This list is also an interesting look at how much my taste has changed over the years. For those of you who use to read my movie rants on my myspace blog back in the day, you'd remember that I wasn't a fan of films like 'Dear Wendy' (Lars Von Trier & Thomas Vinterberg's comment on gun violence in America), 'Junebug' or even 'Battle In Heaven' (wow, I cant believe I use to NOT like that movie), but low and behold...those films are now mentioned on here.
Compiling this list was so much fun that over the next few months I may go back and do more "Best Of" movie lists from previous years (especially 2000 which not only brought us 'In The Mood For Love', 'Yi Yi' AND 'Dancer In The Dark' but the U.S. theatrical release of 'Beau Travail')
So the list goes...
TOP 10 FILMS OF 2005:
40 Year Old Virgin
TOP 5 FILMS FROM 2004 NOT RELEASED THEATRICALLY IN THE U.S. UNTIL 2005:
Like I've said before (and I'm sure some of you are already aware of this) not every big movie from the festival circuit makes it to U.S. theaters in a timely fashion. 2005 brought us releases from some of the current masters of cinema like; Claire Denis ('The Intruder'), Olivier Assayas ('Clean') and Wong Kar Wai ('2046'), one of the "leaders of the new school"; Apichatpong Weerasethakul ('Tropical Malady') and one of the most underrated modern directors out right now; Lodge Kerrigan ('Keane'). I know that I'm kinda poaching selections from the previous year but hey, I'm in the U.S. and we didn't get these releases until 2005.
The interesting thing about these selections is that my opinion on these films have not changed one bit. Actually...that's not true. Not only have I continued to love these films over the years but as I get older, stuff like 'The Intruder' (along with the rest of Claire Denis' work) feels like one dreamy masterpiece.
TOP 5 FILMS FROM 2004 NOT RELEASED THEATRICALLY IN THE U.S. UNTIL 2005:
Like I've said before (and I'm sure some of you are already aware of this) not every big movie from the festival circuit makes it to U.S. theaters in a timely fashion. 2005 brought us releases from some of the current masters of cinema like; Claire Denis ('The Intruder'), Olivier Assayas ('Clean') and Wong Kar Wai ('2046'), one of the "leaders of the new school"; Apichatpong Weerasethakul ('Tropical Malady') and one of the most underrated modern directors out right now; Lodge Kerrigan ('Keane'). I know that I'm kinda poaching selections from the previous year but hey, I'm in the U.S. and we didn't get these releases until 2005.
The interesting thing about these selections is that my opinion on these films have not changed one bit. Actually...that's not true. Not only have I continued to love these films over the years but as I get older, stuff like 'The Intruder' (along with the rest of Claire Denis' work) feels like one dreamy masterpiece.