scott shelton

I think it's better to have a neutral thread on this subject over what's already been started - just to be more respectful.

Post away!

ViewAskewbian

BEST
1. Kill Bill Vol. 2
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Bukowski: Born Into This*
4. A Very Long Engagement
5. Coffee and Cigarettes
6. Hero
7. Supersize Me*
8. Farmingville*
9. Control Room*
10. Dogville

(*What can I say, I love docs!)

WORST
1. Cat Woman
2. Cat Woman
3. Cat Woman
4. Cat Woman
5. Cat Woman
6. Cat Woman
7. Cat Woman
8. Cat Woman
9. Cat Woman
10. Christmas With The Kranks

. . .

No, I take that back:

10. Cat Woman

DGibFen

I'm assuming that we can change them later, so here's my preliminary list:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Spider-Man 2
3. Dogville (I'm counting it as a 2004 release)
4. Garden State
5. The Passion of The Christ
6. Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut
7. The Incredibles
8. Collateral
9. Before Sunset
10. (tie) Napoleon Dynamite/Kill Bill Vol. 2

As far as the worst:
1. The Village
2. Saved!
3. Fahrenheit 9/11
4. Mean Girls
5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

mikeporter

My Top Ten (in alphabetical order):
Collateral
Dawn of the Dead
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hero
Incredibles
Napoleon Dynamite
Ray
Shaun of the Dead
Spider-Man 2
Zatoichi

scott shelton

As you should.

DRG

I still have a LOT of 2004 movies to see (I've been a slacker this year), and I haven't seen many of the ones receiving year end praise yet, so this list will easily change within a month or two.

10 Best

1. Spider-Man 2
2. Kill Bill vol. 2
3. Dawn of the Dead
4. The Incredibles
5. Shrek 2
6. Shaun of the Dead
7. Team America: World Police
8. Eurotrip
9. The Butterfly Effect
10. The Bourne Supremacy

10 Worst

1. Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
2. Shaolin Soccer
3. Soul Plane
4. Johnson Family Vacation
5. Van Helsing
6. Catwoman
7. Paparazzi
8. You Got Served
9. Alien vs Predator
10. The Manchurian Candidate

Michael Corvin

I too have missed most of the films of the past few months, due to a new baby. So I am currently catching up on them all when they hit DVD.

Best
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Incredibles
I, Robot
Garden State
SpiderMan 2

Worst (only one I have seen that was truely awful)
Anchorman

Matthew Chmiel

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

Cygnet74

10+ Best (in no order)
Sideways
Brown Bunny
Undertow
Vera Drake
Shaun of the Dead
The Incredibles
Dogville
Spider-Man 2
Before Sunset
Coffee & Cigarettes
Hero

10+ Worst and/or Biggest Disappointments (in no order)
Open Water
Garden State
The Village
The Life Aquatic
Collateral
House of Flying Daggers
Maria Full of Grace
I, Robot
Troy
Whole Ten Yards
Surviving Christmas

Sessa17

BEST

1. Kill Bill: Volume 2
2. Old Boy - 2003
3. Garden State
4. Shaun of the Dead
5. House of Flying Daggers
6. The Passion of the Christ
7. Closer
8. Hellboy
9. The Machinest
10. Sideways


WORSTE

1. Farenheit 911
2. Aliens Vs. Predator
3. Napoleon Dynamite
4. Van Helsing
5. The Punisher
6. Catwoman
7. Battle Royale 2 - 2003
8. Alexander
9. Troy
10. Open Water


And since so many people listed them, this is the BEST/WORSTE of 2004 everyone, Battle Royale 2, Oldboy, Hero, Dogville, NONE of these are from 2004. You may fave seen them this year, but that doesn't change the fact that they are old movies. If you saw Gone With The Wind last month, that doesn't make it one of the best movie OF 2004.

Matthew Chmiel

Battle Royale 2 = got an international theatrical release in 2004.
Oldboy = got an international theatrical release in 2004.
Hero = got an American theatrical release in 2004.
Dogville = got an American theatrical release in 2004.

I would say they do count for 2004 lists. And comparing them to Gone With The Wind is just stupid.

Sessa17

It doesn't matter if they got an international release or not, they aren't 2004 movies, they just got released in theaters around the world this year, they were all made pre-2004, thus, they are NOT 2004 films. Whether or not a movie now plays in a US theater this year, is irrelevant to when the film was initially made & initally released. All an international release means is that now a film is playing on more theaters around the world, it is completely irrelevant to when a movie is made &/or initally releases. ALL of those movies I listed were made & initially releases prior to 2004, just b/c now some are playing in the US does not change the fact that they are older movies.

My Gone with the Wind comparison is not stupid, what is stupid is people who list a movie that is over 2 years old like Hero on a best of list for 2004.

Matthew Chmiel

So then whose fault is it that some people are not allowed to see films right away?

If you didn't live in Japan, you couldn't see Battle Royale II until 2004.
If you didn't live in Korea, you couldn't see Oldboy until 2004.
If you didn't live in Europe, you couldn't see Dogville until 2004.
If you didn't live in Asia, you couldn't see Hero until 2004.

Both Hero and Dogville got their OFFICIAL theatrical releases in America during 2004 and all the Americans interested in Oldboy and Battle Royale II got their hands on it in 2004. They're not old films by any means, they're fairly recent. Is it my fault that I couldn't see Hero until this year? God forbid that most people aren't region free or couldn't live up to your standards.

Sessa17

Now you are talking about a completely different topic. I neve said it was anyone's fault, & the fault is irrelevant to this thread. But just b.c someone didn't see these movies until now, doesn't mean they are 2004 films, HENCE my Gone With the Wind example. Your entire argument is that since someone saw a movie in 2004, that makes it a 2004 movie. Those movies I listed should be for best/worste of the year they were releases, not this year, just b/c people have seen them now. There are hundreds & hundreds of films from this year to focus on, no reason to through old films on the list.

Really??? Then how is that I live in New Jersey yet I've had the DVD sitting on my shelf for almost 2 years, & I saw it in the theaters in early 2003?

Well, there you are wrong again, b/c Hero got it's "offical" theatrical release in America in 2003, it just went nation wide in 2004. I didn't mean those movies are "old" in the sense of being ancient, they are "old" in the sense that they are NOT 2004 movies.

Why are you so offended by anything I said, I didn't criticize anyone or say anything about standards or say anything about this being anyone's fault. Again, just b/c you see a movie this year, does not mean it's a movie FROM this year, why is that so hard to understand. It dosen't matter if a film is made in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, or Mars, if it was made in 2002, & initially distributed there in 2002, it's a 2002 film, just b/c Joe Six-Pack saw it in the United States in 2004, that doesn't not mean all of a sudden the movie is a 2004 movie, it just means it was released in more theaters in 2004.

And this has nothing to do with who sees what first, I didn't get Oldboy on DVD until a few weeks ago, but I'm going to see that now it's my favorite movie of 2004 b/c I just saw it, it's a 2003 movie. It's that simple.

Maybe I'm weird, but it makes no sense to me how a movie like Hero that is over TWO YEARS OLD, be considered one of the best movies of 2004.

jaeufraser

This is an internet list. Why not count films that were released stateside 2004? It's just a silly list, and there's a very obvious reason to include them as 2004 releases, as in those respective areas they were 2004 releases. I mean, Envy is also a nearly 2 year old movie also, except instead of getting foreign releases it sat on a shelf collecting dust. Either way, those films were not available in certain markets, so why not include them in best or worst of lists. It's just a internet forum personal list, we're not the Academy.

Anyway, my list, in no particular order...

Kill Bill Vol 2
Eternal Sunshine Spotless Mind
Harry Potter Azkaban
Polar Express
Colaterral
The Incredibles
Hero (ha!)

That's all I'd add to a list. I've not seen too many films to make a complete top ten.

Cygnet74

what the fuck happened in here? since different films are available at different times the world over, the common-sense approach would be to list the top 10 best/worst films released locally in 2004.

and regarding Hero (why am i doing this?), it's North American premiere was in Jan 2003 at the Palm Springs Film Festival but it wasn't distributed for a theatrical run by Miramax until August 27, 2004.

Matthew Chmiel

Film festival screenings do not count.

Sessa17

Fine, fine. Since most people here wait until a major studios distributes a movie to see it, I'll change my list to include movies that are pre-2004.

Robert

1. Spider-man 2
2. Spartan
3. Troy
4. Bourne Supremacy
5. Dawn of the Dead
6. Collateral
7. Hellboy
8. Eurotrip
9. The Girl Next Door
10. Starsky & Hutch

Zodiac_Speaking

Best:
Passion of the Christ
Eternal Sunshine
Kill Bill V2
SpiderMan 2
Shaun of the Dead
Open Water
Collateral

Worst:
Catwoman
Excorist The Beginning
Alexander

I've seen 40+ movies, none in December (due to OT), but the rest were eith average or good to mediocre, those that I chose to post, were good enough (or worse enough) to mention.

scott shelton

"Most people here wait"

Oh, come on. Some of us do not have the resources to see the imports until they see the light of US distribution.

Hold on to your panties: most people are going to regard OLDBOY as a 2005 release. Gasp!

It's just a list thread. Stay calm. Put GONE WITH THE WIND on there if you like. Put anything.

Baron Of Hell

best
1. ray
2. dawn of the dead
3. hero
4. spiderman 2
5. i, robot

worst
1. alien vs predator
2. the passion of the christ

I haven't seen all that many movies this year. Still need catch blade and team america if they are still playing.

Matthew Chmiel

Because Tartan is releasing the film to theaters in the United States in 2005, right?

Sessa17

Stay calm? I made one post pointing something out & some of you guys went nuts, arguing with me over it, one guy even insulted by it. You guys should follow your own advice.

And spare me the "some people don't have the resources", these are the same people shelling out $10 without any problem on a whatever US over-hyped blockbuster comes out. The people that want to see something different, or foreign movies spend their money instead on that. It's not lack of money that keeps 99% of the average movie goer from never hearing of an Oldboy, it's b.c a Taraninto or whoever hasn't snatched the rights & released it in the US. Most people, do indeed not know or care about anything different unless a major study picks it up. I don't know why you guys are getting so upset over that.

Tarnower

Well, with about a dozen or so films still to be seen, these are my preliminary lists.....

10 BEST: (in order)
1. "Sideways" --- barely eeks it out over...
2. "Finding Neverland" --- magical and enchanting.
3. "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" --- brilliant all-around.
4. "The Passion of the Christ" --- profoundly moving.
5. "The Incredibles" --- Pixar does it yet again. Incredible!
6. "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" --- Even better than the first. And that's saying something.
7. "Maria Full of Grace" --- like no other film I've ever seen. Riveting.
8. "Ray" --- Good, old-fashioned storytelling...and what a story!
9. "Vera Drake" --- Succeeds in putting sympathetic spin on repellent subject.
10. "Spiderman 2" --- Raised the bar for comic book flicks.


10 WORST: (in order)
1. "Alexander" --- Unwatchable and completely uninteresting.
2. "Closer" --- Hated this vile swill with a raging passion. Obnoxious!
3. "Catwoman" --- Dumb as they come.
4. "Van Helsing" --- All's I remember is running through walls and loud crashes.
5. "The Stepford Wives" --- Dull and dimwitted. Stupidest ending of the year.
6. "The Day After Tomorrow" --- Schlock entertainment at it's most naive.
7. "Die Mommie Die!" --- Didn't even stand up as camp. Amateurish.
8. "Spanglish" --- Cynical, over-the-top script loses viewpoint constantly.
9. "A Home at the End of the World" --- Chopped-up and too tame.
10. "Fahrenheit 9/11" --- Propaganda of the most cynical and elitist.