3 more reviews for Pan's Labyrinth have brought it "down" to 95. Here's hoping it maintains that score, or at least its #1 of 2006 crown.

So is engin a no go this year, or what? Has he fallen too far behind?

The 'Bag caught 33 movies in the theater in '06, down from 36 in '05 -- blame a five-week drought during the World Cup in Germany -- and a few dozen more on DVD. Keep in mind that there are several films that we still want to see, including Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers, Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen, Venus, Dreamgirls, Sweet Land, Iraq in Fragments and Darwin's Nightmare. But here's what we did like:

1. Little Miss Sunshine. Like a skier who posts a great time and watches it stand up, this comedy gem somehow managed to come out during the summer and hold off challenger after challenger for the 'Bag's Best Picture of '06. The last dance scene made me laugh harder than anything all year.

2. Half Nelson. What could have been a hard-to-believe story about a white teacher/crack addict and one of his students at a Brooklyn school turns into an amazingly credible performance by Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps.

3. Little Children. I'm a huge Kate Winslet fan (unless she's acting with Cameron Diaz), and this story of suburban intrigue by Tom Perrotta kept me riveted.

4. Borat. I'm not totally comfortable with why I laughed, but laugh I did, over and over again. The film's biggest lesson: Americans are an odd lot.

5. Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón is one versatile director, and this story starring Clive Owen in a near-future when humans are sterile is chilling but compelling as hell.

6. Volver. I now get excited about Pedro Almodóvar's movies the way I used to anticipate Woody Allen's latest.

7. The Painted Veil. Can somebody get Edward Norton an Oscar already? It's about time, and he deserves it.

8. Quinceañera. Saw this at the Berlin Film Festival -- I was there for a soccer story, I swear -- and was won over by the genuine portrayals of life in Hispanic Los Angeles.

9. The Departed. Not as good as a lot of people thought -- Jack Nicholson tries hard to do the Al Pacino over-reaching thing -- but still a satisfying epic that's harder and harder to find these days.

10. Wordplay. Not a great year for documentaries, but this one about the best crossword-puzzle people in the country was a blast.

Honorable Mention: The Science of Sleep, The Illusionist, Thank You For Smoking, Friends With Money, Once in a Lifetime, The Prestige, A Prairie Home Companion, Talladega Nights, An Inconvenient Truth, The U.S. vs. John Lennon.

I stopped reading right there. I can't take a list serious where the critic hasnt seen Queen or Dreamgirls or the Iwo Jima films. Not to mention Children of Men.

I stopped reading right there. I can't take a list serious where the critic hasnt seen Queen or Dreamgirls or the Iwo Jima films. Not to mention Children of Men.

Yeah? I stopped the minute I saw Quinceanera on his top ten. That warrants an auto-discounting as far as I'm concerned.

Yup. "Genuine portrayals of Hispanic life in Los Angeles."

WTF?

Yeah... if it were a Latino-fetish gay porn.

A Bond film on top 10 lists. They should give Daniel Craig a knighthood.

He really should be nominated in Best Actor.