By Cole Smithey
A groundswell of politically charged films arrived in 2005 to map out areas of secluded truths about the ways governments, corporations and tyrants of similar stripes wrangle violence and fear over the world’s citizens. Narrative cinema joined with documentaries toward providing an information stream that spins in an orbit apart from the prejudiced influence of America’s heavily censored media. It was also a significant year for original-minded filmmakers to elaborate on social themes of personal exploitation, desire and redemption. The year was especially fun for discovering laughs and visual surprises amid the inordinate number of very good movies.
Unfortunately, 2005 also punished audiences with so much cinematic tripe that it could send you into a week’s worth of depression.
Here are the top ten films that made 2005 a banner year for seeing movies and the worst ten that made me want to exit the cinema.
The Best Films Of 2005:
10. Capote
Director Bennett Miller and screenwriter Dan Futterman focus on Truman Capote’s determination to write a "non-fiction novel" as a genre-revolutionizing device to elevate himself as a public figure of literary excellence alongside Proust and Tennessee Williams.
9. Hustle & Flow
"Hustle & Flow" is a perfect example of an American independent film that boldly embraces its intangible subject and squeezes out sparks from every line of subtext-rich dialogue.
8. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Screenwriter Shane Black ("Lethal Weapon") returns to movies after a long hiatus to make a splashy neo-noir buddy thriller with plenty of laughs and jaw-dropping plot twists. "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" is a royal cinematic treat.
7. Walk The Line
Director James Mangold does a phenomenal job of celebrating the life and hardships of one of country music’s greatest singers with a sincere and powerful movie that’s graced with flawless performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon.
6. Match Point
Woody Allen creates an elegant romantic suspense movie that soars by way of Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson. Between the London location and his new muse (Scarlett Johansson), Woody Allen has reinvented himself.
5. Downfall
"Downfall" is director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s stunning cinematic achievement that illuminates minutiae about the last 10 days of the nefarious German leader who won the hearts of many and destroyed the lives of many more. Most unmistakable in the film’s subtext is Hitler’s deeply held contempt for his own people. Sound familiar?
4. Munich
Steven Spielberg’s uncompromising allegory about the way that violence begets violence is a visually arresting and emotionally brutal wake up call.
3. Syriana
Writer/director Stephen Gaghan’s political thriller, about the corruption and greed underlying the geopolitical system’s myopic focus on oil, is a knockout.
2. North Country
"North Country" subtly links the social injustices against women in the story to the ways in which women are still diminished by corporate domination in American society today. Charlize Theron is magnificent.
1. Good Night And Good Luck
Writer/director/actor George Clooney’s rigorous movie, about newscaster Edward R. Murrow’s public confrontation with Senator Joseph McCarthy when the diabolical Senator was ruining lives and careers under a banner of an anti-Communist ideology, presents the audience with a consummate depiction of the media speaking truth to power.
Honorable mentions (in no particular order) go to: "Transamerica," "Crash," "The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada," "Jarhead," "Cinderella Man," "King Kong," "Sin City," "Lord Of War," "Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room," "The Aristocrats," "The Matador," "Mysterious Skin," "The Warrior," "Wallace & Gromit," "Kung Fu Hustle," "March Of The Penguins," "Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior" and "The Constant Gardener."
The Worst Films Of 2005
10. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
The movie ticks along like a watch with a dying battery. If "darker" means that it makes you close your eyes for extended periods, then this Harry Potter episode does seem very dim.
9. Domino
Keira Knightly slums her talents as pretty girl bounty hunter Domino Harvey in director Tony Scott’s cartoonish fictionalization of Harvey’s unconventional lifestyle. "Domino" is a steaming pile of green-tinted celluloid.
8. Must Love Dogs
You’d think being single was the worst thing in the world based on the way John’s (John Cusack) and Sarah’s (Diane Lane) friends and family treat them while pushing the disconsolate people into posting and responding to internet single’s ads.
7. The Wedding Date
Director Clare Kilner ended up with the tagline, "Love doesn’t come cheap" to describe "The Wedding Date" even though the movie attempts to disprove the publicity claim by showing that any American bimbo can buy a male prostitute and live happily ever after.
6. Dark Water
This miserable remake of a 2002 Japanese thriller, about a little devil ghost girl haunting for attention, should put the last nail in the coffin of Hollywood remakes of this played-out horror sub-genre. Esteemed Brazilian director Walter Salles falls flat on his face on his first Hollywood outing.
5. Me And You And Everyone We Know
This wobbly low fidelity romantic comedy is filled with distinctly unlikable characters and an unsubstantiated use of child sexuality that further clouds writer/director/actress Miranda July’s morally rudderless course.
4. The Talent Given Us
This movie is a sickening hour-and-a-half of one annoying family’s navel-gazing dirty laundry. It’s just gross.
3. The Devil’s Rejects
Controversial for its gratuitous use of exploitative violence and gore "The Devil’s Rejects" is ultimately unredeemable for its wrongheaded attempt at glamorizing a band of vicious serial killers. It is a fascist piece of neoconservative filmmaking that should be ignored with a vengeance.
2. Last Days
Boring, self-indulgent and punctuated by Gus Van Sant’s trademark homosexual kissing scene, "Last Days" will make you wish this were his last movie. And you though "Gerry" was bad.
1. Palindromes
Todd Solandz pursues his reprehensible oeuvre as a white representative of Spike Lee’s look-at-me cinema of inarticulate exploitation. "Palindromes" is a sloppy movie that uses the shock value of seeing adult men humping numerous underage girls as a recurring visual device that’s inscrutably linked to some vague slant on abortion. Solandz uses pedophilia to prop up his irrelevant contribution to cinema, and like director Larry Clark, should never be allowed to make another film.
Dishonorable mentions go to "The Fog," "Stealth," "XXX: State Of The Union," "Stay," "Shopgirl" and "A Lot Like Love."
