Movies you liked in 2004: ILF version

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lots still to see of course, but we can update.

Favs:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Before Sunset
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring
Anchorman
Friday Night Lights

Movies liked/loved to one degree or another:
Hero
Collateral
Sideways
Maria Full of Grace
Dogville
I Heart Huckabees
Birth

I can't really recall anything I hated. I seem to be very good at avoding those movies altogether. Also, unfortunately, given where I live, I can't see a lot of foreign films and obscure indies right away--so I'm looking to you guys to point me towards the good ones.

― ryan (ryan), Friday, 24 December 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I know some of these films were released earlier outside the US, but I live in the US and its the first chance I got to see them, so there you have it.

Liked or loved:
The Corporation
I Heart Huckabees
The Manchurian Candidate
Kill Bill vol. 2
Collateral
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Undertow
Zatoichi
Shaun of the Dead
Jesus, You Know
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
The Saddest Music in the World
Twilight Samurai
Red Lights

Did not like:
The Polar Express
What the Bleep Do We Know?
The Five Obstructions
Super Size Me
The Passion of the Christ
Dawn of the Dead
The Terminal
Napoleon Dynamite

Eh...:
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of what's it called
Spiderman 2
The Incredibles
Shrek 2

― Anthony (Anthony F), Friday, 24 December 2004 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Eternal Sunshine was definitely my favorite, but my word doesn't mean much in this department--I watch only 5-10 movies at the theater a year. The majority of my movie watching is video, so I'm always at least 6 months to a year behind.

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Saturday, 25 December 2004 03:02 (twenty-one years ago)

i have weird conflicting feelings about the passion--i find the christian myth pretty powerful--but i also acknowledge gibson's version is a bit hamfisted and brutal. but i have to admit the film moved me quite a bit (mostly due to whoever played mary).

i also did not like super size me.

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 25 December 2004 03:15 (twenty-one years ago)

liked:

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
dogville
the incredibles
mean girls
dodgeball
last life in the universe

mixed feelings about:

birth
hero
spiderman 2
saved!

FEH!:

napoleon dynamite
SAW

have not yet seen:
TOO FUCKING MANY TO LIST.

― joseph (joseph), Saturday, 25 December 2004 05:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Favorites:

Sideways
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Undertow

Liked:

Closer
The Incredibles
I Heart Huckabees
Maria Full of Grace
The Machinist
Anchorman
Collateral (w/o that silly ending..)
Dogville
Kill Bill 2
Shaun of the Dead

Did not like, but not awful:

Napoleon Dynamite, Garden State, and Spiderman 2.

The only terrible films I’ve seen this year are "Vanity Fair" and "Meet the Fockers." Still want to see Scorcese’s latest, as well as the latest Almodòvar and Godard.

― mj (robert blake), Saturday, 25 December 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not sure if this counts, but I'd like to add to my list of liked/loved films, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction.

― Anthony (Anthony F), Saturday, 25 December 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd like to add The Manchurian Candidate. i cant remember the original but this was pretty decent.

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:43 (twenty-one years ago)

would like to add tarnation and team america: world police to the "like" list and that documentary about the khmer rouge to the FEH! list.

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 26 December 2004 07:53 (twenty-one years ago)

oh and garden state to the "mixed feelings" list (not strong enough for such OUTLANDISH YIDDISH DENUNCIATIONS but nothing spectacular, either)

― joseph (joseph), Sunday, 26 December 2004 07:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen over eighty films so far this year (not anywhere near as many as I'd've liked), so I won't list everything here, just some of the more significant

Favorites:
Before Sunset
Light is Calling
Tropical Malady

liked a lot:
Blissfully Yours
Bus 174
Crimson Gold
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Los Angeles Plays Itself
Moolaadé
Vera Drake

liked, but with limitations:
Both of Zhang's films
Anatomy of Hell
Brother to Brother
Cellular
Dogville
Raja
and...
The Notebook (listed last because they were violently mixed feelings; love-hated it)

FEH!:
Renny Harlin's version of Exorcist (no, I haven't seen Schrader's)
Good Bye, Lenin!
Ladder 49
Shrek 2

have not yet seen:
Bad Education
Goodbye Dragon Inn
I Mentch Huckabee's
Million Dollar Baby
Notre Musique
The Passion of the Christ
Son Frere (all the way through)
Twentynine Palms

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 26 December 2004 22:50 (twenty-one years ago)

(Nobody saw F911?)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Monday, 27 December 2004 09:27 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't finish a serious list til late February, but the films that drove me to near-homicidal rage this year were Dogville, Tarnation and Napoleon Dynamite.

Just about the only US films that delighted me this year were Eternal Sunshine and I Heart Huckabees. Catch a lovely Iranian film called Deserted Station (story: Kiarostami)if it plays near you. And jeez, Joseph, what was wrong with "S21"?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 27 December 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw 9/11, but didn't think it really fit into any of the categories set up for this thread. Both it and Sideways fit into the space between "liked, with limitations" and "feh!" which guess could be called "meh?"

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 27 December 2004 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't all the faithful who liked F9/11 (count me) last summer now consider it a failure since it didn't unseat the fucker? (ie, JLG otm)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 27 December 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll second "Team America"

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Monday, 27 December 2004 20:24 (twenty-one years ago)

i never saw F911 myself. just not interested. i go to movies to get away from that stuff, frankly. and no one has convinced that moore is a talented filmmaker whose films are worth watching apart from their bullying political intent.

― ryan (ryan), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

(btw--im not defending my head-in-the-sand approach to politics in movies, i know it's a flaw of mine, but i really would rather avoid the more prominent political films.)

― ryan (ryan), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

A couple of these might be 2003 films officially, I'm using the VV poll as a guide to what came out

won't see because the trailers repulse me:
Napoleon Dynamite
Spanglish

disliked:
Saw (hated)
Intermission (hated)
Spider-Man 2
Coffee & Cigarettes
Garden State (kind of hated, but at least it wasn't the Rick Moody novel)(Ms. Portman please go back to doing 'chick flicks' like Where The Heart Is, I enjoyed that one)
Hero (bo-ring)
Team America: World Police (oh yeah, so [i]that's[/i] why I dislike libertarians)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
The Girl Next Door
Troy
the Dreamers

meh:
Fahrenheit 9/11 (a few good sequences, mostly shrill and self-defeating)
the Incredibles
Kill Bill 2 (my God this seems never-ending on DVD)
Van Helsing (not as bad as some would lead you to believe, the first third is decent for a CGI blockbuster)

halfway between meh and liked:
I Heart Huckabee's (hated the Christian family scene and the crowd scenes)
Saddest Music In The World (could have been better)
Hellboy (loses a lot from big-screen to DVD)
Control Room
Dodgeball
Anchorman
Mean Girls

liked:
Sideways (overrated)
Harry Potter
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (don't understand all the love, it was good but not great)
Closer (which was shallow and pretentious, maybe, but fun to watch and good performances except for Portman)
the Bourne Supremacy
Undertow
Baaaddddaaaaassssssss or whatever

Liked a lot:
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Zatoichi
Collateral (even if the last 15-20mins were pretty bad)
Friday Night Lights

loved:
Twilight Samurai
Before Sunset

Heavily biased toward American commercial stuff, since I saw many of them during afternoon matinees while skipping class or work. It'll take me a year to catch up with foreign stuff on DVD.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 28 December 2004 03:23 (twenty-one years ago)

maybe FEH! was too strong, but i just wasn't feeling s21 at all - devastating content, sure, but i think it just went on for so damn long that after the first hour i kinda lost interest in it.

― joseph (joseph), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 05:01 (twenty-one years ago)

tops:

Undertow
Control Room
My Architect
Maria Full of Grace
The Corporation

top middle:

before sunset
bourne supremacy
born into this
saved
collateral
spiderman 2
eternal sunshine

bottom middle:

kill bill 2
i heart huckabees
mean girls
coffee and cigarettes (molina section was amazing, as was the last part)
fahrenheit 9/11

worst of the worst:

the dreamers
win a date with tad hamilton
the grudge
troy
dawn of the dead

need to see:
crimson gold
the saddest music in the world
dogville
the godard
sideways
the notebook

― t0dd swiss, Wednesday, 29 December 2004 06:03 (twenty-one years ago)

A provisional top ten:

1 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2 Collateral
3 Sideways
4 Before Sunset
5 Million Dollar Baby
6 Undertow
7 We Don't Live Here Anymore
8 The Manchurian Candidate
9 The Dreamers
10 Shaun of the Dead

11-20 in alpha order: Anchorman, Bad Education, Closer, Fahrenheit 9/11, Garden State, I Heart Huckabees, Kill Bill 2, Mean Girls, Saved!, Vera Drake

Didn't like: Coffee and Cigarettes, Saddest Music in the World, Spider-Man 2, Tarnation

Haven't seen: Dogville, The Incredibles, Maria Full of Grace, Aviator, Moolaade, Los Angeles Plays Itself (among others, obv.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 20:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Liked

2046
Collateral
Comme un image (Look at Me)
The Incredibles
Saved!
Shrek 2
Spider-Man 2
Oldboy

Liked, but expected more of 'em

Bad Education
Lost In Translation
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 31 December 2004 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, add Before Sunset to the first list and Hellboy to the second.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 31 December 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

The Return is pretty great. (weirdly mysterious though)

― ryan (ryan), Saturday, 1 January 2005 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

ok House of Flying Daggers is probably my fav of the year now (overtaking Spring, Summer, blah blah blah. and after watching Hero again on dvd im gonna bump it up to "Favs."

has anyone seen Time of the Wolf or Goodbye Dragon Inn?

― ryan (ryan), Monday, 10 January 2005 01:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i think "time of the wolf" is my favorite film of the year.

others faves (not in any order):

los angeles plays itself
sideways
the return
crimson gold
million dollar baby
collateral
saved!
the saddest music in the world
before sunset

was disappointed by:

most of "coffee & cigarettes"
bad education
undertow
the dreamers
the corporation
garden state
maria full of grace

loathed:

dogville

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Monday, 10 January 2005 02:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I saw Time of the Wolf. It was, um, exhausting. And it depicted suffering without any sort of sexual residue, which seems sort of unique these days.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Monday, 10 January 2005 03:29 (twenty-one years ago)

"million dollar baby" could be described in much the same way.

i liked a lot of things about "time of the wolf". haneke does amazing things with darkness, rain, the sound of wind - their presence is very acute, as you'd imagine they would be in the situation he portrays. the film has the most unsettling aura, as though every human horror in history is suddenly fair and conceivable game. the closest thing i can think to pair it with isn't a film, but jerzy kosinski's "the painted bird".

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Monday, 10 January 2005 03:58 (twenty-one years ago)

i am sad that you thought undertow was disappointing, spectator bird.

what exactly disappointed you?

― t0dd swiss, Monday, 10 January 2005 05:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Teenage crack-ho Shiri Appleby?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 10 January 2005 05:40 (twenty-one years ago)

>what exactly disappointed you?

it was a case of expectations getting the better of me. if it had been another filmmaker's debut film, i probably wouldn't have been disappointed, but i found the plot, atmosphere, and allusions forced to the point of tedium, which surprised me since both of his other films felt so effortless. i can understand the desire to pay homage to malick, laughton, etc. in the tone and mood and atmosphere of the film, but do we need a bombardment of mimicking plot points? that felt hokey to me, and it failed overwhelmingly as a thriller (though i would have been happier to see him ditch the thriller premise altogether than try to make it succeed as a thriller, honestly). it had many superb single scenes, though, and i found the interior sets as beautiful as the exteriors. plus jamie bell was superb. i will no doubt revisit it on dvd, as both "george washington" and "all the real girls" have grown for me with subsequent viewings (though i loved both the first time i saw them, so).

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

todd, would you rank it above either of green's others?

― a spectator bird (a spectator bird), Monday, 10 January 2005 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i think that i would rank it about george washington, although i never had the experience of seeing that one in the theater. after both 'all the real girls' and 'undertow,' i had an intense need to see the film again. my mind was reeling for days thinking about scenes and symbolism in his second and third film. on the other hand, after i watched 'george washington,' i (merely) thought it was beautiful and amazing, but didnt think about it as much as i thought about his later two.

i also think that i loved undertow because i love faulkner. there was 'as i lay dying' all over the movie. there were also the great 'night of the hunter' references. i could go on, but i dont want to start into spoilers.

― t0dd swiss, Tuesday, 11 January 2005 06:50 (twenty-one years ago)

My master list of films that "count for" 2004 numbers 77 features. I'll be adding maybe a dozen through rentals for another month. One stellar performance in a film that screened for the first time in NYC last year, but has gone to DVD without a US commercial run: John Malkovich in "Ripley's Game."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 21 January 2005 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Favs of 2004, in alphabetical order because it is almost impossible to pick a favorite:
The Aviator
Closer
The Dreamers
Dogville
House of Flying Daggers
The Incredibles
Maria Full of Grace
The Motorcycle Diaries
Spanglish

I havent seen Million Dollar Baby, Hotel Rwanda, Kinsey, Sideways or Ray (and have no desire to see the last two).

― muse, Saturday, 22 January 2005 04:23 (twenty-one years ago)

additions to mine

meh:
Million Dollar Baby
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Shaun of the Dead (forgot I even saw this until I noticed the DVD at Best Buy)

liked:
The Aviator

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Saturday, 22 January 2005 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

I've rented Weeping Camel and Secret Things for the weekend, but oh well...

TEN BEST FILMS
(roughly in order of preference)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (US, Michel Gondry)
The Saddest Music in the World (Canada, Guy Maddin)
S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine (nonfiction, Cambodia-France, Rithy Panh)
Crimson Gold (Iran, Jafar Panahi)
Son Frere (France, Patrice Chereau)
The Agronomist (nonfiction, US, Jonathan Demme)
Bad Education (Spain, Pedro Almodovar)
I ♥ Huckabees (US-Germany, David O. Russell)
Distant (Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
Deserted Station (Iran, Alireza Raisian)

SECOND TEN

Moolaade (Senegal-Fr-Burkina Faso, Ousmane Sembene)
Ripley’s Game (Italy-UK-US, Liliana Cavani)
Cowards Bend the Knee (Canada, Guy Maddin)
A Talking Picture (Portugal-Fr-Ital, Manoel de Oliveira)
Goodbye Dragon Inn (Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring (S Korea-Ger, Kim Ki-duk)
Control Room (nonfiction, US, Jehane Noujaim)
Notre Musique (France-Switz, Jean-Luc Godard)
The Terminal (US, Steven Spielberg)
The Twilight Samurai (Japan, Yoji Yamada)

RUNNERS-UP

The Keys to the House (Italy-Fr-Ger, Gianni Amelio)
Time of the Wolf (France-Austria-Germany, Michael Haneke)
Vera Drake (UK, Mike Leigh)
Reconstruction (Denmark, Christoffer Boe)
Los Angeles Plays Itself (nonfiction, US, Thom Andersen)
A Thousand Clouds of Peace… (Mexico, Julian Hernandez)
The Manchurian Candidate (US, Jonathan Demme)
Lost Boys of Sudan (nonfiction, US, Megan Mylan, Jon Shenk)
Maria Full of Grace (US-Colombia, Joshua Marston)
Strayed (France-UK, Andre Techine)

BEST LEAD ACTORS

Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
John Malkovich, Ripley's Game
Leila Hatami, Deserted Station
Bill Murray, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Hossain Emadeddin, Crimson Gold
Fatoumata Coulibaly, Moolaadé
Denzel Washington, The Manchurian Candidate
Bruno Todeschini, Eric Caravaca, Son Frère
Paul Giamatti, Sideways

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORS

Mark Wahlberg, I ♥ Huckabees
Laura Dern, We Don't Live Here Anymore
Isabella Rossellini, The Saddest Music in the World
Cate Blanchett, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Brad Bird (voice of Edna Mode), The Incredibles
Peter Sarsgaard, Laura Linney, Kinsey
Meryl Streep, The Manchurian Candidate
Esther Gorintin, Since Otar Left...
Phil Davis, Vera Drake

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHERS

Luc Montpellier, The Saddest Music in the World
Ellen Kuras, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Distant
Aleksandr Burov, Father and Son
Jürgen Jürges, Time of the Wolf

BEST SMALL-ROLE ACTOR: Ruth Sheen, Vera Drake

BEST UNDISTRIBUTED FILMS

Checkpoint (nonfiction, Israel, Yoav Shamir)
Koktebel’ (Russia, Boris Khlebnikov, Aleksei Popogrebsky)

BEST (SHOT & PROJECTED ON) VIDEO

Persons of Interest (nonfiction, US, Alison Maclean, Tobias Perse)
Welcome to Destination Shanghai (China, Andrew Cheng)
Spit It Out (nonfiction, US, Jonathan Skurnik)

THE B LIST

Vodka Lemon, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Sideways, Shaolin Soccer, Almost Peaceful, Fahrenheit 9/11, The Incredibles, Hero, Red Lights, Million Dollar Baby (first two thirds), I’ll Sing for You, End of the Century: The Story of The Ramones, The Yes Men, Since Otar Left…, In the Realms of the Unreal, We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Father and Son, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

"SAVE THE PIECES"

The Aviator, Code 46, Super Size Me, Troy, The Dreamers, The Raspberry Reich, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Kinsey

SHITE

Napoleon Dynamite, Dogville, Tarnation, Anatomy of Hell, Harry and Max

EXPLOITATIVE NARCISSIST OF THE YEAR: Jonathan Caouette, Tarnation

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 25 February 2005 21:49 (twenty-one years ago)

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