This Top 50 Best Movies of 2005 List is a tough mix of cinematic offers earning their ranks as the best of 2005. And the ranking is based on many factors including storytelling quality, thematic and technical achievements, critics ratings, awards, popularity, and box office and DVD statistics.
It’s not all about the big budget and bankable stars. These things actually count in the overall charm of a film, but they aren’t the only reasons why people love movies.
1. Batman Begins
Christopher Nolan effectively explores the origins of Bruce Wayne’s emergence as Batman. And this story successfully goes back to the roots of the character, portraying a confused and angry Wayne who rises to redeem himself and defend Gotham.
2. Brokeback Mountain
Ang Lee’s unmissable and unforgettable gay film Brokeback Mountain hits a bull’s eye. This landmark film for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal is such a defiantly erotic love story.
3. Crash
It’s the Academy Award Winner for Best Motion Picture in 2005. And Paul Haggis really keeps up with the high expectations for this masterpiece as he weaves no fewer than nine sets of characters into a suffocating tangle of ham-fisted ironies and acceptable coincidences.
4. Walk the Line
This James Mangold film is one of the most nominated in the Oscars during its time. And Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix give their finest performances as June Carter and Johnny Cash here.
5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Tim Burton breathes new life to Roald Dahl’s 1964 tale and transforms it into a new celluloid confectionery. His interpretation is a gothic and yet colorful fantasy filled with the eccentricity only he gets to achieve as an auteur.
6. Sin City
Based on three of Frank Miller’s graphic novels, Robert Rodriguez collaborates with Miller’s genius to come up with this stylized, sexually charged and blood-soaked film treat especially meant for the fanboys.
7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
This fourth film of the franchise has enough sights and sounds to stir the audience’s enchanted imaginations. Mike Newell gives this realm of fantasy adventure a dark, more human look with due respect to what has already been established by its predecessors.
8. Corpse Bride
Tim Burton presents a morbid and romantic trip in between the cold dwelling of the living and the colorful underground world of the dead in this stop-motion animation classic. It’s a darkly enchanting tale about the celebration of love told in a quirky, gothic and ironic style.
9. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
The legendary six-film saga by George Lucas comes full circle with a Vader and Kenobi (played by Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor) face off. And its iconic power lives on.
10. North Country
This Niki Caro drama starred by the talented Charlize Theron is a powerful and compelling story about a 1989 American mining community where chauvinistic values are too common in the workplace.
11. Match Point
Woody Allen provides another auteur work in this philosophical film about class and infidelity.
12. Cinderella Man
As an entertaining and uplifting movie, Russell Crowe reunites well with Ron Howard in this heartwarming and powerful underdog story.
13. Capote
Philip Seymour Hoffman’s unforgettable performance as Truman Capote leads him to a number of acting awards. And this film also tops the Oscar list of the best films of 2005.
14. Pride and Prejudice
Set in a post-18th century class-conscious England, Keira Knightly earns acting recognitions in her role as Elizabeth Bennet in this classic tale of love and misunderstanding.
15. Syriana
This political drama manages to turn one of the most controversial topics in the world into a challenging, thought-provoking human story about the world’s grandest schemes, powerful companies and most dangerous people.
16. The Constant Gardener
Rachel Weisz gets an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress in this film by Fernando Meirelles, also the brilliant helmer of City of God.
17. King Kong
This film proves to be an enduring part of film history and legacy as Peter Jackson film pays homage to the original 1933 King Kong and to Ms. Fay Wray.
18. Munich
Steven Spielberg wins Oscar Best Director in this mournful masterpiece. And it engages in its revenge plot about the aftermath of eleven Israeli athletes getting massacred in the 1972 Olympics.
19. Good Night, and Good Luck
George Clooney directs this small-budgeted movie about a historic battle between a legendary newsman and an intrigue-stricken senator. And the film earns half a dozen of Oscar nominations including the calls for Best Director and Best Motion Picture of the Year.
20. Ocean’s Thirteen
The inventive and spontaneous bunch of professional men pulling off an impossible heist for the third time is a guilty pleasure to watch. And helmer Steven Soderbergh lives up to the expectations with his bunch of A-listers including George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Al Pacino.
21. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
At first, it may seem like a typical adaptation riding on the popularity of the bestselling novel by Anne Brashares. And it actually turns out to be more than just a teenybopper flick. It’s a heartwarming episodic film.
22. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
It caught the Academy Awards’ eyes for its technical artistry. And it has launched new Hollywood faces through the characters of this C. S. Lewis classic.
23. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
This romantic comedy disguised as an action movie, is a fun movie with truthful bits about relationships and marriage. And of course, it features the two undeniably sexy A-listers and real-life couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
24. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
This dark, eclectic, trippy, and know-it-all comedy-thriller is a bold and breathless showcase of entertaining action and spot-on performances topped by Robert Downey Jr.
25. In Her Shoes
Starring Toni Collette and Cameron Diaz, this chick flick has enough depth to keep up with its interestingly profound and complex story about relationships – familial, friendly, romantic.
26. The Legend of Zorro
This visually purist, action-filled movie keeps a touch of technical grandeur and an intimate family portrait in the eyes of Zorro and Elena as played by Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
27. Memoirs of a Geisha
With 3 Oscar wins under its belt, this epic spectacle starring Ziyi Zhang, Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li features a romantic portrait of Japanese culture, particularly of geisha life, in a western illustration.
28. War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg’s contemporary retelling of the 1898 classic novel by H. G. Wells features a sci-fi adventure thriller about a Martian invasion as seen through the eyes of an American family led by Tom Cruise.
29. Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
This Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Feature Film provides a magical fusion of deadpan comedy and gothic horror.
30. Hustle and Flow
This redemptive story about a Memphis hustler struggling to find his voice gets Oscar nods with a Best Actor nomination for Terrence Howard and the Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Win for It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp.
31. Transamerica
In his stunning feature debut, writer-director Duncan Tucker mounts a touching human drama about an average, conservative woman who turns out not a woman after all.
32. A History of Violence
As a revelatory work about the nature and consequences of physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual violence, this film gets Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published and Best Supporting Actor for William Hurt.
33. Mrs. Henderson Presents
Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins shine in this warm, witty period movie about a widowed society woman in the 1930’s. And Dench earns an Oscar Nomination for this multi-genre piece.
34. The New World
This is Terrence Malick’s fourth film in 32 years. And with an Oscar nomination, this work keeps him in the position of being the least prolific, but definitely one of the most interesting directors in the business today.
35. Assault on Precinct 13
A remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 crackerjack B-movie thriller, this dark and gritty film is well worth a look.
36. The Squid and the Whale
With an Oscar nomination for the Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen under its belt, this film depicts a deep-seated conflict with a piercingly honest, moving and frequently hilarious drama with topnotch performances.
37. Junebug
Amy Adams gets an Oscars for her supporting role in this wise and bittersweet comedy about the Southern homecoming of a guy, played by Alessandro Nivola, to his parents’ place in North Carolina.
38. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
This funny adaptation of the Douglas Adams’ novel is an enjoyable, mind-boggling sci-fi romp poised to reaching a broad audience with its silly and spirited tour of space.
39. The Jacket
Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley puts life to this intense psychological thriller about a Gulf War veteran who finds himself trapped inside another terrifying scenario.
40. Kung Fu Hustle
Set in a chaotic pre-revolutionary China, actor-director Stephen Chow puts enough humor and action to this Asian hit.
41. The Great Raid
Mainly set in Cabanutan, Philippines, this movie is based on the books The GreatRaid on Cabanatuan and Ghost Soldiers. It effectively tells the incredible story of one of America’s most successful POW rescue in history.
42. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
This film is a hybrid of horror and courtroom drama and it approaches its compelling subject matter with such a metaphysical horror.
43. Valiant
Inspired by the true-to-life story of World War II carrier pigeons trained to carry vital information for the allied forces across the English Channel, this animated film accommodates both kids and their adult companions.
44. Sky High
If you think Hogwarts is the only secret school for extraordinary kids, there’s also the heroic world of Sky High. It’s The Incredibles meets the X-men via Harry Potter.
45. Wolf Creek
It’s one of the most brutally realistic horror movies-and it’s based on true events about an Australian Outback vacation gone fatal.
46. Wedding Crashers
It may have some flaws, but the Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn tandem in this escapist comedy is such a riot. This movie is all about the laughs.
47. The Pacifier
It has that same old story about the tough guy who needs to take care of a bunch of menacing kids, but the formula works and you’ll get pacified by this nice little family movie.
48. Blade Trinity
This third offer from the Blade franchise offers a music video-style smash in between chasing and wrestling scenes for the action fans.
49. The Transporter 2
Transporter 2 maintains the typical formula: the good guy chasing the bad guys. Jason Statham delivers an effective role with his silent charisma as Frank Martin. Alessandro Gassman is a sexy villain.
50. Ong-bak: The Thai Warrior
This is a movie that amazes and defies the Hollywood cheats of stunt doubles and CGI creations. It shows the real thing of what a Muay Thai expert can do without using the usual movie tricks.
