At the Movies: 2005 Year in Review
"We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home."
-Edward R. Murrow

With the 2006 Oscar nominations quickly approaching, I will begin my review of 2005 at the movies; first, a summation of the year in cinema, and to follow, I will reveal some of my favorite films of 2005.

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2005 was an up and down year at the movies. I have heard many call it a bad year or, in nicer terms, a weak year for good films. While there were definitely a large number of thorough disappointments, such as: War of the Worlds, Rent, The Libertine, Elizabethtown, Memoirs of a Geisha, and North Country (just to name a few), there were also many, many wonderful films. I think hit or miss more accurately categorizes the year in film. There are disappointments every year, and every year, including this one, there are great films a plenty, if you look in the right places.

I also sense a great movement in the film industry towards a much more “independent” mainstream. It was definitively stamped by the victory of Million Dollar Baby (a studio film, yes, but with the grit and integrity of a film born outside the system) at last years Academy Awards. There has been an independent film community embedded just below the surface of mainstream Hollywood for decades, but only recently has it come into the forefront. It’s fascinating to watch this progress, and I will address it in the coming days, in more depth, once this years Oscar nominees are announced. But for right now: on with the show!

The following is a list of films that I really appreciated having seen, but in some way failed to excite me in a way that the true best films should and did. So, thus, the following is a list I will call, my most appreciated films of 2005 (but not the best):

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Easily the best comedy of the year, The-40-Year-Old Virgin, delivers on every level. It’s a great romantic comedy, a great character study, and filled with fantastic performances, with none greater than Steve Carrell’s as the virgin himself. This film deserves a screenplay nomination at this years Academy Awards! One can hope, right?

Shopgirl

A film like this could have so easily staggered right into the ordinary, but right from the beginning, it delved into something much more interesting and dynamic, than a popcorn, love-triangle, romantic comedy. The characters are all real, and completely against stereotype. And on a side note: Somebody please give Claire Danes a more prominent roll than this!

Hustle & Flow

Craig Brewer and Terrence Howard are truly geniuses at work, in this Memphis tale of a pimp and the loves of his life: his women and his music. If Terrence Howard does not get an Oscar nomination for this performance, something is seriously wrong. Hustle & Flow is alive, and exciting, and inspiriring like no other film I have seen this year.

King Kong

Peter Jackson solidifies himself as the god of all things epic. He has an amazing sense of story and action and nobody controls a large set of characters as he does; and he does it with such pristine likeability. I’ve certainly never heard someone say one of his films was not worth seeing, and this one, I believe, is his best yet. My one wish for him, is that he finds a better editor. Not that his shots are not cut together properly, but his films could defintely use some better pacing techniques.

Batman Begins

Am I a Tim Burton fan? Yes. He is absolutely, without a doubt, one of the greatest minds in American cinema. However, his Batman films are subpar compared to this brilliant, epic, gritty take on the caped superhero by Christopher Nolan. Batman Begins peers deep into the depths of the man behind the mask, Bruce Wayne; he is played with such a careful balance of gritty-everyman-undertone and larger-than-life superhero stature by the never-more-underated, Christian Bale.

Me and You and Everyone We Know

This year we were given many gifts from the Sundance Film Festival of '05. Me and You and Everyone We Know cuts to the very heart of what makes independent filmmaking so exciting. It's fresh, original, awkward, hilarious, heartbreaking, and ulitmately, most importantly, truthful. Miranda July's characters are brilliant and well rounded, while simultaneously, tragic and confounded. I did not have more fun at the movies this past year than I did watching Me and You and Everyone We Know. There is a little bit of everyone in all of us!

Match Point

Woody Allen is back! And he is back with a fervor. He has released not one, but two good films in one year. In the Spring he released Melinda and Melinda, a great two for the price of one treat, staring the glamorous Radha Mitchell in double roles as, Melinda and Melinda. Then, in December, he brought us Match Point, a step up from the ever-enjoyble previous film, and a step into much darker territory. He directs this searing, upper class British drama, with a calm, subdued, tenderness. The subtlety pervades (for the most part) through the screen, despite the devious, backstabbing characters that inhabit the world of Match Point. Sadly, the film looses its might, in the moments leading up to its climax, with some wayward performances, by normally spot on actors and actresses, particularly Ms. Johansson.


Tomorrow, I will begin my countdown towards the ten best films of the year, naming numbers 11-20. I will also reveal my final predictions for the Academy Award nominations, due out bright and early Tuesday morning (5:30 a.m. Pacific Time).

Until then,
Good night, and good luck.