The Power of Nightmares (#4 on the list) can be downloaded from the Internet Archive (mp4 in three parts):

http://www.archive.org/details/ThePowerOfNightmares

I can't imagine it will play here in Northern Colorado anytime soon, although nearby Greeley is featured prominently.

Thanks for another great "Best of" article.

Peace in '06.

Thanks, I added a few to my "to see" list from this.

I think it's been a dry year for indies and art films. I haven't been dazzled since 2004--that was a banner year.

You know it's a slow year for indies when Foreign Films have to be counted in to get a decent list of indies for the year.

An extremely unusual movie which deserved a wider release than it got.

>>Primer was one of the best movies I saw this year

An extremely unusual movie which deserved a wider release than it got.>>

All the more amazing when you find out it was made for 7 thousand dollars (I spelled it out just so no one would think I dropped a zero).

O'Hehir writes as if the readers of Salon were all "in the biz" and cared about box office. I felt like some slime ball LA producer was talking at me about "movies." People outside of the Biz (that'

s the audience Andrew) do not care about box office profits. They care about the films and not whether they were on four screens or 5000. Obviously O'Hehir is so inside that he's forgotten who he's writing to out here in "reality." Save it for Variety or Billboard.

I enjoyed Ms. Zacharek's and Mr. O'Hehir's very interesting year-end lists, especially those films that are not yet available on DVD, and ESPECIALLY those I had not yet heard of, such as 'The Power of Nightmares' and 'The Syrian Bride'. I won't challenge any of their selections, not even 'Kings and Queen'; but I do allege one glaring omission: 'The Beautiful Country' -- from Norway, but set in Vietnam and the U.S. It features an astonishing perfomance by a young actor named Damien Nguyen, and excellent performances by Bai Ling (yes, Bai Ling), Nick Nolte, Tim Roth, and others. I had the same reaction to this movie that I had to 'Maria Full of Grace' last year; and I don't understand why 'The Beautiful Country' is not on more reviewers' lists.

As much as josephgr9 doesn't like to admit it, money and audience are extremely important aspects of independent and foreign film distribution. That's what O'Heir is talking about. He's given a list of 20 movies that most have not heard about because there was no money driving them. It sucks that so many films are in the theater for one week and then disappear forever. The thing driving all this is money and to pretend otherwise is naive.

1) PRIMER was released in 2004.

2) Why isn't O'Heir Salon's primary critic?

So some cynic says that "Brokeback Mountain" takes a familiar plot, puts it in a familiar setting, and adds a hot-button issue? Does Andrew O'Hehir actually think this is a perceptive observation? It's one of the most obtuse comments I've read outside Stephanie Zarcheck's reviews. You could say this about almost any movie, play, or novel. Hell, you could say it about "Romeo & Juliet": an old love story set in Italy (one of Shakespeare's favorite settings) with all kinds of buttons pressed (family feuding, meddling priests, secret potions, etc.). It's how well that familiar elements are used and presented that counts, and Ang Lee presents them with extraordinary skill and grace--something that the Salon critics just can't bring themselves to admit. Afraid of being too pro-gay? I think so. I gave up a long time ago on Salon's coverage of gay issues and gay themes, especially if O'Hehir is writing about them. A crypto-homophobe if I ever read one.

though Salon may be written for a general audience, many people 'in the biz' read about film from all sorts of media - we want to know what our audiences are reading, and the media reflects that. I appreciate that Andrew took the time to examine the money, and how films get distributed. Most filmgoers have no idea how movies get picked up and distributed, but then complain when a film never makes it out of NYC.

I run an art-house movie theatre (5 screens) in a small-ish city. You wouldn't think this city could support it, but it does, with relish. I'm proud that many of Andrew's top films have or will play here. The barely-indie films like Good Night & Good Luck and Brokeback Mountain will pay our bills to allow us to show films like The Syrian Bride. If more people would read columns like Andrew's, we'd be able to show more of those 'little' films - wouldn't that be great!

What about Miranda July's brilliant debut film ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW?