2005 Best Reviewed Movies (Page #6)

The film recounts the dramatic story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre—and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it. Eric Bana stars as the Mossad agent charged with leading the band of specialists brought together for this operation.

Inspired by actual events, the narrative is based on a number of sources, including the recollections of some who participated in the events themselves.

"Sin City" stars Bruce Willis as Hartigan, a cop with a bum ticker and a vow to protect stripper Nancy (Jessica Alba); Mickey Rourke as Marv, the outcast misanthrope on a mission to avenge the death of his one true love, Goldie (Jaime King), and Clive Owen as Dwight, the clandestine love of Shelley (Brittany Murphy), who spends his nights defending Gail (Rosario Dawson) and her Old Towne girls (Devon Aoki and Alexis Bledel) from Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro), a dirty cop with a penchant for violence.

"Match Point" represents a departure for native New Yorker Woody Allen, the majority of whose films lovingly depict New York and—not always so lovingly—New Yorkers. Crossing the Atlantic for the first time in his film career, Allen set "Match Point" in London, where it was also filmed. The film is described as a melodrama about many things -- ambition, the seduction of wealth, love, sexual passion and, most importantly, the huge part luck plays in events as opposed to the comforting misconception that more of life is under our control than it really is.

Bree is a perfectly adjusted conservative transsexual woman. Born Stanely, a genetic male, she's about to take the final step to becoming the woman Stanley always wanted to be - until she finds out that she is the parent of a long-lost 17 year-old son. Afraid to tell the rebellious teenager the truth, Bree embarks on a journey with him that will challenge and change both their lives and bring them closer to the truth of their connection.

Based on Ann Brashares' best-selling novel about a special 16th summer in the lives of four lifelong friends. The film stars Alexis Bledel, Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrara and Blake Lively as four 16-year-old best friends who are separated for the first time. On a last shopping trip together, the girls find a pair of thrift-shop jeans that fits each of them perfectly and they decide to use these "magic" pants as a way of keeping in touch over the months ahead, each girl wearing the jeans for a week to see what luck they bring her before sending them on to the next. Though miles apart, the four friends still experience life, love and loss together in a summer they'll never forget.

"The Holy Girl", Martel intimately explores the burgeoning sexuality and religious fervor of two teenage girls, Amalia (María Alche) and her best friend, Josefina (Julieta Zylberberg). Artfully piecing together a mosaic of nuanced details, fragments of sounds, and small moments, Martel creates a potent and specific portrait of adolescent life. In the town of La Ciénaga, Amalia lives with her attractive, divorced mother, Helena (Mercedes Morán), and her uncle, Freddy (Alejandro Urdapilleta), in the crumbling, run-down Hotel Termas, which her family owns and runs. After choir rehearsals the girls gather in the parish church for further instruction in faith and vocation. What does God want from me? How do I discern between the temptation of the Devil and the calling of God? In between the teachings, the girls gossip and whisper secretively. The lives of the girls and their families intersect with those of a group of visiting orhinolaryngologists (ear, nose and throat specialists) staying at the hotel for a medical convention, including the married, middle-aged Dr. Jano (Carlos Belloso). One day, a crowd of people gather in the street to watch a man play an unusual, exotic instrument: a theremin. Amalia is in the crowd when a man standing behind her presses himself sexually against her. Later, in the hotel, she discovers that this man is Dr. Jano, one of the doctors attending the conference. Amalia finds herself drawn to the Doctor and for days she spies on him. Dr. Jano never notices her presence, but he does notice her mother, Helena. Helena greatly enjoys the attention from this man, but she has little hope as she knows he is married and has a family. Days afterward Amalia confides in Josefina what occurred in the street with Dr. Jano and of her secret mission: to save one man from sin. Dr. Jano becomes caught up in Amalia's web of good intentions and the respected doctor finds his world is on the brink of collapse when her adolescent obsession sets off a chain reaction of social catastrophe.

New York City is the most romantic place in the world – even if you're only 10 years old and falling in love for the first time. That's what young Gabe discovers as he pursues the object of his affections, his classmate Rosemary, in "Little Manhattan". The romantic comedy is about life, love and the Big Apple, as seen through the eyes of a fifth-grader.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe", the first in an exciting series of films in the making and based on the phenomenal bestselling novels, concerns a war between good and evil, pitting the magnificent lion Aslan against the forces of darkness in the magical world of Narnia. A White Witch has used her dark powers to keep Narnia in winter for 100 years, but it is foretold that four humans will be able to help Aslan break the spell. When the Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Susan, Edmund, and Peter - discover the magic of Narnia by entering the enchanted world through a wardrobe, the stage is set for a classic battle of epic proportions.

In the outrageous comedy Wedding Crashers, divorce mediators John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) are business partners and lifelong friends who share one truly unique springtime hobby–crashing weddings! Whatever the ethnicity of the wedding party–Jewish, Italian, Irish, Chinese, Hindu–the charismatic and charming duo always have clever back stories for inquisitive guests and inevitably become the hit of every reception, where they strictly adhere to their proven “rules of wedding crashing” to meet and pick up women aroused by the very thought of marriage.