The Usual Choices
Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
Crash (Paul Haggis)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michael Gondry)
Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
Sideways (Alexander Payne)
But how about...
Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi)
While The Dark Knight is the better film (although it does go on a bit), this is the better comicbook / superhero adaptation. Everything about the character which endeared him to me as a child (and as a nostalgic adult getting on in years) is on show here. Humble, exceedingly well-meaning, a goof-up, truly heroic and having a good time with it, and, above all else, just a young guy. The action sequences (the train! WOW!) are spectacular and Doc Ock is a great villain and the romance with MJ is touching...but it is the little scene aboard the train when the survivors find out that their mighty superhero is just a kid which moves me. "We won't tell nobody"...it breaks me up every time. This is the only film which has managed to get right how much it meant to read Spider-Man in the 1960's when you were a 10 year old bully-target: your world was lifted.
...and what about...
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
One day, somebody will need to explain to me very carefully why this terrific film was originally so poorly received by critics. IT IS A WES ANDERSON FILM YOU DINGBATS... it is NOT "smug, ironic and artificial" but rather, "unique, eccentric and whimsical". As good as anything else he has produced, this tells the tall tale of a Jacques Cousteau-ish man and his entourage as they sail and dive under the seas searching for the elusive Jaguar Shark...and filming their next documentary along the way. All the usual side topics are present...family & sex & loyalty & longing &, above all, the thrill of the quest. Not laugh out loud (that comes after you have seen it a few times) but supremely enchanting.
...not to mention...
Primer (Shane Carruth)
A science-nerd's dream film. I admire this from a distance, mainly because there were no attempts at "dumbing down" the dialogue, so all the sciency / techie / engineering terms have been left in...and it may as well be Atlantean for all the comprehension I can wrangle out of it. Still, it is a fascinating premise (two cleverdicks stumble over time travel...and turn it into a profit-making device...as any normal person would...stock markets etc) but fiddling with the timestream has unexpected consequences (as you would expect). Nearly believable because it is done so supremely straightfaced, so if you can keep up with the goings-on, the film pays back your attention. It's on my re-watch list.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Thunderbirds (Jonathan Frakes)
5: The original marionettes have more presence than these guys. All of them.
4: Fundamental Heroism 101 has been reduced to a pesky-kids-thwart-the-baddies plot.
3: The iconic vehicles themselves barely make an appearance.
2: It contains one of the worst-staged hand-to-hand combat scenes ever filmed.
1: Why the hell isn't Joanna Lumley playing Lady Penelope??
Thunderbirds are shite.
My Top 10 Films of 2004
 |
| "Hmm. You do have diabetes." |
#02 A Spider-Man 2 (Raimi)
#03 A The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Anderson)
#04 A Somersault (Shortland)
#05 A- The Assassination of Richard Nixon (Mueller)
#06 A- Sideways (Payne)
#07 A- Vera Drake (Leigh)
#08 A- The Village (Shyamalan)
#09 A- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry)
#10 A- Mysterious Skin (Araki)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- Collateral (Mann)
#12 A- Hotel Rwanda (George)
#13 A- Kinsey (Condon)
#14 B+ Garden State (Braff)
#15 B+ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Cuaron)
#16 B+ Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Tarantino)
#17 B+ Finding Neverland (Forster)
#18 B+ Millions (Boyle)
#19 B+ Hellboy (del Toro)
#20 B+ Oyster Farmer (Reeves)
#21 B+ Mean Creek (Estes)
#22 B+ Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Conran)
#23 B+ Primer (Carruth)
#24 B+ Napoleon Dynamite (Hess)
#25 B+ Birth (Glazer)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B The Aviator [I dunno...I thought a film about an insane billionaire would be more interesting than this]
> B Closer ["a bunch of sad strangers photographed beautifully"]
> B I (Heart) Huckabees [clever, original, admirable, unengaging]
> B Ray [warps the truth too much for dramatic purposes...just like Ray's autobiography did]
> B The Terminal [a small story told in a small way]
> B The Woodsman [strong lead performance but a very unpleasant story]
> B Crash [a film about racism and xenophobia which is of vital social importance and not terribly entertaining]
> B Layer Cake [yet another violent-gangsters-who-deal-in-drugs-are-cool movie...just what we all need]
> B- Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events [isn't there anybody who can rein Jim Carrey in?]
> B- Melinda & Melinda [same plot used twice: one tragic, the other comic, both talked to death]
> C Along Came Polly [just another Ben Stiller: Geeky Loser rom-com with diarrhea jokes]
> C Man on Fire [too much rectum-exploding and not enough teddy bears]
> D Connie & Carla [a cowardly conservative rejig of Some Like It Hot]
> E Thunderbirds [A Personal Unmentionable]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 2004 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Before Sunset (Linklater); Being Julia (Szabo); The Big Bounce (Armitage); Cellular (Ellis); The Door in the Floor (Williams); Hidalgo (Johnston); I, Robot (Proyas); Keane (Kerrigan); Ladies in Lavender (Dance); Mean Girls (Waters); The Merchant of Venice (Radford); The Notebook (Cassavetes); Palindromes (Solondz); The Passion of the Christ (Gibson); Red Dust (Hooper); Shaun of the Dead (Wright); Spartan (Mamet); Troy (Petersen); Undertow (Green); Wimbledon (Loncraine); Yes (Potter)
Best Performances of 2004
Cate Blanchett in The Aviator
Thomas Haden Church in Sideways
Jamie Foxx in Ray
Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby
Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake
Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
But how about...
Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby
Yes, I know this is not a particularly surprising choice, but I have been dismayed by how quickly this great performance in this great movie has been shrugged off by trendy critics. Clint was never really much of an actor (more of a presence), but in this, he is what Morgan Freeman (when acting) is usually credited with being...a moral centre. Sure, the movie is old-fashioned in style and pace, but so bloody what? I bawl my eyes out every time I see it and that kind of emotional impact (which is not the same as sentiment) can only come from a performance which is honest and strong. Clint is the old man I hope I am going to become.
...and what about...
Bryce Dallas Howard in The Village
Playing a blind girl stumbling through spooky woods on a life-or-death quest, Bryce achieves that trickiest of acting goals...she's believable. I love how it is not immediately obvious that the girl is blind when we first meet her, so strong-willed a person she is that a major disability would not hold her back. Her declarations of love and friendship are sincere (also tricky), and she comes across as both gentle and accomplished. Her abilities seem to develop before your eyes, to the point that when she is sent out on the impossible mission, it's as if she is the only logical choice out of the entire village. Don't believe the baggers of this film...it's a slowburn thriller and Bryce is in control.
...not to mention...
Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon
Based on a true story (which, in movies, often doesn't mean much more than a starting point), this is about an average guy who has never fitted in. He just doesn't understand morality as it is viewed by society...lies, racial inequality, emotional pretense, inappropriate priorities regarding what is actually important in life. Sean gives a stunning performance as a little man ("a grain of sand") who has tried and tried to belong and be accepted, but increasingly comes to realise that he doesn't, and never will, matter. And the price he pays for living by these apparently-contrary ethics is the loss of everything he holds dear. So, as is usual in gun-sodden USA, the overlooked man attempts to make himself significant through violence.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Gwyneth Paltrow in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
A brilliant looking film (gorgeous sepia-tones) and graced with a suitably jut-jawed Jude Law as the hero and a quite-spiffing Angelina Jolie as an aerial/naval commander, SCatWoT is blighted by an unspirited performance by Gwyneth. It's as if nobody bothered to let her in on the joke. Required to play a Lois Lane type, Gwyneth whines and humphs rather than going for perky and feisty. She is a burden on the plot when she needs to be someone who helps drive things along. As terrific as she was in the Iron Man films, in this all-action blockbuster, Gwyneth makes the worst possible contribution...she's a drag.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 2004
 |
| Funky Semaphore for the Flagless |
#02 Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
#03 Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon
#04 Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake
#05 Abbie Cornish in Somersault
#06 Natalie Portman in Garden State
#07 Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Mysterious Skin
#08 Dustin Hoffman & Lily Tomlin in I (Heart) Huckabees
#09 Bryce Dallas Howard in The Village
#10 Tom Cruise & Jamie Foxx in Collateral
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
#12 Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
#13 Nicole Kidman in Birth
#14 Ron Perlman in Hellboy
#15 Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
#16 Willem Dafoe in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
#17 Paul Giamatti in Sideways
#18 Jon Heder in Napoleon Dynamite
#19 Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol. 2
#20 Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 2
#21 Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman
#22 Rory Culkin in Mean Creek
#23 Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland
#24 Cate Blanchett in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Jamie Foxx in Ray [gets the human being right; misses the genius]
> Thomas Haden Church in Sideways [what's the big deal?]
> Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby [plays the second-fiddle wise old muse with tawny voice once too often]
> Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [overshadowed by all the cleverness]
> Cate Blanchett in The Aviator [she's okay...but Katherine Hepburn...?]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 2004 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
SILVER: Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi)
BRONZE: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)
SILVER: Bill Murray (The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou)
BRONZE: Sean Penn (The Assassination of Richard Nixon)
GOLD: Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
SILVER: Abbie Cornish (Somersault)
BRONZE: Bryce Dallas Howard (The Village)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Willem Dafoe (The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou)
SILVER: Jay Baruchel (Million Dollar Baby)
BRONZE: Nick Nolte (Hotel Rwanda)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Natalie Portman (Garden State)
SILVER: Cate Blanchett (The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou)
BRONZE: Michelle Trachtenberg (Mysterious Skin)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Dustin Hoffman & Lily Tomlin (I (Heart) Huckabees)
SILVER: Tom Cruise & Jamie Foxx (Collateral)
BRONZE: Jude Law & Clive Owen & Natalie Portman & Julia Roberts (Closer)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
SILVER: Rory Culkin (Mean Creek)
BRONZE: Cameron Bright (Birth)
The Alternate Razzies for 2004 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Thunderbirds (Jonathan Frakes)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Jim Carrey (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Gwyneth Paltrow (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow)
