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Top Ten Lists
Friends,
It’s that time of the year once again.
Time to remember the past year and make the predictions for who will walk away
with an Oscar ®
for their efforts. I’d like to think I
know all the answers, but I haven’t even seen all the nominated films. Though
I’ve given myself an extra two months, films like “A History of Violence” and “Junebug” (both highly rated by
my trusted critics Andrew Sarris and Jack Kleinman) have gotten away before I
could see them. Such is the problem with the movies today. Short runs and not
always at times you can see them.
However with DVD’s coming out so quickly after the theatrical release, I
can be assured that I’ll have an ample supply of movies on my NETFLIX list for
the months to come.
My top pick this year is a six-hour
epic film that spans 50 years and was originally made as an Italian TV
mini-series in 2003. I remember fondly and vividly many of the scenes from this
film many months after seeing it. It has had a limited release, playing on back
to back nights at the Balboa Theater
in San Francisco. As one of the last independent venues for movies in the
city, I applaud them for taking a chance to give this film its proper
screening. Woody Allen is back in the top three this year, as is the
breathtaking “The New World” by director Terrence Malick. I hope you enjoy my
picks and perhaps even look for them on DVD. I also hope you don’t follow to
closely my Oscar ® predictions. I may
not have all the answers!
Steve Reinhardt’s Top Ten for 2005
2. Match
Point
3. The
4. Capote
5. Good
Night and Good Luck
6. March
of the Penguins
7. The
Squid and the Whale
8.
9. Bright
Leaves (2003)
10.
Crash (2004)
Click on the picture to find out more about my favorite
movies of the past year.
Steve Reinhardt’s Picks for the Academy Awards
Here are my picks to win the Academy Awards on March 5,
2006. These picks were made on February 26, 2006 so I can’t change them at the
last minute! It is great to see so many of my favorite films nominated. My
picks are in BOLD below.
PERFORMANCE
BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Philip
Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE
Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW
Heath Ledger -
Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
PERFORMANCE
BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
George Clooney - SYRIANA
Matt
Dillon - CRASH
Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN
Jake Gyllenhaal -
William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
PERFORMANCE
BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA
Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
Reese
Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE
PERFORMANCE
BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
Rachel Weisz - THE CONSTANT GARDENER
Michelle
Williams -
BEST
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE
TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE
WALLACE
& GROMIT IN THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
ACHIEVEMENT
IN ART DIRECTION
GOOD
NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
KING KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
ACHIEVEMENT
IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
BATMAN BEGINS
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
THE NEW WORLD
ACHIEVEMENT
IN COSTUME DESIGN
CHARLIE
AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTSPRIDE & PREJUDICE
WALK THE LINE
ACHIEVEMENT
IN DIRECTING
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
BEST
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM
MARCH
OF THE PENGUINS
MURDERBALL
STREET FIGHT
BEST
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
THE DEATH OF KEVIN CARTER: CASUALTY OF THE BANG BANG CLUB
GOD SLEEPS IN
THE
MUSHROOM CLUB
A NOTE OF TRIUMPH: THE GOLDEN AGE OF NORMAN CORWIN
ACHIEVEMENT
IN FILM EDITING
CINDERELLA MAN
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
CRASH
WALK THE LINE
BEST
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
DON'T TELL
JOYEUX NOèL
SOPHIE SCHOLL - THE FINAL DAYS
TSOTSI
ACHIEVEMENT
IN MAKEUP
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE
WARDROBE
CINDERELLA
MAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH
ACHIEVEMENT
IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL
SCORE)
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
ACHIEVEMENT
IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES
(ORIGINAL
SONG)
"In the Deep" - CRASH
"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" - HUSTLE &
FLOW
"Travelin'
Thru" - TRANSAMERICA
BEST
MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
CAPOTE
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
BEST
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
BADGERED
THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION
THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO
9
ONE
MAN BAND
BEST
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
AUSREISSER (THE RUNAWAY)
CASHBACK
THE LAST FARM
OUR
TIME IS UP
SIX SHOOTER
ACHIEVEMENT
IN SOUND EDITING
KING
KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WAR OF THE WORLDS
ACHIEVEMENT
IN SOUND MIXING
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE
WARDROBE
KING
KONG
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA
WALK THE LINE
WAR OF THE WORLDS
ACHIEVEMENT
IN VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE
WARDROBE
KING
KONG
WAR OF THE WORLDS
ADAPTED
SCREENPLAY
CAPOTE
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY
CRASH
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
MATCH POINT
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
SYRIANA
Who and What I Liked in 2005: Viggo, Violence, Reese, 2046
by Andrew Sarris
Movie Critic for the New
York Observer
While I was
trying to decide how I would introduce my customary list of the past year’s
achievements and non-achievements, I consulted what I wrote last year—and I was
struck by how applicable it was to this year. So simply by changing a few
numerals, I can repeat last year’s introduction, secure in the knowledge that
2005’s releases were neither appreciably better nor appreciably worse than
2004’s. I only wish I could say the same thing for the politics, which seem to
get bleaker with each passing year.
Anyway,
here is my encapsulated wisdom on the year in movies, 2004, transposed to 2005:
As far as I
can determine, 2005 seems to have been neither the best nor the worst year for
movies, at least as far as the proportion of good (low as always) to bad (high
as always) is concerned. Of course, the technology keeps changing—often to the
consternation of the Luddites among us—and there’s also that mindless nostalgia
for an idyllic past, in which all the bad movies have been mercifully expunged
from memory. After all, I’ve been in the year-end 10-best business since 1958,
when Jonas Mekas graciously allowed me to share his “Movie Journal” column in The
Village Voice with my own 10-best list, which I’m now ashamed to remember
failed to include both Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Orson Welles’ Touch
of Evil—but that was 48 years ago, and I very much doubt that I will be
around 47 years from now to second-guess my top-10 lists for 2005. So, with
little fear of afterthought, and without further ado, here are my considered
preferences for the past year, which, by my count at least, accounted for 480
releases in
English-Language
Pictures
1. A
History of Violence
2. The
Squid and the Whale
3. Match
Point
4.
5. Proof
6. Breakfast
on Pluto
7. Walk
the Line
8. Pride
and Prejudice
9. Shopgirl
10. Junebug
Foreign-Language
Pictures
1. 2046
2. Saraband
3. Look
at Me
4. My
Mother’s Smile
5. Brothers
6. My
Summer of Love
7. The
Memory of a Killer
8. Balzac
and the Little Chinese Seamstress
9. Ushpizin
10.
Nonfiction
Films
1. March
of the Penguins
2. Enron:
The Smartest Guys in the Room
3. David
Hockney: The Colors of Music
4.
5. Stalin’s
Wife
6. Sarah
Silverman: Jesus Is Magic
7. Cinévardaphoto
8. The
Venetian Dilemma
9. With
God on Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right
in
10. WMD:
Weapons of Mass Deception
Special
award to Gromit in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
for maintaining and extending the comic spirit, gravitas and technological
adaptability of Buster Keaton.
Runner-Up
English-Language Films I Liked
The Ice
Harvest, The
Jacket, Separate Lies, Red Eye, The White Countess, Jarhead,
The Upside of Anger, Winter Solstice, Wedding Crashers, Happy
Endings, Hustle & Flow, Keane, In Her Shoes, Nine
Lives, Fever Pitch, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Transamerica,
The Interpreter, Broken Flowers, Just Like Heaven, North
Country, The Matador, Cinderella Man, Good Night, and Good
Luck, Capote.
Runner-Up
Foreign-Language Films I Liked
Head-On, À Toute de Suite, The
Holy Girl, 3-Iron, Happily Ever After, The Ninth Day, Kings
and Queen, Or (My Treasure), The Beat That My Heart Skipped, The
Edukators, Tony Takitani, The President’s Last Bang, The
Syrian Bride, Gilles’ Wife, Nina’s Tragedies, Downfall,
Good Morning, Night,
You may reach Andrew Sarris via email at: asarris@observer.com.
© 2006 Steve Reinhardt