Critics Club III: The Greatest Film of 2005 Part One

[Neon Ignition]

Halfway through the penultimate decade now as edge our way closer and closer to the films that colour todays popular franchises in in...


The Greatest Film of 2005 Part One




Which of the above films sit atop the pile of 2005?

[wheelaa]

I'm starting to think I really overdid things in the 2000s. These last few polls, not many films I've even heard of, let alone watched.

As for this list, there's nothing I've seen that I'd want to watch again, and of the others I know about there's nothing I've not seen that I'd want to watch.

[Neon Ignition]

Batman Begins, this one's very easy for me. The best film in the poll and the best of its trilogy

[Atticus]

Sin City is brilliant. I don't think any other film feels like the source material come to life on the screen ... with maximum attitude and sleaze too. Batman Begins is my fave in Nolan's trilogy as well.

[Asura]

Sin City is the only one I highlighted, though in retrospect, Batman Begins gets a look-in.

Lotta crap there. Crap remakes, poor adaptations and sequels no-one wanted. Also Sahara, which I once read was an enormously expensive movie (on par with the entire LOTR trilogy) for reasons that obviously made sense to someone but not to anyone else.

[teddymeow]

Batman.

[QualityChimp]

There's a lot of mediocre in that list, blimey!

Voted for:
Sin City - Such a visual treat and gift for fans of the comic.
Madagascar - I genuinely do like to move it move it, thank you for asking.
Batman Begins - I think Ledger's tragic death shines more light than necessary on the sequel, but I thought this straddled the real world and comic. After this, the gothic Gotham was replaced with realistic locations.
War of the Worlds - I'd been meaning to rewatch this for ages and caught it on the BBC iPlayer a month or so back and it totally holds up to a rewatch. That sequence with the tripods appearing is an absolute spectacle of cinema and a total thrill. It loses momentum in the final 3rd, but that's in the book and something Spielberg sometimes falls into. The recent Sky and BBC adaptations have proven how tricky it is to successfully adapt the classic to the screen.
I think this is probably my top choice.



Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was poor. I hated what Depp did with the character and Burton's unnecessary gothic horror. Songs are okay, but they're not a patch on the original, which I can still sing bits of, unlike the remake.

Recently saw Constantine and it was pretty good, but not quite there.

Land of the Dead was fine, but such a step back from Day of the Dead.

Assault on Precinct 13 was watchable, but lacked the dread of the original. And the soundtrack.

The rest I've either not seen or are so unremarkable, it's not worth remarking about them.

[Atticus]

^^^ great shout on War of the Worlds QC ^^^ The tripods are super menacing and that nuclear foghorn sound is genuinely terrifying. I saw it on my honeymoon in Paris, who says romance is dead?

[QualityChimp]

^^^ great shout on War of the Worlds QC ^^^ The tripods are super menacing and that nuclear foghorn sound is genuinely terrifying. I saw it on my honeymoon in Paris, who says romance is dead?

So romantic!

That whole section where he's running back to the house is immense and his daughter asks what he's covered in and realises it's the ash of the vaporised people is incredible.

There are other great moments too, like the net/grenade scene and the ferry attack:


Aside from the bombast, there are other great scenes of tension, like the one where Cruise fights with Tim Robbins' character and the two of them are trying to be quiet as they struggle to avoid alerting the Martian camera.
'War of the Worlds' and Spielberg's Mastery of Tension
A breakdown of one of Spielberg's most exhilarating sequences, and why it deserves to be considered one of his best.

[Dogg Thang]

I still haven't seen War of the Worlds. At the time, I found it very hard to separate Cruise's characters from his public persona so just disengaged with his movies. I'd probably get more out of it now.

But for me, there's not much to choose from on this list. I like Batman Begins but I'm not sure it should be a best of anything movie.

[Finsbury Girl]

Love Sin City, Batman. The best Bale Batman, as is true for the Star Wars prequel Trilogy, Liam Neeson rocks.

Yeah I voted for Sahara - come at me haters!

[QualityChimp]

I still haven't seen War of the Worlds. At the time, I found it very hard to separate Cruise's characters from his public persona so just disengaged with his movies. I'd probably get more out of it now.

You're doing my nut in with your refusal to watch great films because of the actor.

Cruise is a dick in this. He can barely look after himself, let alone his kids. He just does his best to try to keep them alive. He doesn't save the world using an iMac and stolen spaceship.

[Dogg Thang]

You're doing my nut in with your refusal to watch great films because of the actor.

But that's just it! There are some actors where I can't see the character they play, I just see the actor. So it totally ruins any immersion. But I think I've got over my Cruise issues over the years. Still can't watch Crazy Mel Gibson unless he's young enough that he looks like a different person - Mel in Mad Max is Mad Max, Mel in Beyond Thunderdome is Crazy Mel Gibson.

[QualityChimp]

I genuinely think you would get so much from The Truman Show. It's a crime you won't watch it. He plays a very different role to The Mask or Ace Ventura.

I know Cruise has a tendency to make a film feel like Cruise in Space or Cruise the Spy, but in this, he's an everyman and just a narrative tool to show the effects of the Martian attack.

[Dogg Thang]

Can't believe you just reminded me of The Mask. You just set me back years. YEARS!