Movie of the Year

Movie of the Year: 2006
Pan's Labyrinth
The Pan's Labyrinth Podcast from Movie of the Year
The Pan's Labyrinth podcast episode of Movie of the Year steps into Guillermo del Toro's darkest fairy tale. Ryan, Mike, and Greg take on the 2006 Spanish-language fantasy this week. The film follows a young girl caught between a brutal war and a hidden magical world. Furthermore, it remains one of the most celebrated films of its decade. This week, the Taste Buds explore how del Toro blends fascism and fantasy. Next, they tour his gallery of unforgettable monsters. Meanwhile, they size up Captain Vidal, the very human villain at the center of the story. Additionally, the panel recasts the movie and casts a PopFilter Hall of Fame vote. Notably, this entry in the 2006 bracket shares the year with heavyweights like Children of Men and The Departed.
About Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Pan's Labyrinth is a 2006 dark fantasy film written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. Its original Spanish title is El laberinto del fauno. The story takes place in 1944, five years after the Spanish Civil War ended. Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, a bookish girl who loves fairy tales. She travels with her pregnant mother, Carmen, to a remote military outpost. There, her new stepfather, Captain Vidal, hunts rebels hiding in the mountains. Near the old mill, Ofelia discovers an ancient stone labyrinth. Inside, a mysterious faun tells her she is a lost princess. However, she must complete three dangerous tasks to return to her kingdom.
Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Ariadna Gil, and Álex Angulo round out the cast. Doug Jones plays both the Faun and the Pale Man under heavy prosthetics. The film premiered in competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. As a result, it built strong buzz before its US release that December. Moreover, it won three Academy Awards for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Makeup. Critics embraced it as well. Jim Emerson ranked it among the great screen fantasies in his RogerEbert.com review. Roger Ebert later named it the best film of 2006. You can find the full cast and crew on IMDb.
Fascistic Fantasy: How the Pan's Labyrinth Podcast Reads Franco's Spain
Pan's Labyrinth opens in the shadow of Franco's victory. Small bands of rebels still fight from the hills. Meanwhile, Vidal's outpost controls the food, the medicine, and the roads. Del Toro places a fairy tale inside that machinery of control. As a result, the fantasy never feels like a simple escape. Instead, both worlds test the same question. Will Ofelia obey?
The Taste Buds trace how disobedience drives the entire film. Dr. Ferreiro defies Vidal and tells him that blind obedience belongs to men like him. Mercedes secretly smuggles supplies to the rebels. Similarly, Ofelia breaks the Faun's rules more than once. Each act carries a cost, yet each one marks a character as free. In this Pan's Labyrinth podcast segment, the panel weighs how directly del Toro links fairy tales and fascism. Notably, he first explored the Spanish Civil War in The Devil's Backbone (2001). Furthermore, we ask whether the film's fantasy offers hope or only grief. Ultimately, del Toro suggests that imagination itself can resist tyranny.
Del Toro's Monsters: A Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Podcast Creature Feature
Few filmmakers love monsters like Guillermo del Toro. His career runs from Cronos and Hellboy to The Shape of Water and Frankenstein. However, Pan's Labyrinth may hold his most famous creations. First comes the Faun, a towering guide built from bark, horn, and moss. He helps Ofelia, yet he never feels fully trustworthy. Then comes the giant toad that chokes the roots of an old fig tree.
Above all, the Taste Buds dig into the Pale Man. He appears during Ofelia's second task and stays on screen for only a few minutes. Nevertheless, those minutes have fueled nightmares for twenty years. The Pale Man sits motionless before a lavish feast, with his eyes resting on a plate. Once he wakes, he slots those eyes into the palms of his hands. Then he lurches after Ofelia through the hall. Doug Jones reportedly saw through the creature's nostrils during filming. Consequently, every step carries real uncertainty. Moreover, the feast mirrors Vidal's own dinner party in the real world. In both scenes, powerful men gorge while others go hungry. The panel asks what the Pale Man truly represents. Is he fascism, the church, or simple childhood fear?
Captain Vidal: The Human Monster of Pan's Labyrinth
If the Pale Man embodies fear, Captain Vidal embodies cruelty. Sergi López plays the Francoist officer with chilling precision. He shaves with a straight razor, polishes his boots, and obsesses over his father's pocket watch. Everything in his world must run on time. As a result, his calm surface makes his violence even more shocking.
The Taste Buds revisit the scene that defines him. Early on, soldiers drag in a farmer and his son. The men claim they were only hunting rabbits. Without waiting for proof, Vidal beats the son to death with a bottle. Then he shoots the father. Afterward, a search of their bag turns up dead rabbits. By contrast, Vidal shows no remorse at all.
The panel also examines his obsession with legacy. According to legend, Vidal's father smashed his watch at the moment he died in battle. That way, his son would know the exact hour a brave man fell. Vidal denies the story, yet he carries the watch everywhere. Later, Mercedes slashes his face, and he stitches the wound himself. In practice, Vidal wants to control even his own memory. Above all, his final moments deliver one of the most satisfying rebukes in 2006 cinema.
Recast: Rebuilding the Pan's Labyrinth Podcast Cast List
Next, the Taste Buds play a round of Recast. Each host rebuilds the cast of Pan's Labyrinth from scratch. The challenge sounds simple, but this film makes it tricky. Notably, del Toro cast mostly Spanish actors in a Spanish-language story. Therefore, every pick forces the panel to weigh authenticity against star power. Who could match Sergi López's icy menace as Vidal? Furthermore, who could carry the film the way Ivana Baquero does as Ofelia? Doug Jones presents an even bigger puzzle. His work as the Faun and the Pale Man draws on decades of creature performance. In practice, few actors could step into those prosthetics. Listen to the episode to hear each Taste Bud's dream lineup and the debate that follows.
PopFilter Hall of Fame
Finally, the PopFilter Hall of Fame doors swing open once again. In this segment, the Taste Buds debate a new nominee and decide whether it earns a permanent spot. Pan's Labyrinth gives the panel plenty to consider. The film earned six Oscar nominations and won three. Moreover, fans still rank it among the best fantasy films ever made. However, the Hall of Fame bar sits high, and the panel takes the vote seriously. Each host makes a case before casting a ballot. Tune in to hear the verdict.
Why Pan's Labyrinth Still Matters
Pan's Labyrinth still matters because it treats fairy tales as serious tools for resistance. Ofelia's final choice rejects blind obedience in both worlds. Consequently, the film's fantasy and history speak the same language. Additionally, the movie proved that a Spanish-language genre film could win over global audiences. It earned more than $80 million worldwide on a budget of roughly $19 million. Moreover, it paved the way for del Toro's Best Picture win with The Shape of Water.
The film also anchors a remarkable year for Mexican filmmakers. Alfonso Cuarón released Children of Men in 2006. Meanwhile, Alejandro González Iñárritu released Babel that same year. Together, the three friends reshaped Hollywood's idea of genre and prestige. Ultimately, the Pan's Labyrinth podcast conversation returns to one idea. Twenty years later, Ofelia's quiet defiance still feels urgent. For more debates like this, browse the full Movie of the Year archive.
Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006
If you enjoyed this episode, catch up on the rest of the 2006 season.
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Departed (feat. Adam Kempenaar)
Children of Men
Casino Royale
Stranger Than Fiction

The Letters from Iwo Jima Podcast Enters the 2006 Bracket
Welcome to the Letters from Iwo Jima podcast episode from Movie of the Year: 2006. This week, Ryan, Mike, and Greg take on Clint Eastwood's Japanese-language war film. The movie tells the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima from the side that lost it. Moreover, it arrived just two months after Eastwood's own Flags of Our Fathers, which showed the same fight through American eyes.
As a result, the Taste Buds have plenty to unpack. Specifically, they debate the general who planned the defense, the baker who tried to survive it, and the American filmmaker who brought both to the screen. They also explore the real letters that gave the film its title.
Notably, the season has already featured heavy hitters like Almodóvar's Volver and Little Miss Sunshine. Therefore, this war epic faces stiff competition. Can a quiet, grief-soaked combat film earn a deep run in the Movie of the Year 2006 bracket?
About the Film
Letters from Iwo Jima premiered in Japan on December 9, 2006. Warner Bros. then opened it in limited U.S. release on December 20 to qualify for the Oscars. Iris Yamashita wrote the screenplay from a story she developed with Paul Haggis. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg co-produced alongside Eastwood and Robert Lorenz.
The story opens in 2005, when Japanese archaeologists explore the island's tunnels and find something buried. From there, the film jumps back to 1944. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to command a doomed garrison. He orders his men to stop digging beach trenches and to tunnel into the mountains instead. Consequently, the Marines who land on the island face a hidden, underground enemy.
The film earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Ultimately, it won the Oscar for Best Sound Editing. It also took the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. For the full production history, visit the film's Wikipedia page or its IMDb listing.
Kuribayashi and Saigo on the Letters from Iwo Jima Podcast
Ken Watanabe plays Kuribayashi with calm, weary authority. The real general spent time in the United States as a young officer in the late 1920s. As a result, he knew exactly how much industrial power Japan was up against. The film treats that knowledge as quiet tragedy. Kuribayashi fights a battle he expects to lose, and he fights it smartly anyway.
Saigo gives the film its ground-level view. Kazunari Ninomiya, a member of the Japanese pop group Arashi, plays the conscripted baker. Saigo misses his wife and his shop. Furthermore, he openly grumbles about the island, which nearly earns him a beating. Unlike Kuribayashi, Saigo is a fictional character. However, he stands in for every ordinary soldier who never chose this war.
On the Letters from Iwo Jima podcast, the Taste Buds dig into how these two men mirror each other. Kuribayashi saves Saigo's life more than once. In return, Saigo carries out the general's final request. Additionally, the panel discusses Baron Nishi, played by Tsuyoshi Ihara. Nishi was a real Olympic gold medalist in show jumping. His scenes with a wounded Marine give the film one of its most humane moments.
By contrast, officers like Lieutenant Ito cling to the suicidal code Kuribayashi rejects. The film lets these philosophies collide inside the caves. In practice, honor itself becomes the real battleground.
An American Director Tells a Japanese Story
Clint Eastwood built his legend as the Man with No Name and Dirty Harry. So how did that icon end up directing a film almost entirely in Japanese? The Taste Buds wrestle with that question directly.
Eastwood shot the movie back to back with Flags of Our Fathers. Most of the production took place in Barstow and Bakersfield, California. Additionally, Ken Watanabe filmed some scenes on Iwo Jima itself. The crew needed special permission from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to work there. The island still holds the remains of more than 10,000 missing Japanese soldiers.
In Japan, the film became a major hit and spent five weeks at number one. Notably, Japanese critics praised its use of native Japanese actors. Earlier Hollywood films often cast non-Japanese performers in Japanese roles. Consequently, those films often sounded wrong to Japanese audiences. Eastwood's film avoided that trap.
Still, the panel asks harder questions too. Can an American filmmaker fully grasp the Japanese experience of this war? Moreover, does the film soften the realities of imperial Japan? Aaron Gerow's essay on Eastwood's balancing of perspectives offers useful context. Meanwhile, Jim Emerson's review at RogerEbert.com captures the film's stark visual power. Listen to hear where each Taste Bud lands.
The Actual Letters Behind the Letters from Iwo Jima 2006 Podcast
The title is literal. The film draws on Picture Letters from the Commander in Chief, a collection of Kuribayashi's real correspondence. Tsuyuko Yoshida edited the volume, and Shogakukan published it in Japan in 2002. The production also drew on Kumiko Kakehashi's book So Sad to Fall in Battle, which reached English readers in 2007.
Kuribayashi wrote home often. As the collection's title suggests, many of his letters included his own small drawings. Furthermore, his messages from the island dwelt on ordinary family matters rather than glory. That gentle voice shaped Watanabe's performance.
The Taste Buds explore how the film turns these documents into its emotional spine. Soldiers read letters aloud in the dark. Others write letters they will never send. Additionally, a letter from an American mother changes how Nishi's men see their enemy. Ultimately, the buried bag from the 2005 prologue pays off in the final scene, and the dead finally speak.
For listeners who want more of the season, the 2006 season intro explains how the Taste Buds built this year's field.
Genre Blast: The War Movie
In Genre Blast, the Taste Buds step back and look at a film's genre as a whole. This week, that means the war movie. Letters from Iwo Jima sits in a long line of World War II combat films. Specifically, it arrived eight years after Saving Private Ryan reset the genre's standard for battlefield violence.
However, Eastwood takes a different approach. Cinematographer Tom Stern drains most of the color from the image. Much of the action also stays inside cramped tunnels. As a result, the film often feels closer to a chamber drama than a combat spectacle. Tune in to hear how the panel sizes it up against the genre's greats.
Why Letters from Iwo Jima Still Matters
Two decades later, Letters from Iwo Jima still stands apart. Few Hollywood war films tell their story entirely from the enemy's side. Moreover, few manage it with this much respect. The National Board of Review named it the best film of 2006. Critics have kept returning to it ever since.
The film also remains a high point of Eastwood's late career. Above all, it asks a question that never ages. What does a soldier owe his country, and what does he owe his family? That question makes it ideal bracket material for Movie of the Year: 2006.
Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006
Movie of the Year 2006: Intro Part 1
The Movies of 2006 Bracket Reveal
2006 Mixtape Part I
Volver Podcast: Movie of the Year 2006
Little Miss Sunshine Podcast: Movie of the Year 2006
Browse Every Movie of the Year Episode

FAQ: Letters from Iwo Jima Podcast and Film
What is the Letters from Iwo Jima podcast episode about?
In this episode, Ryan, Mike, and Greg debate Clint Eastwood's 2006 war film for the Movie of the Year 2006 bracket. They discuss Kuribayashi and Saigo, Eastwood's approach as an American director, and the real letters behind the story. The episode also includes a Genre Blast segment on war movies.
What is Letters from Iwo Jima about?
The film depicts the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. General Kuribayashi leads a doomed garrison against an American invasion. Meanwhile, a young baker named Saigo simply tries to survive and return to his family.
Who directed Letters from Iwo Jima?
Clint...

Movie of the Year: 2006
The Departed (feat Adam Kempenaar!)
Inside The Departed Podcast Episode
Welcome to The Departed podcast episode of Movie of the Year: 2006, where the Taste Buds take on Martin Scorsese's Boston crime epic. Ryan, Mike, and Greg welcome Filmspotting co-host Adam Kempenaar to the panel. Together, they dig into a film about cops, crooks, and the men who raise them. Moreover, the conversation covers fatherhood, gender, and the rough racial politics of Scorsese's South Boston. Additionally, the crew delivers a Career Retrospective on Leonardo DiCaprio, the jittery star at the film's center. Ultimately, the episode asks whether this Best Picture winner still earns its reputation twenty years later.
New to the season? Start with our Movie of the Year 2006 intro episode, then catch up on the full 2006 bracket reveal.
About the Film: The Departed (2006)
The Departed opened in theaters on October 6, 2006. Martin Scorsese directed, and William Monahan wrote the screenplay. Specifically, Monahan adapted the 2002 Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs. The story follows two moles working on opposite sides of the law. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Billy Costigan, an undercover cop inside the Irish mob. Meanwhile, Matt Damon plays Colin Sullivan, a mob plant rising through the Massachusetts State Police. Jack Nicholson rules over both men as crime boss Frank Costello. Notably, the supporting cast includes Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin, and Ray Winstone.
The film became a major critical and commercial hit, earning more than $290 million worldwide. In addition, it won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Scorsese finally won Best Director after five earlier nominations. Thelma Schoonmaker also took home Best Film Editing. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars in his original RogerEbert.com review. For full cast and crew credits, visit The Departed on IMDb.
Guest Panelist: Adam Kempenaar
Adam Kempenaar co-founded Filmspotting, one of the longest-running film podcasts in the medium. He launched the show in March 2005 with Sam Van Hallgren. Since 2012, he has co-hosted alongside Josh Larsen. Filmspotting has now passed 1,000 episodes and has also aired on WBEZ in Chicago. Furthermore, Kempenaar teaches at the University of Iowa, where his courses cover film criticism, sports and cinema, and podcasting. He is also a longtime member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Additionally, he consults on marketing and content for the Chicago International Film Festival. For twenty years, he also led marketing and content for the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2025, he and Larsen celebrated two decades of the show with the first Filmspotting Fest in Chicago. Notably, Filmspotting was barely a year old when The Departed opened. That timing gives Adam a rare firsthand view of the 2006 film conversation. Find his reviews, Top 5 lists, and Sacred Cow episodes at filmspotting.net.
Father Figures on The Departed Podcast
Fathers haunt every corner of The Departed. Costello grooms young Colin Sullivan from childhood, handing him groceries and shaping his loyalty. By contrast, Billy Costigan grows up with a dead father and a family split between Southie and the North Shore. Captain Queenan, played by Martin Sheen, becomes the steady parent Billy never had. Consequently, Queenan's death lands as the emotional turning point of the film. Meanwhile, Sullivan chases approval from every authority figure around him, from Costello to Ellerby. The film even closes on an open paternity question surrounding Madolyn's pregnancy.
The panel digs into how Monahan's script treats the police and the mob as rival families. In practice, both institutions recruit sons, reward obedience, and punish betrayal. Above all, the Taste Buds and Adam ask which surrogate father does the most damage.
Gender and Masculinity in The Departed
The Departed is a crowded film about men performing toughness. Cops trade insults about each other's mothers, sexuality, and manhood. Costello, meanwhile, treats women as property and punchlines. Against that backdrop, Vera Farmiga's Madolyn stands nearly alone as a major female character. Interestingly, Monahan built her from two separate women in Infernal Affairs, one for each mole. As a result, she becomes the hinge between Billy and Colin.
That choice raises real questions for the panel. Is Madolyn a fully realized character, or a device that links the two leads? Additionally, the crew considers how Sullivan's private failures mirror his fractured identity. The conversation also weighs whether Scorsese critiques this macho culture or simply enjoys it.
Boston, Race, and Tribalism: The Departed 2006 Podcast Debate
Scorsese sets his story in South Boston, a neighborhood with a fraught racial history. Costello opens the film with a monologue about the Irish, the Italians, and Black Bostonians. Throughout the film, characters toss slurs as casually as they throw punches. Nevertheless, the panel debates what the film actually says about that bigotry.
On one hand, the dialogue captures the tribal loyalties behind decades of city tension, including the 1970s busing crisis. On the other hand, some viewers argue the film treats ethnic insults as local color rather than subject. Furthermore, Costello's crew and the state police both run on in-group loyalty and suspicion of outsiders. Therefore, that tribalism powers the entire mole plot. The Taste Buds and Adam ask whether the film interrogates Boston's prejudices or leans on them for authenticity.
Career Retrospective: Leonardo DiCaprio
This episode also features a Career Retrospective on Leonardo DiCaprio. The Departed marked his third collaboration with Scorsese, following Gangs of New York and The Aviator. Notably, 2006 was a banner year for him, and Blood Diamond earned him a Best Actor nomination that season. His early work stretches from This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape to Titanic. Later highlights include Catch Me If You Can, Inception, Django Unchained, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
DiCaprio finally won the Best Actor Oscar for The Revenant. Since then, he has worked again with Quentin Tarantino, Scorsese, and Paul Thomas Anderson. In total, he has made six feature films with Scorsese. The panel walks through the full filmography, from child actor to elder statesman. However, you will have to listen to hear how the Taste Buds and Adam rank his work.
Why The Departed Still Matters
The Departed endures as the film that finally won Scorsese his Oscar. Moreover, it proved a Hollywood remake of a Hong Kong crime film could stand on its own. Its double-agent structure still echoes through crime thrillers and prestige television. Additionally, its performances remain endlessly quotable, especially Wahlberg's profane Sergeant Dignam. Alongside Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone, it helped define the Boston crime cycle of the 2000s. Ultimately, the film still sparks arguments about Scorsese's best work. Those arguments make it perfect bracket material for Movie of the Year: 2006.
Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006
Movie of the Year 2006: Intro Part 1
The Movies of 2006 Bracket Reveal
2006 Mixtape Part I
Browse every Movie of the Year episode

FAQ: The Departed Podcast and Film
What is The Departed podcast episode about?
This Movie of the Year: 2006 episode features the Taste Buds and guest Adam Kempenaar discussing Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Topics include father figures, gender, and the film's portrait of race in Boston. The episode also includes a Leonardo DiCaprio Career Retrospective.
What is The Departed about?
The Departed follows two moles in Boston. Billy Costigan goes undercover inside Frank Costello's Irish mob. Meanwhile, Colin Sullivan secretly works for Costello inside the Massachusetts State Police. Each man races to expose the other first.
Who directed The Departed?
Martin Scorsese directed The Departed. William Monahan wrote the screenplay, and the film won Scorsese his first Academy Award for Best Director.
Is The Departed based on a true story?
No, the plot comes from the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. However, Jack Nicholson's Frank Costello draws loose inspiration from real Boston gangster Whitey Bulger.
Did The Departed win Best Picture?
Yes. The Departed won Best Picture at the 79th Academy Awards. It also

Movie of the Year: 2006
Children of Men

The Children of Men Podcast from Movie of the Year
The Children of Men podcast episode of Movie of the Year takes the Taste Buds to the end of the world. Ryan, Mike, and Greg dive into Alfonso Cuarón's 2006 dystopian thriller. The film imagines a Britain where no child has been born in eighteen years. Furthermore, it turns that bleak premise into one of the most gripping chase movies of the decade. This week, the panel breaks down Cuarón's camerawork and the uneasy bond between Theo and Nigel. Meanwhile, they ask how close the film's future really feels. Additionally, the episode brings two games to the table. Notably, this entry in the 2006 bracket packs plenty of argument into one grim, gorgeous movie.
What's in This Episode
About Children of Men (2006)
Cuarón and Camerawork
Theo and Nigel
The Future Is Now
I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like
Dream Blunt Rotation
Why Children of Men Still Matters
Related Episodes
FAQ

About Children of Men (2006)
Children of Men is a 2006 dystopian thriller co-written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The screenplay adapts P. D. James's 1992 novel The Children of Men. The story unfolds in 2027, after nearly two decades of global infertility. Clive Owen stars as Theo Faron, a burned-out former activist who now works a government desk job. His ex-wife Julian, played by Julianne Moore, pulls him into a dangerous mission. Specifically, she needs transit papers for Kee, a young refugee with a secret. Kee is pregnant, and nobody has seen a pregnancy in years. Theo must escort her across a collapsing Britain to a mysterious group called the Human Project.
The supporting cast includes Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Pam Ferris, Charlie Hunnam, Danny Huston, and Peter Mullan. Universal released the film in the UK in September 2006 and in the US on Christmas Day. However, it failed to earn back its reported $76 million budget at the box office. Critics responded far more warmly. Roger Ebert gave it a four-star review and praised its convincing performances. Moreover, the film earned three Academy Award nominations, for Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, and Film Editing. You can explore the full cast and crew on IMDb.
Cuarón and Camerawork: The Children of Men Podcast Goes Long
Few films of 2006 look anything like Children of Men. Cuarón and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki built the movie around long, unbroken takes. As a result, the camera rarely lets the audience look away. The Taste Buds start with the famous car ambush. That sequence plays out almost entirely inside a moving vehicle as attackers swarm the road. Notably, the crew used a custom Doggicam rig built into a modified Fiat Multipla. The camera could glide between passengers while a stunt driver steered from a hidden position. In practice, visual effects artists stitched several takes into what looks like one seamless shot.
Then comes the battle in the Bexhill refugee camp. Theo runs through gunfire, rubble, and tanks while the camera stays glued to him. At one point, fake blood splatters across the lens. Cuarón reportedly called cut, but the chaos drowned him out. Consequently, the take continued, and the accidental blood stayed in the film. In this Children of Men podcast conversation, the panel asks a key question. Do these long takes deepen the story, or do they show off? Furthermore, we discuss how this style carried into Lubezki's later work on Gravity and The Revenant. Ultimately, the camerawork makes 2027 feel like live news footage.
Theo and Nigel: Two Cousins at the End of the World
Theo and Nigel share one short scene, yet it lingers long after the credits. Desperate for transit papers, Theo visits his powerful cousin. Danny Huston plays Nigel, a government official who runs the Ark of the Arts. The program collects the world's masterpieces while the rest of civilization burns. For instance, Michelangelo's David stands inside, and Picasso's Guernica hangs beside the dining table. Meanwhile, an inflatable pig floats above Battersea Power Station outside, a nod to Pink Floyd's Animals.
The Taste Buds dig into what separates these two men. Everyone in this world has reasons to give up. Theo lost his young son Dylan to a flu pandemic, and grief hollowed him out. By contrast, Nigel copes by hoarding beauty behind locked doors. His teenage son sits at the table, absorbed in a handheld device and barely present. Theo asks his cousin how he keeps going when no one will be left to see the art. Nigel's answer amounts to a shrug. Therefore, the scene frames a central debate. Is Nigel's shelter for culture an act of hope or pure denial? Additionally, we ask whether Theo's real journey starts at that table. Above all, this pairing shows two ways to face the end: comfort or courage.
The Future Is Now: A Children of Men 2006 Podcast Look at 2027
Here is a sobering detail. Children of Men takes place in November 2027, which now sits barely a year away. When the film premiered in 2006, that date felt comfortably distant. However, the film turned twenty this month, and its future has nearly arrived. The Taste Buds take stock of what Cuarón imagined and what the real world delivered.
The film's Britain is a police state built on fear. Soldiers round up refugees and hold them in cages. Public screens urge citizens to report illegal immigrants. Additionally, a bomb tears through a London coffee shop in the opening scene. News reports claim that every other nation has collapsed. Cuarón deliberately avoided sleek, futuristic design. Instead, he filled 2027 with worn-out cars, aging billboards, and familiar technology. As a result, the world feels less like science fiction and more like next week.
Critics have tied the film to real events for two decades. Specifically, writers have linked it to refugee crises, border debates, and falling birth rates. Meanwhile, the panel weighs which predictions landed and which missed the mark. We also compare it to earlier screen dystopias, including the one in our A Clockwork Orange episode from the 1971 season. Ultimately, this segment asks why a twenty-year-old movie still feels like a warning.
I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like
Our recurring game returns for another round of arguing with the critics. In I Never Metacritic I Didn't Like, the Taste Buds pull up a film's critical profile on Metacritic. Then we put that consensus on trial against our own reactions. Children of Men arrived with strong reviews and plenty of year-end praise. Notably, a few critics still found its politics underdeveloped. So the panel tests whether those high marks hold up twenty years later. Listen to the episode to hear how the critical record fares under Taste Buds cross-examination.
Dream Blunt Rotation: Who Would You Party With from Children of Men?
Dream Blunt Rotation asks a simple question. Which...

The Casino Royale Podcast: Bond Starts Over
Welcome to the Casino Royale podcast episode from Movie of the Year: 2006. This week, the Taste Buds sit down at the high-stakes table with Daniel Craig's first mission as 007. Ryan, Mike, and Greg break down why a 53-year-old spy novel became the freshest action movie of 2006. Furthermore, they ask a bigger question. Can a franchise that old truly reinvent itself, or does it just change tuxedos?
Casino Royale arrived at a strange moment for Bond. The Pierce Brosnan era had ended with invisible cars and digital tidal waves. Meanwhile, Jason Bourne was proving audiences wanted bruises instead of gadgets. Consequently, the producers went back to the very first Ian Fleming novel and started from zero. The result is a film that still shapes the Movie of the Year conversation about what a reboot should be.
About the Film
Casino Royale is the 21st official James Bond film and the first to star Daniel Craig. Martin Campbell directed from a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis. The story adapts Ian Fleming's 1953 debut novel, the only major Fleming book the official series had never filmed.
The plot follows a newly promoted Bond as he earns his double-0 status. After a chase through a Madagascar construction site and a bombing attempt in Miami, he tracks the money to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). Le Chiffre is a banker for terrorists who has lost his clients' funds. To recover them, he stages a poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. MI6 sends Bond to beat him, alongside treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). Judi Dench returns as M, and Jeffrey Wright debuts as Felix Leiter.
Casino Royale opened in November 2006 and ran 144 minutes, the longest Bond film at that point. Critics embraced it almost immediately. Roger Ebert, catching up on the film in 2007, awarded it four stars and praised its return to visual clarity. Additionally, the film earned a BAFTA nomination for Craig and grossed roughly $600 million worldwide. More details are available on the film's IMDb page.
This Casino Royale podcast episode covers all of that history before the debate begins. New to the season? Start with the 2006 season introduction to hear how the Taste Buds set up the year.
A New Bond: Daniel Craig Takes the Tuxedo
The first topic on this Casino Royale 2006 podcast is the man himself. When Eon announced Daniel Craig in October 2005, the reaction was ugly. Fans launched protest websites over his blond hair and blunt features. Notably, some tabloids reported that he could not drive a manual car. By contrast, the film opened to some of the best reviews in franchise history.
The Taste Buds dig into what Craig actually changed. His Bond bleeds, sweats, and makes mistakes. Above all, he seems dangerous in a way that Brosnan's polished agent never did. The black-and-white cold open tells us everything in two minutes. Specifically, we watch Bond earn his first two kills, and one of them is a brutal bathroom fight rather than a clean shot.
The episode also asks whether the film is a reboot, a prequel, or something stranger. Judi Dench carries over as M, so the continuity is deliberately loose. Ultimately, the hosts debate whether that looseness helps or hurts. The famous swimwear shot gets its due, too. Craig rising from the ocean flips the Ursula Andress beach moment from Dr. No, and the film knows it.
Vesper Lynd and the Bond Girls of Casino Royale
Eva Green's Vesper Lynd is the emotional engine of the film. Consequently, this section of the Casino Royale podcast spends real time on her. Vesper is not a conquest. She is a treasury accountant who matches Bond insult for insult on the train to Montenegro. Moreover, she is the only person in the film who forces him to show weakness.
The hosts compare Vesper to the women who came before her. Caterina Murino's Solange fills the more traditional Bond girl role, and the film treats her fate with unusual seriousness. In practice, that contrast is the point. Casino Royale keeps the old glamour but refuses to let it be weightless.
The shower scene is the key example. Bond finds Vesper shaking on the bathroom floor after the stairwell fight, still in her evening gown. Rather than seduce her, he sits down in the water beside her. Nevertheless, the film never turns soft. The Venice finale delivers one of the coldest endings in the entire series. Eva Green won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2007, and the Taste Buds argue she earned it.
Martin Campbell, Parkour, and Poker
The third topic on the Casino Royale podcast is the director. Martin Campbell had already saved Bond once. GoldenEye (1995) launched the Brosnan era after a six-year gap. Therefore, bringing him back in 2006 was a statement of intent. The hosts discuss what a Campbell action scene looks like. His camera holds still. His geography is clear. In addition, his stunts are real, which mattered enormously after Die Another Day.
The Madagascar chase is the proof. Sébastien Foucan, one of the founders of parkour and free running, plays the bomber Mollaka. He flows over the construction site like water. Bond, however, just crashes through walls. That difference is characterization through stunt work. As a result, the sequence became the most imitated action scene of the decade.
Then there is the poker. Fleming's novel used baccarat, but the film switched to Texas hold'em at the height of the poker boom. Specifically, the producers wanted a game audiences actually understood. The hosts break down how the tournament works as a three-act drama inside the larger movie. Bond loses, gets poisoned, nearly dies in the parking lot, and returns to the table. Meanwhile, the stairwell fight and the poisoning keep the stakes physical. The Aston Martin DBS crash even set a Guinness World Record for cannon rolls.
State of the Franchise: Bond in 2006
Every season, the Taste Buds step back and check the health of a major series. This time, the Casino Royale 2006 podcast State of the Franchise segment looks at 007 on the eve of Casino Royale. Die Another Day (2002) made money but embarrassed longtime fans. Meanwhile, The Bourne Identity (2002) and Batman Begins (2005) showed that audiences would reward a gritty restart.
The hosts trace the corporate side as well. MGM finally secured the rights to the Casino Royale title in 1999 after decades of legal tangles. Furthermore, Sony's purchase of MGM in 2005 brought new studio money and a new marketing push. The segment asks a simple question. In 2006, was Bond a franchise in crisis or a franchise in transition? Notably, the answer shapes how the film should be judged. Listen to the episode to hear where each host lands.
For a wider look at how 2006 blockbusters stacked up, revisit the bracket reveal episode.
Casino Royale 2006 Podcast Trivia
The Trivia segment puts the hosts' Bond knowledge on the line. Some sample questions from this week:
Which actor played James Bond on American television in 1954, in the very first Casino Royale adaptation?
Which Czech spa town stood in for Montenegro during production?
Which rock frontman recorded the theme song "You Know My Name"?
Which luxury villa on Lake Como appears as the recovery clinic near the end of the film?
How many Bond films had Martin Campbell directed before Casino Royale?

Answers, arguments, and at least one wrong guess are all on the episode. Additionally, the hosts settle an old debate about the 1967 David Niven spoof and whether it counts.
Why Casino Royale Still Matters
Nearly two decades later, Casino Royale remains the template for franchise reinvention. Every studio that has rebooted a hero since has borrowed from it. Specifically, the film proved that audiences will accept a stripped-down origin story if the character still feels dangerous. The Craig era ended with No Time to Die in 2021, and the series has yet to replace him. Consequently, the search for a new Bond keeps sending fans back to this film.
It also matters within the 2006 bracket, which is why this Casino Royale podcast episode runs long. Few blockbusters of that year combine craft, star power, and genuine emotion so completely. However, the Taste Buds never hand out free passes. Whether Casino Royale advances or falls is a surprise reserved for the audio. For more from the season, add the 2006 Mixtape to your queue.
Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 2006
Enjoyed the Casino Royale podcast? These earlier 2006 episodes set the table.
Movie of the Year 2006: Intro Part 1
Movies of 2006: Bracket Reveal
2006 Mixtape Part I