OK, I’ll admit to being a little more behind than usual in my screening habits so far this year, but here are my top choices for 2004:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Trilogy: After the Life
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
Control Room
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
What the Eye Doesn’t See
Trilogy: On the Run
*Baadasssss! *
*Good Bye, Lenin! *
Spartan
Actor: David Gulpilil, The Tracker (runner-up: Kurt Russell, Miracle)
Actress: Dominique Blanc, Trilogy: After the Life (runner-up: Uma Thurman, Kill Bill, Vol. 2)
Supporting Actor: Gilbert Melki, Trilogy: An Amazing Couple
Supporting Actress: Shirley Henderson, Intermission
Director: Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Screenplay: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Cinematography: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
Production Design: The Saddest Music in the World
Editing: Miracle
Score: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Worst movie: Eurotrip (runner-up: Shrek 2)
10 films I most want to catch up on: Bon Voyage, Bukowski: Born Into This, Carandiru, Coffee and Cigarettes, Crimson Gold, Dogville, Oasis, Osama, The Story of Weeping Camel, Twilight Samurai. Plus five I’ll get around to at some point but haven’t seen yet: Fahrenheit 9/11, The Passion of the Christ, Spider-Man 2, Supersize Me, The Terminal
Only seen two mainstream movies so far this year, Shrek 2 and Fahrenheit 9/11.F911 is a shoo-in for Best Documentary, IMO, and while I might be tempted to give Best Animated Feature to Shrek 2, the truth is that I think The Incredibles will stomp on it come November.
In all fairness, I cited Miracle a couple times in the OP–a perfectly fine, entertaining movie (probably the second best hockey film ever) with some truly exceptional qualities. I just thought there were some movies that were better (though the less said about Blech 2, the better, IMHO).
Come on, nobody else has an opinion on what’s stood out for them so far this year?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - #1 by far.
The Corporation - #2. But I don’t think anyone except me saw this movie, unfortunately.
Every other movie has, so far, been just your standard run-of-the-mill action dreck.
Since we’re only halfway through the year should I create only a TOP 5 list instead of a TOP 10? Aw, hell, I’ll do the 10 knowing full well that some will be dropped in the upcoming months.
[ul]
[li]Eternal Sunshine[/li][li]Coffee and Cigarettes[/li][li]F 9/11[/li][li]Before Sunset[/li][li]The Dreamers[/li][li]Kill Bill V2[/li][li]Love Me if You Dare (Jeux d’Enfants)[/li][li]Jersey Girl[/li][li]Spiderman 2[/li][li]Story of the Weeping Camel[/li][/ul]
I’ve missed a few that I wanted to see. I’m still kicking myself for missing Spartan. There are a few (Control Room, The Bukowski Doc., etc) that are still playing that are on my list but I need to get my ass in gear or they’ll be gone by the time you can say “i, Robot”.
[QUOTE=Trigonal Planar]
Every other movie has, so far, been just your standard run-of-the-mill action dreck.
[QUOTE]
Not to direct criticism at Trigonal, but whenever I hear people make comments like this I wonder if they really make an effort to find the good movies that are out there. Not everything gets served up to you at the local multi-plex. (Credit where it’s due: Trigonal’s inclusion of The Corporation does imply that some effort is being made, but still, I think with a little more searching some other great films might be found.)
No criticism taken. Certainly there lots of good movies that aren’t shown at the ultramegalaserplex - I was limiting myself to movies that ARE being shown at the ultramegalaserplex. My point was that, of movies shown at the mainstream theatres, ESSM is about the only one worth mentioning.
This is a combined list of my favorites and best movies. November and December will replace a number of movies on this list.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Spiderman 2
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter,…and Spring
Spartan
Osama (saw it at the Toronto Int’l Film Fest)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Terminal
Saved!
Starsky and Hutch
Although I enjoyed the last three on the list, they’re really just filler. I have missed a few limited release movies There has actually been a few quality action movies this year, I’ve been very impressed. If Kill Bill had been released as one movie it would without question be #1. At this point though, there is a little bit of a gap between numbers 1 and 2.
I haven’t seen any of the movies listed (okay, I saw half of Garfield before my kid changed his mind and wanted to leave), but that won’t preclude me from making a throwaway joke at their expense.
This thread kind of sucks for me because I can’t afford to go to many movies right now so I’m waiting for a lot of the cited titles to come out on DVD. But I was shocked at how good “Spider-Man 2” was, though it wasn’t perfect.
OK, I saw a trio of films in the last few days that automatically bumped into the Top 10 for the year. A revised list (new additions in bold):
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Trilogy: After the Life
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
The Five Obstructions
Control Room
Kill Bill, Vol. 2
Oasis
What the Eye Doesn’t See
Spider-Man 2
Trilogy: On the Run
But, by all means, check out Baadasssss!, Good Bye, Lenin! and Spartan if you can.
I should also add that So-ri Moon’s performance in Oasis borders on the phenomenal. Technically awesome and genuinely inspiring (though she’ll undoubtedly be overlooked by year’s end).
bienville, I’ll probably catch Camel, Coffee and the Linklater next week and report back then.
