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If you'd like to contact me: tmf222@yahoo.com Best & Worst Movies of 2005 April 26, 2006 - 1:32 am Once again, I'm very behind with my 2005 movie picks. Oh well, let's get right into my selections. These aren't in any kind of order, except Best Movie #1. It was my favorite film of the year.Best Movies: Movie #1 & My Favorite: Walk the Line I had a very strong reaction to this movie; one that drove me to see it 4 times in the theater. It's not rare for me to see a movie a second time in the theater, but 4 times is special. The first time I saw it, Liv Tyler and her husband were sitting directly to my right. The movie played, and I absolutely loved it! I heard Liv say to her husband that Joaquin "was so great!" I had been trying to remember a movie with the two of them, and when I heard her comment on him, it suddenly hit me! They played lovers in 'Inventing the Abbotts.' But then of course I remembered that the two of them actually dated around that time. It was a fun feeling that made the whole experience more enjoyable. There are several elements about the movie that explains why I loved it so much. The music played a large part. Johnny Cash is such a pioneer in country music, and his songs really remind me of home. I was so impressed with Joaquin and Reese. Going into it, I was skeptical. Who knew either of these actors could sing!? Joaquin sounded exactly like Johnny Cash. It was overwhelming! The love story between Johnny and June was so intoxicating. I felt bad for his first wife, but I also found myself rooting for Johnny and June and wishing I had a love like that. Joaquin's hotness was also very enjoyable. I've always found him intriguing, but he drove me crazy in this movie! The way his body shifted when he played the guitar and sang....whew, I could hardly stand it! I bought this movie, the Special Edition no less, the day it was released! Movie #2: Brokeback Mountain I had been excited about this movie ever since I heard about it over a year before it was released. The idea of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger playing lovers was baffling. They are fairly large names in Hollywood, who have both had very public hetero relationships. Unfortunately, since I'd been excited about it for so long, my expectations had gotten to unreachable heights. I was a little disappointed when I first saw it. I can't really explain why, because I don't really know what I was expecting. I saw it a second time in the theater and had pretty much the same reaction. But not once did I ever dislike the movie. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I love it. I was so impressed with the performances, especially Jake and Michelle Williams. I was so happy with the Oscar nominations. Overall, the story is very heartbreaking. I liked the way it was so quiet and simple. The Wyoming setting was very beautiful too. Movie #3: March of the Penguins I saw this movie on a rainy Friday afternoon. I had gotten off work early, and I needed to kill a few hours. I didn't really know much about this film, except that all the reviews were outstanding. I absolutely loved, loved this movie! I have such respect for penguins now. I've always been an animal lover, but this film really showed how extraordinary these creatures are. Seeing how they live their lives, with the sole intention of mating and loving, is just incredible. They literally risk their lives to find that one special penguin and have a baby. I found it interesting that once the female lays an egg, it is the male that must protect and nurture it, keeping it safe from predators and the cold. At the same time, it's the female that leaves the nest and risks her life to find food. These animals are so admirable! Movie #4: King Kong My reaction to this movie? One of the best films I've ever seen!!! I still stand by that statement. I was entertained every single scene. It's a long movie, but it's jammed full of excitement, love, compassion, and tragedy. You really got a true sense of the relationship between Kong and Ann Darrow. You got to see the emotion between them. There is also a good chunk of time when I literally forgot to breathe. The whole fight sequence between the dinosaurs and Kong took my breathe away. And the bug sequence that follows didn't really give me a chance to recover. The story itself is so iconic. Loving New York as much as I do, it's hard to not be a fan of this story. And the ending is so heartbreaking! It's difficult to look at the Empire State Building the same way. Movie #5: The Island I know this movie was considered a box office failure, but I found it really entertaining. I don't understand why so many people disliked it. I know it was very Hollywood (big budget, big names, flashy, etc), and I'm usually the first to reject movies that are too Hollywood. But in this case, I found the story really interesting; the idea that these clones were born into a single environment, and everything is new to them. It makes everything that happens to Scarlett's and Ewan's characters so innocent, from the way they defend themselves to the process of them falling in love. I was thoroughly entertained! I thought the leads had great chemistry, and overall the supporting cast was great. Movie #6: The Skeleton Key This is another film that probably isn't on that many top 10 lists. But I'm a sucker for a good scare! Add in a little voodoo and a good cast (Peter Sarsgaard, hello!), and you've got quite the temptation. Like 'March of the Penguins,' I saw this movie after getting off work early. I randomly asked at work if anyone had seen it. One of my coworkers enthusiastically replied he'd seen it, and it was great! And that it had a really good ending! With this word-of-mouth and the other good buzz I'd heard, I was sold! I have very fond memories of seeing this movie. It was one of those movie-moments when you're just completely happy to be in the theater, because all of the elements (both internal and external) are working like a well-oiled machine. I really enjoyed the story! It really engaged me! I could sense the twists leading up to the ending, and I honestly thought I had it figured out. But I was duped! I loved the ending!!! I was buzzing when it was all over, with a smile from ear to ear. Movie #7: Sin City I wasn't sure what to expect with this movie. I knew from the trailers that it was visually stunning, and that it was a fairly violent story. I was blown away! Despite the literal ugliness of the story, the film was absolutely beautiful! I've always been a fan of Mickey Rourke, but his turn as Marv just solidified my adoration. I liked the mixed cast, from Nick Stahl to Elijah Wood to James King. However, I kind of felt that Quentin Tarantino's involvement was a little pretentious, but the colorful fluidity overwhelmed any hint of negativity. Movie #8: Capote This was one of the first heavy-hitters that I saw. Philip Seymour Hoffman completely makes this movie though. The story and the supporting cast are really strong, but in hindsight, it's Hoffman that first comes to mind. It's hard to think of anything else prior. I can't say that I've ever seen Philip give a bad performance, and he seems to have a knack at picking a slew of varied, quirky roles. I still feel Truman Capote was a risky character, and you could feel the passion he had for the role seep through his performance. I knew he was going to win the Oscar, and rightly so. Catherine Keener and Clifton Collins, Jr were both very impressive as well. Movie #9: The Upside of Anger I kind of feel that this movie was released too soon. It was released in March, which is usually a dead zone. Joan Allen was great, and wasn't given enough credit for her performance! She was soooooooooooooo believable! Kevin Costner was effective as the supportive comic relief. Although, I'm getting kind of tired of him playing a baseball player. I enjoyed the gals that played Joan's daughters. Their varied personalities played well against Joan's animosity. It's nice to see Keri Russell popping up in mainstream flicks. Movie #10: Crash I saw this movie in Harlem, which is ironic since I'm definitely a minority. I liked how this movie presented racial tensions from all different angles. Every race is guilty of racism, of sexism, of bigotry, and so on. And this fact gets ignored far too often. There were scenes where I was angry, and wondered how these people could say or do those things. But that's the way it really is. The movie was direct and honest. I respected it. I was surprised it won the Best Picture Oscar, but even though I was rooting for Brokeback, I wasn't disappointed. That's my top 10. It was kind of tough picking the ones I liked best, because there weren't too many films this year that I had a strong reaction to, negative or positive. Nevertheless, a few others that I enjoyed were: Junebug, The Constant Gardener, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Batman Begins, Cursed, Red Eye, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Good Night and Good Luck, Happy Endings, The History of Violence, Match Point, The Sound of Thunder, Star Wars III, Stay, Transamerica, The Squid and the Whale, Wedding Crashers, and Wolf Creek. Now, on to my picks for the worst of 2005. I don't have too many this year. Bad Movie #1: Constantine Keanu Reeves definitely doesn't come to mind when I think of great actors. There are a few genres that he usually does fairly well, and this film falls into one of those categories. He just didn't deliver though. I know that there were more script flaws than performance ones, but Keanu just looked and sounded stupid. I almost expected Rachel Weisz to burst into laughter during all of their serious scenes. I don't know how she managaed to keep a straight face. Besides Keanu, there were parts of the story that just did not make sense. The movie made up its own rules as it went along. Ugh... Bad Movie #2: Breakfast on Pluto The movie I saw was not the movie I thought I was going to see, at all! I was kind of angry about it, because I felt the trailer was totally misleading. I was expecting something along the lines of Velvet Goldmine, which isn't necessarily a happy movie...but it is a good movie. Breakfast on Pluto had some of the elements...the setting, the quirky lead character, the search, and so on. But I really felt it was boring and depressing. Cillian Murphy was good, but he kind of freaked me out. Bad Movie #3: Syriana I can't remember the last time I've been this bored during a movie. I kind of had a feeling it was going to be on the dry side, but given that Traffic was so engaging, I had hope. NOPE! There were so many characters to keep track of. And it kept jumping from one subplot to the next. I was bored to the point where I committed one of the biggest movie sins; I feel asleep! I was fine going in. I blame it completely on the movie. My head was only down for a couple minutes. Maybe my opinion will change with another viewing....but I don't know how I'll ever muster the motivation to sit through this again! Bad Movie #4: Alone in the Dark Just thinking about this movie makes me laugh. Luckily I rented this rather than seeing it on the big screen. Tara Reid is supposed to be playing a super intelligent anthropologist. I literally laughed out loud when I heard her speak for the first time. She looked like a lost puppy! It even seemed she had difficult saying those big words. Christian Slater and Stephen Dorff make for nice eye candy...but sadly, that's about it these days. Sorry guys...mabye it's time to switch representation. |
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