It's a gut check -- or a tissue test. If a movie makes me cry or leaves me feeling drained (or exhilarated), I know it has had the desired effect.

	Paramount Pictures via AP Jaime Foxx and Beyonce Knowles in "Dreamgirls." Click photo for larger image. Best movies of 2006: Barry Paris Best Movies of 2006: John Hayes

Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are the two directors whose work almost always affects me that way. They outdid themselves with the first three movies on this list, while director Paul Greengrass put us inside the claustrophobic confines of Flight 93 and watched the passengers and crew become "United 93."

1. "FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS" -- Were it not for Adam Beach's heart-rending performance as Ira Hayes, the first and second movies on this list might be reversed or behind "The Departed."

"Flags" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" are two sides of a cinematic coin. It's another Clint Eastwood tour de force, telling the true-life story of the devastating battle for the island seen as the gateway to Japan, a pair of American flag raisings, the power of a single photo to inspire a nation and the eagerness of the government to use the survivors of that image to sell war bonds and then cast them aside. (See review)

2. "LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA" -- Eastwood literally reverses angles as he shows the battle for this island from the Japanese perspective. He takes us inside the caves and tunnels where the ranks are weakened by dysentery and lack of food and water, where requests for reinforcements go unmet and where suicide is seen as the honorable alternative to surrender.

He shows us husbands who miss their wives, fathers who long to meet their newborn children and sons whose mothers send chatty letters that close with reminders to do what is right, take care of themselves and come back safely. He puts human faces on men who promised to die for their families but who wanted nothing more than to return to their loved ones' embrace.

In doing so, he delivers a powerful, timeless message about the toll of war. (Opens here in January.) (See review.)

3. "THE DEPARTED" -- Eastwood isn't the only filmmaker dabbling in doubles and mirror images these days. In this movie inspired by the Hong Kong crime thriller "Infernal Affairs," Martin Scorsese presents a cop living as a criminal and a criminal living as a cop.

He directs a dream team: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Ray Winstone and Vera Farmiga. It's poetic, profane, violent and teeming with themes about double lives, deception, trust and father-son relationships. May this be Marty's year to win a directing Oscar. (See review.)

4. "UNITED 93" -- Some family members of Flight 93 passengers and crew reacted to this with loud, uncontrollable sobs. The rest of us quietly hunted for our tissues as we watched director Paul Greengrass re-create the struggle between heroism and terrorism within the cabin of that Boeing 757 on that fateful morning. (See review.)

5. "DREAMGIRLS" -- Yes, it lives up to the hype. The soundtrack found its way into many a Christmas stocking, and Jennifer Hudson deserves her shower of accolades as the sensational singer whose man, dream and destiny are hijacked. Her musical response, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," is the show-stopper everyone claims. (See review.)

6. "THE QUEEN" -- In a trick worthy of an illusionist, Helen Mirren turns into Queen Elizabeth II. She is forced to confront a changing world when Princess Diana dies. That might be enough to win her an Oscar, but this movie is more than a parlor trick as it examines the role of the modern monarchy, the heads that wear the crowns and the ascendancy of Prime Minister Tony Blair. (See review.)

7. "BABEL" -- True, it's a bit overstuffed, like a baked potato with all of the toppings. Months after seeing it, though, I can still recall Brad Pitt's anguish, the panic of a Mexican nanny wandering the desert in her mother-of-the-groom dress, a tragic bit of Moroccan marksmanship and a defiant deaf teenager whose pain is nakedly (quite literally) displayed. (See review.)

8. "SUPERMAN RETURNS" -- There were so many ways that director Bryan Singer, star Brandon Routh and writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris could have blown this, but they didn't. Singer chose a leading man who looked like the comic-book icon (and, soothingly, Christopher Reeve), took advantage of spectacular effects and opened the door for a sequel we want to see. (See review.)

9. "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" -- Watching this in June is one thing, watching it during a warm, snow-starved December is another. The former vice president remade his image, gave us a scary, understandable science lesson and put the world on notice that it could no longer ignore global warming. (See review.)

10. "STRANGER THAN FICTION" -- A Will Ferrell movie on a top-10 list? Now that's stranger than fiction, but deserving. He plays a solitary IRS tax auditor who begins hearing a female voice (Emma Thompson) narrating his every move, "accurately, and with a better vocabulary." This comedy proves that "smart" and "funny" are not words that repel each other, a lesson that eluded the "Jackass" crew. (See review.)

JUST MISSED THE CUT:

"Volver," which I was lucky enough to see during the Toronto International Film Festival since it hasn't been screened here yet, "The Last King of Scotland," "Half Nelson," "For Your Consideration" and "Notes on a Scandal," featuring Judi Dench, who makes Mirren look like a glamour puss in "The Queen."