2005 in (cinematic) review, part one

Everyone is posting lists of their top ten (or five, or 15) 2005 films. I thought I might want to make some lists myself, but first I needed to remember which films I actually saw in 2005. The great advantage of reviewing or just writing about movies on a weblog like this is that theoretically, I would have a record of every movie I saw and even when I saw it.

For the first few months of the year, I wrote at least a summary review of nearly every movie, even the number of films I saw at SXSW. Somewhere in the long, hot, overtime-filled summer, I started slipping. I used my Netflix list and my stack of ticket stubs to help me figure out what I saw and didn't write about, but a few movies may have slipped through the cracks. And while I know I saw Bright Leaves on PBS, I can't figure out exactly when (it wasn't the first viewing in August).

Still, I managed to pull together a fairly thorough list of all the movies I saw in 2005. I'm dividing it into two entries because it is so long. The films marked with an asterisk are movies that had a U.S. theatrical release in 2005, although in a few cases "theatrical release" means "a couple of nights at Alamo Drafthouse" or even "an airing on PBS." It's more difficult than I realized to determine what was released in 2005 and what was not. (The list actually includes a few 2006 releases, which I saw at various film festivals.)

The list includes movies I saw for the first time in 2005, in theaters and on DVD. It does not include short films, with a few notable exceptions. It also does not include not-yet-released and/or unfinished films I saw privately and can't discuss. I noted the films I saw at various film festivals, such as South by Southwest.

Whenever possible, I linked to what I wrote about each movie, whether here or at Cinematical. For the movies I neglected to write about, I included a short one-sentence summary. If I ever review any of these movies, I'll go back and add the link later.

And now you can understand what my New Year's resolution is for 2006: Write something, even if it's only a couple of paragraphs, about every movie I see. It's best if I write a full review, of course, because that's good practice for my writing, but even the six-minute reviews are better than nothing.

This entry includes January through June 2005; the next entry covers July through December.

Reminder: films marked with an asterisk had a U.S. theatrical release in 2005.

January:

• Ocean's Twelve
• Atlantic City
• The Stepford Wives
• House of Flying Daggers
• Garlic is as Good as Two Mothers
• Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
• Elf
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
• Million Dollar Baby
• Baadassss!
• Sideways
• Jackie Brown

• About Schmidt
• *Last Days of the San Jose
• Kinsey

• *The Chumscrubber (@ SXSW)
• *The Aggressives (@ SXSW)
• Stagedoor (@ SXSW)
• *Tell Them Who You Are (@ SXSW)
• The Puffy Chair (@ SXSW)
• Kissing on the Mouth (@ SXSW)
• *A Hole in My Heart (@ SXSW)
• *The Last Mogul (@ SXSW)
• Troop 1500 (@ SXSW)
• *The Education of Shelby Knox (@ SXSW)
• The Devil and Daniel Johnston (@ SXSW)
• *The Fearless Freaks (@ SXSW)
• *Reel Paradise (@ SXSW)
• *Stephen Toblowsky's Birthday Party (@ SXSW)
• Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
• *Bride and Prejudice
• Maria Full of Grace
• But I'm a Cheerleader

• *Sin City
• *The Interpreter
• Paper Moon
• Gunga Din (first 30 mins)
• Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams
• The Iron Giant
• The Celluloid Closet
• Raging Bull—I did write a review of this movie ... on paper, in May or June. Guess I need to find a notebook and transcribe the review, then I'll post a link. Summary: I know it was an excellent film, but DeNiro's character was too much of an unsympathetic asshole for me to enjoy the movie.

• *Viva Les Amis
• *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• *Kung Fu Hustle
• The Bad News Bears (1976)
• *Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
• Slums of Beverly Hills

• The Cooler—I did write a review of this movie ... on paper, in May or June. Guess I need to find a notebook and transcribe the review, then I'll post a link. Summary: This was one of the best movies I saw this year. Go rent it.
• My Little Chickadee
• *Howl's Moving Castle
• *Batman Begins—Entertaining superhero movie, but I like the Spider-Man films better. Supporting actors (except Katie Holmes) were the best part of the movie.
• Shaolin Soccer—I did write a review of this movie ... on paper, in May or June. Guess I need to find a notebook and transcribe the review, then I'll post a link. Summary: Possibly funnier than Kung Fu Hustle.