2006 - The Finale, Part I

Movie of the Year: 2006 The Finale, Part 1 Inside the 2006 Film Finale Podcast The 2006 film finale podcast begins here, as Movie of the Year starts crowning the best film of 2006. Ryan, Mike, and Greg, better known as the Taste Buds, have spent months inside this bracket. Now the head-to-head battles finally begin. Part I covers four battles. Eight beloved films enter, and only four will move on. Furthermore, the Taste Buds hand out two acting awards along the way: Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. This is the payoff for an entire season of debate. Every guest, game, and argument has led to this point. However, nothing is settled yet. You will have to listen to find out which movies of 2006 survive. About the 2006 Finale Movie of the Year is a bracket-style film podcast on the PopFilter network. Each season, the Taste Buds pick one film year and search for its single best movie. The 2006 season started with a field of 128 films. The 2006 season intro cut that list in half. Then the Sweet 16 reveal locked in the bracket. Since then, each contender has earned its own full episode. Some featured guest critics and fellow podcasters. Others brought special segments, drafts, and games. Meanwhile, the panel took detours for the 2006 Mixtape and the Action Figure Draft. The finale works differently. Instead of studying one film, the Taste Buds weigh films against each other. As a result, every argument becomes a comparison. Can a horror comedy beat a Best Picture winner? Can a satire outlast a war epic? For a refresher on the year itself, Wikipedia's overview of 2006 in film covers the major releases. Four Battles, Eight Films: The 2006 Finale Podcast Field This round features some of the most celebrated movies of 2006. Notably, the field mixes Oscar winners, cult favorites, and box office surprises. Here are the eight films fighting for a spot in the next round. The Heavyweights The Departed brought Martin Scorsese his long-awaited Oscar for Best Director. The Boston crime epic also won Best Picture. Roger Ebert gave it a four-star review. Letters from Iwo Jima offers Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language look at World War II. Additionally, Dreamgirls delivers Bill Condon's lavish Motown-inspired musical. The Crowd Pleasers Little Miss Sunshine packed the Hoover family into a yellow VW bus and became an indie smash. Meanwhile, Borat turned Sacha Baron Cohen's mockumentary stunts into a cultural earthquake. Stranger Than Fiction showed a quieter, sadder side of Will Ferrell. The Wild Cards Volver brings Pedro Almodóvar's warm ghost story and a towering Penélope Cruz performance. By contrast, Slither marks James Gunn's gooey, gleeful directorial debut. Few brackets would ever put these films side by side. Ultimately, that clash is exactly what makes the finale fun. Best Supporting Actor of 2006 The first award of the finale honors the best supporting actor of 2006. The year offered plenty of scene stealers. In fact, several of them appear in this very round. The Academy had its own opinion, of course. At the 79th Academy Awards, Alan Arkin won for Little Miss Sunshine. He beat Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls and Mark Wahlberg in The Departed. Jackie Earle Haley and Djimon Hounsou rounded out the category. However, the Taste Buds do not answer to the Academy. Their nominees reflect a full season of rewatching and arguing. Will they side with Oscar, or will they reward a performance the voters ignored? The answer arrives in the episode. Best Supporting Actress of 2006 Next, the panel turns to the best supporting actress of 2006. This category brings some of the year's most memorable moments. Jennifer Hudson took home the Oscar for her film debut in Dreamgirls. Her rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" stopped audiences cold. Moreover, the Academy's field included Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine. Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi earned nods for Babel, and Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal. Still, the Movie of the Year ballot looks at the entire year. Consequently, the Taste Buds' choice could look very different. Listen to hear who takes home the award. Why the 2006 Film Finale Podcast Still Matters Twenty years later, 2006 looks stronger than critics first believed. Several of these films launched careers that still shape Hollywood. James Gunn now runs DC Studios. Additionally, Jennifer Hudson became an EGOT winner and a daytime talk show host. Other films aged in more complicated ways. Borat reshaped political comedy, for better or worse. Meanwhile, Letters from Iwo Jima still stands as a rare American war film told from the other side. That is why this 2006 film finale podcast matters. The bracket forces a simple question: which of these movies still holds up today? Therefore, every vote becomes an argument about memory, taste, and time. Above all, the finale shows how a film year changes once two decades pass. Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006 Movies of 2006: Intro Part 1 2006: The Sweet 16 Revealed Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story Slither Brick 2006 Mixtape, Part I 2006 Mixtape, Part II The Puffy Chair The Devil Wears Prada (feat. Katie Walsh) Little Miss Sunshine The Prestige (feat. Kenny McMillan) Borat Volver The Action Figure Draft, Part I The Action Figure Draft, Part II Stranger Than Fiction Casino Royale Children of Men The Departed (feat. Adam Kempenaar) Letters from Iwo Jima Dreamgirls All Movie of the Year Episodes FAQ: 2006 Film Finale Podcast and the Films What is the 2006 film finale podcast about? Part I opens the Movie of the Year 2006 finale. The Taste Buds settle four bracket battles between eight films. They also award Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Which films compete in Finale Part I? The Departed, Slither, Volver, Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima, Borat, Little Miss Sunshine, and Stranger Than Fiction all appear in this round. Who directed the films in this round? Martin Scorsese directed The Departed, and Clint Eastwood directed Letters from Iwo Jima. Bill Condon made Dreamgirls, while Pedro Almodóvar made Volver. James Gunn directed Slither, and Larry Charles directed Borat. Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris co-directed Little Miss Sunshine. Marc Forster directed Stranger Than Fiction. Does this page reveal which films win? No. The results stay in the audio. Listen to the episode to find out which films advance. More Questions About the Movies of 2006 What won Best Picture for 2006? The Departed won Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards in February 2007. It also earned Martin Scorsese his first Oscar for Best Director. Who won Best Supporting Actor and Actress at the 2007 Oscars? Alan Arkin won Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine. Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls. Why does 2006 still matter in film history? The year launched major careers and produced lasting classics. Furthermore, its mix of prestige dramas, comedies, and genre films still sparks debate twenty years later. What is Movie of the Year? Movie of the Year is a PopFilter podcast. Hosts Ryan, Mike, and Greg debate and rank films from a single year using a bracket format. Where can I listen to Movie of the Year? The show is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and most podcast apps. Full episodes also live at popfilter.co.