Mid-Year Top 10: The Year In Film So Far

Be sure to check out my 'blog entry from earlier tonight, in addition to this one; I've done double-duty!

Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti in Cinderella Man.

And so it is. Half a year has past and I've only seen a few movies that I would like to be in the realm of qualifying for my "Best of 2005" list. With any luck, the remaining months of summer and Oscar season will show us a steep increase in the quality of current mainstream cinema, as a whole. Despite the extreme amount of doubt I have regarding this happening, I remain hopeful.

Here is a list of my favorite ten movies of the year so far, in count-down order:

10) A Lot Like Love - Who knew that a romance starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet would turn out to be a real, heartfelt film? One of the year's most welcome surprises.

9) War of the Worlds - Despite suffering an exponential decay in quality throughout its second half, its marvelous opening and stunning special-effects make it ultimately worthwhile.

8) Sin City - What it lacks in narrative creativity it makes up in visual creativity, boasting wonderful, sublime art-direction and a tensely stellar atmosphere. Not to mention, as Marv, Mickey Rourke is as good as he will ever be.

7) Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith - It's not as good as A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back, but Lucas, for the most part, delivers in this operatic and visually beautiful final entry in the Star Wars series. Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman are far better in it than they are portrayed to be.

6) Millions - Loose narrative ends aside, it's one of the most imaginative films of recent years, like a modern update of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but more grounded. Cult-film director Danny Boyle may not ever make a PG-rated film again, but he certainly could if he wanted.

5) Fever Pitch - Color me stunned, it's a natural and splendid ode to the loves of our lives. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore have great chemistry; The Farrelly Brothers have finally found exactly what they have been looking for all of these years.

4) Melinda and Melinda - I've defended all of Woody Allen's recent ventures, despite their inferiority to some of his previous works. Now, he's made a movie that everyone likes, following a wonderfully creative duel-storyline format.

3) Howl's Moving Castle - More visual and thematic splendor from Japanese Anime Master Hayao Miyazaki. It may not be as good as Spirited Away or My Neighbor Totoro, but it's certainly one of the best films of the year. I can't wait to hear the original language track, although the domestically dubbed one is certainly exceptional.

2) Batman Begins - What a journey it has been in actually discovering that I love this movie! I have already said what I need to say about it--it's visionary, tense, and brilliant, darker than perhaps any other comic-book adaptation ever made. Christian Bale is marvelous despite half of his face being covered in a mask and and Christopher Nolan, once again, proves to be one of the best currently working directors out there.

1) Cinderella Man - Leave it to Russell Crowe and Ron Howard to make an emotional, riveting biopic. This time, the subject is James J. Broddock, a truly great man in every aspect of the title. The boxing scenes are exceptionally assembled and the performances by all of the cast are amazing. When was the last time we have seen a movie about such geniunely good people? You'll be cheering both for Broddock and for the greatness of America to prevail through the era of the Great Depression, the time in which it is set. Take the AMC Moneyback Guarantee.

So far, I'd be happy including two or three of those choices on my final year's end list, but there's a long time before I compose that up. Here's to the latter half of the year eclipsing the former portion by a long-shot. And then some.