Best Films Of 2004
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- DirectorMike NicholsStarsNatalie PortmanJude LawClive OwenThe relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.Perhaps don't watch this with your lover, but watch it nonetheless. 8.5/10
- DirectorDavid KoeppStarsJohnny DeppMaria BelloJohn TurturroA successful writer in the midst of a painful divorce is stalked at his remote lake house by a would-be scribe who accuses him of plagiarism.I'm not sure why many people didn't enjoy this as much as I did. I enjoyed the story and ol' John T is a great creepy bad guy. In the upper echelon of Stephen King films I'd say. There are a lot of good ones, but many badly executed ones too. That first smack with the baseball bat in this film looks so funny. It's a great moment in horror history in my book. :) 8.5/10
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsGael García BernalRodrigo de la SernaMía MaestroErnesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known as Che, along with his friend Alberto Granado, decides to take a road trip across South America. His experiences on the journey transform him.A beautiful and pretty awesome film about a young medical student Ernesto, before he became the uncompromising revolutionary known as 'Che' Guevara. 8/10
- DirectorEric BressJ. Mackye GruberStarsAshton KutcherAmy SmartMelora WaltersEvan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.Few time travel type films have been better.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsTom CruiseJamie FoxxJada Pinkett SmithA cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.Not Michael Mann's best film, but definitely one of his best films.
- DirectorMichael DowseStarsPaul KayeBeatriz BatardaKate MagowanA famous DJ in the Ibiza club scene finds the alcohol and drug-fueled party that is his life threatened by the progressive loss of his hearing.Crazy hilarious. 8/10
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsLeonardo DiCaprioCate BlanchettKate BeckinsaleA biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes' career from the late 1920s to the mid 1940s.
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsBirol ÜnelSibel KekilliGüven KiraçWith the intention to break free from the strict familial restrictions, a suicidal young woman sets up a marriage of convenience with a forty-year-old addict, an act that will lead to an outburst of envious love.Gritty, engaging. Very good dark film. 8/10
- DirectorAlexander PayneStarsPaul GiamattiThomas Haden ChurchVirginia MadsenTwo men reaching middle age with not much to show but disappointment embark on a week-long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.Don't go to the dark side Miles.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsHilary SwankClint EastwoodMorgan FreemanFrankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
- DirectorZiad DoueiriStarsVahina GiocanteMoa KhouasKarim Ben HaddouTwo inner-city teenagers engage in an obsessive, innocent flirtation fueled by Lila's sexually explicit overtures.A little known film that is pretty amazing. At first I wasn't sure it would be any good after the first scene or two, but it does become quite a mesmerizing piece of cinema. I definitely recommend this film, that is, unless you're a prude. 8/10
- DirectorEmmanuel MouretStarsIsabelle PirèsVeroushka KnogeJulien ImbertIn this upbeat romantic comedy, two young women, the quiet Fleur and larger-than-life Venus, embark on an adventure through France to find the perfect boy.Beautiful Little French Film
5 October 2022
I should start by saying that the plot summary here, doesn't really capture the Venus character very well in my view. However, I'll leave this and her to your own interpretations.
The films dialogue is perhaps slightly weak in a few places. Though I can't even be entirely sure about that as I watched an English subtitled version, and I really don't know how great those subs were translated. Perhaps people who can understand the film in French, may enjoy this even more. Hard for me to honestly say.
Some of the acting here is not all that great. Isabelle Pirès who plays Fleur however, is very strong in her subtle role. Apparently this is the only film she's ever done. The actress who plays Vénus is effective enough. I found her a little irritating at times, but I think that aspect actually suited her character, and perhaps was even done with purpose. Whatever the case, in full-scope it works well.
Overall I found the film to be a breath of fresh air. There's no violence in the film whatsoever. Yet the story didn't have much problem holding my interest. The film as a whole feels a lot more real than your average Hollywood picture. It's also far more beautiful than almost any Hollywood film made in the last 25 years. Vénus et Fleur has both a simple, and a more complex beauty to it I would say. While it may be somewhat weakly written in some areas, as I said, I can't even be sure of that. What I can say for certain is that it definitely does have some very well written parts/aspects to it.
Overall the film works wonderfully. The characters mostly feel very modern, while at the same time, there's a very natural and traditional aspect to Fleur that helps ground the film.
In my view, this is an impressive and beautiful work.
8/10 - DirectorRichard SchickelStarsMartin ScorseseCharles ScorseseCatherine ScorseseDirector Martin Scorsese discusses his life growing up in Manhattan and his filmmaking career.I love me some Scorsese pictures! 8/10
- DirectorGavin O'ConnorStarsKurt RussellPatricia ClarksonNathan WestThe true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Soviet squad.This is actually an amazing recreation of the Miracle On Ice, however the film is not 100% accurate in the way it depicts world hockey domination by the Russians.
It of course totally ignores Team Canada's success, which when it had all their top players sent to any world hockey event, they actually almost always beat these so called unbeatable Russians. Canada never sent their best players to the Olympics back then, because they were all playing and professionally employed in the NHL during the Olympic tourney. For that reason alone I have taken an extra half point off my rating of the film.
Too bad about the one glaring discrepancy of truth. They could have avoided the over hype of the Russians in the film and just gave the straight facts and honestly, it's still a huge Miracle On Ice at the time for Team USA. They could have not even brought up the Canadian team and just said the reality that the Russians were extremely dominant at the Olympics during the 70's, but they had to overstate things in the film about Team Russia just to make it fit in somehow with the other Hollywood B.S. I suppose. I could understand the truth bending more back during the cold war, but when you make the film in the 2000's, I'm mean come on. All fact would have been far better for sure.
The execution of this film otherwise however is truly exceptional. Kurt is top notch with his performance, and all the other aspects of the real history seem to be here. In my view I'd say this is actually the best hockey film ever made, and truly one of the great sports films in the history of Hollywood. So yeah, a great sports film, but sadly slightly overdone in the hype of the Russians. 8/10 - DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsSigourney WeaverWilliam HurtJoaquin PhoenixA series of events tests the beliefs of a small isolated countryside village.A story that's been done before in different ways. However stylistically this is the most successfully interesting film of Shyamalan's career, and as a whole one of his better executed films as well. 8/10
- DirectorTony ScottStarsDenzel WashingtonChristopher WalkenDakota FanningIn Mexico City, a former CIA operative swears vengeance on those who committed an unspeakable act against the family he was hired to protect.Sure, it's not Rosemary's Baby or anything, but honestly this film was harshly underrated by the majority of critics at the time of release. Tony Scott made a lot of interesting and good films in his career, and this is simply just another one of them. I actually watched the original 1987 film with Scott Glenn just recently. Let me save you the time, it really is quite terrible, I gave it a 3 rating. This version is far superior in every way. 7.5/10
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsJoely CollinsBen BassHugh DillonWhat is with the IMDb rating? Sure, the film is fairly low budget and sure the style is somewhat of a rip off of Natural Born Killers. Nonetheless this is a pretty darn interesting film about a crazy true story. I definitely recommend a watch if you're not a huge prude. Now that I look a little closer at the IMDb rating, I notice this only has 111 votes, so no wonder the rating is yet to be a very good reflection of the film. Nobody's seen or rated this film. I may be the only person not involved with the film in the entire world who's actually seen this twice. 7.5/10
- DirectorBill CondonStarsLiam NeesonLaura LinneyChris O'DonnellA look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior.
- DirectorPeter SegalStarsAdam SandlerDrew BarrymoreRob SchneiderHenry Roth is a man afraid of commitment until he meets the beautiful Lucy. They hit it off and Henry think he's finally found the girl of his dreams until discovering she has short-term memory loss and forgets him the next day.In my view, one of the better Adam Sandler films. 7.5/10
- DirectorRawson Marshall ThurberStarsBen StillerChristine TaylorVince VaughnA group of misfits enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament in order to save their cherished local gym from the onslaught of a corporate health fitness chain.One of the funnier really stupid comedies if you're asking me. Balls deep! 7.5/10
- DirectorGuillermo del ToroStarsRon PerlmanDoug JonesSelma BlairA demon raised from infancy after being conjured by and rescued from the Nazis, grows up to become a defender against the forces of darkness.
- DirectorBill EaglesStarsBruce GreenwoodSam JaegerSarah ManninenA series of interviews are conducted with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in hopes of gaining insight into the Green River Killer who is terrorizing Seattle.This film is based upon the 1989 non-fiction book The Riverman: Ted Bundy and I Hunt for the Green River Killer by Robert D. Keppel and William J. Birnes. Many have claimed this book actually inspired the Harris novel The Silence of the Lambs. However this is not true. This book was actually released after Harris's Silence novel. So unless Harris had a time machine, yeah, no. Harris may have indeed been influenced by this real life story from seeing or hearing about it in the press or elsewhere, or perhaps from reading about the FBI who did very similar interviews in the 1970's and 80's as is shown in the TV series Mindhunter. Nonetheless, contrary to popular rumor, SilenceOTL is not based on the book that this is based on. This film is actually pretty good if you're interested in Bundy or The Green River Killer. The film essentially becomes more about Bundy than the GRK, but nonetheless we do learn a good bit about both. This film, like The Deliberate Stranger has a good bit of very real Bundy-esque truths within it. To some degree, we definitely are able to get inside his head if we dare, and into Ridgeway's to some degree as well. Keppel after all was a Homicide Detective who worked both cases, and he became known as quite an educated profiler in understanding serial killers. Much of this is shown here. Overall the film is quite grim and fairly brutal, especially for a TV movie. It's more psychologically grim and brutal than visually, though it has some grim visuals as well. If you're interested and you can stomach this kind of fare, it's well worth a look. 7/10
- DirectorDanny LeinerStarsJohn ChoKal PennEthan EmbryA Korean-American office worker and his Indian-American stoner friend embark on a quest to satisfy their desire for White Castle burgers.Most of the parts with Neil Patrick are quite hilarious. I actually thought the 2nd film was even a little better, because it's so crazy funny. The 3rd film, the Christmas one was bloody terrible. 7/10
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsGael García BernalFele MartínezJavier CámaraAn examination on the effect of Franco-era religious schooling and sexual abuse on the lives of two longtime friends.
- DirectorZach BraffStarsZach BraffPeter SarsgaardNatalie PortmanA quietly troubled young man returns home for his mother's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.I enjoyed this even more the second time I watched it.