Thursday, January 12, 2006

Top 11 Movies of 2005

Surprise, I had to go with eleven again this year. In alphabetical order:

The 40 Year Old Virgin 9/10 - Hilarious but still realistic. Judd Apatow and Steve Carrell deserve the nomination from the Writer's Guild.

Batman Begins 8/10 - Bale is great as Bruce Wayne, but I felt he was missing something as Batman. I still prefer Michael Keaton. Michael Caine and Liam Neeson were wonderful. It has been announced that there will be a sequel in 2008.

Brokeback Mountain 10/10 - Amazingly sweet story and beautiful landscapes. The acting, setting and script are all good as seperate pieces, so they integrate well. Even the sad, bleak parts of the movie are captivating. I nearly didn't see this one in the theater, but I'm very glad I did.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 10/10 - Others felt this was too long, but it was worth it for me. Its box-office success has assured there will be more Narnia movies.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 10/10 - Faithful enough to the original story, the movie kept the frenetic pace and sense of mystery that made the book impossible to put down. Order of the Phoenix starts filming in February for a June 2007 release, and Rowling is writing the seventh book this year.

The Interpreter 9/10 - An international thriller that could have easily been a snoozefest, but Sydney Pollack kept the suspense going.

Memoirs of a Geisha 9/10 - An adaptation I have been waiting years to see. While Ziyi Zhang did Sayuri justice, I think Ken Watanabe's Chairman was the most accurate portrayal.

Serenity 10/10 - The finale that the TV series deserved. Too bad Firefly wasn't made as a movie from the beginning, it would have made a great space trilogy.

Sin City 9/10 - Gritty, violent and even gruesome at times, I still enjoyed this one. The casting was dead on. The sequel is due out next summer.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 8/10 - An appropriate ending to the saga, I think I expected too much from this movie.

Zathura 9/10 - Funny, with a sense of adventure. There are only five human characters in the movie, yet it never gets tedious.

1 comment:

Scooter said...

Unrelated, but feeding one of your obsessions: The Goonies, 2006 (via The Blotter).