I’ll save my favorite movie for last. Here, then, are the other nine, in alphabetical order:

• Akeelah and the Bee. Who’da thunk it: a family movie that doesn’t bore or condescend, populated by decent folks trying to do right by each other. Maggie caught me crying at the end, took my hand, and shed a tear or two of her own. Best moment I had in a movie theatre last year.

• Casino Royale. Boys argue about the weirdest stuff, like who’s the best Bond. Sorry, Connery, but that debate ended about three minutes into this, the best Bond movie ever. (Don’t believe me? Try to actually sit through the “classics” like Goldfinger or The Spy Who Loved Me. They hold up slightly worse than a neocon’s argument for war.) The gadgets are at a minimum, the acting talent is at a maximum, and thanks to Daniel Craig, Bond has never looked so much like a vibrant franchise.

• The Descent. Chances are pretty good you’ve never even heard of this, a Scottish horror movie set in the Appalachian Mountains. Six strong, smart women go caving…and that’s all I’m going to tell you. I haven’t been so terrified in a theatre since Aliens. If you rent it, make sure to watch the version with the original ending. Creeped me out for weeks. I actually had to turn the lights on, just now.

• Flyboys. Here’s where I’m constantly depressed by the state of American film criticism. A great, old-fashioned popcorn movie comes out, and the folks who write about movies shrug dismissively. What gives? Though ostensibly about the Yanks and Brits who joined the French flyers in WWI, this is really an exercise in having annoyingly handsome men (“eye-candy,” as Anna kept calling them, riveted) work their way through every wonderful war movie cliché of the last half-century. Great action, great effects; a happy, hokey little buzz of a crowd pleaser.

• The Illusionist. I really wanted to love the year’s other period film about magicians, The Prestige. And it was a good film…but not as fully felt, or entrancing, as this self-contained love story that happens to feature some plot twists and a spooky atmosphere. Oh, and add “leading man” to Ed Norton’s resume. He’s gone from being one of our greatest character actors to one of our greatest actors, period. (For the record, Anna thought his other major movie, The Painted Veil, was the best of ’06.) Second best date movie of the year…the first being my favorite movie of the year, below.

• Letters from Iwo Jima. Did anyone make a gutsier movie, last year? It’s hard to believe, really: Clint Eastwood managed to tell a gripping, endlessly sad story about soldiers…that were fighting us. Of all this Oscar nominees, this was the best film, though I suspect it won’t win, if only because he just won for Million Dollar Baby. But awards be damned: at a time in our history when our patriotism is questioned for even wondering aloud what might provoke others to attack us, Clint makes us look at both sides and realize the real cost of war.

• Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Okay, bad title, and really, really weird movie. But hugely entertaining. I’d never read the book, so I had no idea what to expect from a movie that might better be called “Oliver Twisted.” What a ride…even the over-the-top turn by Dustin Hoffman as a perfumer is a hoot. I’d describe it, but that would kill the fun. Not for the feint of heart…or for the overly literal.

• The Queen. Helen Mirren’s going to win best actress. And for once, that statue is going to be completely and utterly deserved. She’s astonishing, as is the movie’s portrait of Tony Blair as a shrewd, empathetic man caught between modern culture and ancient tradition.

• Wordplay. Yes, Al Gore probably made the better documentary – and certainly the more important one – but this was such a kick that I made a bunch of folks run out and see it. Essentially a study of the New York Times crossword puzzle and the folks who love it, it celebrates the intersection of intellectualism and old-fashioned fun. Imagine: celebrities and former presidents who challenge their brains for relaxation! Even if you don’t get the big deal about crosswords (like yours truly), rent this.

…and my favorite movie of the year…drumroll, please…

• Stranger than Fiction. Believe me, no one is more surprised than me that this flick sits atop my list, but here we are. I hated the trailer and the t.v. commercials, and went only because it seemed like something that was safe for the girls, and it was playing at the right time. And thank God: I loved every damned frame of this, the most deceptively sweet mainstream American movie in ages. The folks that stayed away because of the annoying advertising missed an incredible transformation: Will Ferrell sneaks up on you as an actor and a character, and Maggie Gyllenhaal wipes away every cutesy Meg Ryan role from your brain in one lovely flourish. Laugh at me all you want, but Ferrell and Gyllenhaal were the most romantic pairing of the year.

2006 brought with it so many great movies that it would seem churlish to stop the list at 10. So here are some honorable mentions: Thank You for Smoking, Inside Man, Borat, Blood Diamond, Rocky Balboa (seriously), and Children of Men.

In the category of “movies you’ve never heard of,” check out Hard Candy, a seriously twisted revenge story; District B13, a crazy French action movie that features that running-up-walls stuff they used so well in Casino Royale; Friends With Money, a sly study of friendship; and Half-Nelson, the criminally little-seen movie for which Ryan Gosling is up for best actor.

That’s it! Still waiting for the first great movie of ’07…

In a few days, I’ll be posting something so important, so completely central to the lives of millions, that I urge you to keep checking back until it’s up. Yes, it’s my “PVM Top Ten Movies of 2006.” You laugh, but I spent something like 400 hours in movie theatres last year – my final movie count was 186, which is either impressive, or really, really sad – just so I could bring you a list that does not pretend to be all high-brow. No Pan’s Labyrinth on this bad boy. No Babel. (Well, plenty of “babble,” but no Babel.) Those were perfectly swell movies, but they don’t make the PVM list. So just sit tight.

After that, I’m going to explain to you why you – and your teen children – absolutely gotta, hafta see the new Broadway show Spring Awakening, though preferably not together. (It’s got lots of bad language and some simulated sex…and still I’ll argue that every 15-year-old in the country ought to see it.)

Oh, and I’ll tell you stories from the road…all the fun stuff that happens during an author tour and at bookstore readings, etc.

Finally, I’ll be announcing my creation of an exploratory committee, as a first step toward running for President in 2008. Watch for my video announcement, coming just as soon as they can figure out how to clean up my language…

See you soon!