Screenhead

Continuing in our look back on the last decade, Screenhead examines the major movie events of the year 2005. For previous years, click to visit the article: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.

The Rise of Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow could have been one of those guys in Hollywood who had talent but no one would have heard of. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, and eventually started writing for acclaimed TV shows such as The Ben Stiller Show, and the influential The Larry Sanders Show. It seemed as if Apatow had a frustration between being a writer/director and a producer. He wrote, for example, the comedy series Freak and Geeks which was cancelled too soon despite the positive response. And when he produced, with comedies like Anchorman, he succeeded. But it was 2005 that finally saw Apatow receive the accolade and popularity that he deserved.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin was an unassuming yet surprisingly inventive comedy that was unexpectedly successful in its theatre run. Starring Steve Carell (who actually conceived of the idea) as the eponymous hero, the film follows his workmates’ attempts to get him laid, despite his initial resistance and embarrassment. What appeared to be a crude sex-comedy actually turned out to be a sweet, sincere, and thoroughly funny film, and perhaps the best comedy of the decade. Part of the film’s brilliance it attributable to Apatow’s trust in his cast. Many scenes were improvised, such as the amusing “You know how I know you’re gay” or “Hot grandma” conversations, and Apatow would often film with multiple cameras in order not to miss a great improvisation.

Not only did Virgin ensure Apatow’s career as a writer/director, it also made stars out of Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, both of which appeared in TV comedy previously, but since then have made their own way in the film industry. And of course the film confirmed that Carell is one of the best comedic actors around. Apatow’s follow up as writer/director was another funny-but-sweet rom com, Knocked Up, which fared even better in the box office than Virgin. This year saw the release of the amusing but overlong Funny People. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Apatow’s sense of honesty when dealing with comic issues, and his faith in acting talent, has led to a change in the comedy film sector, with Apatow-produced films such as Superbad, Pineapple Express, and Forgetting Sarah Marshell all proving that Apatow fully deserves his time at the top.

Brokeback Mountain

Homosexuality had been an issue dealt with in cinema before, and not just in arthouse cinemas. In and Out fared well in the box-office, Philadelphia scored Tom Hanks an Oscar, etc. But many of these films dealt with homosexuality as a political issue. In 2005 no one expected a story of two men in cowboy-country who had a passionate love-affair to be any more than a well-reviewed but limited release. But by the time Brokeback Mountain opened in the US in early December, it had already become a sensation. Not only were the lead performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and (especially) Heath Ledger exceptional, but Brokeback Mountain held the biggest per-theatre average outside of a Disney animated film, meaning that the film sold more available tickets than any non-kids film. Within days the buzz spread far and wide, despite being banned in a theatre in Utah, banned in all of China, and despite conservative criticism (Fox even reported that the film had burned out after its opening weekend, not realising that every film makes less money during weekdays than weekends).

The film worked not just as a “gay” film, but it was probably the most genuine romance film in years (indeed, the film’s posters intentionally resembled the posters for Titanic), directed tenderly by Ang Lee. Despite its numerous awards, the film failed to win Best Picture at the Oscars, instead going to the heavy-handed and patronising Crash. You can still hear the reaction when Jack Nicholson reads out the award, as it was considered certain to win. Its failure to do so led many to accuse the Academy of being homophobic. Nevertheless, Brokeback Mountain managed to outsell Crash, both in theatres and on DVD, by several times.

Brangelina And TomKat

If you thought Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman breaking up was big news, 2005 would have given you a fatal overload of celeb gossip. Cruise was back in the news again, this time dating the Dawson’s Creek star Katie Holmes (Holmes had a puppy-crush on him as a pre-pubescent). Cruise famously leaped about on Oprah’s show to profess his love for her. They soon got engaged and Holmes was brainwashed into Scientology. Together they have a child called Suri (delivered in a silent-birth, one of the many practices of the preposterous cult).

Meanwhile, the relationship of 90’s stars Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston fell apart in 2005, amidst rumours that Pitt and voluptuous Angelina Jolie were having a passionate fling during the filming of Mr and Mrs Smith. Soon, Jolie and Pitt got together, attempting to adopt as many children (possibly to start an army for their island/fortress Brangelania) as possible. This year saw rumours that their relationship is rocky, while some say Anniston is on the way to getting her man back.

Going Greenscreen

Most, with the exception of Quentin Tarantino (who erroneously claims he’s this generation’s Sergio Leone), had written Robert Rodriguez off as a maker of throwaway action and children’s flicks (Once Upon a Time in Mexico or the Spy Kids movies). But such a perception was blown away by the trailer of Sin City, an adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel. Miller was known to resent Hollywood adaptations, so Rodriguez invited him over to the filming of one scene (which became the film’s opening), and impressed Miller so much he signed up as co-director (and also makes a cameo as a corrupt priest).

The film was one of the first films to be shot entirely against green-screen, and instead of using it to create a sense of reality, it utilised digital effects to create an expressionist film-noir world, where everything is in black-and-white except for key objects, such as blood, or the yellow skin of a deformed serial killer. Rodriguez did so in order to remain faithful to the comic (which he called a translation, not an adaptation), using it as his storyboard. It was a wise decision, and the film’s impressive style created an absorbent ultraviolent world, complete with impressive cast (Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, etc).

Sadly, Sin City started a trend of ambitionless comic-book “translations”. Dawn of the Dead remake director Zack Synder made a vacuous version of Miller’s 300 and a disappointing adaptation of Watchmen, and even Frank Miller himself directed the box-office stinker The Spirit. All of these films failed to realise the gap between comic books and films (as Harrison Ford echoed when reading script of Empire Strikes Back, “you can write this shit, but you can’t say it”), with many characters and lines of dialogue being painfully bad. And of course all of these films displayed how the directors failed to use their own creativity to adapt each scene in a uniquely cinematic way, instead relying too heavily on the comic book, and not imbuing their project with a life of its own.

Trailer Mashups

Home editing was not particularly new to this decade. In fact, when he worked in a video store, Quentin Tarantino claimed he used to re-edit films like Star Wars to suit them better to his taste. But this decade saw the release of so many free video-editing programmes , not to mention the ease of compressing DVDs into editable files, enabling fans and movie-buffs to cut up films to their liking. In 2003 NYU student Spencer Summers decided to combine footage of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ to the rousing music of Kill Bill, entitling the clip Kill Christ. And thus the trailer mashup was born (it’s worth noting that this decade also saw music mashup rise to prominence , led by the Belgian act 2 Many DJs). Kill Christ made the rounds as people sent it to friends to share the joke, and seemed to be promptly forgotten.

But in 2005 a competition held by the Association of Independent Creative Editors led to the recut of The Shining turning up on Youtube. The video used footage of Kubrick’s horror movie and added schmaltzy music (namely Phil Collins’s Solsbury Hill) and a clichéd voice-over to turn it into a family-oriented comedy-drama. It was hilariously effective, and also proved how manipulative a trailer can be, often making it more exciting (like this year’s The Road) or funnier (pretty much every comedy, although The Break-Up was a perfect example of where the only funny lines were in the trailer) than the actual film. Since then there has been a spate of amusing mash-up trailers, including the Brokeback Mountain/ Back to the Future combo Brokeback to the Future, or the cutting of Mary Poppins to turn it into a horror.

We Said Goodbye to: VHS

It may not seem like it now, but VHS revolutionised the way we watched movies and TV shows. It enabled people to save their favourite TV shows and also to buy their favourite movies at a fraction of the cost of any other method at the time. VHS almost didn’t make it into the 80’s. Much like the Blu-Ray/HDDVD war that this decade saw, VHS went to war against Betamax, a technically superior format, and won due to Betamax tapes only being able to record for an hour, whereas VHS could record from 2-4 hours. These bulky boxes of plastic provided people with access to an unprecedented amount of films, with each year seeing a plethora of new and old films being released. Just like the music cassette, VHS also provided endless opportunities for movie piracy, hence those embarrassingly bad warning ads in front of most official feature films. Of course, VHS had its limits. The quality was poor, and the reuse of blank tapes saw further generational quality loss.

Still, the format had about 20 years of market dominance until its younger, sleeker rival appeared in the form of DVD in 1997. VHS made a quick decline when DVD RW’s became easily available. Stores gradually phased out the sale of videos, both blank and pre-recorded. The final nail on the coffin was in 2005, when it was announced that A History of Violence would be the last ever film to be released on video. Up until this year, you could still buy DVD-VHS combo recorders, although they were mostly to transfer your remaining precious home videos to DVD quickly. While it is about time our consumer technology was upgraded to the likes of DVD and Blu-Ray, it is worth noting that there are still many TV shows and films that are not available on DVD, even though they were on VHS. And with DVD sales diminishing and Blu Ray rising, we may see a case of technological progression tripping over itself and forgetting many important titles in its attempts to keep up.

Films of the Year

Sin City
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Syriana
Grizzly Man
The Squid and the Whale

By Eoin O’Faolain

Future Years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Anything you think we’ve missed? Anything you disagree with? Let us know on the comments below!

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