FILMS OF THE DECADE: THE YEAR 2005

WITH HINDSIGHT. . .

As well as trying to offer an annual series of different top tens for specific tastes (e.g. men, women, families, etc) I must admit that compiling my 'Pick & Mix' column every year is the bit I look forward to the most.

This is effectively an overspill category for films that weren't quite good enough to make the top ten.

But, were you to buy them as a ten-pack series of 'mystery movies' in the bargain bin at somewhere like HMV during an end-of-year sale, I would hope that most people would enjoy them as something of an eclectic selection.

Some titles will always be familiar, some less so. As a collection, their main purpose would be to broaden tastes.

My Pick & Mix for 2005 fills that ideal perfectly.

THE YEAR 2005 IN MOVIES

How was the year 2005 at the movies for you? Mail Film Editor GRAHAM YOUNG back looks back at the highs and lows.

AUTUMN is the new summer at the movies!

Blockbusters might fight shy of each other in the lighter months, but recently we've had Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Flightplan, Mrs Henderson Presents and Polar Express 3D.

Not forgetting In Her Shoes, The Constant Gardener, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

If the summer, by contrast, was a bit thin the last few weeks have more than been making up for it and the year is ending on a box office high.

As ever, picking the best out of 200 releases produced a shortlist of less than 20 - so it's still a rule of thumb of mine that for every ten movies released only one will be a true cracker.

But there are lots of films deserving a mention which even the categories below can't embrace.

In no particular order, these include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Saw II, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, In My Father's Den, Undertow, Sin City, Kinsey, Bewitched, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Spanglish and Harold & Kumar Get the Munchies.

On the other side of the coin, Rag Tale, The Honeymooners, Dark Water, The League of Gentlemen and Ladder 49 were all instantly forgettable.

Wales-born Christian Bale is the most dedicated star of the year.

He lost an astonishing 60lbs to descend into Trevor Reznik's world of sleepless paranoia in The Machinist, then reappeared bulked up for Batman Begins and saved an entire franchise.

Russell Crowe also overcame a serious shoulder injury to make The Cinderella Man an underrated Depression era boxing movie, though Renee Zellweger was less convincing.

Of the actresses, fast risers to watch out for include Canadian star Rachel McAdams (Red Eye/ Wedding Crashers/ The Family Stone), whose overlooked film The Notebook made my top ten last year.

The much-missed Jodi Foster kept Flightplan in the air from start to finish and Naomi Watts finally hit the big time in King Kong, while her old mate Nicole Kidman was terrific in The Interpreter.

Keira Knightley did well in Pride & Prejudice. She'll be back with some more Pirates of the Caribbean in 2006.

But Judi Dench showed them all how to hold a movie together in the hilarious Mrs Henderson Presents, just shaving The 40-Year-Old Virgin as the best of nearly 20 watchable comedies, while another veteran, Clint Eastwood, cleaned up at the Oscars with Million Dollar Baby.

There were, pleasingly, nearly 20 solid family-friendly hits in 2005, led by the wonderful Chronicles of Narnia adaptation, while Hotel Rwanda was movingly human, a genocide movie with a 12A certificate.

Blockbusters had a good year, with Star Wars III finally saving grace after Episodes I and II and both Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds) and Lord of the Rings' Peter Jackson (King Kong) on top action form.

Sahara gleefully echoed Raiders of the Lost Ark while Joss Whedon's Serenity breathed new life into the tired sci-fi genre which also gave us the appalling Doom.

The film of the year, though, has to be Crash.

I first saw it just before the July 7 suicide bombings in London and again upon release on August 12. It moved me equally both times.

Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon star in a film in which several characters from different races and social class collide in LA within a 36-hour period.

Some might think it too close to Magnolia.

But this is far more watchable for the mainstream and its cleverly-layered themes reminds us that we are often needlessly wary of strangers while some of life's greatest dangers can lurk in our own homes.

Crash was directed by Hollywood's man of the year, Paul Haggis, the writer and producer of the Oscar-winning Million Dollar Baby who, like Rachel McAdams, was born in London, Ontario.

For my runner-up film, I've selected Downfall. Like Apollo 13, Titanic and King Kong you know the ending before you've seen it.

But the story of Hitler's demise at the end of WWII is still a gripping, cover-your-eyes shocker which is all the more tense because it is German made and Swiss star Bruno Ganz is sensational in the lead role.

Finally, the children were so good in The Chronicles of Narnia I've just nudged it ahead of Peter Jackson's Kong remake - and found a place for Jeff Bridges' seriously overlooked adult drama, The Door in the Floor, too.

Here's to some more great movies in 2006!

GRAHAM YOUNG'S TOP TEN FOR 2005
1. Crash
2. Downfall
3. The Chronicles of Narnia
4. King Kong
5. Million Dollar Baby
6. Door in the Floor
7. Sahara
8. Serenity
9. The Chorus
10. Vera Drake

TURKEYS
1. Revolver
2. Boogeyman
3. Deuce Bigalow
4. Spirit Trap
5. It's All Gone Pete Tong
6. Chicken Tikka Masala
7. Bad News Bears
8. The Longest Yard
9. Ocean's Twelve
10. Doom

BLOCKBUSTERS
1. King Kong
2. The Chronicles of Narnia
3. Batman Begins
4. War of the Worlds
5. Sahara
6. Flightplan
7. Serenity
8. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
9. Star Wars III
10. The Aviator

FOREIGN
1. Downfall
2. The Chorus
3. A Very Long Engagement
4. Nightwatch
5. Maria Full of Grace
6. Howl's Moving Castle
7. Turtles Can Fly
8. Only Human
9. Bombon El Perro
10. The Sea Inside

MEN
1. Where the Truth Lies
2. A History of Violence
3. The Interpreter
4. Sahara
5. The Descent
6. Assault on Precinct 13
7. Hostage
8. The Brothers
9. Creep
10. Transporter 2

WOMEN
1. Pride & Prejudice
2. The Descent
3. Vera Drake
4. Flightplan
5. In Her Shoes
6. Kinky Boots
7. Shall We Dance?
8. In Good Company
9. Dear Frankie
10. A Good Woman

FAMILIES
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
2. Nanny McPhee
3. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
4. Polar Express 3D
5. Sky High
6. Lassie
7. Millions
8. Robots
9. Madagascar
10. Herby: Fully Loaded

COMEDIES
1. Mrs Henderson Presents
2. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
3. In Good Company
4. Kinky Boots
5. Kicking and Screaming
6. Hitch
7. Sideways
8. Cursed
9. Team America: World Police
10. The Wedding Crashers

PICK & MIX
1. Hotel Rwanda
2. Cinderella Man
3. Ray
4. Lord of War
5. Adam & Paul
6. The Assassination of Richard Nixon
7. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
8. The Woodsman
9. Bullet Boy
10. March of the Penguins

2005 Roll of Honour

Script: Mrs Henderson Presents
Director: Clint Eastwood - Million Dollar Baby
Actor: Bruno Ganz (Downfall), Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Best Effects: The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, War of the Worlds, Wallace & Gromit
Best Theme: Millions
Best Score: Batman Begins
Best Opening: King Kong
Best Ending: Crash
Best Comeback: King Kong, Lassie and Peter O'Toole (Lassie).
Best scene: Lucy meeting Mr Tumnus, Narnia.
Soundtrack: The Ramones
Crowd pleasing moment: The penguins in Madagascar
Best landscapes: Sahara, March of the Penguins, Narnia
Best seascapes: King Kong, March of the Penguins
Best chase: King Kong, War of the Worlds
Best sound: The Chronicles of Narnia
Best stunts: King Kong (Andy Serkis)
Most chair-gripping moments: Downfall, The Descent
Best devastation: War of the Worlds
Best ice scene: King Kong slipping and sliding.
Best battle: Downfall
Best animations: Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Robots
Best shock: A shooting in Crash
Worst shock: Bob Hoskins starkers (Mrs Henderson).
Best shootouts: Four Brothers, Assault on Precinct 13.
Best peeping through fingers moments: The Descent, Creep's handwash.
Best CGI: The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, War of the Worlds
Films so painful they should be destroyed: Boogeyman, Doom, Dark Water, It's All Gone Pete Tong, Bad News Bears, Spirit Trap, Revolver.