| By the time the Academy Awards are finally televised, there will have been so much hype surrounding the nominees that even the most devoted cinephile can be worn out. With only five nominees in each category, several films wind up getting Oscar’s cold shoulder. At the tail end of film awards season, Fast Forward’s trusty film writers have picked their own best and worst of the year in the hopes of championing some underdogs and helping you avoid future video-store trauma.
JASON ANDERSON
This was the year fundamentalist religion and partisan politics returned to movie theatres. Things got so weird, hardly anyone noticed that 2004’s most successful film, Shrek 2, featured a cartoon pirate singing Nick Cave’s "People Ain’t No Good." Somehow, the same song didn’t make it onto the soundtracks of The Passion of the Christ or Fahrenheit 9/11. My pick for movie of the Zeitgeist was Dogville, and not just because no one else suffers as beautifully as Nicole Kidman. Behind the film’s viciousness is the belief that we all could treat each other a lot better. Then again, relying on Lars von Trier for moral guidance might not be my best idea.
The first seven films on my list got wide theatrical release in Canada in 2004, the last seven hopefully will someday.
· The Aviator (U.S., Japan, Germany, 2004, dir. Martin Scorsese): Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio present the life of Howard Hughes as a stiff cocktail of glamour, ambition and latent psychosis.
· Before Sunset (U.S., 2004, dir. Richard Linklater): The success of Linklater’s real-time date movie proves that audiences are starved for good conversation. Now if we could only coax Whit Stillman out of retirement.
· Dogville (Denmark, Sweden, France, Norway, Netherlands, Finland, Germany, U.S., U.K., 2003, dir. Lars von Trier): Is von Trier angry because he hates America or because he can’t afford a set with walls? Either way, Dogville is a vanguard work.
· I (Heart) Huckabees (U.S., 2004, dir. David. O. Russell): This crackpot Zen odyssey is the most adventurous comedy since Adaptation. In the words of Albert Markovski, "you rock, rock."
· The Saddest Music in the World (Canada, 2003, dir. Guy Maddin): Giddily exuberant and exquisitely maudlin, the movie must have marinated in the same giant vat of beer where Maddin keeps dumping his characters.
· Shaun of the Dead (U.K., 2004, dir. Edgar Wright): The most exciting and knowing tribute to George A. Romero’s zombie mythology that any carnivore could hope for.
· Touching the Void (U.K., 2003, dir. Kevin Macdonald): A gripping adventure story, a study of pain and an assault on the boundaries of the documentary.
In need of circulation
· 2046 (China, France, Hong Kong, 2004, dir. Wong Kar Wai)
· Café Lumiere (Kôhî Jikô) (Taiwan, Japan, 2003, dir. Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
· L’Intrus (France, 2004, dir. Claire Denis)
· Los Muertos (Argentina, France, Netherlands, 2004, dir. Lisandro Alonso)
· Moolaade (Senegal, France, Burkina Faso, 2004, dir. Ousmane Sembene)
· My Summer of Love (U.K., 2004, dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)
· Trains of Winnipeg (Canada, 2004, dir. Clive Holden)
MATTHEW CURRIE HOLMES
Like it or not the ups and downs of 2004
The best
· Million Dollar Baby (U.S., 2004, dir. Clint Eastwood): This is about as perfect as a film gets. Everything worked brilliantly in this astonishing movie.
· Baadasssss (U.S., 2004, dir. Mario Van Peebles): I’ll just say it: The best movie about making movies ever made.
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (U.S., 2004, dir. Michel Gondry): Finally, someone put on the screen what it feels like to be in love.
· Sideways (U.S., Hungary, 2004 dir. Alexander Payne): Ever wonder what the behaviour of four real people looks like on film? Add wine and enjoy, I did.
· The Aviator: A great big ol’ movie made by a man who knows how to make ’em. A hugely entertaining glimpse into a specific section of a very interesting man’s life.
· Kill Bill Vol. 2 (U.S., 2004, dir. Quentin Tarantino): All the blood-soaked action of Vol. 1 with all the dialogue Vol. 1 lacked. It’s a shame David Carradine wasn’t nominated for an Oscar.
· Friday Night Lights (U.S., 2004, dir. Peter Berg): The best sports movie ever made – at least the best microcosmic high-school-football movie ever made.
· Collateral (U.S., 2004, dir. Michael Mann): This slick, unflinching and fiercely entertaining movie about a hit man in L.A. is just plain awesome.
· Hotel Rwanda (U.K., U.S., 2004, dir. Terry George): A shame-inducing history lesson that doesn’t preach because it doesn’t have to. Don Cheadle gives the performance of his career.
· Birth (U.S., 2004, dir. Jonathan Glazer): This bold film explores the concept of a middle-aged woman wrapping her arms around the memory of her dead husband. The memory takes the form of a 10-year-old boy. Haunting and brave.
· House Of Flying Daggers (China, Hong Kong 2004, Yimou Zhang) Imagine the beauty and heartbreak of any great Zhang film (Raise The Red Lantern) and then add ass-kicking martial arts.
The worst
· White Chicks (U.S., 2004, dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans)
· Resident Evil: Apocalypse (U.S., Canada, dir. Alexander Witt): Witless is more like it.
· Catwoman (U.S., 2004, dir. Pitof): Why yes it is that awful and artless.
· Ocean’s 12 (U.S., Australia, 2004, dir. Steven Soderbergh): Why yes it is that Steven Soderbergh.
· The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (U.S., 2004, dir. Wes Anderson): A.k.a. The Film Robotic With Glib Scene Chews. It’s OK, Wes, you’re allowed one.
· Spanglish (U.S., 2004, dir. James L. Brooks): It was just OK until about the two-hour mark and then…. How do you say "sucks ass" in Spanish?
The could-have-been-a-movie-star-instead-I-choose-to-be-an-artist award
· Natalie Portman
Her roles in both Closer (kicking Julia Roberts’s ass with more honesty in one eyelash than in Roberts’s whole career) and Garden State have more than made up for any past (Star Wars) and future misgivings. And the beauty is she’s young and will be around for years and years.
TIMOTHY HECK
The up side
· Michael Moore’s decisive role in preventing George Bush’s re-election finally made people question the usefulness of docutainment and of the general dumbing-down of the left.
· The gradual movement towards region-free DVDs.
· Korean thrillers.
Best films
· Tiresia (France, Canada, 2003, dir. Bertrand Bonello)
· Rois et Reine (France, 2004, dir. Arnaud Despleschin): An Eric Rohmer for the Tarantino generation.
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
· Notre Musique (France, Swizerland, 2004, dir. Jean-Luc Godard): A short film (obliquely) about Palestine.
· S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine (La Machine de Mort Khmère Rouge) (Cambodia, France 2003, dir. Rithy Panh): A radically new approach to the treatment of eye witness testimony, and a must-see for anyone interested in documentaries as truth rather than propaganda, or in the political applications of Buddhism)
· Birth
· South of the Clouds (Yun deNan Fang) (China, 2003, dir. Zhu Wen): An offbeat road movie mutates into magical realist search for the Chinese soul.
· Novo (France, Swizerland, Spain 2003, dir. Jean-Pierre Limosin): A sex comedy about memory.
· Five Obstructions (De Fem Benspaend) (Denmark, Swizerland, Belgium, France, 2003, dir. Jørgen Leth, Lars von Trier)
· Kill Bill Vol. 2
· Motorcycle Diaries (Diaros de Motocicleta) (U.S., Germany, U.K., Argentina, Chile, Peru, France, 2004, dir. Walter Salles)
The downside
· 2046: Wong Kar Wai finally makes a bad film.
· King Arthur (U.S., Ireland, 2004, dir. Antoine Fuqua): Never let Americans do European mythology.
· Anglo-Canadian cinema.
KIRSTEN KOSLOSKI
I’ve never seen a film nominated for a best picture Oscar at the movie theatre – ever. I usually rent them after the cermony is over and then curse myself for not listening to my first instinct. This year the nominees are three biopics, another gritty Clint Eastwood drama and a movie about (yawn) two middle-aged men on a golfing roadtrip, talking about wine (double yawn). I’d much rather hunt wolverines (1) with Steve Zissou (2) and walk the streets of Paris (3) with my darlin’ Clementine (4). I could always head down to Corwood Industries (5) and see if anyone wants to play a game of touch football (6). Or perhaps get the whole gang together for a night of rebel rousing to assassinate (7) the evil clown (8). I should probably take out more life insurance (9). But then again, what the bleep do I know (10)?
Top 10 movies of 2004 (in order of appearance):
· Napoleon Dynamite (U.S., 2004, dir. Jared Hess)
· The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
· Before Sunset
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
· Jandek on Corwood (U.S., 2003, dir. Chad Friedrichs)
· Friday Night Lights
· Kill Bill: Vol. 2
· Super Size Me (U.S., 2004, dir. Morgan Spurlock)
· The Incredibles (U.S., 2004, dir. Brad Bird)
· What the Bleep Do We Know!? (U.S., 2004, dir. William Arntz, Betsy Chasse and Mark Vicente)
JASON LEWIS
Top Five documentaries (that were better than Fahrenheit 9/11)
· Control Room (U.S., 2004, dir. Jehane Noujaim)
· Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (U.S., 2004, dir. Robert Greenwald)
· Some Kind of Monster (U.S., 2004, dir. Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky)
· Super Size Me
· Dirty Work (U.S., 2004, dir. Tim Nackashi, David Sampliner)
Remake of the year
· Dawn of the Dead (U.S., 2004, dir. Zack Snyder): You have never seen a chainsaw murder like this.
Stuff you should see (if you haven’t already)
· The Incredibles: I haven’t been this entertained at the movies for almost a decade.
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: A beautiful, well-acted, mind-bending, laugh-out-loud tear-jerker – what more could you want?
· Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (U.S., 2004, dir. Alfonso Cuarón): Never before has the third part of a series so decisively surpassed its predecessors. The fact that Cuarón isn’t directing the next one is a tragedy.
· Shaun of the Dead: A bloody, well-acted, laugh-out-loud zombie romance – what more could you want?
· Friday Night Lights: I hate sports and most sports films, but by the time the credits rolled on this one I was in tears. Superlative filmmaking.
· Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (U.S., 2004, dir. Larry Blamire): Fans of ’50s sci-fi will revel in this note-perfect black-and-white send-up of classic horror melodrama.
· The Saddest Music in the World (Canada, 2004, dir. Guy Maddin): With a sound design that puts David Lynch to shame, this was hands down the year’s most innovative, brave and oddly funny film.
Cheapest laugh of the year (but a hearty laugh nonetheless)
· Phillip Seymour Hoffman saying, "Dude, I sharted, " in Along Came Polly (U.S., 2004, dir. John Hamburg)
Top five reasons you should see A Dirty Shame (U.S., 2004 dir. John Waters)
· Tracey Ullman humping a water bottle.
· Suggestively trimmed hedges.
· Cooter
· "Let’s go sexin’!"
· It’s the best anti-Bush movie of the year (take that however you want).
The film I am putting on this list to feel hipper than you
· Kontroll (Hungary, 2003, dir. Nimród Antal): This allegory bleached by fluorescent light was the gritty surprise of the Calgary International Film Festival.
Top Five worst trends
· TV shows that think they can be movies.
· Period epics lacking plot that use computer-generated images to compensate.
· Shitty remakes.
· Shitty sequels.
· Shitty sequels of remakes (Steven Soderbergh, I’m looking at you).
KIM LINEKEN
Pretty much every film I was excited to see this year turned out to be a disappointment. I fell asleep during Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I drowned my sorrows after Undertow and The Life Aquatic. And then a bunch of films I was dreading ended up knocking my spectacles off. Go figure. I wish I could tell you these films suck so that you’ll be as pleasantly surprised as I was, but that would just be messing with your pretty little head.
· The Aviator (U.S., Japan, Germany, 2004, dir. Martin Scorcese): The reunion of Scorcese (Gangs of New Yawn) and Leonardo DiCaprio (Aryan acting machine) didn’t promise much, but boy, what a joyride they delivered. Though the film doesn’t actually have a point, it bristles with heat, wit and Cronenberg-worthy creepiness.
· Before Sunset: Eighty minutes of longing so acute that I can’t watch it alone without dissolving into a puddle. To keep my tears in check, I try to remember what an astonishing feat the film is. Such long takes! Everything memorized!
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The visual sorcery, the mind maze, the criss-cross casting, and yet I love this film simply because it dares to say what a difficult bitch love is.
· The Far Side of the Moon (La Face Cachée de la Lune) (Canada, 2003, dir. Robert Lepage): All of Lepage’s formerly annoying quirks come together in this masterful tale of two brothers – both played by Lepage, both screamingly funny – and the universes that separate them.
· Open Water (U.S., 2003, dir. Chris Kentis): Sure, it wasn’t that scary and not much happens, but look closely at this seemingly cardboard couple lost at sea and you’ll find your own relationships swimming around in there. I still get chills thinking about the ending.
· Primer (U.S., 2004, dir. Shane Carruth): I can’t pretend I was smart enough to follow all the twists in this time-bending thriller. Luckily, I sat next to someone smarter than me. This isn’t a date movie – it’s a movie to bring your geeky friend to so you can find new ways to appreciate him/her.
· The Sea Inside (Mar Adentro) (Spain, France, Italy, 2004, dir. Alejandro Amenábar): Javier Bardem is made to look 20 years older and can only move his head, but he’s more seductive in this film than piddly little Jude Law ever will be. The film’s crusty characters and inexorable movement towards hugging remind me of On Golden Pond, and I mean that as a compliment.
· Sideways: I normally hate buddy road movies filled with gags and understanding girlfriends, but darned if this one doesn’t hit every one of its marks and then some. I still hate the elevator music, though.
· The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Gerschichte Von Weinenden Kamel) (Germany, Mongolia, 2003, dir. Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni): I ached for baby Botok to reunite with his rejecting mama almost as much as I wanted Jesse to kiss Celine in Before Sunset.
· Touching the Void (U.K., 2003, dir. Kevin Macdonald): If this doc didn’t keep showing the two mountain climbers today, telling their harrowing tale with hard-won humour and remorse, I would never believe they’d survived. Writer Joe Simpson makes the most convincing argument for atheism I’ve yet seen.
JANE McCULLOUGH
Many of my favourite films of 2004 had wonderful, extremely noteworthy elements, however, very few were truly amazing. Here is my list of films that had more than a few things working together to make them stylish, complete and thoroughly enjoyable.
· A Dirty Shame
· Being Julia (Canada, U.S., Hungary, U.K., 2004, dir. István Szabó)
· Nathalie (France, Spain, 2003, dir. Anne Fontaine)
· The Incredibles
· Friday Night Lights
· The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
· Wilby Wonderful (Canada, 2004, dir. Daniel MacIvor)
· Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
· Collateral
· Bad Education (La Mala Educatión) (Spain, 2004, dir. Pedro Almodóvar)
Honorable mentions
· Kill Bill, Vol. 2
· Hotel Rwanda
· Sideways
· Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
· The Motorcycle Diaries (Diaros de Motocicleta)
JOHN TEBBUTT
The big three
· The Incredibles
· Kill Bill Vol. 2
· Shaun of the Dead
Most exquisite use of colour
· Hero (Hong Kong, China, 2002, dir. Zhang Yimou)
Most eye-hurtingly garish use of colour
· Dead Leaves (Japan, 2004, dir. Hiroyuki Imaishi)
Best comic book movies
· Spider-Man 2 (U.S., 2004, dir. Sam Raimi)
· Hellboy (U.S., 2004, dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Worst comic book movies
· All of them except Spider-Man 2 and Hellboy
Best battle scene set in a bamboo forest
· House of Flying Daggers
Worst plot twists
· The entire last third of House of Flying Daggers
Most welcome new trends
· Wuxia Pien movies. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Fine, just call ’em "Movies starring Zhang Ziyi" then.
· Zombies. Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Dead & Breakfast (U.S., 2004, Matthew Leutwyler)… Heck, even Resident Evil: Apocalypse was kinda fun.
Notable DVD releases
· Eyes Without a Face (France, 1960, dir. Georges Franju)
· Mr. Vampire (Hong Kong, 1985, dir. Ricky Lau)
· Film Noir Classic Collection (U.S., various dates, various directors) Includes Gun Crazy, Murder My Sweet, The Asphalt Jungle, The Set-Up, Out of the Past)
· 50 Movie Pack: Sci Fi Classics (various countries, various dates, various directors) Features loads of hilarious crap including Wild Women of Wongo, Robot Monster, Zontar the Thing from Venus, Teenagers from Outer Space, etc., etc.)
Also Recommended
· The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra
· I (Heart) Huckabees
· Garden State (U.S., 2004, dir. Zach Braff)
· Ray (U.S., 2004, dir. Taylor Hackford)
GORDON YERKOVICH
The road movie made a merlot-free comeback and the existential comedy made its first appearance with mixed results. Cartoon superheroes were deconstructed and the housewife made one of the few political statements of the year. This year reluctantly gave way to several memorable films, but there were disappointments as well.
The best
· The Woodsman (U.S., 2004, dir. Nicole Kassell): Testing audiences and studios with a new approach, this story about a pedophile played by Kevin Bacon is essential viewing.
· Palindromes (U.S., 2004, dir. Todd Solondz): Backwards or forwards, for better or worse, we remain the same. Solondz takes bizarre direction to a whole new level with scenes that include a 35-year-old 300-pound black woman playing the role of a 12-year-old white girl trying to get pregnant. You’ll love it or hate it.
· Million Dollar Baby: Devastating, brutal, brilliant – it’s Clint Eastwood at his best in what surely must be his last performance as he nears the age of 200.
· Finding Neverland (U.K., U.S., 2004, dir. Marc Forster) The power of belief and young Freddie Highmore make this film one of 2004’s best. Wins the most memorable closing sequence award – if there was one.
· Sideways: A fantastic road movie that romances the grape-soaked countryside and the people who pass through it. A must see even if Paul Giamatti was better in American Splendor.
· Vera Drake (U.K., France, New Zealand, 2004, dir. Mike Leigh): Oversimplified class stereotypes provide flaws, but the richness of Leigh’s characterizations and Imelda Staunton’s performance give birth to a superb film that discreetly offers one of 2004’s few political messages about the absent-minded rules of authority.
· I (Heart) Huckabees: Remove the fake and find the real. Russell asks us to question our gas-guzzling motives and their blood-for-oil consequences in a political art-comedy that is existentially different.
· The Incredibles: Pixar delivered a cartoon for all ages with a film that starts off slow, but more than makes up for it. For the record, nothing is funnier than cartoon superheroes with love handles.
· House of Flying Daggers: A dismal finish but best achievement in cinematography for most stunning visual sequences will go to Xiaoding Zhao at the Oscars because no one else even came close.
Most Disappointing
· 2046: A classic case of non-editing killed the baby. Somewhere in here is a great film, but you might have to travel into the future to find it. My friend fell asleep during its screening at the 2004 London Film Festival and I can’t blame him.
· Millions (U.K., U.S., 2004, dir. Danny Boyle): If you liked Boyle’s 28 Days Later or Trainspotting, don’t see this film. Boyle tries to be versatile in a film for all ages but sometimes we should just stick to what we do best. Insincere and dreadful throughout.
· A Hole in My Heart (Ett Hal I Mitt Hjärta) (Sweden, Denmark, 2004, dir. Lukas Moodysson): Ever felt like a director was trying to force-feed you his message? In an attempt to rage against popular culture, this film’s only lasting accomplishment is one that questions Moodysson’s directing ability. If vaginal surgery disturbs you (which should account for just about 99 per cent of us), don’t see this film. Overdone and under thought. |
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