FAVORITE FILMS OF 2005

I decided to title this my ten favorite films of 2005, and the main reason being because they are. I�ve learned that, at least, I am always making a list of my favorites, and by general consensus favorite and best aren�t always one and the same. I agree with that, so as not to offend anyone like I did last year by saying �Spiderman 2� was the 2nd best film of 2004, I will now say it was my second favorite; everyone happy?

What I do every year in my �geek� chamber is go back over the list of all the movies I saw that were released that year (this year is in the 150 area), and I try and pick those ten films that I will cherish the fuck out of for the years to come. These will be the ten films that I will watch over and over, and show other people so they can hopefully find the greatness I found in them. That doesn�t always work, but I am trying to convert people to my wisdom (Chris and I might be going in different directions, but we would both like to take over the world someday).

And now that I�ve gone back and reflected 2005 was not necessarily as bad a year in film as it seemed at the outset, but it was most definitely a mixed bag. There weren�t near as many nice surprises, especially in the indie world, as there have been over the past few years, and there were quite a few huge disappointments. But there were still a lot of great films to be had; especially in the second half of the year, which seems to be the norm lately.

I would first like to mention some outstanding films that were made this year that missed my top ten by a narrow margin. We can call these the bottom ten if you will, and in no particular order. Serenity, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Squid and the Whale, The New World, Melinda and Melinda, Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Hustle and Flow, Rent, and Murderball. But what do I know? Brokeback Mountain, and I�m going on the record, will win Best Picture this year at the Oscars, and I�m the dick that didn�t put it on my top ten. Oh well, sue me.

TEN FAVORITE FILMS OF 2005

10. RED EYE � If this were made by a first time, twenty-something director, it would be called a �Hitchcockian Masterpiece.� He would be touted as a director to watch in the future, but alas, Wes Craven made it, and no one seemed to give a shit. It did get decent reviews, but I think everyone underestimated how great of a thriller this film is. Craven and crew apparently screwed the pooch by not giving everything away in the preview (Which is a great thing people), and so no one knew if it was a horror film, a thriller, an action film, and I guess they were too lazy to go see it and find out. But I digress. Wes Craven�s best film ever; Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy should get to do any film they so choose after their courageous performances here. I did find it silly that Murphy�s character was named Jack Ripner (Get it?), but I�ll toke that up to B-Movie homage.

9. THE DEVIL�S REJECTS � It�s rare that a sequel to movie (�House of 1000 Corpses�) that I detest works at all for me, but this would be an exception. If �Corpses� was Rob Zombie�s �Texas Chainsaw Massacre,� then this is his �Bonnie and Clyde.� �Bonnie�s� a much better movie than �Massacre,� so hence why this one worked so well I guess. My under the board pick for a Best Actor nomination in 2005 would have to go to Sid Haig, who turns Captain Spaulding into an instant classic character in film. The film is gruesome as hell, but it works well in this frantic world Rob Zombie has created. Chris is going to rip me a new one for praising this one so high, well �Tutti Fucking Frutti, baby!�

8. THE CONSTANT GARDNER � Fernando Meirelles had a lot to live up to for those of us that saw his unbelievable acheivement, �City of God� a couple years ago, and thankfully Hollywood has not destroyed any of his talents (I can�t say the same for Justin Lin after seeing �Annapolis� this weekend). John Le Carre (one of my favorite authors) has now had 11 films made from his works, and this is probably the first one that has really been able to capture his world. Ralph Fiennes gives a performance that is very daring, and he knocks it out of the park. This is probably the slowest paced spy thriller you are ever likely to see, and I think that might be its true charm. It�s nice to see a film that between all of the explosions and double crossings takes some time to smell the roses on occasion. Marvelous stuff.

7. BATMAN BEGINS � I�m a dork, and because of that you don�t know how happy I am to see the great work that is being done with superhero films lately (Spiderman, Hulk, Unbreakable, X-Men, etc.) And it�s also nice to see Warner Bros. not fuck one of these things up every once in awhile (Sayonara Jon Peters). This film�s greatest accomplishment might be that they actually make you believe a guy would dress up like a bat and try and save his city. That credit goes to the great director, Christopher Nolan along with his fellow screenwriter, David Goyer. It goes to the top notch cast (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, etc.). It does pale in comparison to �Spiderman� in the love story department, but everything else works so well you can easily forget Katie Holmes bad acting. Can�t wait for the next one.

6. MATCH POINT � To call this Woody Allen�s best film since his eighties heyday would be an injustice. This might very well be Allen�s greatest achievement. It will take some more viewings to unseat my favorites of his, but it�s a reasonable assumption. Scarlett Johanssen, while being hot as hell, as never really done it for me as an actress. I�ve always just found her to have pretty good taste in the movies she chooses to be in. But here she threw me for a loop, especially towards the end, and gave a hell of a performance. It might be my favorite female performance of the year. But as Chris said in his review, this is simply a film no one would believe Allen had in him especially at this point in his career. Thankfully he did; I think changing the scenery to England sparked his creativity to some bold, new levels. And with this and �Melinda and Melinda,� which barely missed my top ten, I�d say Allen had one of the best years of his career.


5. CRASH � It took a good three viewings of this film to realize just how great it was. In my initial review, I made the comment that I thought in most years this film would not have been touted as high as it was. I admit, I was wrong to say that, and there�s a reason Roger Ebert called this the best film of 2005. This film captures life in a way that few films ever have; the performances might feel a little off the first time you watch it, and that�s because the characters are interacting and communicating like people do in real life. This film is gritty and raw in the best sense of the words. It�s a film that I�m glad I watched again because it would have completely slipped off my radar.

4. OLDBOY � Chan Wook Park is a true find, and I�m sure Hollywood can�t wait to corrupt him the way they did to John Woo, but for the near future that doesn�t seem to be the case, and thank god. He takes a simple revenge storyline (man gets out of prison after fifteen years, and wants to get back at the people who did it to him), and turns it into something that is, I hate to say, almost Shakespearean. I�m not one for gore and violence as a rule, but when it works for the story, and makes the story all that more effective, then I�ll go for it. This film won�t be for everyone, but I urge people to give it a chance. If for anything, you�ll get to see a man eat an octopuss.

3. HISTORY OF VIOLENCE � As I reflect on my list while writing this, if anything can be said for the decline in box office it might be for the simple fact that this year was all about the depressing film. In a post 911 world, maybe America as a whole wasn�t ready for an onslaught of violent and depressing cinema. But movies reflect the times, and you have to figure that all of these films were starting to get green-lighted within a year or two of the terrible events that took place in 2001. That being said, David Cronenberg (one of my all time favorites) went balls to the wall with this film. This is yet another revenge film, and my number 2 pick is as well in a lot of ways. But this takes the idea of revenge and gives it a 180 spin. Our hero in this film (Viggo Mortensen in the best performance of the year) doesn�t want revenge, he just gets stuck in a situation where he has no other choice. If I were to praise 2005 cinema for anything it would be that the studios let these filmmakers stick to their vision, and tell their stories the way they wanted to. There is not a frame in this film that Cronenberg didn�t take time on and make perfect. Like �Oldboy,� not for everyone, but for those that discover it you won�t be disappointed.

2. LAYER CAKE � Oh why oh why didn�t they let Matthew Vaughn do the next �X-Men� film? Why, I ask? Going into this, Vaughn being Guy Ritchie�s producing partner, I felt this would just be a Ritchie type gangster film � goofy and fast paced. Thankfully, I was mistaken. This is one of the best directorial debuts I�ve ever seen. And the ending of this film was the best of the year. It hits you like a ton of bricks, but at the same time it is so simple, and so the right way to end the film. I look forward to seeing Daniel Craig�s take on Bond, because after watching this, I�d have to say he has the chops to pull it off.

1. CINDERELLA MAN � I saw this film three times at the theater, and have watched it a good three times on DVD. This was the film this year that just did it for me; it�s one of those rare films that just keeps getting better every time you watch it. And it�s ironic that this film moves me so. I don�t like Ron Howard films as a rule; I don�t like Russell Crowe and Renee Zellwegger as actors most of the time; hell, I find Paul Giamatti to be a tad overrated as an actor. But they all worked wonders for me here. The story of Jim Braddock is a great one; it sums up everything about the Depression, and what it did to the individual, the working man. And oddly enough, three people I usually don�t care much for were able to tell it with the passion and earnestness that it so deserved. A truly remarkable film that I will enjoy watching over and over for a very long time.