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Films Of The Year

Welcome to the Film 2005 Films of the Year, a canter through twelve months at the movies, complete with the results of our viewers poll which names and acclaims the nation’s Top 10.

Here’s the 10 Films of the Year for 2005.

10. Hanging by a thread it’s Team America.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone took on the American left, the American right and the limits of good taste and Ben Britton found it ’stupid, clever, beautiful and disgusting, all at the same time.’ It all left Norman Green, from Middlesborough, with the poetic, if somewhat confusing, ’feeling of being lost in a toy box’.

9. Stumbling in the door is Sideways.

Alexander Payne’s oenophilic comedy had you breaking out the drinking metaphors. Dominic do Souza claims that, ’like the best vintage, it will only improve over the years,’ while Dan McCarthy of Basingstoke tells us that ’it’s so good, it managed to turn me from a teetotaller into a fully fledged wino.’

8. Invading the chart is War of the Worlds.

Spielberg reunites with aliens, and for Shane Daly the result is ’the ultimate popcorn movie.’ Ian Horn adds that ’the effects are outstanding’, and says that he ’didn’t mind it being moved from the Home Counties to America’, and coming from someone who lives in Wivenhoe, that’s high praise indeed.

7. Parked at number seven, Wallace and Gromit.

The cheese-eating plasticine heroes hit the big screen and Shirley Toogood welcomed it as ’a visual joy with masses of memorable moments; perfect entertainment for all ages’. Though Jim Toogood, who appears to live at the same address, says that it got his vote because ’my son worked on it’. Get your stories straight Toogood family! Either way, Tom Lownie seems to hit the public mood when he says, ’Give Nick Park a knighthood now’.

6. Casting a spell at number six... Harry Potter.

’Mike Newell has done JK Rowling’s bestseller absolute justice’ says Jamie McGilchrist of Dundee, who also praises its ’humourous and thoughtful script’ and ’tremendous effects,’ while many of you agreed with Zulfikal Malik from Bradford, who hails it as ’the best Potter film so far, filled with dark enchantment’.

5. Hurtling in at number five is Crash.

Paul Haggis’ ensemble drama about racism in LA was the film of the year for Rod Lay, who calls it ’intelligent, thought provoking and visually stylish,’ with ’fantastic and sometimes unexpected performances from the whole cast’. The serious tone also impressed Louise Robinson from Aldershot, who considers it ’an understated masterpiece about the cruel world we live in’.

4. Breathing its last gasp at number four, Star Wars.

’A film that completed an epic cinematic journey for me and similar millions of my generation’ says Brendan Anderson of George Lucas’ final foray into the galaxy far, far away. Happily, for Ben Warnock, it’s also ’the most entertaining of the prequel films’, with ’non-stop sabre-slashing action’.

3. It’s all black and white at number three in Sin City.

Is it a comic book? Is it a movie? Well, yes to both... either way, Beth Newton says ’it’s brutal and beautiful and disturbing, but you can’t look away’. It’s ’highly stylised, extremely violent, sexist and incredibly clichéd’ says Karl Christmas, which doesn’t sound like the most effusive praise in the world, but he adds that ’all of this comes together perfectly.’

2. Swooping in at number two is Batman Begins.

’It was well worth the eight year wait to see the new Batman film, and it proved to be better than the previous four put together’, says Matthew Polmounter of Cornwall, hailing Christopher Nolan’s ’gritty, intelligent film’ for its ’great dialogue’ and ’fast and furious action scenes’. Daniel Todd speaks for many of you in merely being thankful that it ’manages to banish from memory the neon nightmare of Batman and Robin’.

1. Perched on top of the heap we call 2005, Serenity.

It was far from the biggest hit of the year but the rabid fanbase which helped get Joss Whedon’s cancelled sci-fi series onto the big screen has now handed it the biggest accolade in modern cinema: the title of Film 2005 Film of the Year. Rachel Formby calls it, ’A labour of love filled with strong, superbly written characters, humour, emotion and cool effects’. Juliet Richards in Stanstead claims it ’brilliantly blended comedy, action, drama, horror and romance’, adding that ’the only negative point I can think of is that it wasn’t out for long enough so I only got to see it five times on the big screen’. That’s the sort of passion we like to see.