2005 Best Reviewed Movies (Page #11)

Described as being in the vein of "About Schmidt" and "American Beauty". The story follows a divorced Chicago weatherman who is up for a new job on a network morning show in New York. As he is preparing to leave for the Big Apple, he must make peace with his ex-wife and kids.

A retro science-fiction epic set in Victorian England, Steam Boy features an inventor prodigy named Ra Stim who receives a mysterious metal ball containing a new form of energy capable of powering an entire nation. This young boy must use it to fight evil, redeem his family, and save London from destruction. The lush Victorian interiors and the elegance of the era's mechanical design allows Otomo to create dazzling visual backgrounds and machines for this film.

The escalating events begin when African-born U.N. translator Silvia Broome (Kidman) alleges that she has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand. With the words "The Teacher will never leave this room alive," in an instant, Silvia's life is turned upside down as she becomes a hunted target of the killers. Placed under the protection of federal agent Tobin Keller (Penn), Silvia's world only grows more nightmarish. As Keller digs deeper into his eyewitness' past and her secretive world of global connections, the more suspicious he becomes that she herself might be involved in the conspiracy. With every step of the way, he finds more reasons to mistrust her.

Set in the 1960s and 1970s, "Breakfast on Pluto" follows Patrick "Kitten" Brady (Cillian Murphy), a kid who escapes from his foster home in Ireland and becomes a transvestite and performer in London.

"Last Days" is filmmaker Gus Van Sant's meditation on the inner turmoil that engulfs a brilliant, but troubled, musician in the final hours of his life. Michael Pitt stars as Blake, an introspective artist who is buckling under the weight of fame, professional obligations, and a mounting feeling of isolation. "Last Days" follows Blake through a handful of hours he spends in and near his wooded home, a fugitive from his own life. It is a period of random moments and fractured consciousness, fused by spontaneous bursts of rock & roll. Expanding on the elliptical style forged in his two previous films, "Gerry" and the Palme d'Or-winning "Elephant", Van Sant layers images and sounds to articulate an emotional landscape, creating a dynamic work about a soul in transition.

Charlie Price sets out to rescue his dad's ailing Northampton Shoe Factory with the help of a sassy Soho cabaret star named Lola by manufacturing erotic women's boots.

When David (Mark Ruffalo) sublet his quaint San Francisco apartment, the last thing he expected—or wanted—was a roommate. He had only begun to make a complete mess of the place when a pretty young woman named Elizabeth (Reese Witherspoon) suddenly shows up, adamantly insisting the apartment is hers. David assumes there's been a giant misunderstanding…until Elizabeth disappears as mysteriously as she appeared. Changing the locks does nothing to deter Elizabeth, who begins to appear and disappear at will—mostly to rebuke David for his personal living habits in her apartment. Convinced that she is a ghost, David tries to help Elizabeth cross over to the "other side." But while Elizabeth has discovered she does have a distinctly ethereal quality—she can walk through walls—she is equally convinced that she is somehow still alive and isn't crossing over anywhere. As Elizabeth and David search for the truth about who Elizabeth is and how she came to be in her present state, their relationship deepens into love. Unfortunately, they have very little time before their prospects for a future together permanently fade away.

In the 1970s, a group of teenage surfers from a tough neighborhood known as "Dogtown" in Venice, California pioneered a revolutionary new style of skateboarding. Riding the waves at the Pacific Ocean Park pier, the Z-Boyz, known for their aggressive style and hard street attitude, combined the death-defying moves of surfing with the art of skateboarding and became overnight sensations and local legends. With empty pools as their canvas, the Z-boyz paved the way to what is now referred to as "extreme sports," and created a lifestyle that spread infectiously to beomce a worldwide counterculture phenomenon. But all of this fame would take its toll on the friendships that they thought would last a lifetime as the sport that started out as an afternoon hobby turned into big business.

Sequel to "House of 1000 Corpses" is set some months later with the Texas State Police making a full-scale attack against the murderous Firefly family residence for the 1,000+ murders and disappearances of the past several years. But three of the family members escape, including Otis, Baby Firefly and Baby's father Captain Spaulding. The evil trio go on a road trip, leaving dozens of mangled bodies in their wake. Evading a massive Texas Rangers dragnet as well as a group of equally murderous bounty hunters led by Ken Dwyer (the brother of a policeman Mamma Firefly killed in 'House of...') who's obsessed with finding the deadly killers, the surviving Firefly clan gather at a run-down amusement park owned by Captain Spaulding's half-brother, Charlie Altamont, whom offers them shelter and a new base of operations for their killing spree as Sheriff Dwyer, the Texas Rangers, the FBI and others slowly close in.

Opal, a 10-year-old girl and the only daughter of a an emotionally distant preacher, is a lonely outsider looking for friends. Opal comes upon a mutt-like dog at the Winn-Dixie supermarket, and it's love at first sight. Together, the two open hearts and make friends wherever they travel. Now, Opal must open the heart of her father to learn about the mother who left her when she was only three-years-old. Opal learns that life is made up of love and loss—and that one can sometimes compensate for the other.

Mamie is being blackmailed. This filmmaker named Nick claims to know Mamie's son—the one she gave up for adoption—but Nick won't introduce her to him unless he can film the reunion. Enter Javier, Mamie's massage therapist boyfriend, who convinces Nick to film him instead. Now they're all making a movie about massage. And ‘happy endings'…

Charley has a longtime boyfriend named Gil. Their best friends, Pam and Diane, once tried using Gil as a sperm donor. They said his sperm didn't take, but Charley thinks those selfish, control-freak lesbians are lying. Pam and Diane's two-year-old son looks exactly like Gil. And it's time to set the record straight…

Jude is pissed. Not at anyone in particular. Just in general. When her cousin kicks her out of the house, Jude shacks up with Otis, who's still trying to convince his father, Frank, that he's straight. Frank's a widower. And he's rich. So Jude decides to sleep with him, too. Really. The last thing she expected was to fall in love…

Four zoo animals are shipped back to their homeland by an animal rights group that feels they belong in the wild. When the ship capsizes, the animals find themselves stranded in Madagascar. Having had humans care for them their entire life, they know nothing about survival and must work together with the locals to help them fit in.