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2004 Film List

#481
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8/18/05 at 11:43am
  • Joined: February 2001
  • Location: Marina del Rey, CA
  • Post Count: 5,523
Ray -
08/17/2005
OAR-HDHBO-DVR

There's been some criticism lain against the movie that you don't learn anything about Ray Charles, but I think you do. I think you learn that the most important thing to him was not his music, was not his family, was not his drugs, it was not being considered a cripple that was the driving force of his life. Jamie Foxx is outstanding to watch and the music is just utterly wonderful to listen to.

If there's a quibble I have with the movie, it's that I don't know if Ray Charles was Mozart and wrote everything perfectly the first time or whether he struggled as most mere mortals do.

I love that we get the background on his childhood when the personality is really formed and which is often neglected, but it was very well used here.

I didn't feel the film was overlong, I did feel it's got about four acts instead of three and that it could have used about a twenty minute fifth act to cover what a few titles did, because the movie just ends without an acceptable coda to ease you out of its spell.

In terms of sheer enjoyment I felt this was one of the best of the year and I'll be updating my top ten list.

Adam
top 20 films
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#482
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8/18/05 at 11:48am
  • Joined: February 2001
  • Location: Marina del Rey, CA
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Here's my new top ten list, and personally I think ten is too few for these lists cause twenty is much more flexible number. what if number 1 got 10 points and number 20 got .5 points. It'd work very happily for me.
  1. 1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  2. The Passion of the Christ
  3. The Incredibles
  4. Finding Neverland
  5. In Good Company
  6. The Aviator
  7. Closer
  8. Ray
  9. Million Dollar Baby
  10. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
  11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
top 20 films
S&S List 62...212
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#483
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8/30/05 at 6:36am
  • Joined: November 1998
  • Post Count: 7,588
I like that you put Lemony Snicket up there. I agree with you. Watching it again on DVD only reinforced my feelings on that film. Incredible art direction, strong fanciful children's story with that dangerous edge that kids films used to have on a more regular basis. I had it at 19th, but as you mentioned my top 20 also contains all 9+ films and on the year I would consider about 25 films to have been outstanding work devoid of any serious flaws (or artistically ambitious enough to make up for them).


Alfie
5 of 10
The main problem with the film is that it just feels "Hollywoodized". All the script turns feel like any number of romantic comedy plotlines, and while the direction attempts to inject moments of artistry into the storytelling (like a series of stills used to tell a subplot) it isn't enough, nor is it consistent throughout the film.

Too much of the film is also compartmentalized so that you get 100 small bites rather than a nice, flowing film. The result is that it drags along and starts to bore. In fact those artistic flares feel more like attempts to jump start the pace that have been patched on rather than being integral to the storytelling.


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#484
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9/4/05 at 10:35am
  • Joined: October 2000
  • Location: Hamilton, ON Canada
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Updated my List with:

Napoleon Dynamite
Ae Fond Kiss...
November
Wilby Wonderful
We Don't Live Here Anymore
Sucker Free City
Riding Giants
SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
Criminal
Troy

       

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#485
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9/4/05 at 7:40pm
  • Joined: August 2005
  • Post Count: 191
2004 Films (44 Theatre Trips)

Blade: Trinity
Bubba Ho-Tep
Butterfly Effect, The
Chronicles of Riddick, The 1/2
Collateral
Dawn of the Dead (x 2)
Day After Tomorrow, The
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Friday Night Lights
Godsend
Grudge, The
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
HellBoy
Hero
I, Robot
Incredibles, The
King Arthur
Manchurian Candidate, The
Man On Fire
Monster
Napoleon Dynamite
National Treasure
Ocean's Twelve 1/2
Passion Of The Christ, The
Punisher, The
Resident Evil: Apocalypse 1/2
Saw
Spider-Man 2 (x 2) 1/2
Shaun of the Dead (x 3)
Shrek 2
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Starsky & Hutch 1/2
Stepford Wives, The
Taking Lives 1/2
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
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#486
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9/9/05 at 5:28pm
  • Joined: November 1998
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Mr. 3000
6 of 10
It's a lot of implausible formula and runs along the template most of the time. But somehow for me Bernie Mac raises it with his humor and sincerity. He's pretty solid at being both likeable and dislikable at the same time.


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#487
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9/14/05 at 10:33pm
  • Joined: November 1998
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Cellular
6 of 10
There are many parts that are really corny, but somehow the pace and the sometimes smart moments keep in just entertaining enough to be an okay time. It's far off the level of the recent similar popcorn style thriller "Red Eye" however.


Beyond the Sea
7.5 of 10
Nicely directed, mostly well acted especially by Spacey, but not so well written. Some parts are nice, other parts are pushy and hack like the awkward beginning. It's a mix of impressive and disappointing work from Spacey, but it leans more toward the impressive end. Certainly the true story was pretty interesting stuff.


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#488
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10/30/05 at 8:24am
  • Joined: November 1998
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Blade Trinity
4 of 10
Most of the time it felt like it was being phoned in. A few good action sequences and the humor of Ryan Reynolds were about the only decent things in the film. I guess the character of Blade is just interesting enough to me to keep this above a 2 or 3, but I can understand how others would hate the film.

Meet the Fockers
7.5 of 10
I think I liked the dynamic of having adult foils to DeNiro's character more than the bumbling Stiller from the first film. Having Streisand and Hoffman to challenge DeNiro turned the tables and provided a better comedy for me.

Phantom of the Opera
6.5 of 10
Eh, looked okay but it had less spark than seeing it live and much of the best moments were directly from the musical. Schumacher added absolutely nothing here, diluted some moments with his style, and then let the film version just run way too long. I also didn't think Butler was up to the challenge of playing the Phantom.

The dynamics and energy that push musicals like Moulin Rouge, Chicago or Hedwig are totally absent here.

Kung Fu Hustle
8 of 10
Honestly the trailers made me question the sanity of people who said the film was great and truly funny. But it turned out that they were right. Yes there were some CGI moments (mostly involving speed running) that were corny, but the film is a wonderful bit of character work in which every turn brings about some new inventive personality to entertain, and that was the film's strength.

It was creative and cute and worth seeing more than once. I rented it but it's lingered on my mind enough to consider buying it.



These put me to 87 2004 films viewed, 40 at the theater.


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#489
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12/19/05 at 12:33am
  • Joined: November 1998
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House of Flying Daggers
9 of 10
Beautiful film that comes closer to matching the power of Crouching Tiger than Hero did, but with even better art direction than Hero had.


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#490
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12/19/05 at 2:37pm
  • Joined: February 2000
  • Location: St. Louis, MO
  • Post Count: 9,036
Updated: 141 Seen
May
Criminal - B
The Phantom Of The Opera - B+

June
Beyond the Sea - D
A Dirty Shame - B+
The Machinist - C

July
Million Dollar Baby - B-
A Very Long Engagement - B

August
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - B-

October
They Came Back - A-

November
Cowards Bend the Knee - B

2002 Sight & Sound Challenge: 318  Last Watched: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Last 7 Films Watched: Sugar - B+ / Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone - B / The Lower Depths - B / Downhill Racer - B+ / Whatever Works - B / The Legend of Jimmy the Greek - B

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