It’s that time of year again, and as usual we critics line up to spout out praises for our favorites, get in last minute retractions, and take a few more parting cheap shots at those films that were the cinematic equivalent to long fingernails scraped across a classroom chalkboard.

So here goes...

Top 15 for 2005:

1. Brokeback Mountain – Heath Ledger deserves award recognition for his stoic and moving performance as Ennis Del Mar. More importantly, Ang Lee’s film is so endearing and monumentally affecting that it taps into the very heart and soul of human love, loss, and longing.

2. Munich – Steven Spielberg’s film, like Ang Lee’s, is an effort of polarizing insight and reflection. Fictionalizing the events following the Black September attacks in Munich in 1972, Spielberg crafts a tale that proves to be a relevant commentary on the state of politics in a post-9/11 world.

3. Hustle and Flow – Craig Brewer’s tale of homegrown hip-hop at the hands of a former street pimp is more than it appears. This is the ultimate testament to DIY craftsmanship, community artisans, and remix culture-clashing. Not only is the film punctuated by breakout performance by Terrance Howard, but it also serves as a beacon and call out to all would-be creators to pony up and produce before time wears you down.

4. Oldboy – This film slipped under a lot of critics’ collective radar, but it deserves a spot in the top 5 best of for 2005. Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park spins a yarn consisting of equal parts brain game revenge thriller and Takashi Miike horror mind screw. Oldboy speaks its language visually without ever cheating or failing to serve up content behind the style.

5. The White Diamond – Fans of Werner Herzog will likely question the placement of The White Diamond here instead of the widely praised Grizzly Man. Plain and simple, I failed to catch Grizzly Man (ok, start throwing things), and The White Diamond was so intriguing that it simply stuck to my ribs and refused to let go. Herzog is such a poignant documentarian, pushing for angles that even the subject doesn’t seem to be cognizant of at times and never reluctant to explore pain and possible failure.

6. Last Days – High School, for me, was a steady diet of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, and Cobain’s death was my equivalent to John Lennon...at the time. I studied and searched for understanding within his suicide, and Gus Van Sant’s Last Days feels like the culmination of all of my searching in a reflective, if fictional, recount of the singer’s final days on earth. This is an artistic contemplation, falling right in line with Gerry and Elephant, forming a trifecta of American violence without exploiting Kurt or his legacy in any way.

7. Sin City – Speaking of lacking exploitation, who would have thought that someone like Robert Rodriguez would churn out the definitive comic book adaptation, a rubric for coming superhero films. Mickey Rourke’s Marv is pitch perfect, in fact nearly every detail is rendered to Frank Miller perfection. If you haven’t already, do yourself a favor and pick up the “Recut, Extended, Unrated” version that gives viewers the option of watching the Theatrical Cut or the individual Graphic Novels in original sequencing. Priceless.

8. Capote – It’s no doubt that Philip Seymour Hoffman’s turn as Truman Capote will put him in the forefront for an Academy Award come Oscar time, but the film, overall, is a piece of work in and of itself. A beautifully sterile widescreen snapshot of the interactions between Truman Capote and killer Perry Smith that served as inspiration for In Cold Blood, the novel that sparked the true crime genre of modern fiction. Easily one of the year’s best.

9. The Squid and the Whale – Noah Baumbach’s painfully comedic tale of divorce and childhood trauma is a see-saw of therapeutic ache, melancholy, and growing pains. Baumbach brilliantly portrays his own dealings with parental feuding with a keen eye for earnest, if brutal, sincerity.

10. Crash – Hot off of his success as scribe for last year’s darling Million Dollar Baby, it seems no surprise that Paul Haggis’ Altman-esque portrayal of L.A. race relations, misunderstandings, and ethnic clichés be in contention as one of the year’s best this time around. It seems a little odd that the film doesn’t have a bit more of a push behind it, but perhaps it is a tough sell with Academy members. Either way, Crash is compelling and moving to say the least.

11. Batman Begins – Lucky, lucky Christopher Nolan. Sure, Batman Begins is easily the best entry into the bat-franchise, reviving Warner Brothers in time for the upcoming Superman Returns and priming the pump for a DC vs. Marvel film standoff. The only thing is, Sin City has now given viewers a taste of artful adaptations chock full of conviction to source material. Where Batman Begins pays tribute to collective sources, Sin City has a sole rooted mythology to build up from. Despite this, it will be hard for Warner Brothers to ignore Frank Miller’s take on the Dark Knight much longer...

12. Jarhead – Say what you will, Sam Mendes’ Jarhead is effective. It is an anti-war film in the most “anti” of formats in that the film is all about inaction, wasted resources, and the feeling of utter uselessness. It doesn’t aggrandize the events of the Gulf War, and it doesn’t stand up and scream a blatant political message. Instead, it weaves its message in subtleties.

13. A History of Violence – Another comic adaptation, this time from the mind of David Cronenberg. After Spider, Cronenberg could have checked out for a film or two, but instead chose to dig into a pulpy source and find eerie was to creep us out while pulling the rug out from under us in the process. William Hurt, Ed Harris, and Viggo Mortensen all deliver.

14. Cinderella Man – The film done in by a cell phone. Russell Crowe really needs to focus on keeping his public life out of the way of his career, because Cinderella Man is an exquisite film about pugilist James Braddock, a depression era boxer lucky enough to be given a second chance and manages to pull himself up by the bootstraps and make history in the process. Too bad Crowe couldn’t let one slide.

15. Walk the Line – I really wrestled with this one...James Margold’s Walk The Line is easily one of the “can’t miss” films of the year. It isn’t merely coasting on it’s laurels with Joaquin Phoenix’s turn as Johnny Cash like Ray did with Jamie Foxx’s performance. No, Walk The Line is more than that, and yet there were so many other films that placed ahead of it in my final breakdown. Out of all the films in my top 15, this is the one I’m most conflicted with, because it feels like it should be higher up, but I can’t bring myself to make any changes. So here it sits.

Surprisingly Went Ape For: King Kong

Plasticine Dream Come True: Wallace And Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Wait, It Didn’t Suck?: Red Eye

Spoiled By The Final Beat: War of the Worlds

Tie For Best Sex-Comedy: 40 Year Old Virgin and Wedding Crashers

Best Incorporation Of In-Theater Equivalent Of Rewind: Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior

Worst Use Of A Decent Screenwriter: Domino

Best Non-Adapted Superhero Film: Sky High

Best Proof That Not Even Ben Kingsley Can Save A Film From Poor Effects and Lazy Screenwriting: A Sound of Thunder

Best 5-Minute Video Game Sequence: Doom

Worst Squandering Of Potential Franchise: Doom

Most Embarrassing Comeback Vehicle: Monster-In-Law

Most Embarrassing Performance: The Pacifier

Best Socialite Death Sequence: House Of Wax

Worst Use Of A Cure Song Title: Just Like Heaven

Most Uncomfortable Film Screened: Into The Blue

Why Bother?: White Noise

Further Proof That Jennifer Garner Was Miscast: Elektra

Most Eager To Be The Next Indiana Jones Without Realizing That There Will NEVER Be Another Indiana Jones: Sahara

Regrettably Failed To Screen: The Aristocrats, Broken Flowers, Dominion: The Prequel to the Exorcist, The Family Stone, Grizzly Man, In Her Shoes, Junebug, Marebito, Match Point, Reel Paradise, Syriana, Three...Extremes, and 2046.

Mario Anima