Going Back In Time: THE TEN BEST FILMS OF 2005

10. CRASH (D: Paul Haggis)
Set in Los Angeles shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, this ensemble drama tracks the intersecting lives of a Brentwood housewife and her attorney husband, a Persian store owner, two police detectives who are also lovers, an African-American television director and his wife, a Mexican locksmith, two car-jackers, a rookie cop, and a middle-aged Korean couple. Fueled by excellent performances by Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, Ryan Phillippe, Thandie Newton, and yes, even Chris "Ludicris" Bridges, Crash is at a powerful level with the bravery and the bold will to risk retelling the topic of racism that many others would back away from doing.

09. SYRIANA (D: Stephen Gaghan)
Director Stephen Gaghan follows up Traffic with this political thriller set in the Cold War era during a global fight for control of the world's oil supply. The stories of a CIA operative (George Clooney), an up-and-coming oil broker (Matt Damon), a prince (Alexander Siddig) and a corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) collide as the fighting for the world's most valuable resource heats up. In such a slow-pace, Syriana is far from being boring. It's quietness and timid pacing brings forth more realism and much more depth into what the situation going on actually is. George Clooney's Oscar-winning performance is greatly executed with sincerity that it becomes truly one of Clooney's best acting achievements.

08. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (D: Noah Baumbach)
The patriarch (Jeff Daniels) of an eccentric Brooklyn family claims to once have been a great novelist, but he's actually settled into a teaching job. When his wife (Laura Linney) discovers a writing talent of her own, jealousy divides the family, leaving two teenage sons to forge new relationships with their parents. The humor in Noah Baumbach's screamingly funny and reliable Squid and the Whale is that it achieves so much realism that you feel you're watching the humor in mine, yours, and every living human being's lives. Jeff Daniels gives a career best performance and Laura Linney packs a wallop of a performance also. But the real portrayals that ring best are that of its young stars Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, and a small and believable acting return for the forgotten Oscar winner Anna Paquin. The Squid and the Whale is a winner!

07. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (D: Joe Wright)
This adaptation of the classic 19th-century novel by Jane Austen is the story of the initial misunderstandings and later mutual attraction between the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet (Keira Knightley), and the haughty Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen). Arguably the best screen adaptation of the classic romance novel by Jane Austen is amazingly heartfelt, crisply funny, and wonderfully romantic with Keira Knightley in a star-making and Oscar nominated role as the heroine of the story Elizabeth Bennett. Knightley packs in such a fearless and incredibly timeless performance that she fools one into believing that she is actually Elizabeth Bennett. Cliched critical praising but also true when it comes to Knightley's sensational performance in this wonderfully poignant masterwork!

06. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (D: David Cronenberg)
Tom (Viggo Mortensen) works at a diner in a small town with his wife, Edie (Maria Bello). Their peaceful lives are interrupted when Tom thwarts an attempted robbery and becomes a local hero. After seeing him on TV, a couple of mobsters (Ed Harris, William Hurt) show up on the scene, pegging Tom as a guy who's wronged them in the past. With David Cronenberg's gritty direction on the side, A History of Violence becomes a staple on what a true action film should be. With story, heart, and wonder while still remaining violent, cruel, and seemingly realistic. Viggo Mortensen gives one of the best performances of the year as Tom, but Maria Bello outshines as Edie, fiercely bringing forth a raw and emotional character to such dangerous heights. A true epic action film and a riveting story of one's own past.

05. THE CONSTANT GARDENER (D: Fernando Meirelles)
When activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found murdered in Northern Kenya, her widower, Justin (Ralph Fiennes), suspects that she had been having an affair. As Justin begins investigating Tessa's death, he uncovers a conspiracy involving pharmaceutical companies in the United States and the local Kenyan government. In one of the year's best performances, not to mention the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Rachel Weisz is so potent and yet so raw in The Constant Gardener that one has so much sympathy and so much hope for her that when the bad happens, you just wish you could reach into the screen and help her. To add to that, Ralph Fiennes' performanc as Justin is just so heartbreakingly executed that it shows how much range he actually holds as an actor. As for The Constant Gardener itself, it's a complex and very vivid dive into a bold and very dangerous world that shows such visually striking images and intriguing story points. The Constant Gardener is an excellent film, so deep and striking that it stays imprinted in your memory long after it's story comes to a profoundly emotional end.

04. AN UNFINISHED LIFE (D: Lasse Hallstrom)
Rugged Wyoming rancher Einar (Robert Redford) spends his days tending his acreage and caring for his best friend, the injured Mitch (Morgan Freeman). When the daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) he blames for his son's death turns up on his doorstep with the granddaughter he never knew he had, he's forced to re-examine his life and the assumptions he made about the past. In Lasse Hallstrom's overlooked softcore western, Robert Redford gives the best performance by a leading actor this year. Drawing you into his cranky, yet soft person. The film is filled with exceptional performances all around including Morgan Freeman as the inspiring conscience of Redford's character Einar, Jennifer Lopez who proves once again she is an underrated actress with her impressive performance as Jean is hard to ignore, and finally Becca Gardner shines in her performance as Einar's granddaughter Griff. Gardner has so much force and believability in her character that it would be acceptable if she would have received an Oscar nomination. Sadly she was overlooked, as was this incredibly deep and surprisingly inspirational film that has the moral that in order to be happy, one must forgive, and live without an unfinished life.


03. WALK THE LINE (D: James Mangold)
This biopic of Johnny Cash stars Joaquin Phoenix as the legendary country icon and focuses on the singer's early career in Memphis, Tenn., including his struggles with drug addiction. Reese Witherspoon stars as his wife and band-mate, June Carter Cash. In their performances comes the whole film, but also give credit to Ginnifer Goodwin as Cash's ex-wife, Waylon Malloy Payne who dwells deep within the soul of Jerry Lee Lewis, Tyler Hilton who does a believable-as-can-be impersonation of Elvis Presley, and Robert Patrick who is astonishing as Johnny Cash's father. Walk the Line works because it takes the formulaic biopic structure and uses it to benefit with the romance between June Carter and Johnny Cash. It's a fantastic film with the best soundtrack of the year!

02. JUNEBUG (D: Phil Morrison)
Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) is a Chicago gallery owner and the new wife of George (Alessandro Nivola), who finally submits to Madeleine's desire to meet his eccentric North Carolina family after she closes a business deal with a local artist. Their road trip into the rural South finds the hipster couple running into all kinds of yokels including George's klutzy and very pregnant sister-in-law Ashley (Amy Adams). Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, Amy Adams, Benjamin McKenzie, Celia Weston, and Scott Wilson are the six actors and actresses that perform in this brilliantly scripted indie dramedy, and all six bring forth six of the best performances you will see in 2005! Amy Adams, however, stands on top in one of the greatest, sweetest, and most poignantly believable yet funny performances I have had the pleasure of seeing in a motion picture! Junebug is a fantastic character study that can make you cry, laugh, and feel. This is a movie that has every right to be called "wonderful"!

01. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (D: Ang Lee)
In Wyoming and Texas in 1963, a rodeo cowboy named Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and a ranch hand called Ennis (Heath Ledger) take summer jobs tending a flock of sheep on forest-service land. The entirely unexpected outcome: a torrid affair between the two men. Later in their lives, they go their separate ways and find wives (Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams), but the memory of that summer refuses to fade, and so comes a gut-wrenching and unforgettable story. Brokeback Mountain is a movie that when mentioned everybody has heard of it. Whether they are too "homophobic" to see it or too "homophobic" to take it seriously and instead decide to make jokes aimed toward it. Either way you have it, Brokeback is deftly one of the most talked about films ever made. And to say that somebody has to be gay or bisexual to love it, let alone like it, is just plain nonsense. Being a straight man, I'm not afraid to say that Brokeback is a very romantic film, yet very painful and hard to swallow. It has great performances by Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anna Faris, Linda Cardellini, Randy Quaid, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams. It's a treasure of a movie that has enough balls to go against what most people are opposed to. For that, it is a brave monument in movie history and the best movie of 2005.