Movies of 2005
(UPDATE: check the comments…I’ve gotten a couple of interesting responses to this seemingly innocuous post)
Does anyone really read lists of the best and/or worst movies of the year to gain some sort of cinematic knowledge? Are they looking for a film that skirted their attention the previous year? Or do they use lists to while away the time over the holidays, as the family chatter ebbs and flows and they just can’t stand it in there any longer?
Lists obviously serve a function greater than mere escape. My guess is that they offer insight into the personality lurking behind the compiler of the list. For example, I couldn’t rightly trust anyone with Revenge of the Sith anywhere near their top ten, whereas I might develop a crush on someone with 40-Year-Old Virgin and Capote at or near the top of their list (see my list, below).
Obviously there are tons of movies missing from my list. Some I simply didn’t have time to see. Others I either warned not to see, or was given that familiar, age-old advice about: watch it at home. And lord knows competition in the Netflix queue is fierce these days, so some movies recommended to me in 2005 will have to wait their turn.
Here it is, broken down into categories (but no specific order within each category).
So glad I saw:
Brokeback Mountain (for the natural beauty and the love story)
Capote (despite some faults, for the journalism and Hoffman’s performance)
Good Night, and Good Luck (mainly for the story)
King Kong (love story and special effects, and Watts’ and Black’s and Kong’s performances)
40-Year-Old Virgin (surprisingly hilarious)
Crash (interesting approach to an important social topic)
Aristocrats (piss-in-your-pants funny)
Murderball (great telling of a story you’ve probably never heard)
Grizzly Man
Eh:
Batman Begins
Revenge of the Sith
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
March of the Penguins
Sin City
Jarhead
Gunner Palace
Memoirs of a Geisha
Constant Gardener
Saw, but wish I hadn’t:
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Avoided for a reason:
The Dukes of Hazard
Wedding Crashers
Bewitched
Fantastic Four
Didn’t see, but wish I had:
Broken Flowers
A History of Violence
Syriana
Walk the Line
Chronicles of Narnia
Munich
The Squid and the Whale
2046
Corpse Bride
Based on some previews I saw at King Kong the other day, 2006 promises to be a better year for film. The good films this year were very good, it’s just that there were so few of them.
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December 31st, 2005 at 1:37 pm
if you wanna tell something about monies of 2005 you should first see the last list please isnt it ?
December 31st, 2005 at 1:45 pm
Sorry, “if,” I just haven’t a clue what you’re talking about here.
December 31st, 2005 at 4:38 pm
dear jeff, i think what it means is that if you havent seen the “Didn’t see, but wish I had” why are you trying to compile a best movies of 2005 list, when you havent seen all the good ones yet? for example, a history of violence, the squid and the whale, and syriana have been nominated for best picture for the golden globe award, and you havent even seen them. maybe you should call your list the best movies (that ive seen) of 2005…
December 31st, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Hi Poxy,
Well, I thought I did my best to explain why I was posting a list of MY top movies of the year. I never claimed to have seen ALL movies, and not even most. Thus the disclaimer paragraphs about my intentions for posting in the first place, along with my list of movies I didn’t get around to seeing.
I’m a movie nut, though I enjoy seeing movies. I’m not pretending to have an exhaustive list of the movies that came out in 2005.
I also don’t think the title is misleading, as I am talking only about movie that came this year.
Sorry to cause any confusion.
January 1st, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Bummed you didn’t like “Me and You…”. That was my fave movie from last year.
P.S. Guess the site is now attracting the drunks. Definitely a feather for your cap.
January 3rd, 2006 at 12:32 am
Wow…. that’s all i have to say….
January 4th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
[...] In light of misunderstandings of the intentions I had when I posted this list of my favorite movies of last year, and seeing as how words are more or less my business, I decided to post my first ever digitized list of words whose definitions I learned and kept track of in 2005. [...]
January 31st, 2006 at 8:16 am
[...] This year is different, and not only because of Brokeback Mountain. There were other important films this year, and (again, despite what I’ve said in past tirades, it was, overall, a good year for movies. [...]
March 29th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
why did you not like March of the Penguins as much as I did?
Corpse Bride and Lions witch wardrobe were eh. disappointing once the credits rolled.
Corpse Bride would’ve been cooler in the early 90’s.