10 Best Movies of 2005
What’s to blame for the decreased ticket sales? Perhaps other entertainment options, such as iPods and videogames are taking away from the movie industry. Maybe the quality of DVDs is keeping others from going to the theater. Or perhaps the fact that many of the year’s best movies were too small for many multiplexes is to blame for the dreary sales.
Many of this year’s most critically acclaimed films, including Capote, 2046 and The Squid and the Whale
did not make it to
1.
Crash
Directed by Paul Haggis; Rated R
“It's the sense of touch. I think we miss
that touch so much, that we crash into each other just so we can feel
something.”
With those words, Det. Graham Waters (played by Don Cheadle) captured my recent movie-viewing experience. Nearly every week I go to the movies, hoping that the film playing on the shiny screen in front of me will evoke some sort of emotions from inside of me. Unfortunately, only one film this year challenged viewers in a way that was unforgettable: Paul Haggis’s heartbreaking drama, Crash, was the most powerful, emotionally moving film of the year.
Sandra
Bullock, Don Cheadle, Terrence Dashon
Howard, Thandie Newton, Ludacris,
Ryan Phillippe and Matt Dillon all give memorable
performances in the year’s finest ensemble as
The topics explored in Crash (racism, class and culture) are nothing new to the world of cinema, but Haggis (who also wrote Million Dollar Baby) is able to breath new life into the subjects, making it the most powerful film since Mystic River.
2. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmausch;
R)
There’s a scene in Broken Flowers where Don Johnston (Bill Murray) wakes up in a bed next to an ex-girlfriend. When she asks him why he’s there, he responds by saying “I was just looking for a typewriter.”
Like Johnston, sometimes we get more than what we’re looking for, which is exactly what I got when I purchased a ticket to Jim Jarmausch’s side-splitting comedy of a man who receives a letter from an unidentified ex-girlfriend saying that she gave birth to his son.
In
hopes of finding his long lost child,
3. King Kong (Peter Jackson; PG-13)
When the original King Kong opened in theaters back in 1933, audience members were astonished by the film’s realism and special effects. Modern moviegoers who see Peter Jackson’s remake will likely know exactly how they felt.
That’s because
4. Good Night, and Good Luck
(George Clooney; PG)
In one of the
film’s most touching scenes, we see Joe (Robert
It’s hard to pick a single standout scene from Good Night, and Good Luck because the film is overflowing with great scenes, and a great look.
Clooney deserves much of the credit for making Good Night work at the level it does: he’s the film’s director, writer and star, but it’s David Strathairn who’s unforgettable as a brave newscaster who challenges the views of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy.
5.
Ang Lee’s heartbreaking love story could easily have earned a name simply for being the first mainstream “gay cowboy” film to glaze theaters. Fortunately, it’s much more than that.
Set in the
lonely country sides of
The night changes their lives forever. Both end up in unhappy marriages and struggle keep their secret which is frowned upon by society.
The heartbreaking story, along with breathtaking cinematography, a perfectly tuned score, strong dual performances and brave direction by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) makes Brokeback Mountain a film that will be remembered for generations.
6.
After entertaining mainstream
audiences with lightweight fare such as War
of the Worlds and The Terminal,
Steven Spielberg returns to his best form with the powerful, thought provoking
drama
Eric Bana stars in the breakout role of Avner, the leader of an assassin team hired to avenge a terrorist group that killed 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics.
Spielberg’s film has a soft glow
throughout its 164 exhilarating minutes, but the subject matter couldn’t be
tougher and the dialogue couldn’t be sharper.
With
7. Cinderella Man (Ron Howard; PG-13)
It’s no surprise that Jim Braddock, the star of Ron Howard’s uplifting boxing drama, is victorious by the film’s end. The formula of an out-of-work boxer who makes a comeback has been repeated ever since Rocky made millions of dollars in 1976.
What is surprising in Cinderella Man is the level of suspense that Howard is able to inject into the film by extending the final fight scene to a nearly painful length.
The film’s box office struggle
seemed to closely parallel the life of Braddock. At times it appeared that Cinderella Man was out for the count,
but its release on DVD allowed it a second chance. Movie lovers should take advantage of a
second opportunity to see the film, because, like Braddock himself, Cinderella Man is a winner.
8. Corpse Bride
(Tim Burton; PG)
We’ve already seen numerous films about racism (American History X) and troubled musicians (Ray). We’ve seen films about homosexuals trapped in an unhappy marriage (Far From Heaven) and boxers who overcome impossible obstacles (Rocky). We’ve even seen the tale of a giant ape that falls for a lovely blond, but in all of my movie-going years, I’ve never seen anything quite like Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
In a year that lacked imagination, Corpse Bride told the tale of a nervous young man (voiced by Johnny Depp) who accidentally marries a dead woman.
Filled
with plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes and moving at a speed of light pace, Corpse Bride is the finest animated film
of the year. I’d even go as far as
calling it
9. Hustle & Flow (Craig Brewer; R)
In one hand
there’s Walk the Line, an endlessly
fascinating biography on Johnny Cash – undoubtedly one of the finest musicians
of all time. On the other hand is Craig
Brewer’s Hustle & Flow, a dark
tale of a
I’d choose Johnny Cash’s southern drawls over a headache-inducing rap beat any day, yet Hustle & Flow somehow feels more truthful, despite being fiction, than the film based on Cash’s life. Walk the Line made a noble attempt to capture the struggle for the American dream and the limits we go to achieve it – Hustle & Flow does capture it.
10. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog; R)
In 2005, we finally received a documentary worth debating. Did Timothy Treadwell have the right to put his and his girlfriend’s life in danger by doing what he loved: approaching grizzly bears? Or did he get what he deserved when they were both gobbled up by one of the fierce creatures?
The thing that separates Grizzly Man from good documentaries, such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, is that acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog allows audience members to come up with their own opinions rather than serving as propaganda.