Strat's 20 of 2005

A year of a lot of good middle-of-the-pack movies and a few really good movies. Also a good number of relationship-driven comedies. Movie-wise, it was certainly a down year if not one of the weakest years in my time doing the 20 lists. That said, there a few surprises.

20. War of the Worlds (sci-fi)

The original movie version isn't going away in my mind. The Spielberg big budget version merely augments it. At least there's a few nice updates. Good eye candy.

19. Sin City (action)

A delightfully rich comic book movie that doesn't shy away from grime and relishes it's bleak sensibilities. As a viewer, I'd wish the plot was stronger. Again, eye candy. PLUS hot girls.

18. Ring Two (horror)

This Japanese import made in the US is scarier than its sequel counterpart Ringu in Japan.

17. Good Night and Good Luck (drama)

Clooney proves he's really settling in to directing politically-charged movies. A great movie in the vein of Network about media and politics.

16. King Kong (fantasy drama)

Rather than go into exhile forever a la Kubrick or Cameron, Peter Jackson opts to keep churning them out after The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. A solid remake of the original classic with some very creative thrills to boot.

15. Walk the Line (drama)

If you weren't a fan of Johnny Cash's music at the beginning of this movie, you are by the end. Chances are, the marketing people were counting on that with this one. What's striking is how much I don't like Cash by the end of this movie and yet you really feel for him.

14. Elizabethtown (romantic comedy)

A cute story of long-distance love and onesself at home à la Garden State, but with the Cameron Crowe patented blend of cliche, sentimentality and honesty.

13. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (fantasy comedy)

If anyone is going to retell this classic, it's Tim Burton. No surprise that he caught criticism for it, but hey - it's visually stunning and Johnny Depp is giving us a good taste of some of his best delicious acting since Pirates of the Caribbean.

12. Crash (drama)

One of those stories of intersecting character threads. While essentially the movie is about clashes between people from different walks of life, it ends up being a touch less raw than I would have liked. Surprising turn for Sandra Bullock.

11. Hitch (comedy)

Before The Game hit mainstream, there was this kind of love guru. A nice take on a similar plot as Steve Martin's Roxanne.

10. March of the Penguins (documentary)

Ever watched a movie and it made you feel cold? Try watching following penguins mating habits in Antartica. Amazingly rare footage and compelling imagery and narrative make for a good blanket and a couch movie.

9. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (comedy)

Maybe I like it for Steve Carrell. Maybe I like it because of the premise. Maybe I like it because it relates on that highly inept and true geek level of failure with affairs regarding the opposite sex.

8. Jarhead (drama)

An intense and oftentimes almost existentialist view of the transformation of one man into a Marine in the first Iraq war. Full Metal Jacket meets Fight Club if you will.

7. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (action comedy)

Yes, it's confirmed. Robert Downey Jr is back and he is good. And the writer of The Last Action Hero proves that was a blip in his life he'd like to forget.

6. Wedding Crashers (comedy)

While 40 year old gives you geeks and love, this gives you frat guys and romance. Equally funny and certainly a one up for inspiring a new potential hobby for me.

5. The Island (sci-fi action)

I hate Michael Bay. I like this movie. What's wrong with this picture? Can Michael Bay make a good movie? The script and Ewan McGregor combine to make this a rewatchable movie. I just prefer to fast forward past one long overdone, chase sequence.

4. Corpse Bride (stop-motion animation, comedy)

Some have called it the sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas. Well, it's not. It's a tale of it's own, finely executed by Mike Johnson and co. I think the Skeleton Boy is pretty rad :)

3. Batman Begins (action drama)

I really wasn't sure what to expect. Last time we saw Batman, he had nipples and The Governator was telling him to "Chill Out." Thank goodness those days are over and Chris Nolan fresh off Memento and Insomnia relaunches one of the greatest comic book anti-heroes in a fresh new direction.

2. Babel (drama)

Too often these kind of various storyline movies never amount to much and never seem really unified. This film is proof of how connected we are in this day and age with one another all across the globe.

1. Munich (action drama)

A political thriller that does a pretty good job of showing a balanced view of the events surrounding the 1972 Olympic games. It's part The Insider, part Saving Private Ryan. Very excellent.

Lupe's Top 20 of 2004

20. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (comedy)
Stoners are so funny.  I wonder if this would work as well if they were on heroin instead of weed?

19. Kinsey (drama)
I don't care how much you study it, there's not really more than one sex position... right?  I mean, how would you... it only...  Darkman's book was fiction, wasn't it?  Hey, if I'm missing something, feel free to elaborate in the comments section.  Please.

18. The Ladykillers (comedy)
This is like watching Ocean's 11 if all the characters were idiots.  Yeah, that about sums it up.

17. Hellboy (action)
If you were to describe Raiders of the Lost Ark as "archaeologist fights Nazis for the Ark of the Covenant," it would sound kind of crap.  In this case, it's "demon faces choice between love life and pet cats as Nazis summon space octopus."  It's no Raiders, but it's still pretty good.

16. Million Dollar Baby (drama)
I'm like a fair weather friend, totally with this girl on her way to the top, but not so interested after that.  I prefer Dirty Harry's approach.  Euthanasia, pie.

15. Team America: World Police (animated, comedy)
The Germans, frightened of their own success, adopted militant pacifism over militant nationalism.  The Russians wasted away in soup lines for free Vodka rather than work for a living.  The Japanese embraced their role as the global community's nerdy math tutor.  The British kept exporting tea and cricket to all their conquests until their whole empire sucked as much as the home isles.  The Chinese hive mind is incapable of competitive or creative thinking.  Ergo:  America.  F*** yeah.

14. Collateral (thriller)
The real collateral damage would have come if Travis Bickle had been driving the cab instead of Jamie Foxx.  Chauffeuring an assassin around could be considered a learning experience for someone like that.

13. Shaun of the Dead (horror comedy)
Zombies are so earnest in their need for human flesh, like an animal begging for food.  Not an analogy.  Watch this movie and laugh like a sociopath in the face of blood and horror.

12. The Passion of the Christ (drama)
So, it's not foreign, but it is subtitled.  Those of you who don't like to read a movie while you're watching it might be in for some difficulty, since you will probably be hiding your eyes from all the flayed skin and whatnot.

11. Hotel Rwanda (drama)
Oh, sure, if you want a failed state with plenty of pointless violence, set your movie in Africa.  Maybe Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, and Black Hawk Down could start a club for condescending neocolonialists.  ...Unless they're all based on actual events.  Um, no wonder it's good?

10. The Incredibles (animated)
At last, a movie brave enough to warn children that once they get married and have kids of their own, it's all downhill.  It's volcano lairs and giant robots and insurance salesmen, and no one wants that.

9. Garden State (comedy)
No prescription drug stupor can withstand the charisma of Queen Amidala's girl next door cuteness.  She cleans up nice without all the makeup.

8. Spider-Man 2 (action)
The bad guy's trenchcoat looks seriously better on film than the first movie's plastic clown suit.  I guess Sam Raimi lived and learned.  Anyway, the trenchcoat hides his wiggling, tentacular, loathesome appendages that cause panic and mayhem every time he unleashes them.  Who says a superhero movie can't have subtext?

7. Mean Girls (comedy)
I know this isn't a horror movie, but it's still the scariest thing I've ever seen.  Kids don't have to be stranded on an island to go all Lord of the Flies.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (adventure)
Finally, a Potter movie that doesn't look like a school play caught on some enthusiastic parent's camcorder.  Gary Oldman reprises his role from JFK as patsy Lee Harvey Sirius Black, who apparently can't get a break even in Hell.

5. Kill Bill vol. 2 (action)
The only character that goes 2-0 against kung fu Uma is the redneck who lives in a trailer and brushes his teeth with beer.  Plus, before his shameful death (in the movie), David Carradine espouses his "Superman is a dick" theory.

4. Spartan (thriller)
The President in this movie must have sold his soul to get elected because his handlers are about as mercenary as Mephistopheles.  I think they all double majored in political science and murder.

3. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (comedy)
Getting hijacked by pirates has never looked so fun.  Who needs Navy SEALs when you've got Bill Murray and a Brazilian David Bowie?

2. Howl's Moving Castle (animated, adventure)
A magical love story between a massive, sweaty bird and an old crone.  Supporting characters include an asthmatic dog, a fireplace, and a piece of wood.  Miraculously, the internal logic holds together.

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (romance)
Sometimes Charlie Kaufman is good, and sometimes he has his whole head up his own butthole.  Good thing this is the former.  I guess romance is never more interesting than when you're trying not to forget it.