Roger Ebert's "Best / Worst Movies of 2004" list! (1 Viewer)

[David Galindo]

Here it is:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...SAYS/412190302

So, in short-

BEST MOVIES of 2004

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Kill Bill Vol. 2
3. Vera Drake
4. Spider-Man 2
5. Moolade
6. The Aviator
7. Baadassss!
8. Sideways
9. Hotel Rwanda
10. Undertow

WORST MOVIES of 2004

1. (tie) "Troy"
1. (tie) "Alexander"
2. "Christmas With the Kranks"
3. "The Girl Next Door"
4. "Dogville"
5. "New York Minute"
6. "The Grudge"
7. "White Chicks"
8. "Resident Evil: Apocalypse"
9. "The Whole Ten Yards"
10. "The Village"


I find it interesting that his Special Jury Prizes had some 3 1/2 star films while excluding some 4-star movies. Plus, no mention of Collateral...ah well.

All in all, a huge for his list! I agree with the movies I saw that were on his list...and now I have to check out the others.

BTW, odd that Troy and Alexander, while getting two stars, are the worst of the year, while the 1 star movies are not. Then again, Ebert has always said not to go by the stars, but by the reviews...

 

[Chris]

Baadassss! is one of those films I found over the weekend and thought was far better then any hype it seems to not be getting.

On the other hand, one of the films on his worst list (Girl Next Door) I actually found to be a decent goofball comedy.. go figure.

 

[AlexCremers]

Ah, Roger (who thinks The Cell is one of the best movies of that year) Ebert. Two films that don't belong up there are Spideman II, which belongs in the list "Most Overrated Films Ever", and, of course, Dogville should be praised instead of condemned.

------------
Alex Cremers

 

[Ricardo C]

All in your humble opinion, of course

 

[Steve Christou]

Good old Roger Ebert, always knew he was "one of us". Kill Bill 2 and Spiderman 2 rated above Oscar darlings The Aviator and Sideways? And why not? :p)

Not a Shyamalamalan fan then Roger? Haven't seen The Village but if Ebert says it's as bad as White Chicks and Men in Skirts I & II, I won't even bother to rent it.

 

[Matt Stone]

Wow, that is pretty harsh on Troy, The Girl Next Door, and The Village. I guess I can understand The Village (pissed off enough people, but I liked it)...but Troy and TGND were ordinary at worst.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

?In what way?

Putting The Village in the ten worst is pushing it. Not MNS's best film but definitely not a piece of garbage either.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Pretty solid list although I was hoping for "Eternal Sunshine.." to show-up and help give it an Oscar push. (Especially since it's #2 on Roeper's list) I also thinkg that Kill Bill and Spiderman are given a bit too much credit. I finally watched Spiderman yesterday and it was mildly entertaining at best.

 

[Jonny_L]

Although I think Roger Ebert is an incredible film historian and I love his enthousiam for the movies and I like him personally (from what I gather of him in interviews anyhow) I usually don't agree with him on movie reviews. Although that list is great. I agree with almost all of it. Who'da thunk it?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I like that Ebert tends to give certain films a chance where most others will not. It's great to see KILL BILL VOL. 2 on that list.

But he's not perfect - THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST belongs on the "Best" list, where THE VILLAGE has no business being among the "Worst".

 

[Ray Chuang]

I think of all the movies on Ebert's list, the ones that could get a lot of Oscar nods are:

1. The Aviator. It's the type of movie that AMPAS members love (and frankly, they want to finally award a Best Director Oscar to Martin Scorsese).

2. Million Dollar Baby. People who have seen this movie say it has a very good chance of multiple Oscar nominations, including another Best Director nod for Clint Eastwood.

3. Hotel Rwanda. Well-liked by critics, and AMPAS members like a "topical" film that is well-done.

 

[JonZ]

"Spiderman II, which belongs in the list "Most Overrated Films Ever"

IMHO its the second best comic book movie ever and will definitely make my top 10 this year.

I saw he had Twilight Samurai in his runnerup list.It had a limited US release this year but is actually a 2002 film. I was wondering whether it could be included in my list this year.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

Of course the winds can always change between now and when Oscar noms get announced. However, at this point I would say there are three "shoo-ins" for Best Picture (and Best Director): The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways. At this point it's going to be tough for any of those three to be knocked out of the running, IMHO.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

The only films I've seen on those lists are Kill Bill 2, Resident Evil 2, and The Whole Ten Yards.

IMO he's got KB2 too high and RE2 too low. (Critics seemed to universally hate both RE movies, while I found them both to be decent for what they were.) The Whole Ten Yards was nothing special, but I bet I could find ten worse movies if I really tried.

 

[Ernest Rister]

And now, once again, my new catch-phrase...

(ahem)

(opens mouth, uses soothing, minty-cool, throat spray)

(returns to mic)

"What, no Catwoman?"

 

[Matt Butler]

Ill agree that hes being too harsh on Villiage and Girl Next Door.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I think this tends to be overrated as well. Putting it up in the Top Ten because of the subject matter and not because of the movie itself would be a big mistake.

Would have liked Garden State to be in the Top Ten.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"I think this tends to be overrated as well. Putting it up in the Top Ten because of the subject matter and not because of the movie itself would be a big mistake."

And the reverse is true.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Something that Ebert is very aware of with his concise rule -

Judge films by how they are about, not what they are about.

His leaving it off of his top ten had nothing to do with the subject matter.

- Walter.

 

[Ocean Phoenix]

Some people say Spider-Man 2 is overrated. Others say it's one of the best movies of the year. I say it's both. I think it's overrated, and I don't think it's "the best superhero movie ever" (as Ebert says), but I admire it. I left it thinking "I admire that more than I like it". I agree with Ebert most of the time, and he loves all of my favourite movies, but once in a while, it upsets me that he overpraises some movies and doesn't praise others enough. My favourite superhero movie is still X2, which he liked, but called "Dumb, but good". I really hate that comment. People say Spider-Man 2 is better because it focused so much on Peter Parker's inner turmoil and difficult life, while X2 had so many characters that there wasn't enough focus on each one to make audiences "care" about them, but I disagree. I think there was enough attention given to each without overdoing it, and I cared about them.

I got really sick of all the "quiet moments" in Spider-Man 2. It's not that I can't appreciate good dialogue and want only action, but the first hour just dragged when it kept reinforcing how horrible Peter Parker's life is. I started to find the movie depressing, and I don't go to a "comic book/superhero movie" to be depressed half the time. I think Spider-Man 2 is an amazingly original, creative, and intelligent film, but the depressing beginning ruined it for me a bit.

I like X2 more, partially because I think it was paced better. Watching it, I never felt bored or wanted things to speed up. In his review of Spider-Man 2, Ebert says something like "in most superhero movies we sit through the dialogue-driven scenes impatiently and perk up during the action scenes...this is not the case in Spider-Man 2". Ironically, that's exactly how I felt during Spider-Man 2.

I don't watch many movies in theatres each year, partially because I can't afford to, and partially because I'm really picky about movies and only want to spend money on one if I'm VERY confident that it will be worth my time and money. The only other movie on any of his lists that I saw was "Kill Bill: Volume 2", and I loved it. There's a long movie that was very well paced. There were one or two scenes that were unnecessarily long, but aside from those, I enjoyed every minute of it. It's a movie I feel should have gotten more praise. It's better than Spider-Man 2 and MUCH better than the insanely overrated Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, which I got sick of due to dull characters and overused special effects.