Films to Watch From 2005
by nick-nelsonmovies | created - 30 Jan 2013 | updated - 10 Feb 2013 | Public75% From RT and at Least 100 Reviews Or Multiple Academy Award Nomination/Wins, but not rotten.
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1. Sin City (2005)
R | 124 min | Crime, Thriller
An exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.
Directors: Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Clive Owen, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba
Votes: 793,784 | Gross: $74.10M
78%
2. Crash (I) (2004)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.
Director: Paul Haggis | Stars: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandiwe Newton, Karina Arroyave
Votes: 449,013 | Gross: $54.58M
76% 6 Nominations 3 Wins
3. Match Point (2005)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
At a turning point in his life, a former tennis pro falls for an actress who happens to be dating his friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode
Votes: 228,063 | Gross: $23.09M
77%
4. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Three years into the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi pursues a new threat, while Anakin Skywalker is lured by Chancellor Palpatine into a sinister plot to rule the galaxy.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson
Votes: 845,365 | Gross: $380.26M
80%
5. Cinderella Man (2005)
PG-13 | 144 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The true story of James J. Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer, who returned to the spotlight to win the heavyweight championship of the world.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Craig Bierko, Paul Giamatti
Votes: 198,339 | Gross: $61.65M
80% 3 Nominations
6. Batman Begins (2005)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After witnessing his parents' death, Bruce learns the art of fighting to confront injustice. When he returns to Gotham as Batman, he must stop a secret society that intends to destroy the city.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson
Votes: 1,578,441 | Gross: $206.85M
85%
7. War of the Worlds (2005)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien invasion threatens the future of humanity. The catastrophic nightmare is depicted through the eyes of one American family fighting for survival.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto
Votes: 475,221 | Gross: $234.28M
74% 3 Nominations
8. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Charlie, a young boy from an impoverished family, and four other kids win a tour of an amazing chocolate factory run by an imaginative chocolatier, Willy Wonka, and his staff of Oompa-Loompas.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter
Votes: 529,251 | Gross: $206.46M
82%
9. Wedding Crashers (2005)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary.
Director: David Dobkin | Stars: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Christopher Walken
Votes: 375,759 | Gross: $209.22M
75%
10. Tristram Shandy (2005)
R | 94 min | Comedy
Director Michael Winterbottom (Northam) attempts to shoot the adaptation of Laurence Sterne's essentially unfilmable novel, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman."
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Steve Coogan, Jeremy Northam, Rob Brydon, Keeley Hawes
Votes: 13,177 | Gross: $1.25M
90%
11. Hustle & Flow (2005)
R | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Music
With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.
Director: Craig Brewer | Stars: Terrence Howard, Ludacris, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning
Votes: 43,222 | Gross: $22.20M
82% 2 Nominations 1 Win
12. Junebug (2005)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A dealer in "outsider" art travels from Chicago to North Carolina to meet her new in-laws, challenging the equilibrium of this middle class Southern home.
Director: Phil Morrison | Stars: Embeth Davidtz, Alessandro Nivola, David Kuhn, Alicia Van Couvering
Votes: 23,427 | Gross: $2.68M
85%
13. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Romance
Goaded by his buddies, a nerdy guy who's never "done the deed" only finds the pressure mounting when he meets a single mother.
Director: Judd Apatow | Stars: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco
Votes: 467,047 | Gross: $109.45M
85%
14. Red Eye (2005)
PG-13 | 85 min | Thriller
A woman is kidnapped by a stranger on a routine flight. Threatened by the potential murder of her father, she is pulled into a plot to assist her captor in a political assassination.
Director: Wes Craven | Stars: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Laura Johnson
Votes: 140,382 | Gross: $57.89M
79%
15. The Constant Gardener (2005)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.
Director: Fernando Meirelles | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Hubert Koundé
Votes: 148,467 | Gross: $33.58M
83% 4 Nominations 1 Win
16. Corpse Bride (2005)
PG | 77 min | Animation, Drama, Family
When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her.
Directors: Tim Burton, Mike Johnson | Stars: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman
Votes: 298,825 | Gross: $53.36M
84%
17. Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
PG | 93 min | Biography, Drama, History
Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels
Votes: 101,302 | Gross: $31.56M
94% 6 Nominations
18. Pride & Prejudice (2005)
PG | 129 min | Drama, Romance
Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 330,699 | Gross: $38.41M
86% 4 Nominations
19. A History of Violence (2005)
R | 96 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A mild-mannered man becomes a local hero through an act of violence, which sets off repercussions that will shake his family to its very core.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt
Votes: 252,831 | Gross: $31.49M
87% 2 Nominations
20. Serenity (2005)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk
Votes: 305,669 | Gross: $25.51M
82%
21. Capote (2005)
R | 114 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
In 1959, Truman Capote learns of the murder of a Kansas family and decides to write a book about the case. While researching for his novel In Cold Blood, Capote forms a relationship with one of the killers, Perry Smith, who is on death row.
Director: Bennett Miller | Stars: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Clifton Collins Jr., Catherine Keener, Allie Mickelson
Votes: 140,762 | Gross: $28.75M
90% 5 Nominations 1 Win
22. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg
Votes: 90,432 | Gross: $7.36M
94%
23. The Proposition (2005)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Western
A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson
Votes: 54,981 | Gross: $1.90M
87%
24. Caché (2005)
R | 117 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Maurice Bénichou, Annie Girardot
Votes: 85,231 | Gross: $3.63M
88%
25. In Her Shoes (2005)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Strait-laced Rose breaks off relations with her party girl sister, Maggie, over an indiscretion involving Rose's boyfriend. The chilly atmosphere is broken with the arrival of Ella, the grandmother neither sister knew existed.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Toni Collette, Cameron Diaz, Shirley MacLaine, Anson Mount
Votes: 65,076 | Gross: $32.88M
75%
26. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
G | 85 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Wallace and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.
Directors: Steve Box, Nick Park | Stars: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Kay
Votes: 146,095 | Gross: $56.11M
95%
27. North Country (2005)
R | 126 min | Drama
A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States, Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Charlize Theron, Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand, Thomas Curtis
Votes: 44,931 | Gross: $18.32M
69% 2 Nominations
28. Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)
PG | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Two young brothers are drawn into an intergalactic adventure when their house is hurled through the depths of space by the magical board game they are playing.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Josh Hutcherson, Jonah Bobo, Dax Shepard, Tim Robbins
Votes: 115,271 | Gross: $29.26M
75%
29. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.
Director: Shane Black | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Votes: 237,401 | Gross: $4.24M
83%
30. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
PG-13 | 157 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter finds himself competing in a hazardous tournament between rival schools of magic, but he is distracted by recurring nightmares.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Eric Sykes
Votes: 681,526 | Gross: $290.01M
88%
31. The Matador (2005)
R | 96 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.
Director: Richard Shepard | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Greg Kinnear, Hope Davis, Arlin Miller
Votes: 46,397 | Gross: $12.59M
76%
32. Walk the Line (2005)
PG-13 | 136 min | Biography, Drama, Music
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins.
Director: James Mangold | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick
Votes: 265,837 | Gross: $119.52M
82% 5 Nominations 1 Win
33. Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Laura Henderson (Dame Judi Dench) buys an old London theater and opens it up as the Windmill, a performance hall which goes down in history for, amongst other things, its all-nude revues.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Christopher Guest, Will Young
Votes: 16,451 | Gross: $11.03M
65% 2 Nominations
34. Syriana (2005)
R | 128 min | Drama, Thriller
A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it.
Director: Stephen Gaghan | Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Kayvan Novak
Votes: 134,258 | Gross: $50.82M
74% 2 Nominations 1 Win
35. Transamerica (2005)
R | 103 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
Director: Duncan Tucker | Stars: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan, Andrea James
Votes: 42,345 | Gross: $9.02M
76%
36. The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
PG-13 | 127 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years rebuilding a 1920 Indian motorcycle, which helped him set the land speed world record at Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Diane Ladd, Iain Rea, Tessa Mitchell
Votes: 58,600 | Gross: $5.13M
82%
37. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
PG | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
While playing, Lucy and her siblings find a wardrobe that lands them in a mystical place called Narnia. Here they realize that it was fated and they must now unite with Aslan to defeat an evil queen.
Director: Andrew Adamson | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes
Votes: 428,038 | Gross: $291.71M
75% 3 Nominations 1 Win
38. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
R | 134 min | Drama, Romance
Ennis and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both of them get married to their respective girlfriends.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
Votes: 382,193 | Gross: $83.04M
87% 8 Nominations 3 Win
39. King Kong (2005)
PG-13 | 187 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 446,883 | Gross: $218.08M
84% 4 Nominations 3 Wins
40. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)
R | 121 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
Ranch foreman Pete Perkins looks to fulfill the promise to his recently deceased best friend by burying him in his hometown in Mexico.
Director: Tommy Lee Jones | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones
Votes: 41,884 | Gross: $5.02M
85%
41. Munich (2005)
R | 164 min | Action, Drama, History
After the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán Hinds
Votes: 238,282 | Gross: $47.40M
78% 5 Nominations
42. Tsotsi (2005)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama
Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader.
Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Israel Matseke-Zulu, Terry Pheto
Votes: 31,606 | Gross: $2.91M
82%
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