1. Howl's Moving Castle - Another charming and magical film from Hayao Miyazaki. Calcifer is my new animated hero.



2. Dear Frankie - This small family drama was just so gosh darn sweet and sad that I had to wring out my shirt at the end of it. In fact, I'm choking up just thinking about it.



3. Strings - OK, so imagine Lord of the Rings meets classic Shakespearean tragedy—all played out by marionettes. I am SO not kidding! Amazing. It never went past the film festival circuit, but you can find it on video.



4. Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - An instant cheeky classic on par with their cult-favorite short films. "The bounce has gone from his bungee!" This movie had me grinning from start to finish.



5. Me and You and Everyone We Know - SIFF suprised us all by scoring with this as their opening night movie. It is a quirky, funny, and affectionate look at a gaggle of odd folks in one community, and has the single best (and most hilarious) scene of online chatting I've ever seen in a movie.



6. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Some like Harry Potter, but I preferred this wide-eyed and magical adaptation of the classic children's story. Beavers holding hands? It is hard to go wrong, really.



7. Mongolian Ping-Pong - Boys out in the nomadic plains of Mongolia find a ping-pong ball in a river. They first think it is an amazing pearl, then through misunderstanding, believe it is the "national ball," so it must be returned to Bejing. This film has the most perfect closing shot in any film all year.



8. The 40-Year-Old Virgin - "We're gonna need more wax!" Funny Steve Carell + sexy Catherine Keener, surrounded by a great supporting cast, and a hilarious script. What more do you need?



9. Nobody Knows - As gentle and unassuming as the four children who star in it, this tale of siblings abandoned in an apartment by their mother seems almost like a documentary. This small film quietly breaks your heart.



10. Walk the Line - I was hooked from the opening scene, where the camera eavesdrops outside the thumping walls of Folsom Prison, where Johnny Cash performed his triumphant concert after kicking drugs and finally winning June Carter.

A Few That Could Have Easily Made the Cut:

Oldboy, The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, In My Father's Den.

ABBA: The Movie. Fully restored. In souped-up stereophonic sound. With Sing-Along lyrics. Shown on the monstrous Cinerama screen. Need I say more? I think I burst into tears and then blacked out.

Breast Performance:

That perky earnest woman from The 40-Year-Old Virgin's Date-A-Palooza scene. Let's just say she displayed her best assets in the interview.

A Line That Made Me Smile and Nod My Head Knowlingly:

"When I see a baby dog, I want to put it in my mouth." - Cal, from the deleted scenes on The 40-Year-Old Virgin DVD.

Best Breakdown of Actors' Composure Onscreen:

Seeing Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, and "waxing lady" Miki Mia completely lose it as Steve Carell gets his chest waxed—FOR REAL—in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Best Point-of-View Shots:

Naomi Watts' perpective when she is initially picked up and tossed about by Kong in King Kong, and the shot taken by Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man, camera pointing backwards (and wobbling all over the place), as he is chased across a field by a friendly fox (not to be confused with the unfriendly grizzly who eats him).

Guilty Pleasures:

Four Brothers and Assault on Precinct 13 (I feel so butch! Rrrahr!)

Guilty, No Pleasure:

Elektra. MAN, that movie blew.

Best-Looking Movies (And Both Happened to be Black and White!):

Sin City and Good Night and Good Luck

  

Biggest Disappointments:

2046, Flightplan, The Brothers Grimm, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Most Unintentionally Hilarious Death Scene:

In Revenge of the Sith, a robot announces flatly, "She has lost the will to live..." as Padme (Natalie Portman) abruptly dies in childbirth, leaving a beautiful corpse..

While, In the Meantime...:

Luckily for George Lucas, Anakin's ultimate transformation from crispy-critter on the lava beds to Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith is geniunely disturbing.

Most Fun to Be Had at the Movies in 2005:

The midnight show of Sing-Along Purple Rain, hosted by drag-queen extraordinnaire Peaches Christ. Who'da thought that singing "The Beautiful Ones" with 800 + friends would be so invigorating?
"I may not know where I’m going, babe (WOOO!) / YEAH! I said I may not know what I need / One thing, one thing’s 4 certain baby / I know what I want, yeah / And if it please u baby / Please u, baby / I’M BEGGING DOWN ON MY KNEES / I WANT U! / WOOO! / YES I DO!" Boy, is it hot in here? (For explanation of my excitement, see my list of Guilty Pleasures)

Joan Allen! Who'da thunk it? At SIFF's "Afternoon With Joan Allen", Ms. Allen charmed the pants off the Seattle audience by being so funny, sweet, self-effacing and gosh darn cute that everyone just wanted to scoop her up, give her a warm hug, and invite her out for a cuppa.

Oh Yeah Baby, I Called This One:

At SIFF, I saw this great New Zealand film In My Father's Den with this unknown to me hunka hunka man named Matthew MacFadyen. I said to myself, "I don't know who this guy is, but he could be the next Russell Crowe! He's sexy, intellectual, brooding, and a heck of a screen presence!" And wouldn't you know it? Half a year later, there he was onscreen playing Mr. Darcy to Keira Knightley's Elisabeth Bennett in the remake of Pride & Prejudice!

And, Finally, Shout-Outs to Two Special Moviepie Moments:

• The 'Pie Pals, including Jennifer, Tim, myself, and Vickie (from freakin' Toronto!) finally get together in one room to stare mutely at each other... I mean to get along famously—in person!—eatin' french toast and of course PIE! Good times! Good times!
• And my college pals Joel and Keith, having great success—including winning SIFF's Golden Space Needle AND Grand Jury Prize—for their film The Raftman's Razor. I'm so proud of you guys! Yay!