NO. 1 TIMES 10.

Byline: BOB STRAUSS

Last year was a highly mediocre year at the movies. I mean that with about equal measures of scorn and appreciation.

There were few movies - not any, really - that struck me as unqualifiably great last year. I had trouble even coming up with enough titles for a top 10 list, and for the first time since I started compiling these things, it's in alphabetical rather than preferential order. Just a year when nothing outstanding stood out - and one which, dubiously, seemed to deserve its over-discussed box-office downturn.

But that's just one way to look at it. High mediocrity also meant an uptick in basic quality. I enjoyed and admired the efforts behind more movies in 2005 than in many previous years. So even though masterpieces were hard to find, those who stayed home really did miss out on some big fun at the multiplex.

Along with my top 10, I've included groupings of worthwhile film trends from 2005. Certain titles (``Fantastic Four,'' ``North Country,'' ``Rent,'' ``Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'') have been omitted from qualifying categories for the basest of personal reasons (i.e., I hated them).

TRENDS

Comic book adaptations:

The decade's dominant genre hit an artistic peak with ``Batman Begins,'' ``Sin City,'' ``A History of Violence'' and ``Constantine,'' benefiting from the attention of serious filmmakers (Christopher Nolan, David Cronenberg) who took the source material seriously.

Liberal porn:

Steven Spielberg's searching, morally knotty ``Munich'' was the only one that transcended rote progressive pieties. But despite their varying degrees of self-righteous smugness, ``Good Night, and Good Luck,'' ``The Constant Gardener,'' ``The Family Stone,'' ``Syriana'' and ``George A. Romero's Land of the Dead'' were generally more artful and complex than last year's Che Guevara hagiography, ``The Motorcycle Diaries.'' Left-out, grumpy conservatives can be comforted by the news that their time will come: Sylvester Stallone is planning another ``Rambo'' sequel after he finishes ``Rocky XXXVIII.''

Asian extreme:

A jet stream of unbelievable movie mayhem flowed across the Pacific. Among the gotta-see-it-to-believe-it must-sees: ``Kung Fu Hustle,'' ``Old Boy,'' ``3-Iron,'' ``Unleashed,'' ``Three Extremes'' and ``Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior.''

Raunchy comedy:

The spirit of Bluto returned in such uproarious, R-rated delicacies as ``Wedding Crashers,'' ``The 40-Year-Old Virgin,'' ``The Aristocrats'' and ``Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic.''

Make it gay:

More so than in most years, strong filmmakers seemed to take ``The Producers'' production number to heart. Beside that Broadway adaptation, same-sex orientation intriguingly informed ``Brokeback Mountain,'' ``Capote,'' ``Breakfast on Pluto,'' ``Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,'' ``My Summer of Love,'' ``Mysterious Skin,'' ``Happy Endings'' and ``Tropical Malady.''

Documentaries:

Although the tendency has been building steam for years, 2005 was the first time I truly felt that reality-based films became just as interesting and entertaining as the fictional kind. Of course, that was due as much to Hollywood's fumbling as doc-makers' accomplishments. Along with the three titles that made my top 10 list, I was thoroughly impressed by ``March of the Penguins,'' ``Murderball,'' ``Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,'' ``In the Realms of the Unreal,'' ``Mondovino,'' ``Mad Hot Ballroom,'' ``Reel Paradise'' and ``Protocols of Zion,'' among numerous others.

PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Terrence Howard: ``Hustle & Flow's'' musically inclined pimp was the closest thing to a force of nature on the big screen last year, and Howard's bit in ``Crash'' was one of that contrived ensemble piece's only thoroughly persuasive characterizations. Howard also lent about all there was worth watching to ``Four Brothers'' and ``Get Rich or Die Tryin'.'' Plus, he made a slew of fine television appearances. How did this guy maintain such excellence when he obviously gets no sleep?

CELEBRITY SELF-IMMOLATION MORE FUN THAN THE MOVIES THEY WERE PROMOTING

How could the makers of ``War of the Worlds'' and ``Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' possibly have matched the entertainment value of all that TomKat and Bradgawadgalina off-screen misbehavior? Short answer: They couldn't.

Bob Strauss' Top 10

In alphabetical order

1. Brokeback Mountain - The best love story of the year happened to be between two hard-ridin' men. Emotionally complete as few movies are, it was an eloquent response to conventional studio thinking; y'know, that the kind of relationships moviegoers should be moved by are between teary blondes and giant gorillas.

2. Grizzly Man - Penguins are cute and all. But wild animals are still dangerous, and so are damaged, delusional souls such as Timothy Treadwell. The self-proclaimed wildlife advocate taped his slow-motion nervous breakdown in the Alaskan wilderness before one of his imagined bear buddies ate him. Werner Herzog brilliantly compiled Treadwell's footage into a shrewd cautionary tale and one-of-a-kind portrait of a personality's implosion.

3. Junebug - A smart and true variation on the ``Meet the Parents'' formula. This observant first feature by director Phil Morrison and writer Angus MacLachlan says volumes about the cultural differences between city sophisticates and small-town conservatives without making one direct political statement. And Amy Adams' pregnant chatterbox was one of the year's great comic creations.

4. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Ultra-literate pop-culture satire from a source you'd never expect: ``Lethal Weapon'' screenwriter Shane Black. Buddy-cop movie conventions and Hollywood in general get turned on their collective ears in Black's gorgeously shot, outrageous and ultimately affecting directorial debut.

5. Pride & Prejudice - From its breathtaking opening Steadicam shot to its palpably lived-in production design, this is one Jane Austen adaptation that's a real work of cinema rather than a precious museum display. And nothing in this finely cast movie is livelier than Keira Knightley, whose radiant charisma proved just right for plucky Lizzie Bennet.

6. Rize -The year's most astonishing visuals were in art photographer David LaChapelle's documentary about South Central L.A.'s clowning and krumping dance movement. The film starts with a disclaimer that none of the energetic, athletic dancers were artificially enhanced in any way. Good step, because otherwise you'd never believe the speed and power of their mighty moves.

7. Saraband - Decades after his official retirement from moviemaking, Ingmar Bergman let loose a chilling, magisterial blast of family conflict as psychologically perceptive and unmerciful as any of his Swedish classics - including ``Scenes From a Marriage,'' to which this is a nominal sequel.

8. Tell Them Who You Are - Bergman doesn't own the copyright to contentious families. Documentarian Mark Wexler set out to make a movie about his dad, the brilliant but difficult cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and what grew out of it was a harrowing and often hilarious power struggle between father and son. Like the most dysfunctional home movie ever, but really well shot.

9. 2046 - Swooning, sometimes silly, but always gorgeous romantic tone poetry from Hong Kong's Wong Kar Wei. Mad, melancholy, heart-transporting stuff.

10. Wedding Crashers - Two guys who care more about each other than about the women in their lives. Difference from ``Brokeback''? This pair at least appears to be very, very hetero. A brilliant premise-setting montage, more sustained dirty laughs than any movie in ages, and Vince Vaughn makes half of the best comedy team since Mostel and Wilder ... with adorably demented Isla Fisher.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Vince Vaughn in ``Wedding Crashers''

(2) ``KISS KISS BANG BANG''

(3) ``2046''

(4) HOWARD

(5) ``RISE''

Box:

Bob Strauss' Top 10 (see text)