Movie Section Special: Top Five Best Films of '05 - Chris's Picks

by Chris

As we boldly enter a brand new year I think it is more paramount at this time than any other that we sift through the few gems that the film industry actually contributed during the year of 2005 along with the boundless mass of truly awful refuse, junk, and gobbledygook. Let’s start with what was decent.

5. King Kong- I’ve never had an affinity towards remakes, particularly of old classics. They always tend to suck the magic out of the originals. Also I was never really a fan of the original King Kong to begin with. As a child of the 1990’s I just couldn’t get excited about outdated stop-motion special effects or giant apes. How could I, having grown up with Jurassic Park? It never really seemed that epic to me either and to a child (or even a teenager) interspecies romance just seems weird. So King Kong was one of the few movies that I saw against my better judgment, based solely on reviews and was actually pleasantly surprised by. One thing it does particularly well is rather than try to bring Kong into the 21st Century he’s left alone in what was the modern day when the original premiered. Also, through some odd bit of magic Peter Jackson managed to make Jack Black good! That alone, is reason enough to see this movie and the high quality visuals and story that consumed every minute of this three-hour epic is why it makes my top five.

4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith- After seeing this movie for the first time, straight through from beginning to end I literally breathed a sigh of relief and said: “It’s about time.” I, as with many of my generation, was very young when first introduced to the Star Wars trilogy and was very excited for the sequels. I’d be lying if I said that Phantom Menace was any good at all and Attack of the Clones left a lot to be desired. So by the time Revenge of the Sith premiered I was hanging on my last final strands of optimism. Luckily it turned out amazing and I fortunately did not have to curl up into a ball and cry for a week. Much like with Empire George Lucas managed to end the prequel trilogy on an all-time high. Kudos for that, but for the love of holiness lets hope he lets sleeping dogs lie this time.

3. Sin City- Comic book movies suck. I know I’ve been saying it for years, but despite the few success that have shined through recently it still rings pretty true. Admittedly it appears the filmmakers have learned from the follies of old and managed to make some comic book movies that were decent.  Some, however, remain so faithful to the source material, chose actors to represent the characters that fit so perfectly, and such splendidly appropriate acting (a bit campy, but it fits) that you think God must be somehow involved. Or Satan. Sin City is the new definitive comic book movie. Frank Miller had dreams at night about his comics coming to life. He imagined Hartigan, Marv, and that Yellow Bastard as living, breathing, three dimensional people. Robert Rodriguez stole those dreams, copied them, and the result was a gritty, dazzling, exciting, fast-paced film that has the reek of Frank Miller all over it.

2. Goodnight and Good Luck- A film about the Communist scare and McCarthyism at the height of the cold war. My response when I heard this was a sarcastic “Oooooh”. Despite this it received great reviews and appeared different enough from the usual box office crap that my interest was piqued (even though it was black and white). It was not the biopic I thought it would be and was, in fact, fairly short. But in this short amount of time we dive into a pivotal time for the CBS news station when Edward Murrows takes a stance that few others would at the time in his opposition to Senator McCarthy. This movie was fast paced and well done. A bit short, but I suppose the whole point was to leave you begging for more and it does so quite well.

1. Rent- Rent was my favorite movie of 2005. Hands down I never had a better at the movie theater this year than when I was seeing this. I fell in love with every character and laughed at every bit of intentionally comedic dialogue. I laughed at a few corny song lyrics, too. Everything about this movie was enjoyable. Actors played their characters exceptionally and the music was either touching or fun. I don’t really know whether or not it can be called an accurate look at how the poor Bohemian avant garde of New York live and I honestly don’t care. It’s a menagerie of musical fun nonetheless and my pick for the best film of 2005.

“That’s all there is.  There isn’t any more.”