{"id":14,"date":"2007-01-20T12:47:06","date_gmt":"2007-01-20T20:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2015-06-13T17:14:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T00:14:45","slug":"ray%e2%80%99s-2005-movie-awards","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/movie-awards-archive-2\/ray%e2%80%99s-2005-movie-awards\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>
The Year\u2019s 10 Best Movies. <\/strong><\/span>1.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/strong><\/span>Okay, so it\u2019s not edgy or groundbreaking.\u00a0 Who cares?\u00a0 This remake took me completely by surprise by simply getting everything right.\u00a0 Directed and acted with razor-sharp precision, this movie reaffirms the enduring power of Jane Austen\u2019s storytelling.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

2.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Crash<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Every so often a movie comes out that has the nerve to have its characters talk the way people really talk.\u00a0 This movie provides an unblinking look into everyday American racism.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

3.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Brokeback Mountain<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I thought the short story was boring, but Ang Lee and Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana\u2019s expansion of this heartbreaking story of doomed love is magnificent.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

4.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Munich<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Tough-minded, gritty, realistic and upsetting.\u00a0 Once again, Spielberg shows he is no longer afflicted with the obsessive desire to please.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

5.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Syriana<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Like his TRAFFIC, Gaghan\u2019s movie is breathtakingly smart, fast, and compelling, with wall-to-wall great acting, especially from Alexander Siddig.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

6.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Squid and the Whale<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

An excruciatingly perceptive X-ray into the collapse of a Brooklyn family, with Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels shining as the worst kind of narcissistic parents around.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

7.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Walk the Line<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Exceptionally heartfelt performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon elevate this movie.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

8.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A History of Violence<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

David Cronenberg shows he hasn\u2019t lost it with his most accessible film to date.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

9.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nine Lives<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ingenious omnibus film with killer performances from Elpidia Carrillo, Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Robin Wright Penn, Jason Isaacs, Amy Brenneman, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Joe Montegna, and many others. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

10.<\/span><\/strong> The Best Of Youth<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(See below)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 Junebug, The Constant Gardner, Millions, King Kong, Walk on Water, Paradise Now, You and Me and Everyone We Know, Kingdom of Heaven, Palindromes, The Forty-Year Old Virgin, Capote, Bride and Prejudice, Layer Cake, Mysterious Skin, Heights, Howl\u2019s Moving Castle, Happy Endings, Broken Flowers, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Good Night, and Good Luck, Prime, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe<\/span><\/h2>\n

Maybe Not Great, but lots of fun and highly recommended
\n<\/span><\/h2>\n

Serenity, Beauty Shop, Hitch, Sin City, The Interpreter, Madagascar, Deep Blue, War of the Worlds, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Skeleton Key, Red Eye, Four Brothers, Lord of War. <\/span><\/h3>\n

Every year I have to say this, and every year it irritates me that I have to say this:\u00a0 Asterisk indicates the winner.\u00a0 Thank you for playing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Actor<\/span><\/p>\n

Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line<\/span><\/p>\n

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote<\/span><\/p>\n

David Strathairn, Goodnight and Good Luck<\/span><\/p>\n

*Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain <\/span><\/p>\n

Lior Ashkenazi, Walk on Water<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Luigi Lo Cascio in The Best of Youth, Bill Murray in Broken Flowers, John Hawkes in You and Me and Everyone We Know, Robert Redford in An Unfinished Life, Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence, Eric Bana in Munich, Steve Carell in The Forty Year Old Virgin, Daniel Craig in Layer Cake, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Mysterious Skin, Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardner<\/span><\/h2>\n

Best Actress<\/span><\/p>\n

*Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line<\/span><\/p>\n

Laura Linney, The Squid and the Whale <\/span><\/p>\n

Felicity Huffman, TransAmerica<\/span><\/p>\n

Joan Allen, The Upside of Anger<\/span><\/p>\n

Keira Knightly, Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 Lisa Kudrow in Happy Endings<\/span><\/h2>\n

Best Supporting Actor<\/span><\/p>\n

Deep Roy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/span><\/p>\n

Owen Kline, The Squid and the Whale<\/span><\/p>\n

Jason Isaacs, Nine Lives\\<\/span><\/p>\n

Marton Csokas, Kingdom of Heaven<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*Robert Patrick, Walk the Line<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention:\u00a0 Donald Sutherland in Pride and Prejudice, William Hurt in A History of Violence, Sacha Baron Cohen in Madagascar, Danny Huston in The Constant Gardner, Kevin Costner in The Upside of Anger, Mickey Rourke in Sin City<\/span><\/h2>\n

Best Supporting Actress<\/span><\/p>\n

Maggie Gyllenhaal in Happy Endings<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharon Stone, Broken Flowers<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*Amy Adams, Junebug<\/span><\/p>\n

Robin Wright Penn, Nine Lives<\/span><\/p>\n

Sonia Bergamasco, The Best of Youth<\/span><\/p>\n

Honorable Mention: Brenda Blethyn in Pride and Prejudice, Jayma Mays in Red Eye<\/span><\/h2>\n

Best Director<\/span><\/p>\n

Steven Spielberg, Munich<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Joe Wright, Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Haggis, Crash<\/span><\/p>\n

*Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stephen Gaghan, Syriana<\/span><\/p>\n

Art Direction<\/span><\/p>\n

Good Night and Good Luck<\/span><\/p>\n

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit<\/span><\/p>\n

*Kingdom of Heaven <\/span><\/p>\n

Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/p>\n

Walk the Line<\/span><\/p>\n

Cinematography<\/span><\/p>\n

Kingdom of Heaven<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*Munich<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Capote<\/span><\/p>\n

Brokeback Mountain<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Syriana<\/span><\/p>\n

Screenplay<\/span><\/p>\n

The Squid and the Whale<\/span><\/p>\n

Crash<\/span><\/p>\n

You and Me and Everyone We Know<\/span><\/p>\n

*Brokeback Mountain<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Pride and Prejudice<\/span><\/p>\n

Broken Flowers<\/span><\/p>\n

Palindromes<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best of Youth<\/span><\/p>\n

Costumes<\/span><\/p>\n

Kingdom of Heaven<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Incredible Year for Documentaries<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill<\/span><\/p>\n

Murderball<\/span><\/p>\n

*March of the Penguins<\/span><\/p>\n

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room<\/span><\/p>\n

Grizzly Man<\/span><\/p>\n

Up For Grabs<\/span><\/p>\n

The Last Mogul<\/span><\/p>\n

Mad Hot Ballroom<\/span><\/p>\n

The Aristocrats<\/span><\/p>\n

Ballet Russes<\/span><\/p>\n

Foreign Language<\/span><\/p>\n

Paradise Now (Palestine)<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best of Youth (Italy)<\/span><\/p>\n

Walk on Water (Israel)<\/span><\/p>\n

Sorry, it has to be a three-way tie.\u00a0 Deal.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Greatest Opening Credits Sequence<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord of War, which shows the life journey of a bullet<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Moments<\/span><\/p>\n

Moments of quiet, dignified discomfort at the Bingley country house in Pride and Prejudice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Owen Kline\u2019s no-nonsense conversations with his mother and father in The Squid and the Whale.<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnny Cash\u2019s heartfelt onstage proposal to June Carter in Walk the Line.\u00a0 Also, the electrifying prison concert sequence!<\/span><\/p>\n

Werner Herzog listens with headphones to the audiotape of Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend being eaten by a bear in Grizzly Man.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the Canadian!\u201d\u00a0 A final moment of misrecognition before oblivion in Syriana.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandra Bullock\u2019s incendiary racist monologue in Crash.<\/span><\/p>\n

Collecting saints like baseball cards in Millions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jake and Heath getting busy on Brokeback Mountain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eric Bana listens to an impassioned Palestenian zealot (Omare Metwally) in Munich.\u00a0 Also, the execution on the houseboat in Amsterdam.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chilling final moment of Paradise Now.<\/span><\/p>\n

David Mamet Award for Most Interestingly Idiosyncratic Dialog<\/span><\/p>\n

Josh Whedon\u2019s wonderful space patois in Serenity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coolest Gimmick<\/span><\/p>\n

Todd Solondz used eight different actors (including a boy and Jennifer Jason Leigh) to play the hapless 13-year-old heroine of his deliciously subversive film.<\/span><\/p>\n

Best British Crime Movie in Years<\/span><\/p>\n

Layer Cake<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow!\u00a0 Gregg Araki Finally Makes a Grown-Up Movie!<\/span><\/p>\n

The superb The Mysterious Skin<\/span><\/p>\n

Funniest Moments<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cFarm Supplies\u201d sign changes to \u201cAngry Crowd Supplies\u201d near the frenetic conclusion of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, this sucks.\u201d\u00a0 The penguins make a terrible error of judgment in Madagascar.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meryl Streep having to listen to Uma Thurman describe in lascivious detail more than she ever would want to know about her own son.<\/span><\/p>\n

Please Let \u00a0Us See More Of . . . <\/span><\/p>\n

Bryan Greenberg (from Prime), Alexander Siddig (from Syriana and Kingdom of Heaven), Eric Gores (The Kid and I), the slightly older and therefore more interesting Claire Danes (who lit up Shopgirl and The Family Stone), Jayma Mays (from Red Eye), Elpidia Carrillo (from Nine Lives)<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m Still Waiting . . . <\/span><\/p>\n

For another great part for the phenomenal actress Franka Potente.\u00a0 Don\u2019t make me come over there!!<\/span><\/h2>\n

Woefully Overlooked<\/span><\/p>\n

The Best of Youth was a spectacular, six hour epic that followed the lives of two brothers through the tumultuous years of recent Italian history 1966-2000.\u00a0 Spectacular acting, writing and directing throughout made this an unforgettable movie experience.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Shamefully Underrated<\/span><\/p>\n

So where were all the fans of Gladiator when Kingdom of Heaven was released?\u00a0 Ridley Scott\u2019s brilliant epic of the Second Crusade was a much better movie than his Gladiator, yet the public stayed away in droves.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s because people today don\u2019t even know what the heck The Crusades WERE.\u00a0 This is a pity, because the movie, with Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Marton Csokas and Alexander Siddig, is truly good.<\/span><\/h2>\n

Strange, but We Liked it Anyway<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Movie About a Gay Porno Star\u2019s Deluded Attempts to Become a Successful Pop Singer<\/span><\/p>\n

Naked Fame<\/span><\/p>\n

Thought I Would HATE It<\/span><\/p>\n

But Sahara is surprisingly fun, despite the presence of not one but TWO irritants: Matthew McConaughey AND Penelope Cruz.\u00a0 Who knew?<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Juggling Act<\/span><\/p>\n

Walk on Water balanced way too many themes than any movie should rightfully be able to get away with \u2013 and somehow managed to get away with it!\u00a0 This is a remarkable, daring, unconventional, unexpected movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

We Just Love . . . <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0. . . Queen Latifah.\u00a0 Just stay on those producers, Girlfriend, and make sure they get you decent scripts!!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


The Year\u2019s Worst Movies<\/span><\/p>\n

Kontroll \u2013 Proof that Hungary can make awful movies, too!<\/span><\/p>\n

Head On \u2013 ditto Turkey!<\/span><\/p>\n

Ring Two \u2013 boy did lightning not strike twice with this franchise.<\/span><\/p>\n

*Melinda and Melinda \u2013 The worst Woody Allen movie in a long time.\u00a0 And that\u2019s SAYING something!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Amityville Horror \u2013 irresponsible, trashy remake that even Ryan Reynolds magnificent torso could not redeem<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith \u2013 the first Star Wars movie to actually put me to sleep.\u00a0 Congratulations, George.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mirrormask.\u00a0 Well-intentioned art piece.\u00a0 Impossible to watch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rumor Has It.\u00a0 Rumor has it that Rob Reiner is a huge has-been.<\/span><\/p>\n

I Just Don\u2019t Get It<\/span><\/p>\n

Scarlett Johansson<\/span><\/p>\n

Not Exactly Bad, but a Huge Disappointment<\/span><\/p>\n

Roman Polanski\u2019s Oliver Twist.\u00a0 You\u2019d think the great director would have more feel for this material.\u00a0 Instead he served up a warmed over, uninspired bowl of gruel.\u00a0 Please, sir, we want some more!<\/span><\/p>\n

North Country.\u00a0 It takes more to make a relevant social drama than putting dirt on Charlize Theron\u2019s face.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jarhead.\u00a0 Even a clothless Jake couldn\u2019t redeem this flat, uninspired movie about the first Gulf War.\u00a0 Three Kings, anyone?<\/span><\/p>\n

Special Auto-Cannibalism Award to Woody Allen<\/span><\/p>\n

For remaking Crimes and Misdemeanors, but this time calling it Match Point.\u00a0 How many times is Woody going to tell us that it\u2019s okay to murder a meddlesome mistress?\u00a0 Ew.<\/span><\/p>\n

Movie I Most Enjoyed Seeing Bomb<\/span><\/p>\n

Cinderella Man<\/span><\/p>\n

Memo to Ryan Reynolds<\/span><\/p>\n

We love your buffed new bod, stud, and we think you really have some talent, but after 2005\u2019s Waiting, Just Friends and The Amityville Horror, we think you might need to spend less time at the gym and more time beating up your agent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Please send any comments to <\/span>rayivey@ca.rr.com<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Now get out there and go to the movies!!!
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Average Rating: 4.9<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 159<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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