Host: And now the year in movies. There were good films, there were bombs. Our own Joel Siegel's sat through all of them and then let's come up with the 10 best of 2005, and joins us to share his picks. I love this more than any of your hits of the year.

Joel Siegel: Well, what was your favorite movie of the year?

Host: I really love "Crash".

Joel Siegel: Made the list!

Host: Excellent!

Joel Siegel: Everybody's agreed with that.

Host: We will, we have an impeccable taste!

Joel Siegel: Oh, yes we do. Even though it wasn't a great year at the movies on either side of the screen: On Hollywood's side, box office was down for a lot of reasons; on our side of the screen, there really weren't that many great films, better performances in direction than there were great films in 2005. Examples, Philip Seymour Hoffman's great performance wasn't enough to put "Capote" on my 10 best list; Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, terrific in 'Walk the Line", but not enough to push the movie over the line. And the one that hurts, No. 11, "March of the Penguins", didn't make the cut. But here are the 10 that did.

Why am I being investigated?

Joel Siegel: George Clooney, mumbled his lines, grew a beard, put on 30 pounds, the anti-movie star, makes my 10 best twice this year, first for "Syriana".

I'm thinking of your health.
No, you're not. They've asked you to ring me and you're doing it.

Joel Siegel: Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles makes my 10 best 2 years in a row: last year "City of God"; this year, "The Constant Gardener".

Now.

Joel Siegel: Yet it could've been a contender, an Oscar contender. I think "Cinderella Man" could've been the champ. But the studio opened it way too early and way too close to last year's Oscar winner, "Million Dollar Baby". But hold the phone, even if the twice-overlooked Paul Giamatti just gets an Oscar nomination, it's a Cinderella's story come true. And the film is a knock-out.

Did we know each other?

Joel Siegel: This year's best movie with the worst title award goes to "A History of Violence". They could've called it "A History of Violins", would have made it as much sense.

Joel Siegel: I don't know anyone who's seen "King Kong" who hasn't loved it. It's like being 9 years old and the movie's all over again. It's that thrilling, that exciting.

I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want?
It's a talking beaver!

Joel Siegel: Two incredible facts about "The Chronicles of Narnia": None of the animals are real and there is no blood in the battle scenes. The third incredible fact: Christmas week it sold more tickets than "King Kong".

Just outside the Olympic Village in Munich, 8 or 9 athletes of the Israeli team are being held prisoner…

Joel Siegel: Steven Spielberg's "Munich"--brilliant, mixing ABC's actual coverage of the killing of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team with the breathtaking fiction of Israeli hit team that sought revenge. And what the film asks is the real cost of revenge. This pitch-perfect cast is one reason Oscar needs a best ensemble acting category.

You see that?
Why, she's cold.
She got colder as soon as she saw us now.

Joel Siegel: And the amazing cast in "Crash" is another. A dozen disparate lives crash together in Charlie Gibson's bid for the best film of the year.

We are going with the story that says......

Joel Siegel: George Clooney's second appearance on my 10 best—"Good Night, and Good Luck". And this one he acted in, he wrote, he produced and directed. And he could be Oscar nominated for 3 out of 4, because he gave the best part to David Strathairn.

This thing grabs hold of us again, in the wrong place, in the wrong time, we are dead.

Joel Siegel: And "Brokeback Mountain"--Heath Ledger's acting, Ang Lee's direction, and the story you have never seen before. It's the best film of the year.

Joel Siegel: My original review of "Brokeback Mountain", I said it's gonna lead the league in Oscar nominations. I still think that's true, but it's not a sure thing to win an Oscar in any of the categories. This year, there are no sure things come to Oscar title.