Unforgiveably late, but here are my film lists for 2005:
Best Films, 2005
1) Capote: compelling character study; a worthy companion to Capote’s In Cold Blood
2) Corpse Bride: perhaps not the overall strongest animated film, but contained the most vivid scenes
3) Everything is Illuminated: family, history, memory, wit.
4) Good Night, and Good Luck: ideologically committed film, bonus points for black and white
5) Kung Fu Hustle: what a romp! It sends up, and celebrates, one of my favorite genres
6) Murderball: best documentary, lacking the excessive sentimentality I so despise
7) Saraband: yes, because it’s Bergman and because of its relationship to Scenes from a Marriage… that’s also why it’s so good.
8) Sin City: a love letter to noir
9) The Squid and the Whale: my type of family film
10) Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit: for solid cross-generational appeal; I’ve never seen or heard such a happily united audience
Most Overrated/Overexposed Films, 2005
1) 40 Year-Old Virgin
2) The Aristocrats
3) Crash
4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
5) A History of Violence
6) March of the Penguins
7) Match Point
8) Mr. and Mrs. Smith
9) Star Wars: Episode III
10) War of the Worlds
Suffering from High Expectations, 2005
1) Batman Begins
2) Brokeback Mountain
3) Broken Flowers
4) Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
5) Chicken Little
6) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
7) Howl’s Moving Castle
8) King Kong
9) Munich
10) Rent
