There wasn't a better movie released in 2006 than "Children of Men." I don't know how it looked on TV (don't get cable) but the film was a stunning achievment - much more impressive than 2006's other breakthrough films by Mexican filmmakers, "Pan's Labyrinth" and "Babel." And forget the ultimate Oscar-winner, the schlocky and predictable "The Departed." From the shocking moment that Clive Owen leaves the coffee shop, it captured a sense of dismal reality, presented an even darker-than-now vision of a dystopian future and concluded on a note made more hopeful because of everything that went before it. The two extended shots - the ambush scene and the climax - were tours de force the equal of anything I've seen in recent films - good as they were, they never called undue attention to themselves. This is one of theose films future moviegoers will look back on and marvel that it didn't sweep the Oscars.

So many of these letters -- and especially Stephanie Zacharek's essay -- rang true for me. Pollack's directing career may have been sometimes disappointing, if only because he hit the mark so well and memorably with "Africa" and "Tootsie" and "Absence" But when it came to performing, all the qualities that you guessed you recognized in his directing - his generous but disciplined way with actors, for example - came through all the time. No matter who he played, you believed him. I can't think of a performance of his I was ever disappointed in and several that still give me pleasure to remember. HIs Tootsie performance, of course, but here are a few more - the suavely corrupt head of the law firm in the under-rated "Changing Lanes;" A layered, believable and finally stunning performance. And for sheer hilarity, the emergency room doctor in the otherwise ghastly "Death Becomes Her" -- the way he called Goldie Hawn & Meryl Streep "kids," and his refusal to go over the top with his gradual discovery of their "problem." It seems odd to say, given the awe in which we hold directors, that while his legacy may not survive as well as others, it's also true that no actor -- and certainly no actor-director - brought more to a movie than he did when he was in front of the camera.