my top 10 favorite movies of 2005
not that anyone cares (although they should) but the oscars are in two days and i think the academy pretty much got it all wrong. not that there aren't some good films and performances nominated, but there were a lot of good ones forgotten too. here is my list of the top 10 films of 2005.

1. crash. . . i pretty much said all i need to about this movie in my posts about it a couple of weeks ago, but this is the one movie of the past year that really impressed me. paul haggis wrote million dollar baby too and you will see a lot of that film in this one. crash is on dvd so you should definitely go rent it, especially if you are in the mood to watch something and then discuss it for hours afterward.

2. palindromes. . . megan if you haven't seen this, you definitely need to. todd solondz is probably my second fave filmmaker of all time after lars von trier. he did welcome to the dollhouse, happiness and storytelling, but palindromes might be my favorite. it is a CRAZY movie about a girl who has an abortion. the crazy thing is that the girl is played by like 10 different girls who appear in palindromic sequence. solondz does an amazing job of making a two hour film about abortion that takes neither a prolife or prochoice stance. that being said, this is one of the darkest comedies i have ever scene. but then again, that is solondz' specialty.

3. hustle & flow. . . i can't believe i liked this as much as i did. i only rented it because the star terrence howard is nominated for best actor. and i do like him, but i never expected to like this movie. first of all, i hate how hollywood movies almost never revolve around the antihero, a protagonist who also sort of doubles as an antagonist. djay in hustle & flow is a total antihero, and i definitely got into that. but also, i can't believe a movie about pimping sort of doubles as a movie about female empowerment. i could definitely see someone viewing this movie through a feminist lense. and the icing on the cake is taraji p. henson who is fucking amazing as shug.

4. the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. . . i knew i would like this movie as soon as i saw the trailer for it last summer. this has always been one of my favorite books and the movie amazingly lives up to the text. i was sort of worried that watching this book filmed would take away its magic, but the way they made it, i am still just as entranced with the textual as i am with the visual. and the absolutely most amazing thing according to imdb trivia is that they never used a single real lion in the filming. i think that is completely brilliant. (p.s. this is way way way better and should not be compared to the lord of the rings trilogy).

5. grizzly man. . . definitely not the most fun movie of the year but a good one nonetheless. after the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, this was probably the movie i most looked forward to this year. i guess i wanted to see it because i like animals, but this is definitely not a discovery channel special. it is really a pretty deep character study of the deeply troubled environmentalist timothy treadwell. i don't know if i'll buy this on dvd because it kind of leaves you feeling really depressed. it is more of a movie you just want to try and forget. but it has lighter moments too. it is on dvd so you should rent it (and DON'T watch it on tv, because it is edited and you will miss all the substantive parts)

6. cinderella man. . . another surpise for me. i really don't like ron howard movies (they are a little too cheesy for my tastes). i don't love russell crowe or renee zellweger (although they are growing on me). and i am not a huge fan of sports movies (but of all sports movies, boxing ones are the best). still i left this movie totally bawling. it is a schmaltzy chick flick and i won't try to argue that it is deep and significant, but it was still really touching and i really enjoyed it. now i have to try to get john to watch it, and it won't be easy cuz he loses his attention if there aren't enough explosions or samuel l. jackson isn't shooting someone.

7. junebug. . . i wrote about this one a couple weeks ago too. amy adams IS this movie. if she wasn't in this, it would not be on this list for sure. she is going to be the next parker posey i am sure of it (wouldn't it be awesome to see her in a christopher guest movie!) i read someone describing this as meet the parents for the sundance crowd and, although i haven't seen meet the parents or anything, i do agree that this is a sort of indy family film, and it is maybe the first time i have seen that, or at least the first time i have seen it done this well.

8. rent. . . there are definitely some problems with this movie, but i really enjoyed it. (i haven't talked to megan about it. did you like it? i am curious). i wasn't sure if someone who hadn't seen the stage show would get this movie, but john watched it (twice!) and really liked it. i actually prepared myself not to enjoy this and was pleasantly surprised. i was even impressed with rosario dawson as mimi. the one criticism i had is that they took out some songs that i wish they could have found a way to keep in (for example, "christmas" and "contact") but in general i don't think they could have made it much better than they did. (p.s. you need to get the extended dvd and watch the deleted song "goodbye love." it is really great and they should have left it in).

9. corpse bride. . . well this is definitely not as good as the nightmare before christmas, but tim burton could make a dozen of these movies and i would never stop being amazed by how lifelike they can make plastic. sure some people criticized this movie as a little macabre and depressing, but really it isn't about the story, it is about the animation. maybe i wouldn't be so willing to forgive that, but with pixar's factory churning out one crappy piece of computer anime after another and disney no longer drawing any of its films, i think people are craving some visual stimulation.

10. pride & prejudice. . . i am not a huge fan of jane austen novels or movies, but this is definitely my favorite jane austen film i have ever seen. (still this is NOT as good as the bbc miniseries of pride & prejudice, but, since this is a movie, it shouldn't necessarily be compared to its predecessor). i can't decide if i love scarlett johanssen or keira knightley more. i can't wait til they do something together. in any case, this is a really beautiful film and it is really well acted. plus i love how they focused on the fact that this is a comedy. it definitely made me laugh throughout.  ¶ 3/03/2006 11:20:00 PM