2005: The Year in Review

Oh, 2005 – I liked you so.

Lagging box office and behind-the-scenes antics notwithstanding (on-set shenanigans of every kind, Russell Crowe’s phone throwing, Tom Cruise’s spinning out of Cruise Control), 2005 was actually quite good.

So here’s a review of the year that was. Happy 2006!

Truest Tagline: Rent’s No Day But Today

Cheekiest Poster: The Family Stone

Best Poster: (tie) The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Walk the Line

Best Fight: King Kong vs. several V. rexes, bigger and meaner evolutions than T. rexes (King Kong)

Sexiest Fight: Brad Pitt vs. Angelina Jolie (Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

Best Chemistry: Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers)

Sexiest Duo: Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller (Layer Cake)

Everyone Should See It (When It Comes Out on DVD): In Her Shoes

Everyone Should Have Seen It (But Wasn’t Released in Movie Theaters): Madonna’s I’m Going To Tell You A Secret

You Should Be Sorry You Missed It (But I Forgive You): (tie) Layer Cake and Serenity

Some TV Shows Do Deserve the Big Screen Treatment: Serenity (based on the brief Firefly)

Others Not So Much: Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazzard

Best Props: The shoes of In Her Shoes

Best Costumes: Memoirs of a Geisha

Not As Arresting As Her Costumes: Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazzard

Most Villainous: Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, Red Eye)

Biggest Scene-stealer: Wedding Crashers’s Isla Fisher

So Didn’t Quite Fit In: Batman Begins’ Katie Holmes

Best Line Delivery: Reese Witherspoon's "Baby, baby, baby, baby..." as June Carter in Walk the Line

Best Comeback: Batman (Batman Begins)

Best Show of Skin: (tie) Jake Gyllenhaal in Jarhead and Garrett Hedlund in Four Brothers

Sexiest Man Alive Indeed: Matthew McConaughey (Sahara)

Hot: Jessica Alba’s leather chaps-and-bra and lasso bar top dance (Sin City)

Not: Paris Hilton on film, death scene notwithstanding (House of Wax)

Biggest Crowd-pleaser: March of the Penguins

Most Riveting: Documentaries (Mad Hot Ballroom, March of the Penguins, Murderball)

Most Popcorn: Mr. & Mrs. Smith

Guiltiest Pleasure: Herbie: Fully Loaded

Loveliest Classic Adaptation: Pride & Prejudice

Loveliest Contemporary Adaptation: Shopgirl

Most Underrated: Prime

Musical MVP: Composer Danny Elfman (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride)

Sweetest MVPs: The mentally challenged actors in The Ringer

Hooray For: Domino’s Mo’Nique

Best On-Set Shenanigan: Brangelina (Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

No one Cared About This One: The supposed rivalry between Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda (Monster-in-Law)

Having the Best Year Ever: Penguins (Madagascar, March of the Penguins)

Wishing She Was a Penguin: Jennifer Aniston (Brangelina; Derailed flopped)

Most Disappointing: (tie) Elizabethtown and movie musicals (Rent, The Producers)

Way Too Hyped For My Taste: Brokeback Mountain

Can't Get Enough – Female: (tie) Elizabeth Banks (Heights, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Keri Russell (The Upside of Anger)

Can't Get Enough – Male: Daniel Craig (Layer Cake)

Most Promising: Dakota Fanning (War of the Worlds)

Breakthrough Performance – Female: Rachel McAdams (Wedding Crashers, Red Eye, The Family Stone)

Breakthrough Performance – Male: Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin)

Most Deserving of Getting to the A-List: Terrence Howard (Crash, Hustle & Flow, Four Brothers)

The Best Film I Failed To See and Review: The Squid and the Whale

Best Indie Ensemble: Heights (Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, Jesse Bradford, James Marsden, John Light)

Best Mainstream Ensemble: The Family Stone (Claire Danes, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Dermot Mulroney, Craig T. Nelson, Sarah Jessica Parker, Luke Wilson)

Best Supporting Actresses: Amy Adams (Junebug), Diane Keaton (The Family Stone), Shirley MacLaine (In Her Shoes), Scarlett Johansson (Match Point), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

Best Supporting Actors: Kevin Costner (The Upside of Anger), Matt Dillon (Crash), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), William Hurt (A History of Violence), Andy Serkis (King Kong)

Best Actresses: Joan Allen (The Upside of Anger), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Gwyneth Paltrow (Proof), Naomi Watts (King Kong), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

Best Actors: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck)

Best Screenplays: A History of Violence (Josh Olson), Capote (Dan Futterman), Crash (Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco), Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney and Grant Heslov), Match Point (Woody Allen)

Best Directors: Woody Allen (Match Point), George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck), David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Paul Haggis (Crash), Peter Jackson (King Kong)

10 Best Films of the Year: (in alphabetical order)
A History of Violence
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Hustle & Flow
In Her Shoes
King Kong
Match Point
The Upside of Anger
Walk the Line

Photos: Columbia Pictures (Rent); Sony Pictures Classics (Layer Cake); Columbia Pictures (Memoirs of a Geisha); Dimension Films (Sin City); DreamWorks (Madagascar); DreamWorks (Red Eye); Universal Pictures (Cinderella Man); Universal Pictures (King Kong).