Top Movies and DVDs of 2005

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Roger Ebert says he watches about five hundred films in a typical year. Even at that pace he can´t hope to see every new movie but he gets to see most of the major ones. At DVD Town, however, we are faced with an even more daunting task. More than 12,000 new titles were released on DVD in 2005 alone and we here at DVD Town are pledged to watch every single one. OK, maybe not every single one; even if each DVD averaged two hours (and about twenty percent of them are TV collection) it would take 1,000 solid days in front of the wide screen to watch them all. But we watch most of them. OK, not most of them. Some of us work, some of us are married, and some of us would like to see the sun at least once a month. But the point is we watch a whole heck of a lot of them while also trying to keep up to date with the movies that play in those things called theaters too.

Hey, we just love movies.

And when you love movies, there´s nothing you love more than telling other people about just which movies you loved the most. That´s why we have chosen our favorite titles from 2005, both theatrical releases and DVD releases. The lists vary greatly, reflecting the wide diversity of taste and experience of the devoted cinephiles here at DVD Town, some favorites emerge from the lists. In the theaters, we liked "Brokeback Mountain," "The Constant Gardner," "Grizzly Man," "Kung Fu Hustle," "Batman Begins" and "Junebug." On DVD, our staffers were enthusiastic about "The Wizard of Oz: Special Edition," "The Harold Lloyd Collection," "Sin City: Recut," and the "Ben-Hur: Collector´s Edition." But forget about the consensus. I´ve always been more interested in reading the picks of individual critics which can be a great way of learning about films, both in theaters and on DVD, you might not have seen or heard about before.

One final note. Lists such as these are works in progress. If we were to post our lists again in six months or six years, we would likely submit very different ones. Not every reviewer had the opportunity to see all the major releases of the year, let alone some of the more obscure ones that never even hit theaters in most of the country. My "Best of 2005" will doubtless keep evolving for the next fifty years. But you probably won´t be so interested by then.

Enjoy the lists!


KURTIS BEARD

Top Ten Theatrical Releases of 2005:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Grizzly Man
3. Junebug
4. 2046
5. Match Point
6. Oldboy
7. Kung Fu Hustle
8. The White Diamond
9. The Squid and the Whale
10. The 40-Year Old Virgin

On the surface, "Brokeback Mountain" may be a "gay cowboy movie," but beyond the lifestyles of the main characters there lies one of the greatest and most affecting romances to ever grace the silver screen. Those who succumb to the stereotypes may find little of value in "Brokeback Mountain," but indeed the film is a richly layered, universal tale.

Top Ten DVDs of 2005:

1. Burden of Dreams
2. Harold Lloyd Collection
3. The Wages of Fear: Special Edition
4. Wizard of Oz: Collector´s Edition
5. The Philadelphia Story: Special Edition
6. Bullitt: Special Edition
7. King Kong (1933): Special Edition
8. The Fly (1986): Special Edition
9. The Life Aquatic: Special Edition
10. Sin City: Recut, Extended, & Unrated


EDDIE FENG

Best Theatrical Release: Munich (Spielberg)

Honorable Mention: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Newell)
(much better than "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban")

Top Ten DVDs of 2005:

1. Ben-Hur Four-Disc Collector's Edition (Warner)
2. The Greta Garbo Collection (Warner)
3. Gladiator Extended Edition (DreamWorks)
4. Ran (Criterion)
5. Titanic Special Collector's Edition (Paramount and Fox)
6. Kagemusha (Criterion)
7. The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection (New Line)
8. Star Trek: Nemesis -- Special Collector's Edition (Paramount)
9. Star Trek: Enterprise (four complete seasons) (Paramount)
10. Porco Rosso (Disney and Ghibli)

Honorable Mention: "Madlax" TV Series (ADV), "Jaws: 30th Anniversary Edition" (Universal)


WILLIAM LEE

Having missed out on many of the big releases in the last few months ("Syriana", "Walk the Line"), I don't think I could make a proper Top 10 List. I will, however, list the films I thoroughly enjoyed more than others.

Top Ten Theatrical Releases of 2005:
(in Alphabetical Order)

1. Batman Begins
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe
3. The Constant Gardener
4. Grizzly Man
5. Kung Fu Hustle
6. Junebug
7. Oldboy
8. Serenity
9. Sin City
10. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Howl's Moving Castle, King Kong.

2005 was another banner year for DVDs. Warner reigned supreme as they released special editions of their numerous classics ("King Kong", "The Wizard of Oz") as well as giving many films from the vault their first discs ("Bad Day at Black Rock", "Point Blank"). All these great DVDs did some serious damage to the old bank account, but here is the best of what I picked up.

Top Ten DVDs of 2005:
(in Alphabetical Order)

1. Batman Anthology
2. Batman Begins: Deluxe Edition
3. Bringing Up Baby: Special Edition
4. Bullitt: Special Edition
5. The Incredibles
6. Lost: The Complete 1st Season
7. Raging Bull: Collector's Edition
8. Rebel Without a Cause: Special Edition
9. Sin City: Recut, Extended, & Unrated
10. Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith

HONORABLE MENTIONS - Bambi: Platinum Edition, The Fly: Special Edition, The Simpsons: Complete 7th Season, To Kill a Mockingbird: Special Edition.


CHRISTOPHER LONG

THEATRICAL

The biggest difference between 2005 and 2004 was the much weaker crop of documentary films. If not for Werner Herzog´s double bill, this would have been a disastrous year for the field, but perhaps this is just the pause that refreshes after 2004´s "Year of the Documentary." You might not ever pronounce his name correctly but with "Mysterious Object at Noon" and now "Tropical Malady," Apichatpong Weerasethakul (he says you can just call him Joe) is officially a premier talent.

Top Ten Theatrical Releases of 2005

1. Tropical Malady (Weerasethakul)
2. Grizzly Man (Herzog)
3. Junebug (Morrison)
4. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
5. Land of the Dead (Romero)
6. Caché (Haneke)
7. Kung Fu Hustle (Chow)
8. Match Point (Allen)
9. Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa)
10. Broken Flowers (Jarmusch)

Honorable. Mention: The Holy Girl, Good Night and Good Luck, Kings and Queen, The White Diamond, Nobody Knows, A History of Violence, New York Doll, Protocols of Zion, Oldboy, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

DVDS

Extras are an integral part of the DVD experience, but it is always the film itself that matters most. The most important thing DVDs can accomplish is to make previously marginalized films available, for the first time ever, to a wide audience. That´s why I´m declaring 2005 the Year of New Yorker Video. In the past year, they have released an astonishing variety of films on DVD: short documentaries from Germany, pioneering African films, titles from old masters (Godard, Bresson, etc.), recent South American masterpieces, an Iranian documentary, and even a Straub-Huillet film. That´s what DVDs are all about! New Yorker might not offer the bells and whistles some studios do, but they contributed as much to world cinema culture as anyone in 2005.

Top 10 DVDs of 2005

1. Short Films by Werner Herzog (New Yorker)
2. The House is Black (Facets)
3. Au hasard Balthazar (Criterion)
4. L´Argent (New Yorker)
5. Unseen Cinema (Image)
6. Weekend (New Yorker)
7. The Errol Morris Collection (MGM/UA)
8. The Ross McElwee Collection (First Run Features)
9. Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (New Yorker)
10. Heart of the Festival (Narada)


ERIK MARTINEZ

Like Will, I haven't had the chance to see a lot of the top contenders but here's a list of the films I enjoyed the most.

Top 10 Theatrical Release of 2005:

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
3. Munich
4. Walk the Line
5. Kung Fu Hustle
6. Batman Begins
7. A History of Violence
8. Crash
9. Sin City
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Top 10 DVDs of 2005:

1. Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection
2. Lost: The Complete First Season
3. Sin City: Recut, Extended
3. Titanic (3 disc)
4. Battlestar Galactica: Season One
5. Jules and Jim (Criterion)
6. The Incredibles
7. Batman Begins
8. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
9. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
10. Million Dollar Baby


JIM PLATH

I´ll let my picks speak for themselves.

Top Ten Theatrical Releases of 2005:

1. The Constant Gardener
2. Downfall
3. Junebug
4. Good Night, and Good Luck
5. Munich
6. Walk the Line
7. Capote
8. Kung Fu Hustle
9. The Chronicles of Narnia
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


Top Ten DVDs of 2005:

1. Ben-Hur 4-Disc Set
2. The Wizard of Oz 3-Disc Set
3. Bambi
4. The Errol Flynn Collection
5. Raging Bull
6. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
7. Hotel Rwanda
8. King Kong (1933)
9. Ray
10. Saraband


JOHN PUCCIO

I have no idea what the "best" films of 2005 were; I haven't seen every film released and I couldn't determine a "best" if it jumped up and bit me on the nose. But of the many films I did see, these were among my favorites:

Top Ten Theatrical Releases of 2005:

1. The Constant Gardener
2. Good Night, and Good Luck
3. Capote
4. Batman Begins
5. Downfall
6. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
7. Syriana
8. Crash
9. Munich
10. Sin City

Top Ten DVDs of 2005:

1. The Wizard of Oz, Collector's Edition
2. Toy Story 2, Woody's Roundup Edition
3. Batman Begins
4. The Wild Bunch
5. Million Dollar Baby
6. Bullitt: Special Edition
7. Sin City: Recut
8. Downfall
9. Batman: Special Edition
10. Ben-Hur: Collector's Edition

Honorable Mention: The Incredibles, The Producers (1968, Special Edition), King Kong (1933), Chariots of Fire: Special Edition), The Sea Hawk

Please Note - More details:
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