CS Weekly Archive > The Big Picture > 1/06/06

The Best (and Worst) Films of 2005

edited By david michael wharton

Writers, editors, and staff from Creative Screenwriting Magazine and CS Weekly pitch in to give you our picks for the best scripts of the year.

Another year has come and gone, leaving behind fond memories, a few regrets…and lists. Lots and lots of lists. It seems that every organization that can afford an acronym is announcing their picks for the best and brightest 2005 had to offer. Well, here at CS Weekly, we already had the acronym, so it would be remiss of us not to give you the lists.

These are our picks for 2005's finest examples of screenwriting, as selected by the Creative Screenwriting family: writers from Creative Screenwriting Magazine and CS Weekly, as well as the folks behind the scenes at Screenwriting Expo and the Expo Seminar DVDs. These are the people without whom neither publication nor Expo nor DVDs would ever see the light of day.

Just be glad we didn't hash out these lists in the same room with each other…blood would have been spilled.


Jim Cirile, columnist, "Agent's Hot Sheet," CS
1) Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan and David Goyer)
Second-best superhero movie ever (after 1978's Superman.)
2) Capote (Dan Futterman)
Thrilling character writing and razor-sharp structure.
3) Syriana (Stephen Gaghan)
The opposite of escapist cinema -- gripping and important.
4) A History of Violence (Josh Olson)
Bold adaptation, well realized.
5) Wedding Crashers (Steve Faber and Bob Fisher)
Big, dumb, popular: works perfectly.

Catherine Clinch, associate publisher, columnist, "You've Got To Produce," CS
1) The Constant Gardener (Jeffrey Caine)
John Le Carre has said that nothing he discovered in the decades he wrote about the Cold War disturbed him as much as what he discovered while writing about the pharmaceutical industry. What more do you need to send you racing to the multiplex?
2) Proof (David Auburn and Rebecca Miller)
It is said that there is no competition as brutal and cut-throat as the one between two academics who are trying to discover a new theory. Complicating this scenario is the troubled relationship between an aging mathematics professor who is slipping in and out of lucidity and his brilliant daughter who dances frantically between the fear that she will either disappoint her father or surpass him with her own discovery. Proof is a haunting and beautiful reflection of the relationship between the screenwriter and her own father.
3) Crash (Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco)
In a stunning sequence of seemingly unrelated events, we become witnesses to the head-on collision of race, class, and culture in modern Los Angeles. Crash offers a masterful interweaving of the lines of love and hate that define humanity at its best and at its worst.
4) Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney and Grant Heslov)
Sometimes the greatest moments of history are written in the smallest decisions of simple, quiet men who experience a crisis of conscience and can no longer remain silent. Every detail rings true -- especially the filmmaker's decision to cast Senator Joseph McCarthy as himself.
5) Syriana
Built upon the mythical think-tank design of a Middle Eastern oil-producing state that would provide ideal conditions to support US interests, Syriana explores the defining moments of a man for whom the line between right and wrong has always been negotiable. A fascinating character study of a man in a world most of us would never want to see.

Peter Clines, writer, CS and CSW
1) Batman Begins
Actually makes us understand and believe why (and how) a victimized little boy could grow up to fight crime in a bat costume.
2) King Kong (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, based on the story by Merian Cooper and Edgar Wallace)
Using Cooper and Wallace's original 1933 story, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Phillipa Boyens fleshed out the situations and characters to make a three hour script about a giant ape that's gripping and honestly touching without being overly silly.
3) Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Simon Kinberg)
Kinberg could've taken the easy way out with his story of two married assassins, but instead made his script more about their failing marriage than the frequent gunfire.
4) Sky High (Paul Hernandez, Robert Schooley, Mark McCorkle)
A vastly underrated story, it's probably the best four-quadrant film of the year -- a superhero-teen-rom-com-coming-of-age story.

Jason Davis, DVD manager, CSW
1) Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
It made me feel.
2) Crash
It made me think.
3) Bad Education (Pedro Almodóvar)
[Ed. note - technically released in late 2004, but Jason has been shackled to the DVD-reviewing desk all year, so he hasn't gotten to the theater much.]
It made me remember.
4) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams and Karey Kirkpatrick)
It made me laugh.
5) Batman Begins
It made me smile.

Jeff Dobberpuhl, legal counsel, CS Publications
1) King Kong
Kong is king. The story was well executed. The division of three mini-stories was brilliant and made for a very enjoyable ride.
2) Serenity (Joss Whedon)
The show proves "space adventure" is not dead. It just needs someone to make it fun.
3) Batman Begins
Yes, you can make a good superhero film.
4) Sin City (Based on the comics by Frank Miller)
Film Noir meets Graphic Novel Noir. This was top-notch across the board.
5) Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit (Steve Box, Nick Park, Bob Baker, Mark Burton)
Now this is clever filmmaking combined with gentle humor for adults and children. What's not to like?

Ari Eisner, writer, CSW
1) Munich (Tony Kushner and Eric Roth)
A philosophical thinkpiece on morality wrapped up in a 70s action thriller.
2) King Kong
Stirring action, heartfelt emotion. Everything movies are about.
3) Match Point (Woody Allen)
Woody Allen re-enters Crimes and Misdemeanors (still his best film to date) territory again. His writing hasn't been this clever or spellbinding in years.
4) Brokeback Mountain (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana)
Most believable love story of the year.
5) Crash
The best interweaving of multiple storylines since Short Cuts. One of the smartest films on race relations ever written.

Jason Fogelson, writer, CSW
1) Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
Jarmusch's most cohesive narrative to date, vivid characterizations, spare dialogue, and deep soul.
2) Millions (Frank Cottrell Boyce)
Boyce maintains the child's point of view throughout this inventive script without dulling the insights for adults.
3) Mrs. Henderson Presents (Martin Sherman)
A sensitive, funny script that manages to be fluff and deeply moving at the same time.
4) The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach)
An original, quirky, and inspired retelling of an oft-told tale -- a family falling apart at the seams.
5) The Weather Man (Steve Conrad)
The darkly comic script pulls no punches while putting the main character through the wringer, personally and professionally.

Jeff Goldsmith, senior editor, CS; CS Screening Series; CS Podcast
1) Munich
The narrative is completely aware of the times we live in while remaining authentic to the time it depicts, showing that even justified acts of vengeance have moral and ethical consequences that at times become as violent as the inciting incident that set the cycle in motion.
2) The Squid and the Whale
A well-crafted character-driven ensemble drama and comedy that escalates the divorce genre into a more realistic plane than it's existed in for years while simultaneously taking time to breathe a hefty helping of emotional truth into all four of its central characters.
3) Good Night, and Good Luck
A unique melding of scripted archival re-enactment and fictional storytelling breaks out of the genre's norms and produces a script that exhibits the best of what both the docu-drama and a traditional drama have to offer.
4) A History of Violence
The characters are so well written that when the protagonist is shown to have a villainous past, the audience continues rooting for him because violence seems to be his only path toward salvation -- a true feat for a script that shows how violence is buried ever so shallowly within each of us.
5) Walk the Line (Gil Dennis and James Mangold)
Rather than cop-out with a cradle-to-grave biopic, here we're shown an artist's truest passion - the woman he loves and how she influenced his music. It's a great example of how an emotional character arc adds more depth than a simplistic plotting out of a biopic's protagonist's milestones.

Sean Kennelly, writer, CS
1) Batman Begins
Has anyone done such an amazing job at resurrecting a franchise and giving us a character with depth we could care about? "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you," says it all. Great film.
2) King Kong
Late arrival, but beautifully done. Hats off to Peter Jackson, who kept the ship from veering into melodrama and yet told a visual story without using dialogue as a crutch.
3) Hitch (Kevin Bisch)
A romantic comedy that is not only truthful in it's laughs, but also manages the same level of honesty in addressing the jaded attitude many people have regarding dating and relationships in the modern age. Obviously written by someone who has lived life outside the Hollywood bubble.
4) Sahara (Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John C. Richards, James V. Hart)
Okay, this is my dark horse entry, but I was so captivated by the dialogue between Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn's characters. I could have listened to them for hours, and the movie was just plain fun. Not sure how that reflects on the book (I've never read it), but the film did its job in my opinion: it entertained me and didn't try to be something it wasn't.
5) Cinderella Man (Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman)
A great, inspiring story of a man pushed to his limits but willing to do anything for his family. A rare tale in today's society. Emotional honesty sans sentimentality, a rare combination. Kudos to writers Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman.

Matt Mason, writer, CSW
1) Cinderella Man
One of the most inspirational and uplifting movies this side of Shawshank.
2) Munich
One story, so many levels. And Spielberg, of course.
3) Crash
Someone finally said what we were all thinking.
4) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Steve Kloves)
They just keep getting better. Although it seems that Harry's friends are all better at magic than he is. Prove me wrong, Potter!
5) Jarhead (William Broyles, Jr.)
I need at least one good war movie a year. This was it.

Tom Matthews, writer, CS and CSW
1) Crash
Racial taboos laid bare with bracing courage and style.
2) The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow and Steve Carell)
A premise which could've been vulgar and cruel played out with a heart which never undercuts the comedy by turning mawkish.
3) The Squid and the Whale
An excruciating study of a "good" divorce, with the Jeff Daniels character as one of the most benignly destructive figures ever encountered in a movie.
4) Capote
A fascinating portrayal of the blurred lines and outright treachery a writer sometimes must cop to in order to get at a story worth telling.
5) Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Shane Black)
Black takes that "thing" for which he found fame, filters it through Tarantino and everything else that has come since Lethal Weapon, and comes up with a near-perfect movie which was horrendously ill-served by Warner Bros.

Deirdre McGill, writer, CSW
1) Crash
A movie about fully dimensional people in mostly realistic situations. Sounds easy to do, but "slice of life" stories are not so easy to execute.
2) Walk the Line
More than just a biopic; this movie -- modeled on East of Eden -- speaks volumes about the emotional slings and arrows we all face, but a true artist like Cash funnels this pain into an art form.
3) Munich
It has an originality of theme which elevates the story to another level, and for screenwriters that is the "hook" we all admire.
4) Good Night, and Good Luck
This is an important story told in an intelligent, relevant way, so I am nominating it instead of Munich, which would have been my other choice in this category of docu-drama.
5) Where the Truth Lies (Atom Egoyan)
Sometimes you just want to be entertained by a celebrity who lived through the '70s and remembers enough about that experience to make you wish you were a girl reporter able to seduce your subjects. I am nominating it for the strangely nostalgic feel that permeates this script and is missing from many of today's movie scripts written by people with no "sense memory" of the past.

Lauren Mongrain, Tween correspondent, CSW
1) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the fourth movie and book in the Harry Potter series. It is a fantastic movie for kids and adults because it is action packed, mysterious, and adventurous, with a touch of romance.
2) King Kong
King Kong is an action-packed, romantic movie. It has great special effects and keeps the old story from the original classic King Kong.
3) War of the Worlds (Josh Friedman and David Koepp)
War of the Worlds is a creepy, freaky movie and probably isn't good for young children. It is a high-action-packed scary kind of movie.
4) The Longest Yard (Sheldon Turner)
The Longest Yard is a comedy movie. It is good for a laugh and has an interesting plot.
5) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (John August)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is an old story that was a book and a movie. It was remade into a funnier version and is great for kids and adults.

Danny Munso, marketing manager, CS Publications
1) Munich
Not only the best of the year, but the best of this short century. Thrilling and thoughtful; epic and intimate, all at once.
2) Batman Begins
Luckily the writers knew that no one would care about the Batsuit if we didn't know who was inside it.
3) Walk the Line
Does the story of an American legend great justice, although as the owner of several Johnny Cash albums, I may be biased.
4) King Kong
The action scenes look great, but it's the love story that makes this special.
5) The Family Stone (Thomas Bezucha)
The only film of the year that brought a slight tear to my eye -- in a good way, I mean.

Tony Ross, art director, CS
1) Syriana
Gaghan does an amazing job of dramatizing very complicated material.
2) Millions
Another imaginative and funny script from Frank Cottrell Boyce.
3) Oldboy (Jo-yun Hwang, Chun-hyeong Lim, Joon-hyung Lim, Chan-wook Park)
Nice claustrophobic ticking clock script.
4) The Woodsman (Nicole Kassell and Steven Fechter)
Does a nice job tackling the touchy topic of pedophilia.

Reg Seeton, writer, CS and CSW
1) Walk the Line
Gives us a real-life hero that embodies everything a great story needs from its main character.
2) A History of Violence
A fantastic story that strikes to your conscience and brilliantly punishes you for indulging in cinematic violence.
3) Good Night, and Good Luck
A socially relevant story that offers rich symbolic substance and rare journalistic integrity.
4) Munich
Another bold and great move from one of the greatest storytellers of our generation. This time, he forces us to look inward to the past as it relates to who we are today. Are we any different?
5) Brokeback Mountain
A terrific story that proves that true love has no boundaries.

Den Shewman, editor in chief, CS and CSW
1) Millions
A bag of money from God, two brothers, and a handful of magical realism help tell Frank Cottrell Boyce's tale of two young brothers and a father trying to get past their mother's death. A light, human touch on what could have been a dark topic creates a film that gives you laughter and some greater issues to consider, and ends in a perfect, memorable way. Not to mention a percentage of the proceeds from the film and DVD are being donated to Water Aid, a non-profit dedicated to bringing sustainable clean water supplies (e.g., wells) to impoverished villages in Africa and Asia.
2) Wallace & Gromit: the Curse of the Wererabbit
The kings of the short go long in their first feature, and prove that they can keep the laughs coming (even if they may contain nuts).
3) Crash
Great drama, and a magic blanket that saves her daddy's life.
4) Batman Begins
The attention to thematic and philosophical detail in the characterization of not only Bruce Wayne but the villains and the supporting players overshadows any plot difficulties.
5) King Kong
Andy Serkis should win an Oscar for portraying the last surviving great ape, but Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens should be heralded for creating a friendship between woman and beast more meaningful than most you saw on screen last year.


Tom Stempel, CS editorial board
1) Beauty Shop (Kate Lanier, Norman Vance, Jr.)
Starts off with the most subversive dialogue exchange of the year ("Do these jeans make my butt look big?" "Yes." "Good!"), then develops into a series of running gags with a great payoff at the, you should pardon the expression, end.
2) Saving Face (Alice Wu)
The freshest, most charming and most observant romantic comedy in years.
3) The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Judd Apatow and Steve Carell blithely skate past a thousand moments which could have been total disasters to give us both grossness and sensitivity to the characters and their development, so much so that the musical finale, which should not work, does.
4) Good Night, and Good Luck
George Clooney and Grant Heslov's smart, perceptive look at the mass media of 50 years ago clearly reveals how much has changed and subtly reveals how much has not.
5) Pride & Prejudice (Deborah Moggach)
Moggach, with an uncredited dialogue assist from veteran Jane-ite Emma Thompson, gives us an Elizabeth Bennet readers of the novel actually recognize. They also reveal Elizabeth's intelligence in a variety of less-than-obvious ways, and provide great scenes for Donald Sutherland, Judi Dench, and Keira Knightley, who holds her own against the vets.

David Wharton, managing editor, CS Weekly
1) Batman Begins
I didn't think anyone could remove the stink Joel Schumacher left on the franchise, but Goyer and Nolan do just that by focusing on the broken, damaged man under the cowl, and not on merchandising tie-ins and architecture.
2) The 40-Year-Old Virgin
By letting the humor come naturally (if you'll pardon the expression) from the characters, and by never taking cheap shots at Andy's expense, the writers rise above (so to speak) the dozens of bawdy direct-to-video sex romps that seem to come out every other week.
3) Broken Flowers
It's funny, it's heartbreaking, and it reminds us that, even though sometimes we can't make up for past mistakes, we should never stop trying.
4) Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Sometimes too meta for its own good, but Black's script proves that he can still do that voodoo he once did so well. And I challenge you to find a more endlessly quotable movie this year.
5) Walk the Line
More focused than last year's Ray, Walk the Line examines a passionate man through his two most fervent passions: his music and the love of his life.


The Best of the Worst

Not every movie can be a winner. Here are some comments from the CS braintrust on those films that made us want our eight bucks back.

Aeon Flux (Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi)
It's like the indignity of discovering you accidentally bought tickets to a French film festival and they stiffed you on subtitles. Pain centers I was not aware of flared up during this movie.
Another writer adds: What happens when a script jumps the shark in favor of visuals? You get style over substance…and story.

Derailed (Stuart Beattie)
The single most frustrating movie of the year. Just do something, man!
Another writer adds: Just read the book.

Domino (Richard Kelly)
Have a bottle of aspirin handy if you're gonna deal with the idiocy of this one. There's logic I defy even the filmmakers to explain.
Another writer adds: A story that went in weird, unimaginable directions. Whose life was that, anyway?

Elektra (Zak Penn, Stu Zicherman, Raven Metzner)
Never before has a superhero movie been this boring, talky, unexciting, and pointless.

The Island (Caspian Tredwell-Owen, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci)
For a movie with an anti-abortion message, it comes across as one of the greatest arguments in favor of the practice. It's a movie so confounded by its own devices, it has no clue either what it is or, even worse, what it wants to be.

Land of the Dead (George A. Romero)
One of the worst-written movies of the year (because we don't get enough hate mail from George Romero fans). It's the same tired plot, gimmicks, and cheats he's done again and again (which, granted, means it's still a fun shooting-at-zombies movie). Even Romero admits the fans are making up anything more they read into it.

When not slaving away in the salt mines as managing editor of CS Weekly, David Michael Wharton somehow finds the time to write for publications such as Creative Screenwriting Magazine, Cinescape, and CinemaBlend.com. He hangs his hat in Texas.

From the Trenches
Working screenwriters discuss in their own words a particular aspect of screenwriting, from the mechanics of writing to the personal and professional impact that writing has had on their lives. > VIEW ARCHIVE

The Art of Craft
Screenwriting experts discuss how to approach various aspects of writing and the writing life. A mini-seminar each week from the people who write the books and teach the classes. > VIEW ARCHIVE

The Big Picture

Features that cover all aspects of screenwriting, from our "Seven Best" lists to analysis of old favorites and new classics. > VIEW ARCHIVE

Expert Witness
A panel of experts assembled to provide the facts about the screenwriting business. Readers will be able have their questions answered by an agent, producer, entertainment attorney, and WGA representative—and without paying that 10% commission. > VIEW ARCHIVE

Son of a Pitch
A weekly tutorial on how to write a script. Each week deals with a different element of creating a script, with the ultimate goal to provide a step-by-step instruction manual for new writers. The guide for this is a writer just diving into screenwriting himself, who asks the pros questions any new screenwriter would have about this brave new world. > VIEW ARCHIVE

Weekend Read
Film, book, web site and technology reviews from a writer’s perspective. How can these items help a writer on his or her journey, or make that journey more enjoyable? > VIEW ARCHIVE

DVD Review of the Day
DVD reviews from a writer’s point of view. What aspects of this script and features of this DVD illuminate the writing, development, and storytelling process? > VIEW ARCHIVE