Top Ten Movies of 2005 (of the ones that I have seen)...

10. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith: How could it not be on here? Definitely the best of the "new" trilogy. It ended (began?) on a satisfying note.
9. A History of Violence: David Cronenberg's disturbing look at the power of violence.
8. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe: I had never read the books as a child, so this was all new to me. Visually impressive. Endearing storytelling.
7. Munich: Spielberg's absorbing thriller; his finest film since Saving Private Ryan.
6. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory: Tim Burton went back to the book, and created a remake that was better than the original.
5. Walk the Line: Great performances. Great music. Great couple.
4. March of the Penguins: What a beautiful movie. Heartbreaking, fascinating and real. Definitely makes you glad you are not a penguin. You'd never believe it was a documentary. (And even the original French documentary - which is on the DVD - is worth a look.)
3. Batman Begins: Christopher Nolan reinvents Batman for another generation. Makes Tim Burton's 1989 attempt seem like a dated... well... comic book.
2. Capote: Truman Capote's riveting journey to the creation of his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. Compelling. Haunting.
1. Brokeback Mountain: Every gay man in America should own this movie. A classic romance. I was crying the entire last 30 minutes. Not to be missed.

Movies I haven’t seen that might change this list: Memoirs of a Geisha, MatchPoint, Syriana. I will update this list as I see more films from 2005.

Movies I’ve seen that didn’t make this list: Good Night and Good Luck, Cinderella Man, North Country, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Junebug, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Wedding Crashers, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Hitch, The Fantastic Four, Robots, Bewitched, The War of the Worlds, The Constant Gardner, Pride & Prejudice, The Squid & The Whale, Breakfast on Pluto, Howl's Moving Castle.

The bottom five (again, of the ones I’ve seen):
5. Crash: no movie annoyed me more than this one. It's contrived. Preachy. Erik Lundegaard of MSNBC said: "Yes, we all bear some form of racism — that’s obvious. Yes, we all 'stereotype' other races in some fashion — that’s obvious. But, no, we don’t easily give voice to our racist sentiments. And that’s why the film rings so false." I couldn't agree more.
4. Rent: Go to Broadway and see the play!
3. King Kong: I REALLY wanted to love this movie. Peter Jackson's remake of the 1933 classic is a monster in every sense: spectacular, clumsy, hilarious, ludicrously self-indulgent, terrifying, overly melodramatic and every single scene is waaaaaaaaaay too long. Give me the scissors, there's a great movie in there waiting to get out!
2. The 40 Year Old Virgin: Purile. Had one laugh out loud moment. But I saw it on DVD and not in a room of 12-year-olds laughing hysterically. That would have helped it.
1. Madagascar: Is this the future of animated movies? God, I hope not. Big names voices with a cookie-cutter script. Not one redeeming moment.