In an annual series, Every Movie Has a Lesson is going to look back twenty years to revisit, relearn, and reexamine a year of cinema history to share favorites, lists, and experiences from the films of that year. When measuring back as far as twenty years or more, I feel like “favorites” that have stood the test of time have aged to become some level of “best.” I feel like a bunch of those populate my reflective look back at the best of 2005.
As with every year, I need to offer a personal level of clarification when I build and justify lists like the one you’re going to read below for 2005. That challenge is that there can often be a distinct difference between a movie that is considered one of the “best,” respected and revered on technical and artistic levels, and something held dear as a personal and subjective “favorite.” I find myself torn between “bests” and “favorites” all the time, every year present or past, when creating any “10 Best” list as a credentialed film critic. Call it an occupational hazard.
NOTE: Poster images from IMP Awards
MY TOP 10 FILMS OF 2005
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Good Night, and Good Luck
3. King Kong
4. Kung Fu Hustle
5. Batman Begins
6. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
7. Sin City
8. Brokeback Mountain
9. War of the Worlds
10. A History of Violence
In 2005, I celebrated my “golden birthday” of turning 26 on August 26th. Teaching. Teaching, long-term relationships, and a steady social life for a guy in his 20s was, looking back, probably and their peaks. I was one year away from getting married and started courses for a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Even so, I couldn’t stay away from the movies.
However, 20 years of time has definitely reshaped this particularm year’s Top 10 list from where it likely was in 2005. I know I had King Kong at #1 until I got more cinema savvy and kept Good Night, and Good Luck in that spot for the majority of the two decades. Joe Wright’s exquisite Pride and Prejudice was a blind spot until this past year and leapfrogged the entire list for the top spot. I have my Cinephile Hissy Fit partner Will Johnson and his daughter Lizzie to thank for that. With no regrets, it’s the best of 2005.
The rest of this Top 10 jiggled and wiggled too. For example, I have no shame ranking the ingenuity and flat-out inventive entertainment of Kung Fu Hustle over Batman Begins and Sin City over both Steven Spielberg entries of 2005. Brokeback Mountain was a difficult one to place. I respect it’s high quality, but it’s a chore to watch. Some of the same goes for David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence. Both are movies that are not very rewatchable, no matter how good they are.
THE NEXT TEN BEST
11. Munich
12. Lord of War
13. Kingdom of Heaven
14. Cinderella Man
15. Wedding Crashers
16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
17. Hitch
18. Hustle & Flow
19. Coach Carter
20. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
There are days it’s a straight-up coin flip between Munich and War of the Worlds for Spielberg superiority. They are two very good and very different movies. Back in the late 1990s and 00’s, heady screenwriter Andrew Niccol could do no wrong between Gattaca and The Truman Show. I think Lord of War follows suit and is still timely today. Cinderella Man and Kingdom of Heaven used to be Top 10 movies for me for 2005, but both have become afterthoughts. I need to rewatch that massive director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven, and maybe I’ll be swayed. Like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers would probably get cancelled today, but I’m still laughing and naming Stage 5 Clingers I meet in life. With more time and another watch, I think Hitch and Hustle & Flow get higher on these lists.
