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It’s the last week of 2005, and hecklerspray is continuing it’s relentless pursuit of finding all the best stuff of the last 12 months.

Yesterday we looked at the best CD of the year, and today we’re looking at the best movie of 2005. What did the hecklerspray writers like and love on the big screen over the last year? Be warned, though. 2005 was the year of Fantastic Four and The Island, so we’re not exactly setting our sights very high here…

Chris Lake, CEO, hecklerspray
2005 was a rotten year for movies.
However, Paddy ‘best actor in the world’ Considine (who we’d love to
interview… Paddy, get in touch…) did a fine job in Dead Man’s
Shoes (DVDs), which is by anybody’s standards a cracking revenge movie. I also
enjoyed Wayne Ewing’s Breakfast With Hunter, not that it was released
in 2005. Downfall was astonishing too…

Stuart Heritage, editor, hecklerspray
A History Of Violence (Book/CDs) has to be the most
relentlessly depressing film I’ve ever sat though. Apart from Requiem
For A Dream, but that film just took the piss. A History Of Violence
is, at heart, a simple story – a man is unable to hide his past as a
killer – but it never ever flinches from showing the effects of
violence in explicit detail. A man’s been shot in the jaw? Show him on the
floor with his face in bits gargling frothy blood. A man gets shot from
behind? Cover everyone in his guts. And – most of all – the drawn out,
uneasy final scene has been the only part of any film this year that made me stagger out of the cinema like a confused zombie. Also, King Kong was good, but I might have been the only person in the world who actually went to see it.

C J Davies, writer, hecklerspray
Although 2005 saw the most impressive popcorn
blockbuster in recent memory – Batman Begins – and an Oscar-tipped
comedy that actually deserved the hype – Sideways – my favourite cinema
experience of the year has to go to a picture which contains the
immortal line: "You motherfucker! You broke my sitar!" Dig! (DVDs), a
nine-year-spanning documentary chronicling the disturbing yet hilarious
exploits of once-best-buddy bands The Dandy Warhols and The Brian
Jonestown Massacre, Dig! essentially followed the tumultuous breakdown
of BJM frontman Anton Newcombe and his band of not-so-merry misfits.
Beyond belief, beyond fiction and beyond entertaining – a stone cold
cult classic.

Chris Laverty, writer, hecklerspray
I don’t like worthy foreign movies. I like
popcorn. It’s not because of the subtitles either; I always put them on
a DVD anyway because I can’t understand some American accents. Batman
Begins (DVDs) is my kind of movie. It’s adult in tone (despite its ridiculous
premise), the performances are subtle, the new Batmobile rocks and the
script is tighter than a gnat’s posing pouch. I didn’t like the forced
‘pick ourselves up’ stuff with Michael Caine, but that’s a minor moan.
Best surprise of 2005 and best movie of 2005. Cannot wait to see what
they do with the sequel.

Shawn Lindseth, writer, hecklerspray
The honour of 05’s film goes to an indie film
featuring my grandmother knitting pink sweaters from start to finish,
using nothing but yarn and golden glitter. It starts out slow, but when
it climaxes in the wrist cuffing, you realise it’s time well spent.
Really though, the honour goes to the underrated hiphopper Hustle And
Flow… who am I kidding, I didn’t watch that. It looks less inviting
than a skinned med school cadaver. My honest opinion for best movie of
‘05 is Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (DVDs), for the part where dolphins
jumped into space, and others.

Dd W, writer, hecklerspray
Sin City (DVDs)- that excitingly ambitious film everyone was
talking about – definitely lived up to the hype. Sin City was tough,
cool, and stylish, – a truly vivid cinematic experience. A comic book
work of art for the big screen, faithful to the original Frank Miller
stories. I loved the cold-as-ice film noir look, highlighted with
splashes of colour (including a new shade called ‘bastard yellow’) the
fast paced cartoon-style violence, and classy cheesy lines such as -
“Kill’em for me Marv, kill’em good.” followed by a feminine pout. Or,
my personal favourite “You’ll always be mine. Always… and never.” It
made me want to read the book.

Nick Levine, writer, hecklerspray
Mrs Henderson Presents. Quite
frankly I’d have paid double the £6.70 just for the bit where Dame Judi
Dench spits out the word “pussy” as though she’s just discovered that
her mouth’s been filled with oil-coated seagull feathers. And the rest
of the film’s not bad either.

Joanna Sim, writer, hecklerspray
The comedy chemistry between Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson made Wedding Crashers (DVDs) a favourite film of mine this year, throw in a bit of romance and a bit of slapstick and you’ve got something for everyone. But all that aside, I can’t lie, I only went to see it for a big perv-fest over the oddly beautiful, crooked nosed Owen Wilson.

Jack Johnson, writer, hecklerspray
That would have to be the stunning
Downfall (DVDs). Ignore this crap about Hitler being portrayed as a
kind-hearted genocidist. It’s simply balls! The film recreates the
paranoia, fear and insanity featured in Adolf’s cosy bunker. His final
days are very convincing and extremely gripping throughout. Most
importantly, after the film, I came out thinking how the Second World
War was such a waste of time, lives and money.

So that’s our tuppence-worth; coming up later today – friends of hecklerspray choose their best movies of the year. But what about you? What flicks rocked your world in 05? Leave your comments below…