Best and worst Fortean films of 2005

[Mighty_Emperor]

There is a handy run down at Twitch which make a good starting point:

An American Film Geek’s Top 10 Movies for 2005

1. Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

That’s right, I love Star Wars. “Star Wars” is what launched my love of film, ultimately leading me to a career in filmmaking and to a lesser extent, doing this. Although the two previous prequels were not without their flaws, I loved them all the same for what they were. For better or for worse, George Lucas told the stories he wanted to tell the way he wanted to tell them, even if it meant often letting down many fans. No apologies. For those able to look upon these prequels as one very large work of experimental, narrative-driven blend of pop cinema, socio-political exploration, digital effects, and ancient myth, the rewards are indeed there.

“Episode III” finally delivered the goods many had been waiting for; aided by spectacular, often beautiful visuals, light saber action galore, and award-worthy performances from Ewan McGergor and Ian McDiramid. Yes, I collected the memorabilia; I waited in the line for 6 hours for the midnight premiere, and even felt a melancholy pang of sadness that this film would be it for the series. The experience of being a fan has been wonderful, and this film lived up to all my hopes. For that, I’m not ashamed to call “Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” my favorite film of 2005.

The also rans:

2. King Kong
3. Batman Begins
4. The Producers
5. Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride
6. Sin City
7. Hustle & Flow
8. Serenity
9. Brokeback Mountain
10. Munich

More overview:
www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004634.html

-------------------
An American Film Geek’s Bottom 10 Movies for 2005

1. Alone in the Dark

Yeah, I know, it’s almost too easy to call this the worst movie of the year, since the only explanation for its existence is that it was made to fulfill that very purpose, but I honestly have not sat through anything worse this year. A film so bad that not even I reviewed it. Yikes.

Christian Slater hits a career low point starring as some sort of paranormal investigator/black coated action man on the trail of GCI creature dogs. Tara Reid is along for the ride as the unconvincing babe scientist. Every camera move is unmotivated, every action scene painfully forced. Not one piece of glass or ice established on screen goes unshattered. This actually gives every other video game movie a bad name. The director, the infamous Uwe Boll, (an apparent blend of the worst elements of Renny Harlin and Michael Bay,) is cranking out crap like this, so beware. Did I mention this movie ends with a wailing 1980’s heavy metal rock song over the end credits? I’ll never forget the comically pained looks on everyone’s faces as the roomful of critics at the press screening got up to leave, unable to speak over the racket. Boll tortures to the very end.

The also stanks:

2. Elektra
3. Madison
4. Mindhunters
5. The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D
6. Fun with Dick and Jane
7. Rent
8. Fantastic Four
9. The Brothers Grimm
10. Crash

More overview:
www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004633.html

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

And my picks?

I do try and avoid going to see crappy films at the cinema so might catch a few of those stinkers on DVD.

My favourite might also be Star Wars - the prequels have built in strength and it was visually stunning but with some of the usual flaws in characters and dialogue -there was just a lot less of it this time around

I am trying to get some friends organised to go to Kong so I may hold off on my judgement until I see that.

 

[stu neville]

I'd have said Revenge of the Sith until I saw Kong.

I got Sin City, and no2 son got Batman Begins for Xmas, so will see those in the coming days.

With any luck, if the 150 relatives cluttering up my house go out or something..

 

[Graylien]

Personally, I thought Revenge Of The Sith was actually worse than the other two cartoons - um, I mean prequels. And they somehow managed to make Yoda almost as irritating as Jar Jar Binks.

Other disapointments included the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy and The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. But none of these turkeys approached the sheer mediocrity and poverty of imagination of the Keanu Reeves flick Constantine.

On the plus side, Batman Begins showed that superhero flicks don't have to be dumb, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a psychedelic delight. And The Woodsman was an uncomfortable yet engrossing work, which showed that Hollywood still occasionally makes films for grown-ups.

But if we're talking about Fortean films, surely the pick of the year had to be the creepy Christian Bale flick The Machinist .

 

[sunsplash1]

But none of these turkeys approached the sheer mediocrity and poverty of imagination of the Keanu Reeves flick Constantine.

Yep, that was a bad, bad film...

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

But if we're talking about Fortean films, surely the pick of the year had to be the creepy Christian Bale flick The Machinist .

Technically thats a 2004 film:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/

On the disappointments front I felt Land of the Dead (which I thought would be m favourite) wasn't anywhere near as good as it could have been.

 

[river_styx]

Land of the Dead was a tad disappointing, but 2005 has been an awful year for movies really and I'd rather defend Land of the Dead against any number of criticisms than sit down to watch one of the myriad of remakes that were churned out this year.

I don't know who compiled that list of the worst but why they haven't included, The Fog, Day of the Dead 2, War of the Worlds, Dark Water, I Dream of Jeanie... Or any of the others that have long since been forgotten I do not know.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

Land of the Dead was a tad disappointing, but 2005 has been an awful year for movies really and I'd rather defend Land of the Dead against any number of criticisms than sit down to watch one of the myriad of remakes that were churned out this year.

Well quite - a disppointment from Romero is still better than the majority of the films that were out this year (it'd still make my top 5 - I just so wanted it to be my #1).

 

[fquake]

I thought Land of the Dead was great, but than, i went in to it expecting it to be total rubbish.

Movie of the year is Kong, just pipping Wallace and Gromit right at the end of the year.

 

[James_H]

I liked Land of the Dead. I loved revenge of the sith in the cinema, but as I watched it again i realised what dreadful rubbish it really was.

 

[StoryofE]

The best I saw this year:

A History of Violence ~ not his best but still the best I saw this year
Grizzly Man ~ Herzog delivers another great doc
The Devil's Rejects ~ pure trash, but damn good trash
Batman Begins ~ they finally got it right
Sin City ~ loved the books so of course I loved the film

 

[mossy_sloth]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The cave was the worst movie I have PAID to see probably ever.

Seriously bad. Not even so bad you love watching it because its funny. Just bad.

I'd even go so far to say it was worse than Saw.

 

[StoryofE]

I walked to the ticket booth and admitted my shame: 'One ticket for The Cave, please'.

Yes, it was a real hoover.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

And another one:
www.twitchfilm.net/archives/004669.html

In reverse order:

10. MIND GAME (Japan, 2004)
9. OLDBOY (Korea, 2004)
8. SERENITY (US, 2005)
7. ONG BAK (Thailand, 2005)
6. KING KONG (US, 2005)
5. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS (Germany, 2004)
4. WOLF CREEK (Australia, 2005)
3. SHUTTER (Thailand, 2004)
2. EVIL ALIENS,(UK, 2005)

And the winner is:

1. STRINGS (Sweden, 2004)

Stunning storytelling, art direction, music and fight scenes litter this mythical, magical fantasy adventure. OK so the tagline imagine Lord of the Rings as told with puppets on strings doesn’t sound that amazing. But there’s a reason this epic has been winning awards across Europe, and left audiences at FantasticFest Austin stunned . Four years in the making, you will be blown away at the detail and beauty of this masterpiece. My top film of the year.

I haven't heard of that one but I'm sensing a new thread on it

[edit: And so it came to pass:

www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24797

Looks spiffy too]

I am dying to see Evil Aliens - latest news suggests a K theatrical release earlish next year.

 

[hokum6]

Sith was total rubbish. Lucas shouldn't be allowed near a camera ever again. I thought Night Watch was massively disappointing, too.

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

The IMDB users have voted:

Best Picture (English language)

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) 24% 8754
  Brokeback Mountain (2005) 13% 4915
  King Kong (2005) 11% 4297
  Sin City (2005) 11% 4050
  Serenity (2005) 8% 3057
  Batman Begins (2005) 8% 2939
  Crash (2004) 7% 2608
  Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) 6% 2387
  The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) 4% 1787
  Munich (2005) 4% 1661

www.imdb.com/features/rto/2006/poll/bestresults

-------------
I have to say I'm enjoying the worsts more:

Worst Picture

• War of the Worlds (2005) 18% 1059
  Alone in the Dark (2005) 14% 803
  The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) 13% 740
  Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) 9% 539
  Brokeback Mountain (2005) 9% 532
  King Kong (2005) 9% 514
  Fantastic Four (2005) 7% 432
  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) 6% 357
  Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo (2005) 6% 344
  Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) 5% 335

Worst Director

• Uwe Boll for Alone in the Dark (2005) 27% 998
  George Lucas for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) 18% 649
  Steven Spielberg for War of the Worlds (2005) 14% 525
  Peter Jackson for King Kong (2005) 9% 352
  Michael Bay for The Island (2005) 6% 235
  Tim Story for Fantastic Four (2005) 5% 188
  Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005) 5% 187
  Mike Newell for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) 4% 180
  Nora Ephron for Bewitched (2005) 4% 161
  Cameron Crowe for Elizabethtown (2005) 3% 127

www.imdb.com/features/rto/2006/poll/worstresults

 

[TheQuixote]

I'll probably have to add some to this later when I think about it but two of the worst from 2005 (IMO):

White Noise
Boogeyman (which is absolutely f*cking dire)


two better films that I've seen from 2005:

Night Watch (okay, it's been out ages elsewhere but it was only released in the UK this year)
The Devil's Rejects


Up until Tim Robbins putting in an appearance, I actually thought War of the Worlds was shaping up okay (he's a good actor but the cellar sequence was crap). Haven't seen the last two Star Wars prequel things so can't comment on Revenge of the Sith.