Top Ten Years Ago

It's the time for year-end top ten lists, but my friend Jesse Walker does his differently.  Since there are so many 2015 films he hasn't seen, he goes back ten years to list the best of 2005.  Then 1995, 1985 and so on.

So here it is, followed by my comments:

1. Caché
2. Live and Become
3. Corpse Bride
4. The Dying Gaul
5. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
6. Deadwood 2
7. Hustle and Flow
8. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
9. Noroi: The Curse
10. Veronica Mars

I generally don't like Michael Haneke films. I find them overbearing and mannered.  But Cache is the example where his style works (even if the message is pretty silly)--I especially like the opening shot.  I still wouldn't put it in my top ten, however

Didn't see #2, #4 and #8.  Jesse also knows I don't think TV show should make the list, so that takes care of #6 and #10.

I'd put The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit in my top ten.  I liked some of the performances in Hustle And Flow, but the film didn't do it for me.  I'm not a big fan of Corpse Bride.  The Curse I like, though not top ten (and I'm not a big fan of horror in general).

Here are the honorable mentions.

11. Paradise Now
12. Sin City
13. Grizzly Man
14. The Thick of It
15. Nine Lives
16. Batman Begins
17. Forty Shades of Blue
18. Happy Endings
19. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
20. Rize

Didn't see #11, #14, #15, #17, #19 and #20.  Wow, that's a lot.

Sin City shows that being too faithful to a graphic novel doesn't work  Grizzly Man would make my top twenty.  Batman Begins is all right.  Happy Endings I liked.

Other films that make my top ten (or twenty):

Crash (I'm putting this up top because Jesse calls it the worst film to win the Best Picture Oscar in his lifetime.  There certainly has been a backlash against the film, but I thought it was fun, if flawed.)

Downfall (I liked it before Hitler became a mainstay of YouTube)

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (barely any plot, but funny)

A History Of Violence

Howl's Moving Castle

The March Of The Penguins

The Squid And The Whale

Wedding Crashers

The Wild Parrots Of Telegraph Hills

Junebug

Layer Cake

The Nomi Song

Other films I liked:

Hitch, The Matador, The New World, Sky High, Transamerica, The Producers, Mr. And Mrs. Smith, Sahara, The World's Fastest Indian

Other films of note:

The Wedding Date, Guess Who, In Her Shoes. The Family Stone, Jarhead, Lords Of Dogtown, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Syriana, Cinderella Man, Coach Carter, Fun With Dick And Jane, Assault On Precinct 13, The Honeymooners, War Of The Worlds, Bewitched, Saw II, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (it was, at least, the best of the first trilogy), Kingdom of Heaven, Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic (some good gags, but not much as a whole),

The Island, Red Eye, Four Brothers, The Skeleton Key, Flightplan, Serenity, The Pacifier, Bride And Prejudice, The Upside Of Anger, Hostage, The Aristocrats, Broken Flowers (I usually like Jarmusch), In The Realm Of The Unreal, Capote, The Corpse Bride, Brokeback Mountain, Walk The Line, In Good Company, The Jacket, Fever Pitch, Melinda And Melinda, Kung Fu Hustle, The Interpreter, Madagascar, Kicking And Screaming, Unleashed, Just Like Heaven, Zathura, The Ice Harvest, Elektra, 2046, Match Point, Munich, Good Night And Good Luck, Chronicles Of Narnia, Fantastic Four, Chicken Little, Monster-In-Law, Are We There Yet?, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Herbie: Fully Loaded, The Amityville Horror, Yours Mine And Ours, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Hide And Seek, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman, Racing Stripes, Just Like Heaven, Boogeyman, The Legend Of Zorro,

Must Love Dogs, Transporter 2, Rumor Has It, The Adventures Of Sharkboy And Lavagirl in 3D, The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Beauty Shop, Derailed, Hostage, The Ringer, Dreamer, Because Of Winn-Dixie, Me And You And Everyone We Know, Just Friends, House Of Wax, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', The Fog, Hoodwinker, Rent, Doom, XXX: State Of The Union, Elizabethtown, Aeon Flux, Dark Water, Ice Princess, Two For The Money, Prime, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, A Lot Like Love, Man Of The House, Valiant, Cursed, Into The Blue, North Country, Pooh's Heffalump Movie, Son Of The Mask, Rebound, The Perfect Man, Waiting..., The Gospel,

The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Cave, Casanova, In The Mix, Domino, The Great Raid, Cry Wolf, An Unfinished Life, The Man, Mad Hot Ballroom, Ladies In Lavender, Kings and Queen, The World, Tropical Malady, The Holy Girl, Last Days, Cafe Lumiere, Nobody Knows, The Intruder, Head-On, Mysterious Skin, My Summer Of Love, Saraband, The Power Of Nightmares, Paradise Now, Pulse, Keane, Memories Of Murder, Darwin's Nightmare, Good Morning Night, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, The Best Of Youth, The Century Of The Self, Look At Me, Breakfast On Pluto, Innocence, Turtles Can Fly, Palindromes, Pride & Prejudice, Tony Takitani, The White Diamond, The Devil's Rejects, 3-Iron, The Time We Killed, Funny Ha Ha, My Mother's Smile, A Tout De Suite, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Whisky, Wolf Creek, Mondovino, Yes, The Weeping Meadow, Gunner Palace, Chain, Land Of Plenty, Machuca, Shopgirl, Three Dancing Slaves, Oliver Twist, Dallas 362, Occupation Dreamland, The Oil Factor, Murderball, Dolls, Garcon Stupide, Heights, The Ballad Of Jack And Rose, The Far Side Of The Moon, Happy Here And Now, The Joy Of Life, Nine Lives, The President's Last Bang, Rize, The Dying Gaul, Proof, Travellers And Magicians, The Brothers Grimm, The Memory Of A Killer, Separate Lies, The Syrian Bride, Lord Of War, The Weather Man, Where The Truth Lies, The Baxter, Loggerheads, The Ninth Day, A Talking Picture, Tell Them Who You Are, Throw Down, The White Countess, Cronicas, Exorcist Prequel (either version), Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, Perfect Crime, The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio, She's One Of Us, New York Doll, The 3 Rooms Of Melancholia, Another Road Home, Boys Of Baraka, In Satmar Custody, Terror, Wall, The Untold Story Of Emmett Louis