Top Ten Movies of 2004

In response to Jevant's Top 10 (+1) of 2004, I spent my evening compiling my own list. It took me more than two hours to compile my own list from scratch but hopefully I can look back at this in the future and get a kick out of it.

[10] Fahrenheit 9/11 (Official Site)
I wasn't expecting a documentary to be entertaining. This film really kept the pace moving, attacking the subject from many different angles and keeping me invested in it. I still don't trust the 'facts' much and the part where they conjecture what Bush may have been thinking while he sat in the kindergarden class was childish (pun intended). Still, it related to a lot of the discussions that I had with Abe's cell group over the past year and it resonated pretty strongly amongst the group of guys that I saw it with, so this squeaks in at number ten.

[9] Anchorman (Official Site)
This is on my list because I wanted one comedy here and, admittedly, the crop of comedies this past year was light. It was either this, Shrek 2 or Shaun of the Dead. This barely beat out the latter on this list thanks to the hilarious gang fight scene and the deeply moving "Afternoon Delight" musical interlude.

[8] The Passion of the Christ (Official Site)
I liked this movie just fine. On the negative side, it didn't really get to me emotionally and I'm not sure that I would have brought my own kids to such a movie (if I had a wife and kids). It definitely had less blood than Kill Bill 1 but that's like saying Lake Ontario has less water than Lake Superior. On the plus side, the passion behind this movie came through clearly and it really moved people. I brought along one person to the movie that hadn't been in a theatre for more than twenty years. It had a good impact in both religious terms and as a film.

[7] Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Official Site)
I had to decide between this movie and The Day After Tomorrow. (Funny how the titles relate.) I prefer sci-fi and this had the edge in that department since it's hard to beat giant robots and submarine planes. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law play well off of each other and I've always enjoyed Giovanni Ribisi's acting. Beyond that, I had to appreciate the architecture behind this movie. It was almost pure CGI, except for the actors, and what they pulled off should have cost them triple what it did.

[6] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Official Site)
It was weird, it was twisted and it was great. The one image that stands out in my mind shows Jim Carey with his adult body but with the size and perspective of a child. This movie really let us get into the heads of the characters, and I mean that literally.

[5] Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Official Site)
I loved this movie so much more than Volume 1, even if the wailing sound track drove me up the wall at times. The first movie used blood as an artistic medium but this one preferred to contentrate on the characters. I watched Volume 1 on DVD for the first time just before I went to the theatre to watch Volume 2. It was a visceral experience in both cases but I'll opt for Volume 2 any day over Volume 1.

[4] I, Robot (Official Site)
I love science fiction and I love all of the sci-fi that Isaac Asimov has written. The original book by this title was a collection of short stories centred around the Three Laws of Robotics. A few of the short stories used an older version of the Susan Calvin character and U. S. Robotics was the robot company in the stories. The only link besides those pieces is that the explanation for the death in the beginning of the movie is exactly like something that Asimov would have dreamed up. I was grateful that it didn't play to the cliches, contrary to the opinion of some. (I'm looking at you, Mike.) The characters of Spooner (Will Smith) and Sonny (as played by Andy Tudyk) were flawed personalities that I could appreciate and cheer for.

[3] The Aviator (Official Site)
Long movie, plenty of actors, fun action, good depth, creepy references. My hat's off to Martin Scorsese for his direction, from the film-in-a-film to the plane crashes to the crazy house to the hearing in Washington. Solid film, easily in my top three.

[2] Hero (Official Site)
I had a tough choice between the second and third positions for this list but I gave the runner-up prize to this movie - which was originally released overseas in 2002, ironically enough. I was a sucker for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and I was a sucker for this movie. The colour motif as part of the plot was a unique touch and the he-said-he-said plot was intriguing. And yes, I liked the ending of this movie.

[1] Ray (Official Site)
I'm curious to know what people thought my top choice would be. I was anticipating this movie long before it hit the main stream. I heard early word that it was a lock for Oscar contention and that has certainly proven true. If you thought that Jamie Foxx acted well in Collateral then you haven't seen anything yet. Jamie Foxx is a classically trained pianist so the singing and piano playing that you hear in this movie is actually him. It was cool to see the clips of Foxx when he first met Ray Charles near the beginning of filming before Ray died. Foxx's acting was as good as it gets but for me, it was all about the music. "Hey, baby, it's gonna do what it's gonna do."

Reference: 2004 Movie Releases