As always, dear readers, in offering up to you my Top 10 film selections of the year, I try to live up to high standards of quirkiness but am afraid I've failed in that regard this year. The plethora of high-quality mainstream pictures hindered my need (and rationale) for digging deeper into the weird, as is normally my wont.

	"United 93," Paul Greengrass's telling of what might have happened on the flight, was the top pick of two PG film reviewers. Click photo for larger image. Related stories Best Movies of 2006: Barb Vancheri Best Movies of 2006: John Hayes

With no further drumroll, in order of importance, I give you:

1. "UNITED 93" -- Director Paul Greengrass made several wise decisions in reconstructing the most heroic event on the most traumatic day of our history -- he chose to stick with the (precious few known) facts, to avoid melodrama and to do without "stars." The result was a somber, riveting account of the 9/11 passengers who rebelled, foiled their hijackers' plan and turned a Shanksville, Somerset County, field into a new American monument. {See review}

2. "NOTES ON A SCANDAL" -- The subtitle of Zoe Heller's wickedly downbeat novel-turned-movie ("What Was She Thinking?") pretty much says it all about art teacher Cate Blanchett's ill-advised affair with a 15-year-old student. Nobody can say it all about Judi Dench's incredible performance as the calculating, diarizing colleague in whom fair-haired Cate (even more ill-advisedly) confides.

3. "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" -- Question: What was the Secret Service's secret code word for Al Gore? Answer: Al Gore. That's how dull he was as vice president, get it? But he's a truly committed environmentalist, and no more Gore jokes need apply, since he is responsible for the most important and influential documentary of 2006. This compelling wake-up call irrefutably debunked the global-warming-deniers once and for all. (See review)

4. "LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE" -- You'll go a long way to find a more charmingly offbeat road comedy (or screenplay) than this gem, featuring terrific ensemble acting -- above all, a supporting performance to die for by Alan Arkin. He does, in fact, die for (and in) the role but remains nevertheless funny as a corpse while the breathing members of the family push on to realize cute little Abigail Breslin's dream of winning a talent-and-beauty contest. (See review)

5. "FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS" and "LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA" -- Director Clint Eastwood's double-barreled treatment of the great Pacific island battle will stand (collectively) among the greatest World War II film achievements, concentrating with equal force on the phenomenal military and human events. Adam Beach's moving performance as Ira Hayes highlights the first ("American") film. Among the doomed defenders, Kazunari Ninomiya is most haunting in part two, the "Japanese" complement. Monumental in scope and execution. (See review)

6. "BORAT -- CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN" -- Sacha Baron Cohen's outrageous pseudo-Kazakh put-on has garnered kudos and brickbats in roughly equal amounts, mostly notably for its faux anti-Semitism. Personally, I found its faux misogyny much funnier and more offensive -- "In my country, women are not allowed in groups larger than five, except for a brothel or a grave." The infamously repulsive nude wrestling scene alone is worth demanding your admission price back. (See review)

7. "HALF NELSON" -- Ryan Gosling plays a wonderful teacher-coach-mentor to inner-city middle-school girl Shareeka Epps, but he has one little problem -- hopeless heroin addiction. This grim, harrowing drama sports an astonishing set of painful performances from the leads and uniquely methodical character development by director Ryan Fleck. (See review)

8. "THE QUEEN" -- Helen Mirren IS the QE2, a ship of state if ever there was one. Elizabeth's frozen-stiff upper lip is eventually thawed not so much by the shocking death of Princess Diana as by the public reaction to it. Director Stephen Frears deftly scrutinizes the royals' emotional cluelessness. Michael Sheen shines as toothy Tony Blair. Only Mirren could make this professional postage-stamp of a woman intriguing and sympathetic. (See review)

9. "THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP" -- It's totally idiosyncratic and self-indulgent, to be sure, but for sheer audacity and visual virtuosity, director Michel Gondry's Truffaut-like yarn is a fantasy-love story whose psychotropic images will come back to haunt you, just as they haunt diffident hero Gael Garcia Bernal. (See review)

10. "DREAMGIRLS" -- Jennifer Hudson stops the Broadway-gone-Hollywood show with two blood-and-guts numbers that put Janis, Barbra and Judy to shame. Under Bill Condon's direction, the great Eddie Murphy enjoys a glorious revival as James "Thunder" Early, the soul star with a Sears Tower pompadour. Beyonce Knowles is fine, too, as the Diana Ross-like Deena. (See review)

A parting red-faced confession here -- I think my beloved Pedro Almodovar's "Volver" -- starring my beloved Penelope Cruz -- should probably be on this list, but I haven't seen it yet. I'll go and provide my opinion later. Go thou and do likewise.

See ya in the dark.