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Best movies: Four films lead pack
By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Dec 29, 2005 - 09:13:34 pm CST

The hue and cry of movie news this year has been a box office slump that some Chicken Littles say is evidence that the sky has fallen on Hollywood.

That’s just not true. Sure, more people are watching films at home on DVD than ever before, but the studios make money there, too. So don’t feel too sorry for them.

As for theatrical attendance, a couple other factors have influenced the downturn.

First, 2004 had two hits that will never be replicated — Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” which brought a nonmoviegoing Christian audience into the theaters, and Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which was the biggest box office documentary ever released. Take their combined $500 million or so out of the box office totals and things aren’t all that much different.

The other factor is just as easy to see. There was a dearth of quality, mass-appeal movies, a la “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, in 2004.

Those who claim there aren’t good movies being made today are flat wrong. I had no problem coming up with 20 pictures to put on my best-of list and added another 10 foreign films with ease.

But there are fewer good pictures that aim at the broad audience that is required to produce the $100 million and up box office that qualifies as a hit. However, box office has never been, nor should it ever be, a measure of anything except a movie’s popularity.

More often than not, the best movies of the year are far from the most popular. Such is the nature of art in a popular medium.

Now, on to my 2005 list.

A couple of caveats:

* I haven’t seen “The Squid and the Whale,” “Match Point” and “Transamerica,” all films that are getting mentioned by other critics as among the best of the year. But that always happens in a market like Lincoln — hence, the inclusion of “Vera Drake,” a 2004 film, on my list of the best of 2005.

* I had no trouble at all identifying my top four pictures of the year. But I’ve been tinkering with the order in which to rank them for about two weeks.

Suffice it to say that the 1 through 4 is a very arbitrary ranking. In thinking about those movies, I found they shared several qualities. First, I didn’t want them to end; I wanted to know what happened next to the characters. Second, they’re all filled with great acting. Third, all four have underlying themes that stick with you for weeks after you see them.

That said, here’s my:

Top 10 movies of 2005

1. “Capote.” Philip Seymour Hoffman becomes writer Truman Capote in this perfectly written movie about Capote’s trip to Kansas to research what became “In Cold Blood,” his groundbreaking nonfiction novel. Flawlessly directed by Bennett Miller, who lets the story play out slowly, “Capote” looks at the manipulative relationships between Capote and his sources, particularly the two men who committed the murders that are the heart of the story, and the impact of those relationships on all involved.

2. “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Writer/director/supporting actor George Clooney made one of the best films ever about journalism with this examination of CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow’s challenge of demagogic Sen. Joseph McCarthy. The great actor David Strathairn got some well-deserved notice for playing Murrow, and the use of real CBS news clips to show McCarthy was a stroke of genius, as was filming the picture in black and white. But its importance is its contemporary resonance, making points on abuse of government power and on what the media should be doing but largely is not today.

3. “Munich.” Steven Spielberg’s thriller about an Israeli assassination team sent out to kill those who planned and provided for the 1972 terrorist kidnapping of members of the Israeli Olympic team is, arguably, his best film ever. Carried by an edgy performance by Eric Bana, who plays the assassination team leader, the movie is a brilliant thriller. But as the murdering of Israel’s enemies begins to weigh on the team, the picture becomes a meditation on violence, revenge and the clash of causes. It is scheduled to open in Lincoln on Jan. 6.

4. “Brokeback Mountain.” The most talked about movie of the year is, by far, its best romance — a heartwrenching story of two people who fell in love but married others, then met each other once a year for decades. The hook, of course, is that the two people are men — a pair of ranch hands who meet in 1962 in Wyoming. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are superb in their roles, the picture is beautiful to look at and director Ang Lee doesn’t make a single misstep. It is scheduled to open in Lincoln on Jan. 13.

5. “Crash.” The surprise little picture of the summer was this revealing look at the conflict between the races in contemporary Los Angeles. A well-written ensemble piece that eventually brings many of its characters together, “Crash” goes beyond stereotype to examine violence against Arab Americans, corrupt cops, car jackings and political posturing. All of it is believable, and performances from Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon as two very different cops are brilliant.

6. “Sin City.” The best comic book movie ever literally lifts panels from the graphic novels on which the film is based and puts them on screen. Of course, it helps that Robert Rodriguez, who shot the low-budget picture in his Austin studio, shared directing duties with Frank Miller, the “Sin City” comic creator. This one’s dark, edgy and brilliantly executed.

7. “Murderball.” The best documentary of the year is also the best sports film of the year. It follows the U.S. Quadriplegic Rugby Team as it aims at a world championship. Confined to wheelchairs, these guys are athletes and hard-edged competitors whose individual stories are, in most cases, inspiring and whose drive and determination exemplifies what sports are supposed to be about.

8. “Syriana.” Stephen Gaghan, who wrote “Traffic,” takes on a similarly complex issue with similarly complex style here. Four stories intertwine to provide a stunning view of the human costs of American policy toward the Middle East and oil. This one’s got CIA spies, powerful sheiks, corrupt oil companies and terrorists — too close to real life for comfort.

9. “A History of Violence.” The impact of violence on the life of one man and his family is searingly explored by director David Cronenberg in one of his best films. Viggo Mortensen is the man whose life spins out of control after he kills a couple of murderers who try to rob his diner, and Ed Harris gives a scary supporting performance as the mobster who comes to town after seeing news reports of the killings.

10. “Batman Begins.” No Top 10 list is complete without a popcorn movie. The best of that lot this year was the reinvention of the “Batman” franchise with Christian Bale as a dark Caped Crusader. This one tells the story of how Batman became Batman with some serious drama to go along with its great action.

And 10 more ...

11. “The Constant Gardener.” Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz give excellent performances in this superb adaptation of John le Carre’s novel about an English diplomat whose wife is murdered in Kenya because of her social activism.

12. “Cinderella Man.” Ron Howard’s boxing biopic about comeback champion James J. Braddock has some of the best fight footage ever, tells a heartwarming story and has fine performances from Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger.

13. “War of the Worlds.” Tom Cruise’s wacky promo tour for this film is getting more end-of-the-year notice than the picture itself, which was Spielberg at his sci-fi action movie best.

14. “Me and You And Everyone We Know.” This quirky, fragile comedy of contemporary love and romance from performance artist Miranda July is the year’s most arresting, offbeat film.

15. “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The only good remake in a year filled with rehashes of old movies and TV shows was director Tim Burton’s reimagining of Raoul Dahl’s classic story with the great Johnny Depp a perfect Willy Wonka.

16. “Shake Hands With The Devil.” This painfully powerful documentary took the Canadian commander of U.N. forces in Rwanda back to the country where he tried to stop a genocidal civil war.

17. “Operation: Dreamland” and “Gunner Palace.” This pair of documentaries used the same basic formula: Take a camera into a barracks and follow U.S. troops in Iraq. The results were the same as well, showing how things really are in the U.S. occupation.

18. “Vera Drake.” This 2004 English film played Lincoln in 2005. Anchored by a great performance by Imelda Staunton, it’s a heart-rending look at a good woman caught up in the legal battle over abortion.

19. “Pride and Prejudice.” This lively adaptation of the Jane Austen classic is a coming-out party for star Kiera Knightley.

20. “The Upside of Anger.” The suburban romantic comedy paired the great Joan Allen as a woman whose husband disappeared with Kevin Costner as the drunken ex-baseball star who lives next door.

Best foreign films of 2005

1. “Head-On.” German director Faith Akin’s film about a Turkish immigrant who marries a suicidal German woman is a brutal and revealing, but tender and heartfelt, love story.

2. “The Sea Inside.” The winner of the Best Foreign Language film Oscar is a quiet, moving Spanish film about a quadriplegic man fighting for the right to die. Based on a true story, it features a brilliant performance by Javier Bardem.

3. “Turtles Can Fly.” The first film to come out of Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein, this heart-rending picture looks at the lives of teenagers in a refugee camp on the Iraq/Turkey border.

4. “Paradise Now.” This picture about a pair of young Palestinian men who have volunteered to be suicide bombers is powerful and insightful. It will open at the Ross Media Arts Center on Jan. 20.

5. “The Beat My Heart Skipped.” This French film noir about an aimless man who works as an enforcer for his father but finds himself drawn to becoming a concert pianist is dark, involving and presents an very different view of Paris than the stereotypical city of love.

6. “Nina’s Tragedies.” This Israeli coming-of-age story about a sex-obsessed 14-year-old boy combines romance, drama and some real weirdness.

7. “Bad Education.” Another film noir, this time from Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, this tale is about a movie maker, a movie within a movie and the spiraling effects of the past on the present.

8. “A Very Long Engagement.” This French picture set just before, during and after World War I is part mystery, part war movie and part romance, held together by star Audrey Tautou.

9. “Kung-Fu Hustle.” Writer/director/star Stephen Chow mixes Three Stooges-style comedy, parody and the balletic, high flying Hong Kong martial arts action in this absurd, thoroughly entertaining 1940s period piece — a work of twisted genius.

10. “Kontroll.” This odd Hungarian film is set entirely in the subways of Budapest and follows the workers who are supposed to keep order there.

Bottom 10 movies of 2005

Here’s my list of the 10 worst movies of 2005:

It’s always more fun choosing the Bottom 10 than the Top 10. And I tend to pick big budget/big star films that are real disappointments over dreck like “Venom” that no one ever expected to be good. That said, here’s my worst of the year, in descending order.

10. “Yours, Mine & Ours.” This horrible remake is just one of a whole bunch of bad movies that pandered to the family audience this year.

9. “Stealth.” How do you tarnish an Oscar, Jamie Foxx? Make your next film a stupid military action movie.

8. “Fantastic Four.” Special effects do not a compelling superhero movie make. This one got the nod over “Elektra” because its budget was far bigger.

7. “Just Friends” and “The Amityville Horror.” I know this is cheating, but the awful romantic comedy and terrible remake star Ryan Reynolds, one of the contenders for worst actor of the year.

6. “The Pacifier” and “Doom.” Ditto for Vin Diesel, who can’t act a lick.

5. “House of Wax.” The only good thing that happens in this horrible horror movie is that Paris Hilton gets killed. Maybe she can just go away in real life.

4. “The Weather Man.” Another glorious flop for Nicolas Cage, this time in a dark comedy that is never funny.

3. “Kicking and Screaming.” An unwatchable soccer movie starring the overexposed Will Ferrell and Mike Ditka, who must have been hard up for cash.

2. “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo.” No thinking person could have imagined this Rob Schneider vehicle would be close to good. But it’s hard to imagine that any movie could be worse than this exploitative parade of ignorance.

1. “Bewitched.” Ferrell takes the coveted worst actor of the year award, appearing in this start-to-finish stinkball that’s a laughless stain on the career of Nicole Kidman and yet another disappointment from director Nora Ephron.