HTF Top 10's of 2004: Time To Throw Down!

I posted mine, as well, with a handful still yet to be seen that may or may not change my list.

~Edwin

Zachary Tait Freiesleben's Top 10 of 2004

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Grand Jury Prize:
Before Sunset
Hero
Maria Full of Grace
The Bourne Supremacy
Miracle
Open Water
Spartan
Touching the Void
Friday Night Lights
Farenheit 9/11
The Aviator

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I'm right here!

Wow, you guys already looking for stats? Yikes, I expected a little breather 'til closer to Oscar nomination announcements.

I've had an *extremely* busy time at work lately, and I'm also helping out a friend with a coding project in my spare time, so I've had precious little personal time for movies and for the tracker.

I promise I'll get the stats here as soon as I can. I have to go through everybody's posts and enter the lists in my tracker - I kind-of slacked off during the year, so I have a LOT of films to enter in the database before I can even create the user lists. But once the administrative part's over it's a piece of cake to keep up-to-date stats.

I'll start on that admin task sometime this weekend, and, depending on how badly behind I am (last year someone had around 400 films in his list, and since it takes about 2 or 3 minutes to enter each film and all its attributes, that's like a good several hours of data entry), it's likely it'll be sometime during the week or next weekend I can post a list.

Plus, I still have to also catch up on all those Oscar films. I cringed when I read this year's list in Entertainment Weekly - other than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Incredibles, I don't think I've seen a *single one* of the films listed. Ouch.

Anyway ... I'm subscribed to this thread and monitoring it; I'll post the stats as soon as I have it ready.

I've updated my list with Million $ Baby. Maybe its the boxing fan in me, but IMHO, this is probably the best american film I've seen this year.

*Bump*

Updated my top ten. Now includes Hotel Rwanda.

Top 10 Films of 2004:

1)	The Incredibles
2)	Garden State
3)	Spider-Man 2
4)	Miracle
5)	The Passion Of The Christ
6)	Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
7)	Kill Bill: Vol. 2
8)	Spanglish
9)	Starsky & Hutch
10)	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I usually stick to the software pages, but I have really enjoyed this thread.

I hope you all don't mind, but here are my picks:

1. The Passion of the Christ
Controversial or not, "The Passion of the Christ" is a beautifully crafted movie. The cinematography by Caleb Deschanel is a wonder to behold. I have viewed this film on four occasions, and I believe it to be a masterpiece. I look at most films at pieces of entertainment. Whether you share the values and beliefs that the film professes (or that its director professes), it is compelling viewing.

2. Kill Bill - Vol. 2
Our local movie critic here in Omaha didn't see either of the "Kill Bill" movies because he thought they'd be too violent (I think they need to hire a new person at the paper). "Kill Bill - Vol. 2" completes the latest Tarantino masterpiece. I must admit, I am a Tarantino fan. Vol. 2 has more of the trademark Tarantino dialogue and humor that we have become accustomed to. It is a film that is wonderfully realized and makes Vol. 1 a better film. Tarantino has the uncanny ability to take little vignettes -- sometimes material that would be considered B-movie trash -- and make it into high art. I dunno how he does it, but it is amazing. The best work Uma Thurman has ever done.

3. Miracle
This is where everyone laughs, but "Miracle" is one of the best sports movies I have seen. Kurt Russell -- often underrated -- does a solid job in his portrayal of Coach Herb Brooks (note: I had the opportunity to meet Herb Brooks and visit with him in 2000). The movie pushes all the right buttons and does a decent job creating hockey footage onscreen (not an easy task to do). Some will argue it is typical "rah-rah" Disney fare, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

4. Collateral
Tom Cruise as a likable bad guy. He has tried a "darker side" in other movies with, in my opinion, mediocre results. Michael Mann new all of the right buttons to push. There is more to this movie than meets the eye -- don't let the ending fool you. This film is really about the quiet desperation of adult males in this society when it comes to achieving dreams and goals in life. Cruise's character acts as an odd mentor to Jamie Foxx in the movie, but in the end, Foxx's life is changed (for the better) because of all he had to deal with in the film. Overall, and excellent crime drama.

5. The Life Aquatic -- With Steven Zissou
About four of us in the theatre actually found this movie funny. Personally, I love Wes Andersen's "weirdness" and I liked this movie because of it. I can safely say that I left the theatre having experienced something new -- you can say that too often. Bill Murray is a comedy genious (despite what his detractors say). It is a bit pretentious, but I thought it was compellingly bizarre.

6. Open Water
Yes, it is a low budget (really low) indie film. Very few films with a minimalistic story and budget have left me feeling "dazed" like this film did. As I sat and watched, I felt a terrific amount of anxiety. I wondered how I would react. I wondered how I would cope if put in the same situation. In all honesty, I feel that I might have reacted in a similar manner...which is very scary.

7. Spider-Man 2
I was so underwhelmed by the first "Spider-Man" that I was pretty "ho-hum" about viewing this one. The story was infinitely better in "2," and I actually wanted to see this one again after leaving the theatre. There is still something about Tobey Maquire that bothers me, but the material seemed to fit him better this time out.

8. The Incredibles
In many ways, this was the best "superhero" movie last year. The movie ran longer than most such animated fare (clocking in a nearly 2 hours), but it was nice to see Pixar do something that was (for them) actually a risk. This wasn't the typical "cute kiddie fare with some adult jokes" that they have made into an art form. The was a more fully realized (if not more serious) movie.

9.Garden State
Pure genius from Zach Braff. The relationship between Andrew and Samantha is really touching. I loved the bizarre comedy in this movie. It is really refreshing and entertaining. I missed this one at the theater, but had really wanted to see it. I have watched it three times since owning it on DVD and just love it.

10. Friday Night Lights
Billy Bob. He made a great coach in this movie. You know that a good movie has been made when you walk out of the theatre and say, "Huh...Tim McGraw was good in that." I hate to include two sports pictures (Million Dollar Baby hasn't come here yet and I will probably like that, too), but -- much like "Finding Neverland" -- the main star brings this up a level.

2004 Top 10:

1. Before Sunset
2. Touching the Void
3. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. . .Spring
4. Million Dollar Baby
5. Hotel Rwanda
6. A Home at the End of the World
7. Oldboy
8. The United States of Leland
9. Garden State
10. Friday Night Lights

Runnersup: Intimate Strangers, Maria Full of Grace, Mean Creek, Untold Scandal.

I found that this year, there were only a handful of films I absolutely adored (my present Top 5). Lots of 3-star movies vying to fill out the rest of the Top 10; many could be shuffled in ranking on any given day or even replaced by a runner-up. My theatre attendance was way down from last year as well. (104 seen theatrically in 2003; only 78 this year.) Everything on the list was seen theatrically except "Oldboy".

THE BEST FILMS OF 2004 (BAR NONE)

1. Garden State
2. Closer
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Sideways
5. The Machinist


6. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
7. The Girl Next Door
8. Kill Bill: Volume Two
9. The Motorcycle Diaries
10. Shaun of the Dead


11. Team America: World Police
12. I Heart Huckabees
13. Kinsey
14. Spanglish
15. Super Size Me


16. Dawn of the Dead
17. Fahrenheit 9/11
18. Stark Raving Mad
19. The Terminal
20. The Butterfly Effect

THE FILMS OF 2004 THAT DESERVE A BETTER AFTER LIFE

1. Jersey Girl
2. Broken Lizard's Club Dread
3. Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
4. Eurotrip
5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

THE WORST PIECES OF SHIT THAT 2004 BROUGHT US
1. Envy
2. The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
3. Alien Vs. Predator
4. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
5. Open Water
6. Shark Tale
7. Van Helsing
8. Along Came Polly
9. I, Robot
10. The Stepford Wives

11. Battle Royale II
12. The Clearing
13. Danny Deckchair
14. The Prince and Me
15. Soul Plane
16. Starsky and Hutch
17. Taking Lives
18. Wicker Park
19. A Day Without a Mexican
20. Seed of Chucky

Just to let y'all know, I've begun the data entry today, and am about 25% through it. If the rate holds up I should be done tomorrow or Wednesday, and can post the stats then. Wish me luck!

1. The Passion Of The Christ
2. The Incredibles
3. Collateral
4. Spider-Man 2
5. The Manchurian Candidate
6. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban
7. The Bourne Supremacy
8. Finding Neverland
9. I, Robot
10. The Day After Tomorrow

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Note: I replaced "Finding Neverland" with "Garden State."

Note: If you haven't seen "Garden State" you really should. It is just a wonderful film.

Is this a poll?

Pretty much... except no inept politician gets elected at the end of the ordeal. It's just one of several annual threads, this one for HTFers to make their own top 10 lists and live the dream of the real critics (ie. Monsier Weinberg )

Throughout the listing and subsequent discussion, Dana would compile various statistics tabulated from the top 10 lists and our 2004 movies watched (in the '2004 Films' thread). You can check out last year's as an example. Pretty straight forward explanation at the bottom of the table, thanks to all of Dana's efforts.

1. FINDING NEVERLAND - A nearly perfect film. Fantastic performances from the entire cast and an engaging story makes for a very memorable movie. For the first time in a long time, I was close to shedding a tear.

2. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE - Surpassed Office Space as the greatest comedy ever. Unlike so many over-the-top comedies these days, its hilarity lies in the ordinary nature of it all - its about everyday things that everyone goes though and the low-key performances of everyone involved only enhance the humor. Reminded me of the brilliance of John Hughes' 80s teen comedies.

3. THE INCREDIBLES - Pixar's most intergetic and innovative film since Toy Story. The family dynamic adds a whole new level of complexity to the film, making it equally enjoyable for both older and younger people.

4. COLLATERAL - Evidence of Michael Mann's fantastic directing, this is the best drama/thriller I've seen in years. Keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time, not through action, but through the powerful performances. Excellently crafted.

5. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - A thoroughly enjoyable experience. The music, acting, sets, and costumes are the best I could hope for in any musical. No, it isn't perfect, mainly because of the ininspired directing, but its still immesly entertaining and even haunting.

6. THE TERMINAL - Under-rated! One of the best character study movies I've seen in a while. While Hanks and Zeta-Jones do great jobs, I really think Stanly Tucci is the one that makes the movie. What would've been just an interesting set-up turns into a very engaging interplay of personalities thanks to his supporting "villanous" performance.

7. SPIDER-MAN 2 - Though it lacks a lot of the fun and energy of the first film, the story and acting is superb.

8. ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY - Yes, its extremely silly, but it made me laugh very hard.

9. 50 FIRST DATES - When I first heard the plot of this one, I really didn't think it would work well. However, Sandler and Barrymore do a wonderful job of mixing comedy with gentle drama, making for a sweet and sometimes very funny romantic comedy.

10. TROY - Many find it boring, but I really enjoyed it. It's typical Hollywood, but I found it to be a good time at the movies anyway.

Updated my Top 10

The Sea Inside – Added as #1

A Dirty Shame – Removed

Updated my Top 10

#10 - Replaced The Life Aquatic with Hero.

Been updating the Top 10 a decent amount over the past few weeks, but after having seen Sideways (now placed at #5), that may be my final list. (Maybe not if I see The Return or The Machinist, but who knows.)

Updated my list. Now includes M$B.

Replaced the placeholder with my Top 10 and runnerups. I'll be adding comments in the next few days.

The list will probably change in the upcomng weeks and months as I see more and more of 2004 films in addition to 2005 films.

Zachary Tait Freiesleben's Top 10 of 2004

Added M$B to my Top 10 at #1. It is far and away the best film of 2004 and that is saying something!

I'm a little short on the 40, but I still have some big ones to see in the next couple of weeks. Therefore this list is a work in progress, and I assume some of 6-10 could get pushed out.

Top Ten of 2004

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Finding Neverland
3. Closer
4. Sideways
5. Million Dollar Baby
6. House of Flying Daggers
7. Miracle
8. Garden State
9. Shrek 2
10. Ray

Revised list to insert "Million Dollar Baby" at #4, shifting everything below it down one ranking and dropping "Tengoku no Honya".

FYI,

I'm finished entering 90% the films (a bit late - work hectic, sorry), I'm now going through everybody's list and checking off films seen. I started with Scott Weinberg and Bill Harris to get the majority of films; the rest will come quickly after that.

This year more than the last 2 I've noticed a lot of films I've already categorized in a previous year showing up in this year's list. Hero is probably the most prominent. Unfortunately, because these films are tied to a previous year (and show up in that year's stats), they won't show up in the 2004 Top 10 stats if anybody has them marked (and I'm one of them - I had Hero as my #2 for the year). If I can I'll try and rework the procedure that filters the qualifying films to include 2003 films, but I won't promise it.

I hope to have the full stats posted this week - thanks for everybody's patience!

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Some films I enjoyed in 2004 and some comments thereon:

The Girl Next Door - Disappointed that the grosses weren't higher for this gem. "What would JFK do? You know he'd tap that ass!"

NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience - Informative (I didn't know that those engines are broken down, analyzed and re-built after every race), fun and freakin' LOUD!

Super Size Me - Morgan Spurlock makes issues of public health and corporate politics accessible and entertaining, in no small part due to his affable personality ("I've got the McTwitches goin' . . ."). The film has its naysayers (and I engaged quite a few of them in the film's HTF discussion thread)--I'm stunned by how many people seemingly can't acknowledge what a terrific filmmaking hook the documentary has regardless of their issues with Spurlock's process and/or conclusions. But apparently the AMPAS agrees with me: I'm very happy for Morgan's Oscar nomination.

Collateral - On second viewing on DVD over the Holidays, my issues with some storyline implausibilities and especially the third act (wherein a psychoexistential drama quickly becomes a Sherry-Lansing-wet-dream-woman-in-jeopardy-thriller) deepened. Based upon his writing of Heat and co-writing of The Insider, it certainly would seem to me that Michael Mann's co-writing this with Stuart Beattie might have ameliorated if not solved some of these problems as I see them. Be that as it may, I still like many things about the pic, from the cinematog (I need to see Aviator again to grip its period look better but I tentatively think that's the cinematog Oscar nom I'd bump in favor of this pic getting a nod); to Max's redemptive character arc; to Mann's second palpable, moody rendering of nighttime in Los Angeles.

Woman Thou Art Loosed - Happy for Kimberly Elise's Best Female Lead Independent Spirit Award nom. I've been a fan of hers since one of my 1996 top 10s, Set If Off. Happy she's moved beyond playing second fiddle to/wife of the leading bruh (Manchurian Candidate, John Q); looking forward to seeing her in the lead in Diary Of A Mad Black Woman. "His Mercy Endureth Forever" is the most rousing closing credits crawl song I heard all year.

Hotel Rwanda - Damn fine (Oscar-nominated) screenplay. Damn fine (Oscar-nominated) perf from Don Cheadle.

The Control Room - Outstanding. And I just knew that the handsome, intelligent Lt. Josh Rushing would get drummed out of the military.

The Corporation - Generally speaking, there wasn't a lot here that dutiful progressives/lefty cultural critics aren't already aware of if they were doing their reading during grad school or maybe undergrad. But this is a compelling presentation in one film of just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster - Ya' don' have to be a fan of 'tallica to dig this terrif docu. But it's even better if you are. I was ready for a concert/concert film at the end of this film when we're backstage with the band about to take the stage for their first concert after both Hetfield emerges from rehab and all the other things the pic takes us through. It was either of the directors, Bruce Sinofsky or Joel Berlinger, who told The Hollywood Reporter that that moment backstage was one of the most emotional he's experienced as a filmmaker. I think I felt exactly what he was talking about at that moment watching the pic. Can't wait to dig into the hours of deleted scenes on the recent DVD release. Happy that this got an Independent Spirit Award nom for Best Documentary.

The Incredibles - I stopped picking my jaw up off the floor about halfway through, as I knew I would just have to pick it up again. It's like Spielberg and pre-Darth Lucas George making a Bond film using Marvel characters. Amazing, insane, hilarious, wonderful.

This is something of a cheat, but I'm reserving a 'top 10' slot for several "political" documentaries I saw last year. The unprecedented, concentrated output of these pics collectively contributed to a sense of needed change in and increased quasi-mainstream awareness about the country/world we live in. Too bad it all wasn't quite enough come November 2.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Although you may find some of Moore's process/methods problematic (as I do), this movie was a sociocultural phenomenon. If you haven't seen it (and unless you have an eye on the home vid biz trades or perhaps the conservative press, you may not have even heard of it), add FahrenHYPE 9/11 to your Netflix Queue for a little ballast.

The Hunting Of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign To Destroy Bill Clinton - No movie pissed me off more last year. At the time of the famous quote, I thought Hillary was proferring hyperbolic rhetoric when she said there was a "vast right wing conspiracy" out to get her husband Bill. After watching this pic, her comment is more difficult to dismiss.

Outfoxed

Orwell Rolls In His Grave - (This is also a little bit of a cheat: I saw a theatrical presentation of the DVD last year of this 2003 film.)

Bush's Brain

Random comments:
Outstanding, once Ethan and Julie got in the car and finally expressed how upset and disappointed they both were with each other and their circumstances: Before Sunset.

Two IMO Oscar-worthy perfs that did not get noms but which did get Independent Spirit Awards nods are Kevin Bacon for The Woodsman (that was a helluva lotta $$ spent on trade ads by Newmarket for this film to end up with no nominations whatsoever) and of course Paul Giamatti. I also thought Sean Penn was strong The Assassination Of Richard Nixon.

And the Oscar for Most Frustrating Element Of a Pic goes to . . . Kinsey. If there's gonna be full frontal in a movie starring Chris O'Donnell, it needs to be Chris who does the freeballin', not Peter Sarsgaard.

Still need to see:
The Motorcycle Diaries
Bad Education
Beyond the Sea - Surprised and--based upon what I've read of his lengthy battle with the Bobby Darin estate to sing the songs himself--even though I haven't even seen it, disappointed that Spacey's labor of love received no Oscar nominations.
A Very Long Engagement
Persons Of Interest
Hero
And especially after looking at this thread, Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind.

-p

Edited list to add Ray, which bumps Harry Potter. Jamie Foxx was fantastic, but I was a tad disappointed overall.

Wow. If you're saying that you were "disappointed overall" with one of the movies in your top ten, you need to see more movies.