:: As posted to Blogcritics.com: By my count, I watched 115 films in 2004, but to compile a list of favorites, I'm restricting my choices to films which are eligible for the Academy Award, so will include films I've seen in 2005 which were released in 2004. It is not possible to compile a Ten Best List unless you are a full-time film critic. As such, I call my choices favorites, rather than the best of the year, and include twelve on my final list. In alphabetical order:
Films I didn't see which might have made the list: Bad Education, Being Julia, Dogville, The Door in the Floor, Friday Night Lights, I'm Not Scared, The Mother, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Sea Inside, A Very Long Engagement, William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice,
I (Still) Don't Get It: The Saddest Music in the World.
2004 Great Disappointments: The Stepford Wives, Troy, The Village.
Posted by Randy at February 27, 2005 03:39 PM | TrackBackMore opportunities to be grateful that you live in a real city.....here in the sunny south, we frequently do not get many of the Oscar nominees in the first run theatres. Our local second run house does an admirable job of trying to bring in some of the better smaller films, but Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways were not brought in until they received their nominations. Then we get to play catch up, and try to see as many of the nominees as possible before the awards. We don't usually succeed.
Ah well......I think Johnny Depp was robbed tonight. Granted, Jamie Foxx was brilliant in his role as Ray Charles, but he actually had an opportunity to meet with and work with Mr. Charles before making the movie. Certainly Depp's absolutely convincing turn as J.M. Barrie was a more difficult, and therefore laudatory task?
Call me a cinematic buffoon, (many do), but I was surprised at the absence of Spanglish from your list. Did you not see it, or did you see it and find it wanting?
Posted by: Brad at February 27, 2005 10:25 PMI've seen three of your top ten and two of your runners-up. I can't believe you saw 115 movies last year! Where do you find the time? Of the movies you list, I saw three in a theatre, the other two on DVD. Val and I went to less than 10 movies in theatres last year. On the other hand, we saw about 100 live soccer games!
Do see The Door in the Floor. It's an excellent adaptation of the beginning of A Widow for One Year, one of my favorite John Irving novels. If you saw Cider House Rules or Simon Birch (ugh), you have an idea how difficult it is to adapt Irving's work. I didn't see Garp (the famous scene is keeping me away) and won't see Hotel New Hampshire until I read it, so I can't compare those. Anyway, Jeff Bridges and Kim Bassinger are great as Ted and Marion.
Posted by: cindi at March 2, 2005 12:02 PMI had a poor year for new movies last year, I only saw 185. I spent a lot of my free time watching many tv shows on the dvd's that I bought, right now i am watching the new set of SCTV.
I did spend quite some time reading and listening to the Harry Potter books. I really like Steven Fry reading the books in the English editions. He is so much better than Jim Dale, who reads the USA versions. Reading the books in English is better than reading them in American. Three listenings of the audio books took roughly 225 hours. I did read 72 books last year, not a hugh pile but respectable. This year I'm doing better, I finished my 25th book yesterday. I have been reading a lot of young adult novels by Dianna Wynne Jones, I just can't put her down, I just can't wait to finish her books to see what happens. I haven't read a bad one yet.
I was looking at my list and a few of my favorites are below. Some of them are movies from other years, my list is of movies that i saw for the first time in 2004, not just movies that come out that year.
The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile & The Majestic - A hat trick for Frank Darabont, and a great preformance by Jim Carrey in the last. I always like Jim Carrey. I am not one of those people who think that comedians can't do drama etc. Given the right material and the right director comedians can do drama, this has been proven over and over again. Learning from the past is a good thing. It was no surprise to me that Jamie Foxx has reached the levels he has risen to...he showed great talent as far back as his days on In Living Color.
Hellboy - check out the Director's Cut and Del Toro's commentary - great.
KIll Bill 1 & 2 - a wonderful revenge movie.
Lord of the Rings Pt 3 - I watched the whole extended trilogy on new years day and that was fun.
Bubba Ho-tep - my favorite recent Bruce Campbell movie and a great turn by the late Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy.
50 First Dates - a wonderful romantic comedy which made me cry at the end. I am a big fan of Drew Barrymore, I see all of her movies.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - best movie version yet.
Mona Lisa Smile - I liked this story and all the actresses in this. I have a soft spot for art chicks, I just wouldn't want to date one. Kirsten Dunst is another favorite, although this movies is packed with great actresses. Mike Newell is doing the next Harry Potter film.
Jersey Girl - this is a sweet movie with a good cast, even Ben Afleck is ok. Raquel Castro is cute as a bug and just wonderful as his daughter, George Carlin is great as his dad, and Stephen Root and Mike Starr steal all the scenes they are in.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - One of my favorites for the year and certainly in my top 100 favorites.
Catch me if You can - a great story and a great pair of actors.
Shrek 2 - I just love the big green guy, too bad he didn't play the Hulk, which was not a favorite, too many dads in that one.
Spiderman 2 - Big Sam Rami fan and of course there is Kirsten Dunst.
Collateral - the only thing by Micheal Mann that i like, at all, and mostly for Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise, who I believe can be a good actor with the right director in control. He knows his craft.
Napolean Dynamite - wonderful, a movie I am actively trying to get people to see.
Anchorman - a great romantic comedy, who wouldn't fall for Christina Applegate, she's so cute.
Uptown Girls - a fun buddy movie with Britney Murphy and Dakota Fanning.