Top 13 Movies of 2005

2006 has nearly passed, so it’s about time I get around to posting my best of 2005. No, that’s not a typo. I just don’t see as many movies in the theater as I used to. So here, better late than never, is my top 13 list. It’s an eclectic list as usual, filled with blockbuster extravaganzas that actually delivered right along side smaller, more intimate fare.

First, the ten runners-up (listed in alphabetical order): The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Batman Begins, Broken Flowers, Cinderella Man, King Kong, March of the Penguins, Me and You and Everyone We Know, The Squid & the Whale, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Where-Rabbit, Wedding Crashers

13. A History of Violence
The big reveal wasn’t so surprising, the end was a little weird; yet this David Cronenberg family drama/crime thriller starts off my list. A wonderful, understated performance from Viggo Mortensen and a slow burn of a story kept me intrigued throughout.

12. The Constant Gardener
A weighty subject (corporate greed in the form of big pharmaceuticals in Africa) made personal with the a story of love & death. Rachel Weisz gives a compelling performance shown entirely in flashback, and Ralph Fiennes drives the story with his quiet tenacity.

11. Walk the Line
Biopics are hard to do well, as they generally get bogged down in the details or skim right over all the meaty parts. Walk the Line excels by doing a bit of both. Wisely, the filmmakers chose one element of Johnny Cash’s life to focus on: June Carter, played brilliantly by Reese Witherspoon. Cash’s rise to fame, drug addiction and musical process are all touched on, but shown only through the prism of Johnny’s everlasting love for June. The music is impressively recreated by Reese & Joaquin Phoenix, and while not as good as the original, it adds to the richness of the film.

10. Serenity
I’ll admit right off that this may not be high on the list of anyone who wasn’t already a fan of the prequel, the cancelled-too-soon TV show Firefly, but I was am a fan, and this movie delivered great rewards. Mysteries were solved, our heroes prevailed (some of them, anyway) and new questions were raised. I don’t care if the next iteration of this story is cave drawings, I can’t wait to see it continue.

9. Grizzly Man
One of the most haunting documentaries ever made, Werner Herzog built this tragedy almost entirely from the video diaries of his subject, the disturbed, deluded and ultimately doomed Timothy Treadwell. Watching his footage, you can see the slow descent into a twisted reality that eventually caused his death—it’s like watching a head-on collision in slow motion. Painful to watch, but much like a car crash, it’s impossible to turn away.

8. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
All the haters should finally be able to shut their collective trap. Everything that made Episodes I and II so painful is gone: Anakin as a boy, love stories, sappy/crappy dialogue, endless political mumbo jumbo. This is a return to the epic Star Wars of the original trilogy. Action-packed, thrilling and tragic, Sith is the best in the series since Empire.

7. Brokeback Mountain
Say what you will about the “gay cowboy movie,” but Brokeback is a startling return to form for director Ang Lee following the colossal failure of Hulk. Stunning scenery, top-notch acting in even the smallest of roles (Randy Quaid, Kate Mara, Linda Cardellini) and a Romeo & Juliet-worthy tragic love story help create, after The Ice Storm, Lee’s second great American movie.

6. Sin City
The most visually arresting film of the year was also one of the most original. Frank Miller’s Sin City comic books, ahem, I mean graphic novels had a cinematic feel, so it’s not surprising to see the film version is like a comic book in motion. Miller’s highly stylized black and white drawings are recreated to great effect and the highly criticized over-the-top violence and much-derided melodramatic acting style (see #8) are pitch-perfect. The stunning cast is upstaged by the most unlikely of stars: Mickey Rourke as Marv.

5. Munich
I didn’t care much at all for Spielberg’s War of the Worlds earlier in the year, but he outdid himself with Munich. Tense, gripping and thought-provoking, this bit of historical fiction ranks right up there with Spielberg’s best work. A morality tale for both the characters and the audience, Munich is never boring, due largely to the highly inventive and playful shot selection from the famed director.

4. Crash
I don’t know whether it’s backlash or not, but people are already calling this one of the most overrated films of our time. When I saw it on video in the fall of ’05, there were no expectations, and I walked away quite satisfied. Tackling the race issue from as many sides as possible, Paul Haggis weaves characters in and out of storylines with ease. There is great work done in this film by many stars big and small, but my favorite scenes were with the locksmith Daniel (Michael Pena).

3. Good Night, and Good Luck.
How is it that George Clooney gets to be an Oscar-winning writer, Oscar-worthy director, charismatic movie star, all-around good guy and sexiest man alive? I just don’t think that’s fair. Seriously though, this was a great little film with big ambitions. Any time you shoot in black and white, you almost scream “take me seriously,” but Clooney doesn’t have to worry about that. This is a movie that demands attention on the strength of the story, rock-solid work by David Straitharn and Clooney’s nimble direction.

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
A lot had to be cut from my favorite Harry Potter book for the movie to work, but the writer, director and producers were successful in building on the momentum of Alfonso Cuaron’s Prisoner of Azkaban. The kids are all grown up now and the plot has grown with them. In the 7-part Harry Potter epic story, Goblet (along with part 5, Order of the Phoenix) makes up the tragic second act. Not that things weren’t bad before, but this is where they start to go horribly wrong. For many of the reasons Empire Strikes Back is the best Star Wars movie—romance, heroism & tragic loss—this is the greatest (so far) of the Potter franchise.

1. Capote
Director Bennett Miller, who comes across in interviews as part Beck, part Steven Soderbergh, in his debut feature, made a marvelously quiet film. With an incredible attention to detail and the strength of the show-stopping performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote tops my list for 2006. There are others here which I will see more often, or which were more fun, but none was as compelling, upsetting, inspiring, moving, etc as this one. The tone is carried beautifully from the first frame to the last in all forms: acting, direction, cinematography, set design…it is the most complete and best movie I saw all year from 2005.