The Good Shepherd (2006)
Matt Damon is at his most blank-faced in this tale detailing the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency. He's literally a cipher. His wife doesn't know him, his odd-faced son doesn't know him, and we don't know him. Damon gives nothing awayhis face as stone-cold immobile here as it is in the Bourne films, which pretty much means he's perfect for the role.
Directed by Robert De Niro, Shepherd has an all-star cast of gravelly-voiced, suspicious-looking men: Alec Baldwin, Joe Pesci, William Hurt, John Turturro, and De Niro himself. The movie is swaddled in hushed-tone secret telling, and everyone's face looks drawn tight with the sheer effort of keeping mum. Slow-moving and grim, The Good Shepherd makes the list through sheer definitiveness.
From the TIME archives, Richard Corliss' Top Ten Films of 2006.
View the full list for "Top Ten CIA Movies"
Fashion Week in Pakistan
Top 10 Sesame Street Moments
Somali Refugees in Nepal: Stuck in the Waiting Room
Young and Uninsured: Cartoonist Julia Wertz
Stephen King on His 10 Longest Novels
Reagan's Speech That Ended the Cold War
The Weekly Acoustic News
The Rise of Manny Pacquiao