3/4-ways through 2005: Best Films of the Year

Cafe Society
1

My list:

  1. The Memory of a Killer
  2. A History of Violence
  3. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
  4. Crash
  5. The 40-Year Old Virgin
  6. The Beat that My Heart Skipped
  7. Almost Brothers
  8. Turtles Can Fly
  9. Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride
  10. Mysterious Skin

10 Runners-up (in alpha order): The Constant Gardener, Grizzly Man, Howl’s Moving Castle, Junebug, Keane, Kung Fu Hustle, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Serenity, The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, 3-Iron

10 highest films on my Must See List (already released): The Beautiful Country, The Best of Youth, Murderball, My Summer of Love, Nobody Knows, The Other Side of the Street, Tony Takitani, Tropical Malady, 2046, Up and Down

How is this year panning out for you thus far?

2

Come on–nobody has any opinions on what the best movies have been this year so far? :confused:

Also, I should’ve added Last Days to the list of films I still haven’t caught up with yet.

3

I haven’t seen any of your top 10 – but I’d put Constant Gardener and Grizzly Man on a short list of excellent films for this year. I’m looking forward to the new David Croenenberg and to Capote as well. I also want to see Junebug, but my current beau isn’t nearly the movie-goer I am, so that may wait till it’s out on DVD.

4

Well, I rarely go to the theater so I have to wait for DVD releases of most films.

From your list I’ve only seen Crash (good, but overrated) and Turtles Can Fly (very good). I’ve also seen 3-Iron (good, but not something I’d necessarily watch again). Tropical Malady is interesting, but definitely not for all tastes.

5

I’ve seen a shitload of movies this year, but it’s because I’m on the programming comittee for a film festival. As you might expect, most of them suck, but a few of them have been good.

Of the movies I’ve seen in release, I’ve really enjoyed Hustle and Flow, The Aristocrats, and Serenity. Archive Guy’s post reads like a list of movies I’d like to see but either haven’t had a chance or missed them while they were here.

6

Metacritic (more reliable and discretionary than rotten tomatoes, IMHO) has assembled the best-reviewed films of the year thus far:

  1. Capote 90
  2. Best of Youth, The 89
  3. Nobody Knows 87
  4. Murderball 87
  5. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 87
  6. Grizzly Man 86
  7. Turtles Can Fly 85
  8. Kings and Queen 84
  9. Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride 83
  10. White Diamond, The 83
  11. Duma 82
  12. Constant Gardener, The 82
  13. Memories of Murder 82
  14. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room 82
  15. Downfall 82
  16. My Summer of Love 82
  17. Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, The 82
  18. History of Violence, A 82
  19. Darwin’s Nightmare 81
  20. Squid and the Whale, The 81

A few of my must-sees are listed here, including #1 & 5, which opened after I posted the OP. #11 hasn’t been released wide yet (and still may not, sadly), and neither has #20 yet, though I’m looking forward to when it does. I don’t remember a few (10, 13, 17) opening in my neck of the woods, and I know some (especially 16) I’m going to have to catch on video.

Any other recent developments for movie fans out there? Oscar season approaches…

7

I’ve only seen a few. But I rank Sin City pretty high on my all-time list. Crash was also pretty good.

8
  1. A History of Violence
  2. Millions (released in Canadian theatres in 2005)
  3. Crash
  4. Sin City
  5. Batman Begins
  6. The Constant Gardener
  7. Broken Flowers
  8. The 40 Year Old Virgin
  9. Thank You For Smoking
  10. Proof or maybe Serenity

I’m just going by a quick glance at my IMDb list, I’m probably forgetting one or two.