After reading this thread – “Worst movie you’ve seen this year?” – http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=276555 – I think we need some balance. Bashing the bad is fun, but we also need to get happy sometimes! What’s the best movie you’ve seen this year? And what makes it so great?
cue wolves
Arrrrroooooooooo…
cue crickets
Chirp chirp, chirp chirp…
wind rustles a pile of leaves
Uhhhhh…
Hero? I really thought it was beautiful.
Garden State, by far. It’s the only movie I’ve ever seen mutliple times in a theatre and I intend to watch it even more if the second run theatre in Salem picks it up after its initial run.
As for why it’s so good, I would have to say it … just is. The storyline is a tad bit on the pedestrian side (finding yourself) but the writing and production by Braff in addition to the ethereal soundtrack and the acting by Braff, Portman, Sarsgard, and Holm made the film a hundred times what it might have otherwise been.
I seriously love this movie, consider it my favorite movie of all time, and will own it the instant it becomes available on DVD… hell, it’ll probably be why I finally get a DVD player after not owning one for the past year.
Still a toss-up between Spider-Man 2 and Fahrenheit 9/11 for me. I’d pick a clear winnah, but between the freaky hospital scene in SM2 and the freaky Bush Administration scenes in F911, I still can’t choose.
Of course, this will all change by mid-November, when I fully expect The Incredibles to show up and blow them both off my list. Pixar and Brad Bird – Woo hoo! 
My favorite movie was Garden State as well. I have seen it three times this summer. It is three on my top ten but that was after my first time seeing it and it has moved up after the second and third viewing.
Honorable Mention for the new The Merchant of Venice which I just saw at the Toronto International Film Festival, and loved, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
This is a tough one. I’ve seen a lot of movies this year.
For movies that didn’t come out this year, but I saw for the first time this year, I’d say either Stranger than Paradise or The Long Goodbye. Both were entertaining and had a huge effect on me.
As for movies that came out this year, that’s harder because I don’t remember them as well. Garden State was pretty good. Hero was probably my favorite of the ones I’ve seen recently. I just wish I could remember the movies I saw earlier in the year. Is there a list of movies that came out this year somewhere?
Definitely Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with Garden State as a not-too-distant second.
I’m afraid I’ve missed most of the movies mention so far in this thread. And no I have a nice shopping list for the next time I’m at the video store! 
Ask and you shall receive:
http://www.the-movie-times.com/thrsdir/moviesofyear.mv?moviesof2004+ByDate
(through last week)
And as a special bonus, you can see not only the release date, but how much money each made, the maximum number of theaters each played in at a single time and what studio released them.
Counting films that were released recently, and not old ones, my choices (you know I can’t just name one) are:
Love Actually
Big Fish
Shrek II
Mean Girls
The Triplets of Belleville
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Spider-Man 2
Fahrenheit 9/11
If I were to pick one, it’d be Big Fish.
Absolute tie between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Garden State . Since I missed the other thread, the worst I’ve seen this year was by far, Hero.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Garden State are both great.
I’m not Scared is another great movie.
These three are really equal in my mind.
Hmm, again assuming that we’re only talking about movies released this year, my favorite was Dodgeball. Yes, Dodgeball. I loved it.
Honorable mention goes to Spider-man 2.
Now, I’m expecting that to change soon, as there are plenty of movies I’m really looking forward to: The Life Aquatic, I Heart Huckabees, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and The Incredibles.
That’s the first one I’ve seen mentioned on this thread that also was cited on the “Worst movies” thread. Different strokes, I guess.
Miracle and I, Robot, though I also predict The Incredibles to top this list.
I, Robot? You’re joking, right?
Of those two, I’d have to pick Spider-Man 2…it was more believable.
ROTK: LOTR III
The Passion of the Christ
Big Fish
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Trilogy: After the Life
- Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
- The Five Obstructions
- Control Room
- Los Angeles Plays Itself
- Collateral
- Oasis
- Broadway: The Golden Age
- Kill Bill, Vol. 2
10 Honorable Mentions: Baadasssss!; Coffee and Cigarettes; Fahrenheit 9/11; Good Bye, Lenin!; Intermission; Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow; Spartan; Spider-Man 2; Trilogy: On the Run; What the Eye Doesn’t See
It’s so obvious. Napoleon Dynamite.
You guys are retarded! Gosh!
(With Garden State a close second).
Happy