On top of the death tolls in Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans contended with the Patriot Act, a ramping up of surveillance across the nation. was just four years out from 9/11 and in the midst of Bush’s War on Terror. Steven Spielberg’s “War of The Worlds” is not considered a classic like “ET” or “Close Encounters of The Third Kind,” the director’s two other alien movies.
Yet it’s perhaps the most relevant of any movie released that year. There’s a dark horse in this lineup, though, which usually doesn’t turn up in 2005’s “Best of” lists. Yet 2005 was full of films like “Rent,” “Munich” and “A History of Violence,” big budget movies good enough to be revered even fifteen years later.
It almost seems antiquated to imagine a major studio release that’s finely crafted. Today, most tentpole movies are part of a convoluted cinematic universe, critically panned or instantly forgettable. Be it undercutting the superhero myth, pulling Harry into a race war, simultaneously honoring and critiquing a classic film or depicting a gay relationship with honesty and depth, each one of these blockbusters did something brave and worthwhile. What do these have in common? They’re all produced by major studios like Universal and Warner Brothers, and are absolutely wonderful. In just 12 months, “Batman Begins,” “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,” “King Kong” and “Brokeback Mountain” all hit the screens.
