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List added by The Mighty Celestial on 7 January 2009 08:42
2005: My Top Ten Favorite Movies By Year |
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 1375  6.8  7.5  By far, my fave of the Apatow comedies. Like Knocked Up, his best films seem to be the ones in which he does triple duty as director, writer, & producer. In this case, this triple-combo results in a movie whose strength lies not just with the high level of comedy (which probably would've been enough), but also for the fact that at it's heart, this is a story of a "late bloomer" that is handled not just intelligently, but even more importantly, with a genuine heart. Ofttimes, many of the characters seem to deliver their punchlines with a tempered sense of sympathy towards the plight of the lead character, even when the results lead to a an exasperated situation of disintegrated success (a tried & true formula of the genre). This movie can be touching & even socially in-depth at times, but without any cost the number of out-loud laughs.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
80 6.5 7.5  Take Flashdance, replace the female construction worker/stripper lead character with a male loser-pimp (loser even by bowery street standards) whose portrayal was nominated for an Oscar. Then remove the dancing & put in rappin' instead. Replace the implausibility of the plot with a straight forward script that holds no punches & booyah....there you have it. A hard-nosed "makin' your dreams come true" film that is about as far away from that Jennifer Beals torn sweatshirt-a-rama that I first began this entry with. And if comparing these two movies seems like an incredibility poor choice on my part for a comparison, cut me some slack, yo. It's hard out here for a pimp.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
2199 7.7 8.4  The weird thing about this movie is that the male lead characters are all practically the same guy. And the stories don't seem to stray too off to far from each other or from a theme that we've all seen on the big screen millions of times before. The thing is, the visuals on this thing are so goddamn striking that, for me at least, it almost felt like I was watching a much more unique set of plotlines that was actually being told. Rather than trying to bring the Sin City graphic novel into movie "reel life", it seemed almost like this was more an exercise to bringing reel life into Sin City. That the actors weren't trying to portray comicbook characters as much as they were trying to intergrate their 3-D physicality into 2-D flat-figured Frank Miller drawings ( as was most evident with the make-up jobs on Marv & the Yellow Man). I know that there are some people who criticized the simplicity & graphic "pointlessness" of this movie, but it's art direction was so full of energy & depth ( for my visual senses, at least) that I couldn't keep my eyes off the screen & found myself truly embedded in the illusion that I was watching something original.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
1557 6.6 7  This movie had the same effect on me as The Prisoner Of Azkaban, the 1st Harry Potter film I saw. It's a project based on a book series that I not only never read but never really had any interest in. Yet, after watching the film, I became interested in it. As a kid, I used to think that sword & sorcery stories were supposed to be more intricate & more mature & more interesting versions of fairy tales. However, as I grew up, I found that the few movies that were made of this genre tended to fall short on either the fantasy or the consistency of the plot (for some reason, the idea of characters interacting with mythic creatures always seemed difficult for script writers to string together). But The Chronicles of Narnia seemed to be able to aptly pull this off, at least in the 1st part of this film as the major players are introduced. Even more so, IMO, than in Lord Of The Rings. The characters in Narnia looked just like fantasy characters were meant to look, the story came off as epic as the genre tends to aspire to be & every million dollar denomination was richly visable in the special effects. While still not a perfect movie, for me, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe definitely was a surprise in it's over-all quality as a fully integrated movie of magic, metaphor & really cool CGI-enhanced action.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
2253 7.1 7.6  While I felt that the Harry Potter movies, up to this point had peaked with The Prisoner Of Azkaban, Goblet Of Fire is a worthy follow-up, coming in as the second best (IMO at least) of the series. Great balancing between the wizard fantasy element that still sparks off childlike imagination, yet enough of a grittiness in it's story execution & fatalistic consequences in it's action scenes that will keep those of a more mature mindset entertained. With this installment, the franchise keeps it's momentum smoothly rolling as each of the main characters' growth moves effectively & convincincly thru the center plotline of a Tri-Wizard Tournament & the otherworldly dark mystic situations that revolve around it. Goblet Of Fire ends with a feeling of accumilated weight, full of emotion & excitement that can make the viewer feel as tho he/she is in the middle of a ride whose magicks can be just as fantastic as they are deadly. Not exactly your typical mindless tweener escapist-fare.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
2434 7.5 8.3  While Tim Burton's was the first to finally introduce the down to earth grittiness that revealed Batman as the real badass that we who read his comics knew that he really was, there was still a certain flamboyancy ( as is in all of Burton's films) that allowed those filmmakers whose followed in this franchise after Burton, to systematically bring the Caped Crusader down almost to the level of Adam West doing the bat-toosie. This reboot came along & completely eliminated the almost unrepairable bat-damage still lingering in the minds of general movie-goers. I remember sitting thru the first scene of this film & thinking to myself that it was hard to believe that what I was watching was actually a superhero movie. I can even overlook the fact that the Bat-Mobile was now more of a massively unbatlike tank/dune-buggy hybrid than it was an actual sleek yet indestructible @ss-kicking ride that we all average joe mortal-types like to fantasize about owning.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
2496 7.6 8.2  A dystopian british nation must be saved by the tyrannical totalitarian government under which it has become subjected to since a recent nuclear war that has left much of the Earth crippled. And who will act as the people's modern/futuristic Robin Hood, to inspire hope within the masses of a spiritually tattered land of The United kingdom? In this case, it will be the mask vigilante known as "V". And so confident is this anarchist avenger of the masses, that he requires naught but swords to combat gunplay, a name no longer than that of a single letter, and a mask based not on of fear, but one based instead on a visage of a happy but rebellious historical figure. Alan Moore's storytelling is just so rich in detail, atmosphere & concepts, that it can almost seem impossible to capture even just a sliver of it's essence onto a film adaptation. Therefor, even though this movie quite obviously cannot compare to the comicbook series, just the fact that it was able to retain anything at all from Mr. Moore's work to any kind of degree of consistency to the story (which, IMO, is the only movie to do so far) is enough to mark it as a success for me.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
274 7.7 7.7  Part of a Vengeance Trilogy of which the more well-renowned Oldboy belongs to. IMO, of the trio, I find that Sympathy For Lady V to more strongly emphasize director Park Chan-wook's "poetic" use of visuals (a phrase you'll probably be able to understand better once you watch it) with a story that flows much smoother into it's gritty climax that, for my money, is richly laden with an equal balance of above-the-law justice & a plausible & sensible empathy for it's unique plot-device. So while I also recommend Oldboy as a great flick that is armed with a more in-your-face type of plot twist, I still find that my sympathies tend to lean stronger towards Lady Vengeance.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
 
713 7.1 7.6  This movie depicts how the process of "keeping up with the Joneses" can be suddenly interrupted when the time comes to "bring out the mattresses". A normal family man's life is suddenly endangered by gangsters who insist, even against his own memory, that he's more than just an average joe. Soon, an existence that seemed beyond his comprehension begins to unravel before him in a manner that will assure that for better or worse, his family will never be the same again. And this film is actually based off of a graphic novel called (you guessed it) "A History Of Violence". I highly recommend reading it. Cuz there'll probably be a pop quiz later.  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
174 7.6 7.9  Now don't quote me on this, but there was a rumour going around at the time that this guy's remains were fined a citation by park officials. For breaking the forest rule that states "Do not feed the bears".  The Mighty Celestial's rating:
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Description
These are my top ten favorite movies from the year 2005. A sentence which is probably an excellent example in redundancy considering that anyone reading this probably figured that out by the title of this list, yo.  List cont. 11. The Descent - A group of hot ladies deep exploring dark & damp holes & then gettin' eaten. Believe me, it's not as sexy as it may sound. 12. King Kong - Peter Jackson, the guy who put LOTR on the big screen , once again utilizing the latest in movie-magic, to put a really big ape raging & terrorizing thru the streets of 1930's New York. And the big-boned simian that I'm referring to is not the lead singer of Tenacious D. 13. Brick - A great modern film noir that does an excellent job of creating a secularized teen "underworld" with it's own unique code of language. 14. Serenity - This movie is an example of the quality of films that were this particular year. As a sci-fi nerd, I have such a deep affection for this film, that I was really looking forward to posting this entry in the top ten. But I honestly just couldn't get passed the other titles that come before it. 15. Munich 16. Walk The Line 17. War of the Worlds - A movie, that upon initial viewing, I didn't really much care for. But after catching it a few times on the ol' boobtube, I found myself enjoying it more for the sci-fi escapist fare that it is. 18. The Matador 19. Hard Cardy 20. Jesus Camp - Back when I was a kid, I was sent to a Jesus camp for one summer. I even earned a badge for being able to whistle thru my stigmatas. Films from this year that I have not seen but am interested in seeing: - Capote - Match Point - Brokeback Mountain - Good Night & Good Luck - Thank You For Smoking - Syriana - Enron: Smartest Guys In the Room - Broken Flowers Other lists by The Mighty Celestial: My Top 20 Female Movie Bad-Asses http://www.listal.com/list/my-top-10-female 10 Movies That Feature A Dancin' Travolta In 'Em http://www.listal.com/list/my-list-9158 Yep. When It Comes To Comicbook Movies .... http://www.listal.com/list/yep-am-huge-comicbook WAATAAAH!! My Top 10 Favorite Martial Arts Flix! http://www.listal.com/list/my-list-thecelestial The Final Frontier Of Space... & Time. My Top 50 Favorite Sci-Fi Flix Ever http://www.listal.com/list/final-frontier-space-time Can't We Be Dysfunctional Like A Normal Family? http://www.listal.com/list/dysfunctional-family-movies/edit My Other Top Ten Favorite Movies By Year Lists: http://www.listal.com/list/19551959-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1976-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1982-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1983-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1984-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1992-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1993-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1995-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1997-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1998-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/1999-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2003-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2004-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2007-my-top-ten-favorite http://www.listal.com/list/2008-my-top-ten-favorite
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