Doug Schneider's picks...

Mischa Hayek's picks...

For me, King Kong and Brokeback Mountain were the two best films of 2005. My pick for number one could have gone either way -- the two movies are completely different: one a big-budget, special-effects-laden spectacle with astonishingly visual appeal, the other a low-budget drama that relies strictly on great storytelling and spectacular acting. While Brokeback Mountain is the more original and impactful of the two, the scale and the skill with which the remake of King Kong was executed by director Peter Jackson displays the best of what epic filmmaking is about, pushing King Kong to the top. But, really, you should see both.

Paul Haggis’s Crash tells several intertwining stories that take place in modern-day Los Angeles. Each character is both a victim and promoter of racism, sometimes subtle but often blatant. How these characters deal with one another because of their prejudices is always surprising and unpredictable. Though the stories come together in a contrived fashion, I didn’t care because the characters were so real and the plot so interesting. Crash gives some insight into racial tensions in L.A., and it makes past events such as the L.A. riots easier to understand.