie) My Country, My Country
(tie) The War Tapes
3 (tie) Friends with Money
(tie) Half Nelson
4 (tie) The Queen
(tie) Venus
5 (tie) The Lives of Others
(tie) L'Enfant (The Child)
6 (tie) Little Miss Sunshine
(tie) Thank You for Smoking
7 Volver
8 (tie) Pan's Labyrinth
(tie) Children of Men
9 Dreamgirls
10 Sweet Land
Los Angeles Times
(Carina Chocano)
  The Devil's Miner
  Half Nelson
  49 Up
  Iraq in Fragments
  Little Children
  Little Miss Sunshine
  The Lives of Others
  The Queen
  Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
  Volver
Los Angeles Times
(Kevin Crust)
1 Little Children
2 Fateless
3 Volver
4 Children of Men
5 The Departed
6 Deliver Us from Evil
7 The Lives of Others
8 (tie) Why We Fight
(tie) Street Fight
9 (tie) Pan's Labyrinth
(tie) Babel
10 An Inconvenient Truth
Miami Herald
(Rene Rodriguez)
1 The Departed
2 Little Miss Sunshine
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 United 93
5 Children of Men
6 Superman Returns
7 Borat
8 Happy Feet
9 Letters from Iwo Jima
10 Kingdom of Heaven [Director's Cut]
New York Daily News
(Jack Mathews)
1 Happy Feet
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
4 Babel
5 Borat
6 The Departed
7 Casino Royale
8 Dreamgirls
9 The Queen
10 A Prairie Home Companion
New York Post
(Lou Lumenick)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 The Queen
3 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
4 Borat
5 Babel
6 Happy Feet
7 The Illusionist
8 United 93
9 The Departed
10 Volver
New York Post
(V.A. Musetto)
  13 Tzameti
  Apocalypto
  Army of Shadows
  Battle in Heaven
  The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
  Lunacy
  Moonlight
  Our Daily Bread
  The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
  Time to Leave
New York Post
(Kyle Smith)
1 United 93
2 The Departed
3 The Good Shepherd
4 Fateless
5 Little Miss Sunshine
6 Happy Feet
7 Russian Dolls
8 Venus
9 49 Up
10 The Painted Veil
The New York Times
(Manohla Dargis)
1 Army of Shadows
2 Letters from Iwo Jima
3 Inland Empire
4 Our Daily Bread
5 L'Enfant (The Child)
6 Children of Men
7 Three Times
8 Miami Vice
9 Brand Upon the Brain!
10 Borat
The New York Times
(Stephen Holden)
1 Babel
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 Heading South
4 The Queen
5 Letters from Iwo Jima
6 United 93
7 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
8 Volver
9 A Prairie Home Companion
10 Little Miss Sunshine
The New York Times
(A.O. Scott)
1 Letters from Iwo Jima
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 L'Enfant (The Child)
4 Days of Glory
5 Little Miss Sunshine
6 Three Times
7 51 Birch Street
8 Volver
9 Little Children
10 A Prairie Home Companion
Newsweek
(David Ansen)
1 Army of Shadows
2 Little Miss Sunshine
3 The Queen
4 Letters from Iwo Jima
5 The Departed
6 Half Nelson
7 Borat
8 Dreamgirls
9 Venus
10 Volver
The Onion AV Club
(Noel Murray)
1 United 93
2 The Prestige
3 A Prairie Home Companion
4 Children of Men
5 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
6 Pan's Labyrinth
7 The Departed
8 Inside Man
9 Mutual Appreciation
10 The Devil and Daniel Johnston
The Onion AV Club
(Keith Phipps)
1 Children of Men
2 The Departed
3 Pan's Labyrinth
4 Brick
5 United 93
6 Letters from Iwo Jima
7 Half Nelson
8 Volver
9 A Prairie Home Companion
10 L'Enfant (The Child)
The Onion AV Club
(Nathan Rabin)
1 Children of Men
2 United 93
3 Letters from Iwo Jima
4 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
5 Idiocracy
6 The Departed
7 The Devil and Daniel Johnston
8 Half Nelson
9 The Queen
10 A Prairie Home Companion
The Onion AV Club
(Tasha Robinson)
1 Children of Men
2 Stranger than Fiction
3 Brick
4 United 93
5 Half Nelson
6 Shortbus
7 A Prairie Home Companion
8 The King
9 Babel
10 The Prestige
The Onion AV Club
(Scott Tobias)
1 The Departed
2 Children of Men
3 United 93
4 Old Joy
5 Brick
6 Volver
7 L'Enfant (The Child)
8 The Devil and Daniel Johnston
9 Neil Young: Heart of Gold
10 Half Nelson
Philadelphia Inquirer
(Steven Rea)
  Army of Shadows
  Babel
  Curse of the Golden Flower
  The Departed
  Letters from Iwo Jima
  Little Children
  Pan's Labyrinth
  The Proposition
  The Queen
  United 93
Philadelphia Inquirer
(Carrie Rickey)
  Akeelah and the Bee
  Deliver Us from Evil
  The Departed
  An Inconvenient Truth
  Letters from Iwo Jima
  Neil Young: Heart of Gold
  The Queen
  Stranger than Fiction
  Volver
  Water
Portland Oregonian
(Shawn Levy)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 United 93
3 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
4 Army of Shadows
5 Neil Young: Heart of Gold
6 The Queen
7 Notes on a Scandal
8 Little Children
9 Volver
10 Venus
Portland Oregonian
(Marc Mohan)
1 Borat
2 United 93
3 Casino Royale
4 Old Joy
5 An Inconvenient Truth
6 Real Dirt on Farmer John, The
7 Cache (Hidden)
8 The Puffy Chair
9 Drawing Restraint 9
10 Mutual Appreciation
Portland Oregonian
(Mike Russell)
1 United 93
2 The Departed
3 Borat
4 So Much So Fast
5 The Heart of the Game
6 Russian Dolls
7 Brick
8 The Fountain
9 Deliver Us from Evil
10 Casino Royale
Premiere
(Glenn Kenny)
1 Army of Shadows
2 Inland Empire
3 Volver
4 The Departed
5 Clean
6 Pan's Labyrinth
7 L'Enfant (The Child)
8 Marie Antoinette
9 The Fountain
10 The Queen
ReelViews
(James Berardinelli)
1 The Departed
2 United 93
3 Babel
4 Little Children
5 Deliver Us from Evil
6 49 Up
7 Hard Candy
8 Casino Royale
9 Stranger than Fiction
10 Superman Returns
Rolling Stone
(Peter Travers)
1 The Departed
2 Dreamgirls
3 (tie) Letters from Iwo Jima
(tie) Flags of our Fathers
4 Volver
5 Babel
6 United 93
7 The Queen
8 Borat
9 Little Miss Sunshine
10 A Prairie Home Companion
Salon
(Andrew O'Hehir)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 Agnes and His Brothers
3 Half Nelson
4 Volver
5 The Proposition
6 Friends with Money
7 Duck Season
8 Lady Vengeance
9 Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
10 Rolling Family
Salon
(Stephanie Zacharek)
1 Army of Shadows
2 Days of Glory
3 Casino Royale
4 Pan's Labyrinth
5 (tie) The Queen
(tie) Marie Antoinette
6 (tie) Dave Chappelle's Block Party
(tie) Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
7 Idlewild
8 The Painted Veil
9 The Notorious Bettie Page
10 A Prairie Home Companion
San Francisco Chronicle
(Peter Hartlaub)
1 Children of Men
2 Pan's Labyrinth
3 Little Miss Sunshine
4 Half Nelson
5 Little Children
6 The Proposition
7 The Departed
8 Borat
9 Dave Chappelle's Block Party
10 The Descent
San Francisco Chronicle
(Mick LaSalle)
1 V for Vendetta
2 Little Children
3 Le Petit Lieutenant
4 An Inconvenient Truth
5 The Queen
6 Borat
7 Inside Man
8 Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing
9 Click
10 The Painted Veil
San Francisco Chronicle
(Ruthe Stein)
  Babel
  The Departed
  Dreamgirls
  Little Children
  Little Miss Sunshine
  The Lives of Others
  Notes on a Scandal
  The Painted Veil
  Pan's Labyrinth
  The Queen
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
(William Arnold)
1 The Queen
2 (tie) Cars
(tie) Happy Feet
3 Casino Royale
4 Flags of our Fathers
5 An Inconvenient Truth
6 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
7 Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
8 Water
9 United 93
10 Little Children
Slate
(Dana Stevens)
  Babel
  Children of Men
  Documentaries: Our Daily Bread, Iraq in Fragments, Deliver Us from Evil, and Jesus Camp
  L'Enfant (The Child)
  Little Miss Sunshine
  Man Push Cart
  Pan's Labyrinth
  A Prairie Home Companion
  The Queen
  Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
Time Magazine
(Richard Corliss)
1 Pan's Labyrinth
2 Borat
3 Volver
4 United 93
5 Various documentaries
6 Gabrielle
7 Cars
8 Curse of the Golden Flower
9 (tie) Superman Returns
(tie) V for Vendetta
10 Shortbus
Time Magazine
(Richard Schickel)
1 Letters from Iwo Jima
2 The Departed
3 The Queen
4 Le Petit Lieutenant
5 Flags of our Fathers
6 The Good Shepherd
7 Army of Shadows
8 District B13
9 Notes on a Scandal
10 Little Children
USA Today
(Claudia Puig)
1 Letters from Iwo Jima
2 United 93
3 Flags of our Fathers
4 The Queen
5 Little Miss Sunshine
6 Volver
7 Pan's Labyrinth
8 Babel
9 The Departed
10 Borat
Variety
(Dennis Harvey)
1 Quinceanera
2 Shortbus
3 Little Children
4 Borat
5 The Queen
6 Evil (Ondskan)
7 Broken Sky
8 United 93
9 The Puffy Chair
10 Evil Aliens
Village Voice
(Scott Foundas)
1 Army of Shadows
2 United 93
3 Letters from Iwo Jima
4 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
5 Happy Feet
6 Inland Empire
7 Climates
8 Children of Men
9 A Prairie Home Companion
10 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Village Voice
(J. Hoberman)
1 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2 Borat
3 The Decay of Fiction
4 A Scanner Darkly
5 The Science of Sleep
6 Climates
7 L'Enfant (The Child)
8 When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts [HBO]
9 Inland Empire
10 Battle in Heaven
Village Voice
(Nathan Lee)
1 Inland Empire
2 Army of Shadows
3 A Scanner Darkly
4 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
5 Jackass: Number Two
6 Two Drifters
7 The Departed
8 Mutual Appreciation
9 Dave Chappelle's Block Party
10 The Descent
Wall Street Journal
(Joe Morgenstern)
  Deliver Us from Evil
  The Departed
  The History Boys
  The Last King of Scotland
  Letters from Iwo Jima
  Little Miss Sunshine
  Pan's Labyrinth
  The Queen
  United 93