Was 2005 a good year for movies? Despite what this past year’s Oscars might suggest, I believe that it was. Provided, of course, that you knew where to look. By and large, the respectable awards-bait crop was even stodgier and more underwhelming than usual. Thank goodness then for foreign films and- somewhat more unexpectedly- genre offerings, which had their best showing in years, quality-wise. 2005 was above all a banner year for cinema in all its forms, showing that great films can come in all shapes and sizes.
Why wait until the end of July to post a top 10 list? Making best-of lists is something I enjoy, and like all the best hobbies I believe it ought to be approached seriously. As such, I wanted to be thorough. I tried to watch everything I thought might have a chance of contending for my list, and many other films besides (hello, BEE SEASON!). Since I’m not getting paid to watch movies and I’m not in New York or Los Angeles, that means waiting for DVD in many cases. But the good news is that I think I’ve caught all the necessary theatrical releases to assure myself that this is a fairly complete list for the time being.
What’s with the format? While ten is the standard for movie list-making, there were so many films I thought were worth mentioning here that I decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for years. I paired up each film on my list with another film from this past year, both to underline prevalent themes and trends in the year’s best films and to illustrate how good a year I thought 2005 was for cinema. Even expanded to twenty, I found it impossible to keep the list to a nice round- albeit arbitary- number, so I simply said to hell with it and did it my way. And so, I give you…
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