Thursday, January 05, 2006
Best Movies I Saw in 2005
Time for my second best of 05 list (but not my last). This year I saw 32 movies, and wrote them all down because I'm an ubernovageek. Here is a list of the best ones (in chronological order based on when I saw them):
1. Shaun of the Dead (you'll die laughing, oh that's a bad line)
2. Before Sunrise (this was the second time I saw this classic Linklater film with puppy-eyed Ethan Hawk and dreamy Juliet Delphy - just love the realtime feel of it and realism of the characters)
3. Bowling for Columbine (another second run for me but a classic by Michael Moore, far better than his 911 degrees of separation film)
4. Crash (not the fucked up Cronenberg film but the new one - you have to be comfortable with your own racism before seeing this one, because in this film everybody's a racist and it's all too real, very well done)
5. Howl's Moving Castle - by a Japanese animator I'm too lazy to google the name of, but he's brilliant and this Disney-backed movie was far more creative than anything Disney's done on its own lately, so imaginitive and beautiful, so politically on my ball, I loved this movie.
6. Wedding Crashers - purely stupid fun, I busted a gut. It went on a little too long though.
7. I Heart Huckabees - probably the best of all of them, really neat parody on existentialism, yet respectful of the very common desire to find meaning in life, really funny and smart movie.
8. Walk the Line - this movie had its problems but being a big John R. Cash fan I really enjoyed it, and I thought the two leads just sizzled. According to my aunt Anne, Reese Witherspoon is a far better singer than June Carter ever was.
9. Movin' on Down the Road - a 1970 flick about two Nova Scotia dudes who move to the big city of TO lookin' for work and chicks, hmmm, rings a bell somehow. Mainly though it was a great depiction of the working class blues as the guys moved from one crap job (like setting up bowling pins) to another (stacking empty bottles) just to get by, with no hope of ever finding anything better.
10. Richard Prior Live in Concert - rented this right after he died and it was just classic, outright funny comedy, what a talent he was. I had no idea what a crazy fucktup childhood the man had, no wonder he liked his drugs so much.
The worse movie I saw last year, possibly ever, was Palindromes. What I can say for that movie is that it's a great symbol for everything wrong with western society, including pretentious filmmakers.
I also want to give an honourable mention to Syriana, which was pretty well-done and interesting, but perhaps too ambitious. There were about 7 movies crammed into one and as a result it was hard to give a shit about any of the characters. But, you know, good try on telling some things that need to be told.
Another honourable mention for Black Robe, which I've seen too many times for it to still have the same effect on me, but it's a good story, a tragic ones. It also have some problems with its politics, but it's definitely worth seeing if one keeps in mind that the depiction of 17th century natives in this flick is the speculation of a 20th century white man.
--Bopper
1. Shaun of the Dead (you'll die laughing, oh that's a bad line)
2. Before Sunrise (this was the second time I saw this classic Linklater film with puppy-eyed Ethan Hawk and dreamy Juliet Delphy - just love the realtime feel of it and realism of the characters)
3. Bowling for Columbine (another second run for me but a classic by Michael Moore, far better than his 911 degrees of separation film)
4. Crash (not the fucked up Cronenberg film but the new one - you have to be comfortable with your own racism before seeing this one, because in this film everybody's a racist and it's all too real, very well done)
5. Howl's Moving Castle - by a Japanese animator I'm too lazy to google the name of, but he's brilliant and this Disney-backed movie was far more creative than anything Disney's done on its own lately, so imaginitive and beautiful, so politically on my ball, I loved this movie.
6. Wedding Crashers - purely stupid fun, I busted a gut. It went on a little too long though.
7. I Heart Huckabees - probably the best of all of them, really neat parody on existentialism, yet respectful of the very common desire to find meaning in life, really funny and smart movie.
8. Walk the Line - this movie had its problems but being a big John R. Cash fan I really enjoyed it, and I thought the two leads just sizzled. According to my aunt Anne, Reese Witherspoon is a far better singer than June Carter ever was.
9. Movin' on Down the Road - a 1970 flick about two Nova Scotia dudes who move to the big city of TO lookin' for work and chicks, hmmm, rings a bell somehow. Mainly though it was a great depiction of the working class blues as the guys moved from one crap job (like setting up bowling pins) to another (stacking empty bottles) just to get by, with no hope of ever finding anything better.
10. Richard Prior Live in Concert - rented this right after he died and it was just classic, outright funny comedy, what a talent he was. I had no idea what a crazy fucktup childhood the man had, no wonder he liked his drugs so much.
The worse movie I saw last year, possibly ever, was Palindromes. What I can say for that movie is that it's a great symbol for everything wrong with western society, including pretentious filmmakers.
I also want to give an honourable mention to Syriana, which was pretty well-done and interesting, but perhaps too ambitious. There were about 7 movies crammed into one and as a result it was hard to give a shit about any of the characters. But, you know, good try on telling some things that need to be told.
Another honourable mention for Black Robe, which I've seen too many times for it to still have the same effect on me, but it's a good story, a tragic ones. It also have some problems with its politics, but it's definitely worth seeing if one keeps in mind that the depiction of 17th century natives in this flick is the speculation of a 20th century white man.
--Bopper
Labels: best of
