Now Playing: Top 10 films of the first half of 2005
Really, this feels more like a review of the first 1/3 of 2005, since so many movies for a given year don't arrive in Central Ohio until the first several months of the following calendar year. But never mind- I think we've had more than enough noteworthy offerings come to town to justify a pretty decent list.
1. KINGS AND QUEEN - as if it could really be anything else.
2. TROPICAL MALADY - Joe is definitely an acquired taste, but I love his work, and this is his best yet.
2.5.
NOT ON THE LIPS - if only this would get released theatrically, it would be one of the year's best.
3. OLDBOY - you'll never look at a hammer the same way again.
4. KUNG FU HUSTLE - maybe not respectable, but certainly awesome.
5. NOBODY KNOWS - that this isn't perched at #1 on this list is the kind of disappointment I guess I can accept.
6. DOWNFALL - the crunching of glass between little teeth is the most chilling sound effect of the year.
7. SEXUAL DEPENDENCY - the "Mirrors" monologue is harrowing stuff.
8. LAND OF THE DEAD - against all odds (budget-slashing, rushed production, semi-obsolescence), George pulled it off.
9. DALLAS 362 - Scott Caan is a natural filmmaker. Who knew?
10. HEAD-ON - I'm a little ashamed of the tiny blurb I wrote for this, a scruffy little gem about two lost souls who don't quite find happiness together. Aside from being a fascinating look into the subculture of Turkish immigrants in Germany, the film is also a love story of a different stripe, in which life has other plans for the lovers that don't include a clean happy ending.
And the worst...
KING'S RANSOM - everyone in this movie is a moron, though almost none of them are acknowledged as such. If I was African-American, I'd be offended that someone thought this would appeal to me. Comedy at its most dire.
Posted by hkoreeda
at 11:03 PM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, 5 July 2005 11:05 PM EDT
