Pirates of the Caribbean 2 won over UAE cinemagoers
2006 will go down as just another year for Hollywood with nothing exceptional about it. Hollywood dished out the usual: sci-fi blockbusters, romantic comedies, animations, dramatic thrillers and horrors.
Despite the various releases in different genres, there were more films in 2005 such as King Kong, Madagascar, War Of The Worlds, Batman Begins and Hitch, which struck a chord with UAE movie buffs than in 2006 inspite of several big-budget, highly-anticipated fare.
e+ caught up with a cross-section of moviegoers to find out their favourite Hollywood film from different genres.
Romance and comedies
The year began with Failure to Launch, Big Momma's House 2, The Pink Panther and a couple of spoofs - Date Movie and Scary Movie 4.
Summer brought a couple of comic blockbusters in the form of You, Me and Dupree, Click, R.V. and Talladega Nights. The year ended with romantic comedies The Lake House, The Break-Up, The Devil Wears Prada and the more recent Holiday. Click stole the march and turned out to be the favourite comedy of the year.
"Adam Sandler was funny in Click and the film had a lot to say about life in a humorous manner" says Maysoon. "Holiday's heart-warming romantic comedy this winter has turned out to be the perfect date flick for us" say Jeff and Charmaine.
Thrillers
Thrill is always lapped up and there was a serious amount of it for those who appreciate the genre. It started with Flightplan and Inside Man, both of which bowled many over with their intriguing screenplays.
"The Jodie Foster-starring Flightplan was a superb thriller and I rate it higher than the much-hyped The Da Vinci Code," says Sahar.
Films on 9/11 such as United 93 and World Trade Centre generated a lot of interest among the serious filmgoers. The Da Vinci Code - probably the most controversial film of the year - created maximum buzz, but it was Martin Scorsese's The Departed which received an all-round thumbs-up from UAE audiences.
"The Departed was awesome stuff and I have no doubt that the film will fetch itself a couple of Oscars for its brilliant portrayal of the cops-and-gangsters saga," says Mahmoud.
Action and big-budget extravaganzas
Big-budget, special effects driven films such as X-Men: The
Last Stand, V for Vendetta, Poseidon, Pirates ofCaribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Superman Returns were all lapped up by the UAE audience.
"V for Vendetta is my favourite action film this year. It was different," says Tony. Pure action films came in the form of 16 Blocks, Mission: Impossible III, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Casino Royale and Crank, keeping adrenaline levels high among film audiences.
Mission: Impossible III and Casino Royale's action sequences remain etched in audience's mind but Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was the biggest craze among them all. "Pirates of the Caribbean was no doubt the most entertaining film of the year, but Poseidon kept me involved with the film's set-up," says Fakhri.
"Casino Royale is not only the best Bond film but also the best action film of the year," says Raja Khalid. His best friend Moiz-ul-Haq nods in agreement.
Animation
This year there were many animated films, which includes Curious George, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Akeelah And The Bee, Over The Hedge, Cars, Monster House, Open Season, Barnyard and Ant Bully. Most of them did not impress many. But we needed a verdict and pushed hard for one.
The battle for the best animated film is between Ice Age 2 and Cars with the latter edging out Ice Age 2 for top slot, thanks to the fact that Cars not only appealed to the kids but also the adults. Raheel says, "Ice Age 2 is my favourite animated film of the year".
His friend Ashish immediately counter argues "Cars is a better film than Ice Age 2 and it had a very good story. I hope they make Cars 2 now." The kids look forward to Happy Feet to end their year happily with another interesting animated film.
Horror
Horror films had a horrific year. Most failed to frighten anyone, ending up being B-grade horror flicks. And horror of horrors, some of them were laugh riots. Horror releases included Hostel, Final Destination 3, The Hills Have Eyes, Silent Hill, See No Evil and Wicker Man.
However, the favourite horror flick was Saw II which came right at the beginning of 2006.
Saw fans had a double bonanza, wrapping up the year with Saw III, easily making the Saw franchise their favourite fright flicks of the year. "Nothing can beat Saw II and III this year. I doubt horror films can get more gruesome than the Saw series," Nader Al Kaleel, Husam Al Khansa and Rihab Jawad say.
Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was undoubtedly the most popular film of the year and Mansoor Mohammed sums it up saying, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest had everything from action, comedy, romance, special effects and loads of adventure."
The Departed caught the fancy of mature audiences with quite a few expecting an Oscar haul by the film.
2007 is the year of sequels for Hollywood and is highly anticipated by film audiences in the UAE. In the offing: Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Shrek 3.
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