I think 2004 was a less than stellar year for movies. On the blockbuster side, I only really liked Spider-Man 2. Usually I enjoy about 2 or 3 popcorn films a year. Considering small films, Eternal Sunshine and Garden State are 2 of the best movies to come out in awhile. Oscar contenders aren't really weak but on the day of the announcement of the nominees I had only seen 2 of the films. The last couple years I had seen all of the nominees before they were announced. Checking guzzlefish I only own 10 movies from 2004. I plan on getting about 10 more though when certain movies are released but overall, I think 2004 was one of the weaker years of this decade.

i thought it was an interesting, but not good year. i usually don't like any of the major blockbusters, but Spider-Man 2 really surprised me. my girlfriend remarked afterward, "I don't think I remember you ever having so much fun in a movie before."

Highlights included the incredibly touching family interaction in Vera Drake, the meditative experience of The Brown Bunny, the harrowing and human experience in Undertow, my fully-realized empathy for the characters of Sideways, and the genre-bending antics in Shaun of the Dead.

Disappointments were the superficiality and contrivances of Garden State (a film i desperately wanted to like), the lack of emotional resonance in House of Flying Daggers, and the total lack of competant filmmaking in Open Water.

I think solid is a good word to describe 2004. It wasn't a great year, but not a bad year either.

Some good small budget films that got wide exposure (Eternal Sunshine, Garden State etc), some good popcorn flicks (Spider-man 2, Harry Potter 3 etc.) and good "oscar" flicks (Aviator, MDB, etc).

Yes, it was solid.

I think it was an awful year for movies.

I thought it was an ok year for movies. Out of the blockbusters, there were some fun ones, though most were just diverting entertainment. Spiderman 2 and Colaterral would be a couple of my favorite, with The Increidbles being the best of the best of the blockbusters this year. I suppose that's three.

Plus, this year also gave me Kill Bill Vol. 2, which is just fantastic. Love that movie.

Some other movies were pretty good either, but I can't think of any downright classics that I'll hold on to.

Agreed. I was not impressed.

It wasn't a great year...but I had more favorites this year than in 2003.

The Bourne Supremacy and I, Robot were both fun flicks, imo.

i think it had a very slow start but finished strong. i absolutely loved these films:

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
finding neverland
garden state
harry potter
kill bill vol 2
the life aquatic with steve zissou
million dollar baby
the passion of christ
spider man 2

my cut off ends right before sideways, which i thought was just good.

I still have a lot to see, but so far it doesn't stack up as well to 2003 for me. Spider-Man 2 is probably my favorite 'big' movie this year, but I don't think it was as good as Return of the King. Likewise, I haven't seen a 'small' movie (Oscar contender-type movie) this year that I enjoyed anywhere near as much as I enjoyed In America.

What he said, IMO more than any year I can think of as a whole 2004 was filled with mediocrity which for me is the same as saying it was the worste year ever for film. Very few stand out films & the blockbusters were mostly terrible movies as well as the Oscar favorites being filled with overrated generic fluff (Ray, Aviator).

On the upside 2005 looks tremendous & I haven't been so excited for a movie year in quite some time even though it's off to a slow start so far.