We rounded out the year 2005 with a quartet of movies over two days. In fact, the new year found us absorbed in the last few minutes of our final movie of a triple feature. A nice way to round out the year, if I do say so myself.

The best movies of the last year:

1. Good Night and Good Luck

This was the first of the movies we watched last night and it’s a strong contender, in my mind, for an Oscar. Filmed in black and white it was both a look back at a day-gone-by in television journalism and a scathing critique of the current political climate. No, it was not as apparent as Michael Moore’s work. But it was, perhaps, more effective because of that. The secondary tension — the story of Robert Downey Jr.’s and Patricia Clarkson’s characters — added dimension to the film.

2. North Country

We caught this film at a sneak preview and were immediately taken by the role that the scenery played in the movie. The overhead shots showed how big and desolate parts of this country could be — and how the mines played such a large role in everyday life in the communities that housed them. The story, I understand, was fictionalized to add dimension and drama to it, but I thought that the Charlize Theron did an amazing job showing how trapped someone could be even when there are purportedly other options available to them.

3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Oh, no! The press cried. This movie is rated PG-13! It’s dark. Bad things happen. Maybe children shouldn’t see it. Well, the series was never intended for six-year-olds. And bad things happen in the series (and in this movie) because bad things happen in real life (and children are aware that bad things lurk under the bed and around the corner and in the woods). Read a Grimms or Anderson fairy tale if you doubt me. These are stories to be read lightly. And neither is Rowling. And, as such, neither should be the movies based on her works. This movie, I thought, best captured the spirit of the book it was based on, even as it re-arranged, tweaked, or eliminated storylines. I winced every time it happend with the third movie. This time I understood and just went on enjoying a fine story.

4. Pride and Prejudice

Rudi and I got the opportunity to see this movie in the area in which it was set, written, and filmed and that may have unduly influenced how much I enjoyed it. Or it could be because I’m a sucker for Jane Austen’s works. Or it could be because it was an impressive portrayal of a story that still rings true today — how two people who are sure of themselves in some ways are not sure of themselves in other ways and how that can influence both how they view each other and how scenarios unfold. Yes, Keira Knightly portrayed a more free and outdoorsy Elizabeth than in the books or in previous adaptations. But her Elizabeth remains true to the Austen character and will be found endearing and sympathetic by modern young women.

5. The Family Stone

This movie will not appear in anyone else’s Top 10 list and I’m okay with that. But it worked for me — and not just because our Christmas was a bit awkward this year. The movie focused on the story of a large, intellectual New England family and one uptight New York woman who came home with her boyfriend to spend Christmas with his family. I liked the family dynamics (perhaps because I, too, come from an intellectual New England family), I liked the characters, and I liked how the story was more than the commercials made the movie out to be.

6. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

I will admit here and now that I have never read any Douglas Adams. I tried to start one of his books when I was a teenager and couldn’t get into it. I never picked another one up again. But seeing this film made me want to explore his works because it was truly imaginative (even if parts of the movie were changed to make them more appealing to audience members like me) — from the opening scene of singing dolphins to the endearingly depressed robot, Marvin.

7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I admit here and now that I have not read C.S. Lewis’ series in many, many years and that I harbor a fondness for it because it was the book that the public librarian read to our school class when she came to tell us about the new library our town had opened and how we could each come downtown and get a library card of our own. But I did enjoy the series as a child and have put off re-reading the books until I’d had a chance to see the movie. The children were endearing (even if the boy who played Edmund eerily and distractingly resembled Robert Downey Jr.), the special effects were impressive (but didn’t take over the movie), and the witch was convincingly mesmerizing. [My only complaint (and this is a complaint about literature and movies, in general) is that the characters who follow evil are not always ugly and immediately off-putting. Authors and filmmakers have learned that villains must sometimes be beautiful and beguiling (because that makes it easier to draw followers in), but they haven’t yet learned that sometimes the beautiful and the smart and the ordinary are drawn in and become followers and do ugly things. But that is a side note and not a complaint against just this movie…]

8. Wallace and Gromit in ‘The Case of the Were-Rabbit’

If you haven’t seen the Wallace and Gromit shorts, run yourself down to the video store or rearrange your NetFlix account to get them with utmost haste. They are works of genius. The full-length movie version was a worthy heir to their legacy, and will be, I hope, merely the first in a long line of movies featuring this most British of British duos. Wallace is a mildly mad inventor. Gromit is his lovable dog and more sensible helpmeet. And Ardman Studios is the successor to the Rankin-Bass stop animation genre, taking claymation creations to new levels of complexity. And if you’ve ever been plagued by rabbits or crops of huge vegetables, you’ll want to make sure you catch this movie.

9. Napoleon Dynamite

Yes, I know that this movie came out in 2004. But I didn’t see it until 2005. So it makes this year’s list. Gosh! And it makes this year’s list because it features a trio of teenage heroes who are real teenagers leading real teenager lives. They don’t climb through coat closets to alternative lives or wake up to discover they are wizards expected to rid the universe of evil. They just have to try to survive high school and wacky home lives and awkward formals. They run for school council. They bike around town. They try to raise enough money to eventually leave home. They try to acquire real life skills: “You know, like nunchuck skills, bowhunting skills, computer hacking skills… Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.” And they charm with the greatest of ease.

10. Millions

Few have seen this movie, but it’s worth renting if you missed it at the theater. The boys are sweet and the father’s depiction as a suddenly single parent seemed realistic (even if the switch away from the pound sterling did not — and the idea that old banknotes would suddenly become worthless even less so). But what made this movie rate a top ten nomination had to be the use of magical realism (used most often in South American literature) as a plot device, with saints coming to life to guide the action of the younger son. It was a piece of brilliance and makes the story’s author, Frank Cottrell Boyce, someone worth watching.

Other movies which came just missed the cut were The Producers, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Saved, Station Agent, Ray, Finding Neverland, Warm Springs (which was an HBO made-for-tv movie that should earn Cynthia Nixon some awards for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt), and Pieces of April (which was released a couple of years ago, but which I didn’t see until last month).

Movies which I meant to be able to consider, but which will have to be postponed for contention until the 2006 list include Brokeback Mountain, Rent, Walk the Line, Mad Hot Ballroom, Junebug, and Off the Map.

Worst movie I saw this year? I think it was Monster-in-Law.