More than any other film in 2005, Batman Begins flawlessly summed up everything that filmmaking is about — from the most epic to the most intimate.
An effortless balance of action, story, character, plot, and emotion that never falters from beginning to end. A magnificent achievement, certain to become a classic in years to come.

An astounding and towering achievement of cinematic magic, Mike Newell's entry in the Harry Potter series is the best yet.
Goblet of Fire takes the familiar cast and characters and integrates them into a living breathing world full of danger, whimsy and wonder.

A fantasy film that is as earnest and old-fashioned as Goblet of Fire is brash and modern, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is fairy tale storytelling masterfully executed.
This movie has more sincere heart than any other this year; it is a film full completely to the brim with love and sorrow.

The only think surprising about this compelling sci-fi western is that it isn't placed even higher.
Transitioning the cast of unknowns from my favourite failed TV series, Serenity fires along a mile a minute with action, humour, and gut-wrenching plot twists — the best movie of its type since the original Star Wars.

A total surprise, Bee Season is almost a dissertation on religion in our daily lives  — and a profound, awe-inspiring window into the greater truth behind them.
Part family drama, part radically abstract visual storytelling, it was for me one of the most unconventional and stirring experiences of the year — film-related or otherwise.

A visual masterpiece, Sin City is perhaps more notable for gritty noir storytelling that really, really works.
The nearly constant narration put me inside the heads of the characters like I thought only a novel could, and the characters themselves were flawed, compelling, and even likable at times.

Who would of thought that a movie so squarely aimed at the preteen girl demographic could be so weighty, so well-realized, or so true?
It is a lighter, less ambitious counterpoint to Rodrigo García's Nine Lives yet looking back I remember it as the more natural of the two — and the more potent.

The only truly serious fare on this list, it rose to the top by marrying poetic visuals with rhythmical storytelling.
The cynical political thriller elements are contrasted with an intimate personal story that I found quite optimistic and even uplifting.

Despite one of the worst first halves in cinema year, the final hour of Revenge of the Sith is so powerful that it raises the whole easily into top ten status.
That it would be tragic and emotional was pretty much certain; that it was so often surprising is really quite astounding.