Best films of the year, who says?

I surmise that my ideal reader is someone who is looking to add films to their Netflix queue, someone who appreciates the art of film but does not closely follow the critical consensus, so could use personalized recommendations to pick films to watch. The best snapshot of the critical consensus is available at Metacritic.com (see link in right column, or click on title below to go direct to Metacritic page for specific film), so I will take their list for last year and append my own ratings. My next posting will do the same for the more extensive and offbeat list from the Village Voice critics poll.

The "Search This Blog" box at the top of this page now seems to work pretty well, so if you want to see my comments in detail, you can find my review by typing the film's name in there. Let me remind you that a *7* is my threshold of positive recommendation; a *6* is a favorable grade but up to you, and a *8* is something I strongly urge you to see.

And let me get in an early plug for a very special "Brother to Brother Encore" at the Clark. If you will be within a reasonable radius of Williamstown on Saturday and Sunday, September 9th and 10th, mark your calendar for a rare screening of the #1 film on the list below -- the six-hour film The Best of Youth, originally made for Italian television, will be shown in two parts, starting at 1:00 pm each day.

The Best-Reviewed Movies of 2005 according to Metacritic ratings:

1. Best of Youth, The MC-89 *9-*
2. Capote MC-88 *6+*
3. Nobody Knows MC-88 *7*
4. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit MC-87 *7+*
5. Brokeback Mountain MC-87 *8*
6. Murderball MC-87 *7*
7. Grizzly Man MC-87 *7+*
8. Turtles Can Fly MC-85 *6*
9. Intruder, The MC-85 *NR*
10. Darwin's Nightmare MC-84 *7-*
11. Kings and Queen MC-84 *6+*
12. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride MC-83 *DNS*
13. Cache (Hidden) MC-83 *8*
14. White Diamond, The MC-83 *7*
15. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room MC-82 *8+*
16. Duma MC-82 *6*
17. Constant Gardener, The MC-82 *8-*
18. Memories of Murder MC-82 *DNS*
19. Pride & Prejudice MC-82 *7-*
20. Squid and the Whale, The MC-82 *8+*