NJPMAN's Top Ten Flicks of 2005

This year was a fun year for movies. That is a good thing because we in The NJP love us some movies. I personally didn't get to see all the movies that I wanted to this year, but that's alright. I have certainly seen enough to be able to bring to you the first ever, annual NJPMAN TOP TEN FLICKS of THE YEAR, or the NTTFoTY. So without any further to-do these are my top ten flicks of 2005...

Okay. Maybe not yet. I guess I should at least quantify what I believe to be a good movie.

1. Critics' top 10 lists are meaningless to me.
2. I like what I like, and I know not everyone will.

There you go, and now on with the show.

10. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- I admit being a sucker for the original, but Tim Burton's re-imagining of this beloved children's book is amazing. It really captures a darkness that the original movie only hinted at. Wilder's Wonka was nutso and that was awesome, but Johnny Depp really nailed the effect that all of Wonka's years of isolation would have on a man who was obviously eccentric to begin with.

9. Kung-Fu Hustle-Stephen Chow rocks your ass with just an amazing kung-fu spectacular. You can feel Chow's love for kung-fu just flowing out of this picture.

8. Land of the Dead-Zombies!! Not just zombies, but George Romero zombies. This man is the godfather of the genre and he came back in 2005 to show people how its done. I am not one of those purists who think that all the recent zombie movies are trash because they tweak the Romero formula(I love running zombies!), but I have to admit this man is still the master. He is able to tie in great social commentary into his zombie films, and that is the difference.

7. Wedding Crashers-Here we go. A great R-rated raunch comedy. You just don't see many of these anymore. Truly funny performances all around, but especially from Vince Vaughn. Don't forget these two words...Chris Walken.

6. King Kong-Peter Jackson's epic retelling of this classic tale is amazing from start to finish. Especially once they hit the infamous Skull Island. Kong himself may be the greatest CG character in the history of cinema. He truly lives and you will believe. The rest of the cast is great because you can tell they believe in the world around them, even if they couldn't always see it themselves.

5. Rent-Jonathan Larson's amazing 1996 musical finally hit the big screen in 2005, and it is just as good as it ever was. The outstanding musical numbers are belted out by a cast that consists of 75% of the original Broadway players. Rent's themes of love, family and art ring as true today as they did when the musical first hit Broadway.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-I didn't know if it could be done, but it was. Book four in the Harry Potter series was turned into the best movie of the series and arguably one of the best movies of the year. This is to be expected because Goblet of Fire is one of best books in the series and the true turning point from fun kids books to the more adult themed books they are now. It is a great stand alone film with excellent performances from the whole cast, but especially newcomers Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort and Brendan Gleeson as the loony Mad-Eye Moody.

3. Sin City-Robert Rodriguez's adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel exploded onto screens this year with almost more style than it knew what to do with. Picture perfect visuals, outrageous violence and sharp performances grace this film from start to finish. The standout is definitely Mickey Rourke's Marv. Also not to miss is Elijah Wood's scary ass cannibal, Kevin.

2. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith-After almost 30 years it is finally done. George Lucas has finished this amazing 6 part film series. Revenge of the Sith was not just great Star Wars, but it was great film. With a dark tone that even puts Empire to shame at points this movie really hits hard with death of the Jedi and the Republic. Don't get me wrong, it still has some really cheesy parts, but for my money it is the best of the series and one of the funnest movie experiences of the year.

1. Batman Begins-Batman F'n Begins. One of the most needed restarts of a movie franchise came in 2005, and it lived up to all expectations and then some. Christopher Nolan took the helm of this picture and raised it to wondrous heights with excellent decisions all around. The cast is amazing with Christian Bale leading the way as billionare-playboy Bruce Wayne, with excellent role players filling out the cast including Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. The setting was perfectly dark, with no neon lights to be found. The villains were awesome with Cillian Murphy doing a great Scarecrow. I can't really explain how awesome this movie is. If you really haven't seen it...go see it.

There you go. The top 10 of 2005. I bet not all will agree, but I don't care. That is what makes movies so neat. They all mean different things to us all. Who knows what we will see in this column come this time next year.