Same rules as previous polls. List between 5 and 20 movies from 2005. Release year is determined by RYM, and a list can be found here: http://rateyourmusic.com/films/chart?page=1&chart_type=top&type=film&year=2005&genre_include=1&genres=&include=both&limit=none&countries=

Voting will be open for two weeks and close at midnight ET on Saturday, July 3.

From here it's all downhill for me. I probably won't even vote when we get to the last years. I didn't get kids until 2007 though, so I don't know if 2005 was a bad year or why I suddenly only have 12 points-deserving films.

1. Brokeback Mountain
2. The Squid and the Whale
3. Paha maa [Frozen Land]
4. Capote
5. Thank You for Smoking
6. C.R.A.Z.Y.
7. Murderball
8. Walk the Line
9. La marche de l'empereur [March of the Penguins]
10. Match Point
11. Caché [Hidden]
12. Good Night, and Good Luck.

01. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
02. Manderlay (Lars von Trier)
03. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
04. The New World (Terrence Malick)
05. The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles)
06. Sophie Scholl - Die Letzten Tage (Marc Rothemund)
07. Sin City (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez)
08. Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney)
09. Adams Aebler (Anders Thomas Jensen)
10. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)

11. Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright)
12. Syriana (Stephen Gaghan)
13. Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan)
14. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
15. Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman)
16. Paradise Now (Hany Abu-Assad)
17. The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach)
18. Die Hölhe des Gelben Hundes (Byambasuren Davaa)
19. Match Point (Woody Allen)
20. Everything is Illuminated (Liev Schreiber)

Quite a lot of American films (the best of them by foreign directors) this year. Looking back, 2005 seems to be a better year for films than I thought before today. The Top 5 is really good. Also a good year for (semi-) political films like Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, The Constant Gardener, Paradise Now and Thank You for Smoking. Not a good year for the Asian films though.

1. A History of Violence
2. The constant gardener
3. Brokeback Mountain
4. The New World
5. 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada
6. Serenity
7. The upside of anger
8. Broken Flowers
9. Caché
10.Grizzly man
11.The Proposition
12.The Squid and the Whale
13.Syriana
14.Thank you for smoking
15.Good Night and Good Luck
16.Capote
17.La marche de l'empereur
18.V for Vendetta
19.Sin City
20.King Kong

21.Bubble
22.Curse of the Were-Rabbit
23.Walk The Line
24.Corpse Bride
25.Me and you and everyone we know
26.Jarhead
27.Dear Wendy
28.War of the Worlds
29.Brick
30.Batman Begins

Comments: didn't get to see "Manderlay" nor "Paradise Now"; "3 Burials" is as good as "No country for old men"; "Upside of anger" is very funny; "Broken Flowers" soundtrack contains music of Mulatu Astatqe; and yes: this is definitely not a good year for Asian films.

I don't think I need to do much extra viewing for 2005. I already watched Mr Lazarescu, I'm in the middle of Cache, I have The Squid and The Whale and L'enfant is first on my queue. Besides that, I think I'm pretty covered. I'll catch up on the qualifiers I haven't seen yet instead.

I may have to re-watch Brokeback Mountain. When I saw it my impression was that it was a well acted by rather ordinary unrequited romance story. I thought it got some undeserved attention because of the political opinions attached to the type of romance. Shouldn't be too expensive to find and watch again.

Very hard to choose favorites. Any movie in top 8 could be #1. No pure masterpieces in 2005.
I ranked top 80 (everything from MyMovies in IMDB). Everything in top 60 are at least quite good. 77-80 are pure grap. The titles are in English.

1 Princess Raccoon - Japan
2 Something Like Happiness - Czech Republic
3 The Devil and Daniel Johnston - USA
4 The Child - Belgium
5 Frozen Land - Finland
6 The Constant Gardener - USA
7 The Death of Mr. Lazarescu - Romania
8 13 Tzameti - Georgia
9 Jarhead - USA
10 V for Vendetta - USA
11 The New World - USA
12 The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - USA
13 Adam's Apples - Denmark
14 I'm the Angel of Death: Pusher III - Denmark
15 Beauty and the Bastard - Finland
16 Cache - Austria
17 Lady Vengeance - South Korea
18 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - USA
19 Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - USA
20 Thumbsucker - USA
21 Why We Fight
22 Brokeback Mountain
23 Transamerica
24 Takeshis'
25 Lord of War
26 Good Night, and Good Luck.
27 Grizzly Man
28 Lonesome Jim
29 Linda Linda Linda
30 This Divided State
31 Sin City
32 Thank You for Smoking
33 The Descent
34 Tideland
35 Three Times
36 A History of Violence
37 Broken Flowers
38 4
39 Mother of Mine
40 Corpse Bride
41 Batman Begins
42 Hoodwinked!
43 March of the Penguins
44 Munich
45 Last Days
46 Paradise Now
47 The Squid and the Whale
48 Manderlay
49 Mutual Appreciation
50 Lemming
51 Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims
52 Drawing Restraint 9
53 Tsotsi
54 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
55 Matchpoint
56 Skrítek
57 Color Me Kubrick
58 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
59 The Forsaken Land
60 Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
61 Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning
62 MirrorMask
63 Screaming Masterpiece
64 Mouth to Mouth
65 Capote
66 Drabet
67 Zozo
68 Venus Drowning
69 Gitmo
70 Syriana
71 Based on a True Story
72 Viva Zapatero!
73 The Brothers Grimm
74 A Bittersweet Life
75 Stoned
76 Regular Lovers
77 Mr & Mrs Smith
78 The Cave
79 The Aristocrats
80 Tentatives de se décrire

Edit: According to my friend director of Princess Raccoon Seijun Suzuki made a movie in the late 60's. The movie was so bizzarre and odd that Mr. Suzuki was banned to make movies in forty years. The story isn't probably true but after seeing Princess Raccoon in Rotterdam Filmfestival in 2006 I was sure that this director won't direct feature films anymore (or at least in fourty years) . Seriously I won't recommend the movie to anyone It's like Snow White and Seven Dwarves and maybe the best musical ever (after Singin' in the Rain).
But seriously how come Devil & Daniel Johnston isn't in everybody's list?

1. Grizzly Man / Werner Herzog / U.S.
2. Manderlay / Lars von Trier / Denmark
3. The Proposition / John Hillcoat / Australia
4. Battle in Heaven / Carlos Reygadas / Mexico
5. Broken Flowers / Jim Jarmusch / U.S.
6. L'enfant / Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne / Belgium
7. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada / Tommy Lee Jones / U.S.
8. 49 Up / Michael Apted / U.K.
9. Corpse Bride / Tim Burton / U.S.
10. The Weather Man / Gore Verbinski / U.S.

1. A History of Violence (David Cronenberg)
2. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
3. Thank you for smoking (Jason Reitman)
4. La marche de l'empereur (Luc Jacquet)
5. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne)
6. Match Point (Woody Allen)
7. Lemming (Dominik Moll )
8. De battre, mon cœur s'est arrêté (Jacques Audiard)
9. C.R.A.Z.Y. (Jean-Marc Vallée)
10. Joyeux Noël (Christian Carion)
11. The Constant Gardener (Fernando Meirelles)
12. Caché (Michael Haneke)
13. Jarhead (Sam Mendes)
14. Les poupées Russes (Cédric Klapisch)
15. Va, vis et deviens (Radu Mihaileanu)
16. Madagascar (Eric Darnell)
17. Sin City (Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez)
18. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmush)
19. Le temps qui reste (François Ozon)

1. Sin City – Robert Rodríguez
2. Brokeback Mountain – Ang Lee
3. A History of Violence – David Cronemberg
4. V for Vendetta – James McTeigue
5. War of the Worlds – Steven Spielberg
6. Match Point – Woody Allen
7. Memoirs of a Geisha – Rob Marshall
8. Oliver Twist – Roman Polanski
9. The Brothers Grimm – Terry Gilliam
10. Good Night, and Good Luck – George Clooney
11. The Constant Gardener – Fernando Meirelles
12. El aura (The Aura) – Fabián Bielinsky
13. Capote – Bennett Miller
14. Caché (Hidden) – Michael Haneke
15. Four Brothers – John Singleton
16. Danny the Dog (Unleashed) – Louis Leterrier
17. Proof – John Madden
18. Derailed - Mikael Håfström
19. Prime – Ben Younger
20. Nine Lives – Rodrigo García

21. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – Andrew Adamson
22. The Interpreter – Sydney Pollack
23. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man – Mike Cahill
24. Transamerica – Duncan Tucker
25. In Her Shoes – Curtis Hanson
26. The Weather Man – Gore Verbinski
27. Flightplan – Robert Schwentke
28. Broken Flowers – Jim Jarmusch
29. Lemming – Dominik Moll
30. Quo vadis, baby? – Gabriele Salvatores

Going through the archives of the films I know, in my uninformed opinion 2005 seems like a really bad year for film:

1) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
2) King Kong
3) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
4) Wedding Crashers
5) The 40-Year-Old Virgin

1. The Squid and the Whale
2. Capote
3. A History of Violence
4. Good Night, and Good Luck.
5. Me and You and Everyone We Know
6. Batman Begins
7. Brokeback Mountain
8. Thank You for Smoking
9. Cache [Hidden]
10. The 40-Year Old Virgin

Yes. 2005 is a bad year. I didn't realize how bad until I looked at my own list. There's at least six movies from 2006 that are much better than anything from 2005, IMO. 2006 was a fantastic year. I mean, I'm putting a kids film as my #1, for Christ's sake. And after bashing Brokeback Mountain in my earlier post, look how high I'm putting it.

1. Wallace & Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2. Capote
3. Sin City
4. Thank You For Smoking
5. The Death Of Mr Lazarescu
6. Brokeback Mountain
7. The Squid And The Whale
8. L'enfant
9. A History Of Violence
10. Batman Begins
11. Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
12. Broken Flowers
13. Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room

L'enfant belongs higher on my list probably, but the disc Netflix sent me was scratched and I only made it halfway through. The half I saw only puts it at #8.

Comments:

-Can somebody explain to me what I'm missing about Brokeback Mountain? I admit to the great acting and directing, but I think the story is pretty boring. I don't know, if the exact same movie came out in a culture where homosexuality was just accepted as the norm and not a political controversy, do you think it would it still be rated so high?

-I was disappointed by the end of Squid and the Whale. Greenberg also had a selfish introvert character, but you could kind of forgive him because he was at heart a sensitive guy who just has a really low social IQ. In Squid and the Whale, the selfish introvert was just a big selfish jerk.

-You know what came out in 2006 that's better than any of the movies on the list? Pan's Labyrinth, Children Of Men, The Lives Of Others, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima. I haven't seen Babel and Volver, but based on other work by the same directors they probably are too. Then there's others that would rank very high on this list, like Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen. Then 2007-2009 all have two or three that would be #1 on this list. How did so few good movies come out in an entire year?

No.

That said, I think 2005 is a fine year. It has "V for Vendetta", one of my all-time favorites, "Serenity", one of the best scifi films of all time and one of the best documentaries of all time in "No Direction Home" as well. Add to that the great "Walk The Line" and "History of Violence" and you have a year that, if anything, is better than 2006.

Here in the Netherlands homosexuality is (well, almost) just accapted as the norm and not a political controversy and still I like Brokeback Mountain a lot. Maybe that's because I don't care too much for stories. For me, films are all about directing, acting, photography and creating a specific atmosphere in particular. Brokeback Mountain is definitely more than decent on all those aspects. That goes a long way. Besides that, it has a good soundtrack and the details of the age-setting are incredible. I like it when directors pay attention to details.

And I have a weakness for westerns and nature.

BillAdama, have you seen The New World, Manderlay, Grizzly Man and The Constant Gardener?

No. I'll see them if they qualify. As of now, three of them are in the top ten. I'm iffy about Von Trier. Is Manderlay as misanthropist as some of his other films?

I guess it's fair, if you're judging it solely on acting and directing, though I'm not a Gylenhal fan. Ledger at least was fantastic.

@Stephan

My feeling about Cronenberg is I usually like what he's trying to do, and I respect his directing talent, but I usually don't like his execution. His writing often feels contrived. I saw Walk The Line and found it a little formulaic (Like they took a stock script for a music star biopic and applied it to Cash). And I'm not a big fan of Firefly. It's always got good ideas and good one liners, but I find the characters kind of cheesy.

I suppose 2005 was a great year if you're a bigger fan of dark comic book style movies than me.

1. 40 Year Old Virgin
2. Squid and the Whale
3. V For Vendetta
4. Devil and Daniel Johnston
5. Beerfest
6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
7. Batman Begins
8. A History Of Violence
9. Brick
10. Jarhead

Forget about the historical inaccuracies in The New World and focus on how awful the second half is. If the second half was as good as the first, I wouldn't have cared about it's alternate reality.

Just saw The Devil and Daniel Johnston and I don't really see it. Neither the brilliance of Johnston himself, who is announced as the best singer-songwriter alive, nor the brilliance of the film itself, which I thought was really kind of boring.

I think I'm going to start watching fewer films for this poll anyway. I've made some great discoveries already, but I think there are fewer great films I missed from 2006-2009. So I'd rather focus my movie watching time on the Director's Cup in Mubi.

Mubi is like the metacritic forum except for movies. People know about a lot of really awesome really obscure films, and they're really smug about it.

There are a handful I know I need to see, and I'll watch anything that qualifies, of course.

Manderlay is really not much of a philanthropic film... Guess it's not your cup of tea then.

Well, I think pure philanthropy and pure misanthropy are both pretty far removed from realism.

1. V for Vendetta (James McTeigue)
2. Serenity (Joss Whedon)
3. No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Martin Scorsese)
4. Walk The Line (James Mangold)
5. A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg)
6. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu)
7. Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman)
8. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
9. Cinderella Man (Ron Howard)
10. Lord of War (Andrew Niccol)

Not a lot of foreign films for me this year, something I see on all my lists from now on. Gonna need some recommendations for the next years.

I would have liked to see L'Enfant and Capote but I simply didn't have the time; if they make it I will definitely make an effort to watch them for the final round though. I'm assuming we'll have more than 2 weeks for that one?

I was thinking a month for the final round, but if people need more than that, it can be longer.

Results:

1. Brokeback Mountain (269/8/2)
2. A History Of Violence (232/8/2)
3. The Squid And The Whale (161/6/1)
4. Thank You For Smoking (137/7/0)
5. V For Vendetta (130/5/1)
6. Capote (123/5/0)
7. Sin City (109/5/1)
8. The Constant Gardener (105/5/0)
9. L'enfant (The Child) (103/5/0)
10. Grizzly Man (97/3/1)

Just missed:

40 Year Old Virgin (97/3/1)
Manderlay (80/2/0)

This month only sees one foreign film qualifying. Ang Lee joins the two qualified movie club. And Tarantino, I suppose, joins the 2.33333 movie qualifying club.