|
Critic:
Ann Morrow
Best
of 2004
1.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Blazingly
original and bizarrely poignant, this sci-fi meditation on
memory reverses standard narration to move backward from the
end of a relationship to the beginning. Jim Carrey and Kate
Winslet are at the height of their powers as the unlikely
couple who undergo mind erasure only to find each other all
over again.
2.
The Aviator
Scorsese’s
best film since GoodFellas, this quintessentially American
biography follows the glory days of Howard Hughes, from his
smash Hollywood debut with Hell’s Angels to his first
mental breakdown. Bursting with pizzazz and hubris, with beautiful
aeronautic scenes and bravura recreations of bygone glamour,
The Aviator is kept aloft by Leonardo DiCaprio’s evocation
of Hughes as a tortured but charismatic genius.
 |
| The
critics agree: Jet Li kicked ass in Hero. |
3.
Hero
The
first martial-arts film from China’s master filmmaker, Zhang
Yimou, Hero is a staggeringly gorgeous fable that works
on several levels, including philosophical, cultural, historical,
and artistic. A career high for the all-star Asian cast (especially
Jet Li as an enigmatic assassin), Hero also astonishes
with the operatic intensity of its wu xui choreography.
4.
The Corporation
Although
it’s not funny or folksy like Fahrenheit 9/11, this
cerebral documentary centers on an even more frightening topic
than George W. Bush: The escalation of global corporate dominance.
Within an amusing framework that diagnoses the corporate business
model as pathological, the film does an incisive job of exposing
the insidious dangers of its topic—making The Corporation
the year’s scariest movie.
5.
Maria Full of Grace
This
low-key and pitch-perfect drama exposes the hidden destruction
of the drug trade while creating one of the most believable
and admirable characters in recent memory. Catalina Sandino
Moreno as a drug mule who rises above her circumstances is
the year’s most promising newcomer.
6.
The Village
Badly
marketed as a horror film, The Village disappointed
fans of frightmeister M. Night Shyamalan. And that’s a shame,
because this atmospheric costume drama needs to be seen for
what it is: a superbly crafted parable about fear and the
price of escaping it.
7.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Gory,
cartoonish, misanthropic, deliberately cheesy and studiously
derivative. . . . It’s all that and more! Tarantino’s chop-socky
opus was the most entertaining two hours to be had in a movie
theater since Vol. 1.
8.
Japanese Story
Sue
Brooks’ near-perfect direction and a tour-de-force performance
by Toni Collette transform an unexceptional love story into
a haunting travelogue on the mysteries of the human heart.
The film is also memorable for its beguiling cinematography,
set in the treacherous terrain of the Australian outback.
9.
Sideways
The
most overrated film of the year (two dirtbags drink wine,
hook up with two women who deserve better, and get their lives
somewhat together) makes the grade for the realism and wit
of its writing, especially the dialogue. Giving the film a
crucial boost is how that dialogue is delivered by the quartet
of leads: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Sandra Oh and
Virginia Madsen are equally exceptional.
10.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The
third screen chapter in the Potter franchise breaks out of
the uninspired mechanics of the first two to conjure a potent
sense of wonder, some enchanting settings, and a more dexterous
grasp of the interactions of older children. And the clever,
time-bending plot is substantial enough for grown ups.
worst
of 2004
1.
Chronicles of Riddick
Don’t
call it a sequel—Pitch Black deserves better than to
be associated with this numbingly overblown and pretentious
vanity vehicle. The vanity belongs to Vin Diesel, who reprises
his role as Riddick, now an intergalactic savior whose bulging
deltoids (at least in close-up) are apparently the most powerful
force in the universe. ZZZZzzzzzz.
2.
The Terminal
Terminally
boring fairy tale about an immigrant (Tom Hanks) who is stuck
in an airport shopping center for weeks on end and makes good
with the help of his fellow menial laborers. Steven Spielberg’s
trademark uplift is about as heartwarming as warmed-over Velveeta.
3.
Catwoman
Halle
Barry looks fantastic in her high- fashion feline getup, but
a fashion spread does not a movie make, especially with a
script the cat wouldn’t have dragged in.
4.
Van Helsing
Expensive-looking
schlock without a single crumb of horror, suspense, or interest.
And whoever designed Hugh Jackman’s hat should be impaled
on a spike.
5.
Head in the Clouds
A
lumbering exercise in soft-focus gloss, stagy melodrama, and
leering art-house erotica by the ever-more-vapid John Duigan,
starring Charlize Theron and Stuart Townsend as two bohemians
whose off-and-on love affair is interrupted by World War II.
Critic:
Laura Leon
Best
of 2004
1.
I’m Not Scared
This
visually stunning coming-of-age movie delivers on so many
levels. At once nostalgic, for childhood pastimes long buried,
and thrilling, this was truly the most gripping, honest movie
of the year.
2.
The Incredibles
Stretching
the boundaries of even Pixar’s best films, this paean to individuality
is disguised in the latex unitards of superheroes. Funny,
subversive, visually sharp.
3.
Hero
Tantalizing
in its crazy visuals, from flying martial arts experts to
tsunamis of golden autumn leaves, Hero is storytelling
and filmmaking at their best. Shifting perspectives are noted
via changing color themes, made plausible as well as exhilarating
by an excellent production team. Inevitable comparisons to
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon cannot dilute the fact
that Hero is in a league of its own.
4.
Open Water
A
simple story, shot with a digital camera, of a couple whose
tropical vacation turns disastrous when their tour boat fails
to pick them up from a scuba dive. Based on a true story,
this is the kind of “little” story that Hollywood usually
doesn’t know what to do with, but here works extremely well.
Even when you know the conclusion, you can’t help but be on
the edge of your seat.
5.
Vera Drake
Mike
Leigh’s subtle movie somehow avoids proselytizing about the
controversial subject of abortion, in favor of studying the
personality and actions of its title character. Imelda Staunton
delivers a devastatingly good performance, which somehow doesn’t
grandstand attention away from the entire story, which is
both understated and overwhelming.
6.
I Heart Huckabees
At
times inconsistent, at times bizarre, I Heart Huckabees
still merits kudos for daring an audience to think beyond
girl-meets-boy, and for blending elements of existentialism,
romance and slapstick into a satisfying, if messy, whole.
7.
Spider-Man 2
The
movie people are probably embarrassed to admit loving it as
much as they did. A marked improvement over its predecessor,
Spider-Man 2 focuses on the lonely interior life and
warring impulses of its title character. Along the way, it
delves into themes of responsibility, and enhances the relationship
between Peter and the lovely Mary Jane, all with portents
of big things to come in a third installment.
8.
We Don’t Live Here Anymore
This
is on my list partially because the acting, particularly by
Laura Dern, is magnificent, but mostly because it wallows
in the kind of real-life messy stuff that we don’t often see
on the big screen these days. Love and longing, infidelity,
child rearing, all within the painfully real context of small-town
academia, with nary a glamour puss or special effect in sight.
9.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
As
with Spider-Man 2, this movie really nails the series
by focusing not so much on special effects, but on the personalities
and inner conflicts of its main character. Good guy Harry
has to deal with issues like grief, hatred, envy and longing.
To emphasize these points, the movie sets look edgier, more
gothic and potentially deadly. In the process, apart from
its two predecessors, it feels like a full-fledged movie,
and not a respectable, reverential rereading of the Rowling
book.
10.
Collateral
Surprisingly
effective—that is, if you’ve tended to pass over Tom Cruise
as anything other than aging beefcake. Maybe it’s the gray
hair, but he’s chilling as an assassin whose night work is
interrupted by a conscience-stricken cabbie played by Jamie
Foxx. Director Michael Mann turns L.A. into a third character
in a deadly, mesmerizing cat-and-mouse thriller.
worst
of 2004
1.
Surviving Christmas
Presumably
we all have enough Scrooges in our lives to suffice—why must
Hollywood continue to subject us to terribly unfunny movies
about how stressed out and mean-spirited people get around
the holidays? Embarrassingly bad.
2.
The Stepford Wives
Despite
Matthew Broderick’s dead-on-the-money performance as a retro-thinking
hubby, this well-appointed film misses as both comedy and
thriller. Yet another unneeded remake that failed to break
new ground, or even engage the audience.
3.
Ocean’s Twelve
Reread
the second sentence from The Stepford Wives blurb.
4.
The Clearing
Robert
Redford and Willem Dafoe give embarrassing turns as, respectively,
a doomed millionaire and the poor schmuck who stalks him.
Arty and contrived, albeit featuring a solid turn by Helen
Mirren.
5.
Against the Ropes
Meg
Ryan is, too, serious! Here she pretends to be a boxing promoter,
simply by donning red leather and chewing wads of gum. Painful.
Critic:
Shawn Stone
Best
of 2004
1.
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
The
most visually gorgeous film of the year was animated. Ghost
in The Shell 2 presented a decadent, bleak future in which
the most humane characters aren’t always human. Haunting,
creepy and oddly touching.
2.
Dogville
A
classic provocation from troublemaker Lars von Trier, who
once again went out of his way to argue that people are no
damn good. Who would have believed casting James Caan as a
vengeful God figure and Nicole Kidman as His daughter?
3.
Good Bye, Lenin!
When
a sincere, ailing Communist wakes from a coma in a newly reunited
Germany, her teenage son does whatever it takes to keep East
Germany alive for her. Absurd, sweet and sad.
 |
| Ethan
Hawke and Julie Delpy in Before Sunset. |
4.
Before Sunset
This
sequel to 1995’s Before Sunrise found the lovers (Julie
Delpy and Ethan Hawke) facing middle age’s diminished options
and intimations of mortality. Nonetheless, the film was no
downer—Before Sunset’s couple weren’t going gently
into that good night.
5.
Control Room
In
the year of the documentary, this look at Al-Jazeera stood
out. When a Marine observed that Al-Jazeera was the Arab world’s
Fox News Channel, it was a lucid moment of hope. When the
U.S. Air Force killed an Al-Jazeera reporter, it was back
to reality.
6.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The
second half of Tarantino’s shoot-’em-and-slice-’em-up feminist
epic delivered a satisfying conclusion. Can we now get the
two parts joined together again? Please?
7.
Hero
Zhang
Yimou matched absurdly formal compositions with extreme action
and the power of myth. For once, it was hard to tell which
was more beautiful—the set design or Maggie Cheung.
8.
Team America: World Police
Every
year at least one great movie proves, again, that us folks
here in the home of the brave can’t laugh at ourselves. The
South Park posse’s puppet film nailed American jingoism
and celebrity lefties. That this was a flop means the terrorists
have won.
9.
The Manchurian Candidate
Jonathan
Demme’s political thriller delivered the requisite shocks.
More interestingly, it was a meditation on the death of democracy—the
murderers being corporations, the media and citizen indifference.
10.
Shaun of the Dead
This
kind of parody works best when the filmmakers love the subject
being parodied. And it was exactly what it said it was: a
romantic comedy with zombies. Who can forget the scene in
which the hapless heroes mistake a zombie girl for a drunk?
worst
of 2004
1.
The Dreamers
This
one featured pretty naked teenagers in 1960s Paris—and made
them unsexy. More than the works of any other major director,
the films of Bernardo Bertolucci can be divided into two categories:
brilliant and crap. Guess which one this is.
2.
Garden State
Zach
Braff’s wildly overpraised first feature proved, if nothing
else, that the writer-director-star finds himself absolutely
fascinating.
3.
Dawn of the Dead
The
precredits sequence in this remake of George A. Romero’s classic
is brilliant. But the filmmakers are then faced with filling
the rest of the 90 minute running time with absurdly fast-moving
zombies. Fast zombies? What’s next—a slow Road Runner?
4.
De-Lovely
This
film wasted a wonderful performance by Kevin Kline as Cole
Porter. There’s no way to get around those production numbers
featuring dreadfully bland singers, however.
5.
Silver City
Sometimes,
John Sayles’ ensemble movies are great (Lone Star,
Sunshine State). This one ain’t.
Critic:
Ralph Hammann
Best
of 2004
1.
Fahrenheit 9/11
Satire
or fractured documentary, Michael Moore’s film is heroic,
hilarious, touching and an invaluable service to America.
The work of a true patriot who knows the temperature at which
Republicans broil best.
2.
The Aviator
What
a return to form for Martin Scorsese with this epic biopic
that soars on a literate script, exacting direction, an intense
Leonardo DiCaprio and the ever-luminous Cate Blanchett, the
best actress of our time (uncanny here as Katherine Hepburn).
3.
Intimate Strangers
Starting
with a sublime concept concerning a patient and her ersatz
therapist, director Patrice Leconte made a film that was equal
parts whimsy, suspense and romance. Like all of this director’s
works, a total original.
4.
De-Lovely
My
love of Cole Porter, even in his lesser moments, is unconditional;
so too, my enjoyment of this tribute with its spot-on performance
of Porter by Kevin Kline and the abundance of delightfully
mounted musical numbers.
5.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
A
visual masterpiece with every frame a stunner and a loving
homage to classic sci-fi films (especially Metropolis)
and Art Deco. The presence of the equally scenic Gwyneth Paltrow,
Jude Law, Angelina Jolie and Bai Ling didn’t hurt either.
6.
Hero
A
worthy successor to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,
this dazzled with innovative colors, martial arts and artful
storytelling.
7.
Team America: World Police
The
marionette film to end all such films. The creators of South
Park found the appropriate means to string up Bush-league
nationalism and everything else associated with it, including
its critics. Also a canny satire of celebrity and filmmaking
(with its nauseating trend in vomit to show emotion).
8.
Maria Full of Grace
Disturbing,
honest and containing a poetic realism few American independent
films achieve of late, it featured a splendid title performance
by Catalina Sandino Moreno as a Columbian drug mule making
a wrenching trip to America.
9.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A
unique disquisition on the relationship between romance and
memory, this is Charlie Kaufman’s most accomplished screenplay.
worst
of 2004
1.
Open Water
This
year’s most overrated and pretentious bore; dreck on a par
with The Blair Witch Project.
2.
I Heart Huckabees
For
its stupid title alone do I despise this relentless hucksterism.
3.
The Village
Perhaps
it was intended to be entirely predictable, but the blind
girl’s trek through the forest was just plain stupid.
4.
Van Helsing
Bearing
no similarity to the movies it supposedly was honoring, one
just yearned for the real Van Helsing of Peter Cushing who
created more excitement in his taut facial muscles than all
of the flaccid special effects of this freak event.
5.
The Passion of the Christ
A
bit of characterization might have helped; as it was we just
watched a nonentity get lovingly and self-consciously tortured.
The only martyr here was the intelligent viewer crucified
on Mel Gibson’s dull passion.
|
Columns
& Opinions
