AT LAST, its here. Writing up a 'best films of the year' list is such a difficult task because it begs the question - do I list my personal favourites or do I list what films I consider the best cinematic achievements of the year. The two are almost never mutually exclusive, after all people can for the most part agree on how badly or well put together a film is. How entertained, engrossed or involved in a film one is however depends entirely on a person's background and taste, so as such its completely subjective and will differ greatly even amongst those who consider themselves like-minded.
Having written reviews on and off for around eight years now, I hope I've demonstrated growth as a reviewer and would like to thank the compliments and complaints I've gotten from readers about them. I love getting into a debate about reviews and always welcome intelligent dialogue about what I've written with any who cares to e-mail. I must also thank everyone for their patience with some of these reviews, writing most of these babies at 3am yields some not exactly laudable spelling or grammatical errors. Plus being in Australia but organising reviews around US release dates proves extremely difficult some times, especially at this time of year when the tyranny of distance proves very frustrating.
That's why this column has ultimately ended up running about 2-3 weeks later than most critics, I needed that extra time to catch up on some titles. Unfortunately not all were available to view before writing up this list, so some key ones didn't make it. I plan to catch up on these missing ones either on DVD or when I visit New York at the end of this month, so be advised this list may change in coming weeks. Those that didn't make it are listed down the bottom so before you go screaming at me about missing an entry, make sure its not one of those in the list.
As a year in terms of film quality 2005 will probably go down in the books as the year audiences really started to show they're fed up with the need to go racing out for shit anymore. With DVDs making things so much easier and TV show production quality arguably at its best ever, an expensive night out at the movies is becoming a less desirable prospect to the point that many just stay home and wait for DVD. Indeed if it weren't for me doing this job, many of the movies that get released I wouldn't see because quite frankly most of it is crap - sometimes fun, sometimes awful - but almost all crap.
Whilst not a bumper year 2005 was not a wash either. The field was strewn with movies of ranging quality with little to no real exceptional works. Even the movies which made my Top Ten contain any number of flaws that mar their surface from becoming great, but underneath are solid cinematic vehicles made with passion, intelligence and a daringness that helps overcome the odd pacing lag or dialogue fumble. In this messy year here are my personal favourites, the films that may not have been the 'best movies' but are the ones that'll be getting a lot of love from my DVD player in the future:
Every year there's many a film that is so ineptly stupid that only the least discerning viewer will get any enjoyment out of it. Rare though does one find a film that's too smart for almost anyone - even the most jaded filmgoer. "Syriana" makes no apologies or attempts to coddle its audience - you're thrown right into the midst of events and expected to follow with keen interest. A lap in concentration for even half a minute and you'll be lost, and if you don't have a good grasp of world politics, America's foreign policy history with the Middle East, or think terms like peak oil and Hasbellah are types of food then you'll have no hope with this movie.
I'd like to think of myself as relatively up to speed on politics in the world today and despite one or two moments where I knew I obviously missed something, "Syriana" made clear sense to me. As a result I could see an interesting experiment of a film, one of those slice of life dramas filled with many different characters all involved in and around the world's oil markets at various different levels. The film is a colder and less emotionally engaging film than the Gaghan scripted traffic, but in many ways its even more ambitious. It boldly attempts to tell a good 5-6 hours worth of stories in less than half that time, and whilst some obviously suffer for it (most notably one involving young men becoming terrorists), it is never dull and certainly feels like its been crafted with not only care but a great deal of intelligence and forethought. A high calibre piece of filmmaking that'll stand the test of time for many a year to come.
Didn't Make The Top Ten, But Highly Recommend: The 40 Year Old Virgin, The Aristocrats, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Cinderella Man, Corpse Bride, Crash, Howl's Moving Castle, In Her Shoes, The Interpreter, King Kong, Layer Cake, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Murderball, Mysterious Skin, Pride and Prejudice, Red Eye, Sin City, Walk the Line, War of the Worlds
Acclaimed Films I Didn't Get To See In Time For Consideration:
2046, The Best of Youth, Capote, Cache, Downfall, Grizzly Man, Last Days, Me & You & Everyone We Know, Match Point, The New World, Nine Lives, The Squid and the Whale, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
My Top Ten of 2004
- Closer
- The Incredibles
- Kinsey
- Hotel Rwanda
- Kill Bill, Volume II
- Collateral
- The Aviator
- The Bad Education
- Sideways
- Million Dollar Baby
My Top Ten of 2003
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Finding Nemo
- Shattered Glass
- Lost in Translation
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
- The Fog of War
- X2: X-Men United
- The Last Samurai
- Phone Booth
