2005, The Year in Film: Lion's Pride.
Mar 07 '06
The Bottom Line Aslan is on the move.
It's what you all have been waiting for: my take on the year 2005 in film. As usual, I saw most decent wide releases and several independent films. There are admittedly a few holes in my viewing slate, but chances are if I didn't make the effort to see a film, it wouldn't have made the cut anyway. So I don't present these as gospel, but if you disagree, you're clearly wrong.
Note that the rankings don't necessarily correspond with some of the ratings I gave out upon initial review. That's because to me a year end list is more fluid that merely listing your highest rated films. Movies gain or lose quality as time progresses, and my list reflects that. On with the show...
Warning! Mild Spoilers Ahead!
Top Ten of 2005, in reverse order:
Honorable Mention (and best comedy of the year): The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have not read Douglas Adams’s quirky space story, and from what I have gathered, that made the movie better. I enjoyed the offbeat humor and the thread of randomness that runs through the flick. A solid cast with good timing makes the oddities of everything work.
10. Serenity. In the vein of the original Star Wars, this sci-fi western possesses an askance view of the genre, never taking itself too seriously. The time-developed natural camaraderie of the characters is rampant, creating a fictional world that feels foreign with often unexplained terms and places (that’s a good thing) but also has an easy familiarity that creates a comfortable viewing experience whether or not you’ve seen Firefly, the short-lived television show on which the movie is based. Good times.
9. Downfall. In the slot usually reserved for a serious drama resides this German film that follows the bunker-dwelling last days of Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich. As Hitler, Bruno Ganz gives as jaw-dropping performance that glues you to the screen with its combination of familiar anger and rarely seen sensitivity. Made by Germans in German, watching is an almost voyeuristic pleasure, as though actually watching recently discovered tapes that document the final days of these infamous Nazis. It's like watching a massive car wreck, chilling and gut-wrenching, but strangely entrancing.
8. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. This third/sixth movie is in a situation similar to The Godfather, Part III, in that much of its appeal is derived from the emotional power developed of the previous films in the series. Uniquely though, the audience not only knows where the sequel starts, but also where it ends. There’s the rub: issues that define the movie also weaken it. But the transformation of Darth Vader, arguably the greatest cinematic villain of all time, overshadows the deficiencies, as past and future memories of his character fill in the cracks left by Sith. Seeing the downfall of Anakin is as visceral as anything on screen this year, creating the hands-down highlight of the three recent prequels.
7. Red Eye. More than just the best movie of the year (see below), this is a well-made movie. The romantic comedy gone wrong storyline moves briskly, and stars Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy rivet the viewer even in the confined space of an airplane. Cuts placed pristinely keep the momentum flowing, and the overall tone is never overly serious, even though the content is.
6. Crash. Wow, I’m still stunned this won Best Picture. Not that it was unworthy of such an honor, but simply that it surprised the prohibitive favorite. I suspect the fact that it plays better on a screener DVD than Brokeback Mountain may have had something to do with the upset, along with the Academy being a little uncomfortable with the subject matter of Brokeback While watching Crash, I never felt like it was the best film of 2005; but it was consistently good, due to a fantastic ensemble cast and a well-shot look, and that quality added up by the end of the picture. Reminiscent of Traffic in the way story arcs and characters constantly intersect, Crash replaces the central theme of drugs with race, creating a film that, although too convenient at times, was probably the year’s film that most provoked introspective thought.
5. Capote. Of all the movies on my list, this is the one that surprised me most with its quality. Even living in Kansas, I didn’t know much about Truman Capote, other than the fact that he wrote In Cold Blood, a true crime novel about four murders that occurred in the western part of the state. I now know the rest of the story, thanks to this biopic that impressively paints a complete picture of the man in all his twisted and unusual glory. Philip Seymour Hoffman absolutely deserved his Academy Award, as his performance induces laughter, appreciation, and disappointment, much as Capote himself no doubt did. Thankfully, the point of the movie is not to generate sympathy for a deeply flawed individual, but simply to dramatically tell the story of the events that defined and served as a microcosm of his life. That task it accomplishes in a surprisingly absorbing manner.
4. Batman Begins. Director Christopher Nolan completely rejuvenated the franchise with this all-new movie about the origins of the Dark Knight. Most importantly, the aura and mythos of Batman were portrayed brilliantly. He wasn’t just one of dozens of weirdos in a freak-infested city, as the latter two renditions leaned. Instead, he had reason and rationale behind his actions. Nor did this version possess the same sort of edgy darkness as Tim Burton’s installments, but rather an intense shadowy nature that Christian Bale evoked wonderfully. Begins isn’t perfect, as it tilted toward cliché in the final act, but it is still the best among the recent spate of comic book movies.
3. Good Night, and Good Luck. More than anything else, this recount of Edward R. Murrow’s confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy is a rock-solid clean film. No screen time is wasted as the story relentlessly plows forward. It has a classic black-and-white look, buttressed by the simplicity of set design and costumes, and accented beautifully by the pervasive cigarette smoke. The message is strong too, making its point without preaching. In the end, the frankness and lack of personal appeal limit the power of the film, but only slightly.
2. King Kong. With a three-hour running length, this is undeniably the movie event of the year, as director Peter Jackson somehow made a film that rivals The Lord of the Rings in scope. The movie begins slowly, assembling the necessary cast of characters and motives en route to sKull Island, where the titular character resides. The deliberate build is a little frustrating, but ultimately results in a more complete enjoyment of the middle hour, which is pure phenomenal spectacle, particularly the Kong versus T-Rex fight (more on this later). Things calm down somewhat over in the final act, but only by comparison. Tender moments mixed into the chaotic events of the last hour provide King Kong, both character and movie, with unexpected heart, creating a surprisingly touching film that, without a huge established bias on my part, would have topped my list.
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I fully admit this is a heavily slanted pick. Technically, this wasn’t the best film of the year, although it would still be in my top ten. But this isn’t an objective, emotion-free list. This is my list, and I was affected more strongly by this film than any other of 2005, yes, due in large part to my long list of established connections to the source material. Bringing a beloved world to life was quite an accomplishment in itself, but if the movie had not captured the all-important child-like sense of amazement that runs through the book, the screen version would still have floundered. Instead director Andrew Adamson and company turned out the one movie of 2005 I would watch again if given such a limited choice.
The power of Narnia goes beyond my connections though, because the story is rooted in actively positive themes. Like The Lord of the Rings, Narnia promotes noble traits like humility, self-sacrifice, and courage; traits that are generally lacking from today’s films. This quality imbues the film with a purity that overcomes its relative shortcomings. Narnia has a soul; it’s a good movie, in a sense more moral than technical. That fact alone by no means ensures greatness; but when combined with a superior story, world, and production design, the result is truly something special.
Other miscellaneous awards...
Best Movie Moment: If I could watch only twenty minutes of any film from this year, it would easily be King Kong's fight scene between Kong and the T-Rexes (T-Rexi?). The sheer physicality and brutality of it all simultaneously evokes painful screaming winces and yells of encouragement throughout. At the end of it, I was crying from exhilaration. One of my favorite movie scenes ever.
Best Movie of the year and M. Night Shyamalan award (most underrated movie): Red Eye. The first award is basically for popcorn movies, movies that have no pretense of Oscar, no subtextual point, no greater meaning. Just pure entertainment. Short (90 minutes) and to the point. My dad, brother, and I walked out with zero complaints, happily reliving the best parts. That's what a good movie can do, and that's what Red Eye does. But the fact that this is also a very well-made film is easily overlooked. The suspense is finely crafted with almost unnoticeable touches like a glance here or a quick cut-away there, and the interlaced humor keeps the tone from becoming too stuffy. Well done Wes Craven.
Unbreakable award (best trailer): With apologies to Revenge of the Sith, which gets you juiced simply because it's Star Wars, the winner here is Red Eye. Most of the trailer builds like a romantic comedy, then takes a U-turn as the name of director Wes Craven flashes onto the screen. Yet you still don't know what the heck the movie is really about. Perfect.
Kangaroo Jack award (worst trailer): Son of the Mask. Hey, this looks like a sequel to The Mask! That was a good movie. Oooh, the dog's back. Is Jim Carrey in this too? WHAT?! Jamie Kennedy?! And what's with the baby? Oh dear...oh no...it's like like Look Who's Talking except much, much worse. Wow. Who will possibly see that? Incidentally, it made $17 million, only about $60 million under budget.
Ocean's Eleven award (best cinematic style and look): Sin City. This movie could be paused at random, and the frame in question would more likely than not be worthy of hanging on your wall. It looks that good. The high-def black-and-white digital video is simply sumptuous, and works well with the vicious and largely stoic tone of the film.
Shakespeare in (expletive deleted) Love award (most overrated movie): For its exaggerated aggrandizing of birds, March of the Penguins had this one locked up until I got this month's Premiere, in which the best reviewed movie of the year was Grizzly Man. Heck, throw in Murderball, which checked in at #15 on the list, and I guess it was overrated documentary year. Anyway, Grizzly Man has stunning nature footage and a tragic story, but the main character is so wacky and narrator Warner Herzog so pretentious that the haphazard movie nearly turns into a self-parody. Interesting, but not even among the year's ten best.
Showgirls award (worst movie): The Great Raid. No interesting characters. Not much of a story. Implausible military action. Average battle scenes. It all adds up to the weakest war movie in recent years. Not truly the worst of the year, but I don't see many bad movies, and this one was at the bottom of my heap. And don't forget about the...
Van Helsing award (for unintentional comedy): The Great Raid featured hands down the unintentionally funniest scene of the year. Right before the titular climax, the elaborate attack plan is drawn haphazardly in the dirt. That in itself is funny, but the scene keeps going...and going. Lines are crossed; paths are erased; and by the end the ground in completely incomprehensible. Then the kicker, as the leader glances around suspiciously before sweeping the map away with his foot. Hilarious. This is exactly how SNL would parody such a scene.
Batman & Robin award (most disappointing sequel): Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire. Last year I wrote Can Azkaban be topped by new director Mike Newell? Nope. This award isn't entirely fair, because I didn't dislike the fourth installment. Azkaban is a ridiculously good film. Goblet is just an average movie pushed higher by epic source material and what is already invested in the series.
Snake Eyes award (movie that took a dive in the last act): War of the Worlds. Last year I wrote Spielberg. Cruise. Aliens. Can it possibly miss? The answer is yes. Until the final ten minutes, I was hooked. It wasn't great, but it was pretty good, and just needed to come to a decent conclusion, something Spielberg struggled with this year (see: Munich). But no, all the right people miraculously survive, and the machines get the flu. For all the build-up, both through action and emotion, the payoff simply must be better than that.
The Terminal award (movie that didn't live up to its participants' pedigree): The Interpreter. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman star in a thriller involving the United Nations. It sounds like a home run, but ends up as a long single, with a distant air that kept the audience at bay, except for ten very good minutes in the middle.
Coyote Ugly award (best bad movie): Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Watching Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie do nothing for two hours would probably be worth a movie ticket. Seeing them fight physically and verbally is quite enjoyable, despite the mediocrity of everything.
Deep Blue Sea award (wholly enjoyable movie that wasn't that great): Four Brothers. Realism isn't exactly a strongpoint, but vengeance certainly is. This is a ghetto-ized version of Boondock Saints, and the collective chemistry and attitude of the four leads are what carry the flick. Round up the boys for this popcorn movie that packs a violent punch.
Yogi Berra award (movie that triggered déjà vu all over again): Let's see...Talented singer/songwriter overcomes the adversity of his youth to wow the music world with his own unique style. After marrying the girl of his dreams, this star sporting dark glasses struggles with the drug- and female-related temptations of the road, sending his personal life into turmoil while his professional life soars. Hmmm. Ray or Walk the Line? It's the same thing! (Note: this part was written before Jon Stewart made a similar joke at the Oscars.)
My Best Friend's Wedding award (best cinematic evidence that women are completely insane): The Upside of Anger. Four daughters and one mother, all of which are high maintenance, none of which are stable. Some of the funniest parts of the movie, which isn't a comedy, are the confused/frightened looks supplied by a boy marrying into the family. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Overlooked female performance: Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger. Academy Award winner Reese Witherspoon gave a good, but not phenomenal performance, which is what Allen delivered here. There can't be more than a handful of actresses who could have pulled off this tour de force, in which she plays a suburban mother dealing with four daughters and the departure of her husband. Most every emotion crosses her face, and none of them descend into melodrama, even though the script practically begs for it. The lack of even a nomination from the Academy is my Oscar travesty of the year.
Overlooked male performances: With his charismatic persona on full display, Will Smith made Hitch, a fairly straight-forward romantic comedy, quite watchable. Eric Bana quietly and introspectively carried Munich through its ups and downs. Roles like Smith's don't get Oscar nods, but I'm disappointed Bana wasn't honored for a role far more difficult than he made it appear.
Casablanca award (best classic I saw for the first time last year): The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). Clint being Clint, oozing rugged charisma and uttering classic lines as an archetypical anti-hero. This also features one of the greatest shots of all time, as Clint stands silhouetted in a doorway, about to wreak havoc. Right now, this is my favorite western. Honorable mention to the impressively vivid Adventures of Robin Hood (1939).
Enough award (worst recent movie seen for the first time this year): Survivor: Piñata Island. This is one of those movies in which a bunch of good-looking young people traipse off to a tropical island for whatever reason. Something of course goes wrong, and they get killed off one at a time. The twist here is that the villain is a giant, bad CGI, demon-possessed piñata. Seriously. The unintentional comedy is off the charts, and the movie is so bad that you can't take your eyes off it. The kicker is that it aired on AMC of all channels. Next time it's on, grab some friends and place your bets on who gets whacked next. Priceless entertainment.
Thanks for reading. As usual, I leave you with the movies I'm anticipating most in the upcoming year:
Flags of our Fathers. Date unknown. Clint Eastwood directs this Spielberg-produced story of the men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. I look forward to seeing how Eastwood handles action scenes in his own deliberate style.
X-Men: The Last Stand. May 26th. I wasn't a huge fan of the first two installments, but the trailers look great, promising raging conflicts among mutants and humans in an explosive movie.
Superman Returns. June 30th. The pieces are in place for this to be huge. A director who gets it (Bryan Singer). A good villain (Kevin Spacey). And an unknown lead who has the look down cold (Brandon Routh).
A Scanner Darkly. July 7th. Hmmm. This one was on my to-see list last year too. Let's try again. Based on a Philip K. Dick story, Richard Linklater is directing this twisty rotoscoped film about an undercover narcotic cop (Keanu Reeves). Dude.
Lady in the Water. July 21st. Advertised as a bedtime story, this looks like a change of pace for M. Night Shyamalan. Frankly I'll see anything this guy directs.
A couple others of note: The Da Vinci Code (May 19th), Apocalypto (August 4th).
Be there. Aloha.
Top Ten of 2004
Top Ten of 2003
Top Ten of 2002
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