The 10 Best American Films of 2004: An Epic Listing
Feb 19 '05 (Updated Feb 26 '05)
The Bottom Line Every one of these films is better than "Van Helsing", "The Village", "King Arthur" and "Troy", I promise.
[This is, as you might imagine, an insanely long piece. Skip ahead. Jump around. Do what you see fit. I'm OK with that.]
Although 2004 was hardly a horrible year for cinema, there wasn't really much depth to the year's finest films. Most Top 10 lists feature some mix of the same 15 or 20 options simply because once you got beyond the top tier, things started to get really messy. The race for Worst Films of 2004 would be vastly more competitive that the list of the best.
As it is, my list feels strange to me. I have three of the Best Picture Oscar nominees in my Top 10, which is a higher number than I usually have. My list includes two action films, which is odd, and two sequels, which is even odder.
Some discussion must be made, I guess, of two movies that aren't on my list and yet were the two most discussed films of the entire year. There are very specific reasons why neither Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" nor Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911" made Top 10. In the case of Mel Gibson's violent Biblical epic, I simply refuse to give Mel Gibson a penny of my money. I can't speculate as to whether his New Testament adaptation is Anti-Semitic. I don't make judgments on films I haven't seen. However, his promotion of the movie and the way he turned it into a blockbuster most certainly *was* fueled by some degree of Anti-Semitism. By only screening the movie for evangelical Christian groups before its release and actively excluding concerned Jewish leaders, he set up a clear "us vs. them" binary. By refusing to let members of the Jewish community see the movie, he was able to marginalize their potentially legitimate concerns ("I'm being persecuted by people who haven't even seen the movie.") and make a martyr out of himself. Thus, in both the movie and in real life, fans could view Jewish groups as the villains. That makes me uncomfortable. In the process Gibson made himself literally hundreds of millions of dollars. Good for him. None of it will be mine, thank you very much. I've got the movie on my Netflix queue, though, and if I'm blown away, I'll add it to the list. I promise. As for Michael Moore's movie, I saw it. I agreed mostly with its politics. I just thought it was a sloppy, badly edited, somewhat simplistic movie. It rehashed satire that had been sculpted with much more intelligence and care by "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" throughout the year. "Fahrenheit" needed several more weeks or months of editing for Moore to better construct his argument, whatever it actually was. Instead, he rushed the movie into theaters to try to get Bush booted from office and instead succeeded mostly in mobilizing conservative groups. Oops.
Looking over my list, the obvious question one might ask is "Where is 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'?" I think it's at No. 11. For reasons I can't explain, I found the mechanics of the memory-erasing to be problematic and that they caused much of the movie to leave me cold. I admired its brilliant originality and all of the performances. Some time soon, I'm going to go back and watch it again and I suspect, somewhat tentatively, that it will probably improve with a repeat viewing. If that occurs, I'll certainly jump it up the list.
Oh and I didn't really feel like I'd seen enough foreign films in 2004 to legitimately refer to this list as "The Best Films of 2004," so I've gone with my old artificial "American Films" designation.
[As always, movies can be added as I see fit, though to my credit, I only added one movie ("Pretty Dirty Things") to my list last year after it was posted. I see a lot of movies. I don't miss much.]
THE 10 BEST "AMERICAN" FILMS OF 2004:
10) TIE: "Miracle" (dir. Gavin O'Connor) and "Friday Night Lights" (dir. Peter Berg)
Yes. I'm cheating on this list from the very beginning. I refuse to be forced to choose between my two favorite underdog sports movies of the year, both films that filled my eyes with manly tears for the final reel. A great sports movie is one that manages to prove that sports exist in the tapestry of American life, or even the general human experience. Whether making the slightly specious argument that the 1980 Winter Olympic men's hockey team helped the United States win the Cold War and pull out of the malaise of the 1970s, or deconstructing the death of small town America through the eyes of a high school football team in a single season of unlikely glories and predictable struggles, these two films convincingly present sports as both a reason to live for some people and as a version of life itself. Neither of these films makes my list without the stellar work of their leading men, Kurt Russell and Billy Bob Thornton, who both give internal life to very simple characters. Neither performance is showy, but in a weaker year for male acting performances, both would have been worthy of awards. Both films also elevated the craft of sports depiction in the movies, using editing and fantastic sound work to immerse the viewer in the action. When I saw both films, I was in a crowd that burst into applause during the inevitable final climactic games. If I were to separate the two films, I'd say that "Friday Night Lights" is a better piece of filmmaking, but the elimination of the book's complicated racial dynamics cheapens things a tiny bit. In turn, as stated above, "Miracle" overreaches a bit in its Cold War thesis. Everybody knows that the Cold War ended when Rocky Balboa won over the crowd and knocked out Ivan Drago, literally wrapping himself in the American flag.
9) "Baadasssss!" (dir. Mario Van Peebles)
The best thing about Mario Van Peebles biopic about Melvin Van Peebles struggles to make the "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song" is that it makes no attempt to claim that "Sweet Sweetback" was actually a good movie. The 1971 film, which helped usher in the new wave of African-American cinema in the 1970s is an incoherent mess of sex, funk and rage and it works best as a time capsule, rather than as a vital piece of art. What "Baadasssss!" does perfectly is suggest how such a mangled, but important, film could have been created and how it could have struck a chord at the moment it was released. The younger Van Peebles, making his best film since "New Jack City", portrays his father as exactly the kind of driven and occasionally abusive maniac that he probably actually was, which is pretty ballsy in and of itself. Many of the structural devices Van Peebles attempts are total failures, but the film remains fascinating and hilarious.
8)"The Bourne Supremacy" (dir. Peter Greengrass)
"The Bourne Identity", as directed by Doug Liman, was a tightly paced action romp that replaced plot with characterization to a surprisingly large degree. In the sequel, though, director Peter Greengrass has gone a step forward in transforming Robert Ludlum's series into the most minimalist action franchise going. I've watched this movie several times now and still can't explain what the evil Russians are doing, what Brian Cox is trying to cover up, or why Joan Allen has the same facial expression the entire movie. All I remember is that amidst the car chases, gunfights and other flights of violent fancy, the movie is really the story of a man trying to learn the truth of his past against his own best judgment. As perfectly embodied by Matt Damon, Jason Bourne is the Hamlet of action film stars, in that his quest for revenge is much more internal than external and that he's essentially willing to kill himself to find himself. The film begins with an emotionally stunning sucker-punch (on par with the plot-twisting turn in "Million Dollar Baby") and ends with an existential anti-climax and never lets up. Greengrass' use of Berlin and Moscow settings is grand enough to erase countless action movies that let Prague sub in for every other city in Europe. Hopefully Damon and the franchise's producers will continue their pattern of recruiting atypical auteurs to steer the action in future installments. Might I suggest taking Jason Bourne to Mexico with Alejandro González Inarritu at the helm? Interestingly, "The Bourne Supremacy" was only the year's second best action movie, which is saying a lot.
7)"Sideways" (dir. Alexander Payne)
Somewhat warmer and fuzzier than Payne's earlier ironic commentaries on American life and thus somewhat less effective for my money. "Sideways" suffered from a hefty degree of overrating, which caused many people who saw it after all of the awards and accolades to say, "So what?" and I guess I don't blame them. For my money, it's just difficult to write movies about emotionally complicated human adults and to do it with any degree of both respect and sympathy. Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne, for the first time, appear to have affection for all of their characters and the four-actor chamber piece works beautifully. The idea that somehow somebody could transform Thomas Hayden Church and Virginia Madsen into Oscar-worthy performers would have been mind-boggling before last year, but under Payne's watchful eye, they truly deserve much if not all of their acclaim. Perhaps it helps to have spent time at Santa Barbara area wineries, or to have wandered through the goofy Danish streets of Solvang, or to have eaten at the Hitching Post, where they really do cook up a great slab of beef. Perhaps, as A.O. Scott suggested in an iconoclastic New York Times article, it helps to actually be a frustrated writer desperate for love. I dunno. "Sideways" is a little movie with a big heart and I could watch those four people act forever. In contrast, "Closer", which I greatly appreciated, but which didn't make this list, is a little movie with a small, cold heart, but I still could have watched its four-person ensemble for an even longer time. I'd love to see a big dinner party featuring all eight of the main characters from those two movies.
6) "The Aviator" (dir. Martin Scorsese)
Even if the film is over-long and occasionally over-plotted and often lacks focus, there is more filmmaking brilliance, in terms of aesthetic artistry, in "The Aviator" than in any other 2004 release. That's just the way that Martin Scorsese works. Thus, you ignore the inconsistent tone and you ignore the characters who drop off the map and you ignore Leonardo DiCaprio's erratic Texas accent (it's a brilliant performance otherwise) and you concentrate on the technical aspects, which could be studied for hours. The game is to marvel at Robert Richardson's evolving cinematography, which apparently chronicles the development of color film stock as the movie progresses. The game is to be baffled that production designer Dante Ferretti has never won an Oscar and to pray that this is his year. Howard Shore's score is entirely award-worthy and only missed the Oscar cut because of a technicality. The costumes are lovely. The editing is precise and intellectually strong. Am I the only person who preferred the flawed aspirations of Gangs of New York, though? Yes. Clearly I am.
5) "Cousins?" a segment from "Coffee and Cigarettes" (dir. Jim Jarmusch)
The short films that make up Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes" range from delightful (the Cate Blanchett-centric "Cousins") to banal ("Renee") to playfully absurd (RZA meets Bill Murray in "Delirium"), but the only one to reach the level of indispensable brilliance is the meeting between Alfred Molina and Steve Coogan in "Cousins?" Given that it's just a 10-minute conversation, it's tough to properly describe it without giving everything away, but it's a wonderful meditation on fame, friendship and Hollywood and it doesn't have Roberto Benigni in it. What more could you possibly want? Brilliant, as the men in the Guinness ads would say.
4) "Million Dollar Baby" (dir. Clint Eastwood)
Some people are kicking up a fuss about the Million Dollar Baby plot twist as if it were the only thing wrong with the movie. They're also nattering on and on about that "twist" as if it were the only thing that defines the movie and as if it were an out-of-left-field digression. What happens at the end of this beautiful story of boxing and friendship is, frankly, the *only* thing that could happen, an entirely organic and completely heartbreaking turn which, in context, couldn't make more sense. It's also not an overarching political statement on Eastwood's part. It's what this one character would do when faced with a decision involving this other character. And it makes sense. OK. Glad we covered that. Me, I'm much more annoyed by Hilary Swank's hillbilly relatives, who couldn't be more one dimensional if Eastwood had just cast Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel and his family from "The Simpsons". Anywho... Regret is a complicated thing to capture in cinematic terms and yet it's amazing how Clint Eastwood has built so much of his career as a director on pitch-perfect evocations of world weary men doing everything possible to atone for the sins of their past. As such, "Million Dollar Baby" ranks with "The Outlaw Josey Wales" in a category right below "Unforgiven" and right above "Mystic River". Eastwood, ever the efficiency expert, knows better than to waste a single frame or a single glance (though Paul Haggis' poetic script is often a bit on the wordy side) and people complaining that everything in the movie looked dark and ugly are just willfully ignoring the beauty of those shadows and murky interiors. After following her Oscar with things like "The Core" and "The Affair of the Necklace", Swank gives one of those fantastic confirmation performances that the Academy loves (like Marisa Tomei in "In the Bedroom") and the fact that people are pretending to be shocked by Eastwood's performance is just comical. The guy learned how to play to his limitations a long time ago. Decades ago, in fact. It's not like he just harnessed that grizzled visage, but this may be the best he's done with it. And Morgan Freeman just does what Morgan Freeman does, which is elevate every movie he's in for the minutes he's in it. Of the Best Picture nominees, this is the best, for my money.
3) "Collateral" (dir. Michael Mann)
Orson Welles once famously said that the greatest enemy of art is the absence of limitations. Michael Mann's films have always been cautionary tales that confirm Welles' assessment. Without tight restrictions, Mann's films tend to stray into unfocused self-indulgence, reaching epic lengths more because Mann wanted them to than because of any narrative requirements. Working, however, with a tight, genre-driven script by Stuart Beattie, Mann can't go astray. The result is the year's best workplace drama, as the parallel lives of a dedicated cabbie (Jamie Foxx), a dedicated killer (Tom Cruise) and a dedicated attorney (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and a group of dedicated, but ultimately superfluous cops come together in one haunting Los Angeles night. The film is beautifully shot and the only reason why the Academy won't honor it for cinematography is that the mixture of digital and film photography by Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron is so complicated and yet seamless. As always, Mann's use of music is impeccable, as is his use of real Los Angeles locations. And the performances are stellar from the two leads to supporting performers like Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem and Barry Shabaka Henley. Incidentally, yes, I'm entirely aware that the film relies much too heavily on coincidences and that the final act devolves from existential urban thriller to generic thriller. I don't care. And you can't make me.
2) "The Incredibles" (dir. Brad Bird)
Somewhat stepping back from the committee approach to writing and directing that worked so well on the company's previous films, Pixar turned all of its resources over to one man -- "Iron Giant" writer-director Brad Bird -- and the result was the studio's best and most adult film to date. After a lackluster teaser trailer and a relentless and annoying cross-promotional campaign which featured the film's stars in commercials before the movie ever premiered, I walked into "The Incredibles" with low expectations and I was blown away by the little details. I embraced the nighttime scenes, because previous computer animated films had eschewed the complicated lighting challenges of the evening. I loved that the pace felt less like a video game and more like a fantastic James Bond or Indiana Jones-style action movie. I applauded that Pixar hired vocal talent based on their performing skills rather than just hiring A-list actors, not to say that Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter aren't stars. Moments like Elastigirl getting her elongated body stuck between several doors, or the surprising revelation of little Jack Jack's super powers were among the best of the year. The colors and cuteness that drew kids to earlier Pixar films are still here, but there's an added element of danger and social complexity that rewards older viewers and there are enough in-jokes to keep just anybody anybody busy for weeks. It should be noted that I've read some articles suggesting that the film has a rather totalitarian ideology that says that those gifted with great powers have the responsibility to use their gifts for social good, but that the ruling class is also born with their gifts and status and that there's no room for personal advancement or growth. That may be the message here. Normally I'd care. In this case I don't.
1) "Before Sunset" (dir. Richard Linklater)
I saw "Before Sunrise" late in high school and after viewing the movie I had a lengthy discussion with a female friend about whether or not the Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy characters were going to make their scheduled meet in Vienna six months later. I don't remember which side we came down on, but I suspect that as a budding cynic, I assumed they wouldn't be there and she, as a budding romantic, assumed they would. The answers are provided in this sequel, which proves to be both welcome and, strangely, necessary. For 80 blissful minutes, Hawke and Delpy walk through Paris talking and flirting and letting out a decade of longing and regret. Both actors have aged since the first movie and their performances are also lived in and natural, with the sense that just because we haven't seen it on the big screen, both characters have lived complicated lives since we visited with them last. Delivered in real time, "Before Sunset" has a breakneck pace, giving the impression that Linklater and his crew are shooting in a single, exhausting take. We, as viewers, know that Hawke's character has a plane to catch, but more than that we know that there are things that have to be said before he can leave. "Before Sunset" is achingly romantic, without falling into a single Valentines Day movie cliche. Enough words cannot be written about the film's final scene, with Delpy dancing to Nina Simone and Hawke visibly evaluating every second of his life. As the credits rolled, I realized I wasn't breathing. I don't want a sequel next year, but in 10 years, I want to go back and check in on these two people. This should become Richard Linklater's equivalent of Michael Apted's "7 Up" documentary series, a time capsule peek at two people who aren't real, but plausibly feel like they could be.
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As usual, what follows is a series of rambling meditations on the year in film. And as always, feel free to skim. I probably won't be offended.
Five Flawless Male Acting Performances Ignored By The Academy:
5) Kurt Russell ("Miracle") and Bill Bob Thornton ("Friday Night Lights") -- See above...
4) Mark Wahlberg ("I Heart Huckabees") Marky Mark, in general, is not a funny man. And yet, in this deceptively vapid David O. Russell comedy, he's hilarious. I dunno why. Clearly, though, it's a great performance. Or a great piece of direction. Or something.
3) Phil Davis ("Vera Drake") -- Imelda Stauton has deservedly gotten the kudos, but Davis, as her frustrated, baffled and understanding husband is the film's still, non-judgmental center.
2) Peter Sarsgaard ("Kinsey") -- Again. Second year in a row. Get with the program, Academy. Seriously.
1) Paul Giamatti ("Sideways") -- Again. Second year in a row. Get with the program, Academy. Seriously.
Five Flawless Female Acting Performances Ignored by The Academy:
5) Kim Basinger ("The Door in the Floor") -- Somehow the movie itself missed the humor that makes John Irving's books work. However, Basinger delivered a deeply wounded performance, easily the best work of her career.
4) Julie Delpy ("Before Sunset") -- Beautiful, intelligent, heartfelt. I guess the performance was just too quiet to attract attention. Try crying and shrieking more next time, Julie.
3) Uma Thurman ("Kill Bill: Vol. 2") -- The movie didn't make my list because I continue to believe that it should have been edited into one three-hour epic. There's no reason why Uma should suffer.
2) Meryl Streep ("The Manchurian Candidate") -- Wait. Since when is Meryl Streep an actress who gets robbed at Oscar nomination time? How goofy. She was fantastic in this surprisingly relevant remake.
1) Sandra Oh ("Sideways") -- Yes. Virginia Madsen is great in "Sideways", but who decreed that she was the only actress in the movie? Geez. Am I think only one who thought Sandra Oh was fantastic?
Best Example of How Two Choices Can Kill a Movie: Director Joel Schumacher and star Gerard Butler of "Phantom of the Opera".
OK. To be fair, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical has aged horribly. It has no second act at all and the cheeseball effects that worked so well on stage were never going to work on the big screen. But to give one of the most famous parts in contemporary musical theatre to an actor (Butler) who flat out cannot sing a note is just perplexing, particularly given that that actor lacked the star power to bring a single person to the box office. I can see casting Tom Cruise as the Phantom if you just want to make money, but the only reason why Schumacher cast Butler is because the "Batman Forever" faux-teur has decided he's a starmaker. Nope. Just a hack. Sorry, Emmy Rossum, Miranda Richardson and even Minnie Driver. You were bamboozled.
Most Random Time to Evoke a No-Nudity Clause: Natalie Portman in "Closer"
It's not just that Natalie Portman is painfully lovely that makes me say this. It's more that she was playing, um, a stripper. And that there are scenes in, um, a strip club. And that other strippers appear to have been, um, stripping. Given that the strip club was full of naked women and Portman was always at a mammary-disadvantage to her enhanced colleagues, keeping her in her clothing was jarring and random. I'm just saying...
Most Randon Time to Throw Out a No-Nudity Clause: Neve Campbell in "When Will I Be Loved"
Let me get this straight, Neve... You won't take off your shirt for the tawdry and intentionally exploitative Wild Things, but when the always exploitative James Toback asks to film your naked rear for the opening and closing credits of his typically pretentious meditation on himself, you go "Sure thing, Jimmy!" ? Nope. That doesn't make any sense. I guess you figured nobody would ever see "When Will I Be Loved". Well, you're right about that one, at least.
It's About Time That Got Here: Wai Keung Lau and Siu Fai Mak's "Infernal Affairs"
Everybody who really cared about this 2002 release saw it on a bootleg DVD long ago. Still, Infernal Affairs, just about the best police procedural in decades, finally got a miniature theatrical release in 2004 and a legitimate DVD release as well. If you haven't seen it, be sure to catch the original before it gets remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed. It's worth it.
Final Act Twist That Killed The Movie For Me (SPOILER, Duh): The ideological reveal in "Hero".
You know, I was really loving "Hero" until it became clear that the film's ultimate message was that sometimes a totalitarian state has to crush a rebel resistance in order to maintain power. Even still, the tight 90-minute "Hero" was still vastly superior to the overrated mess that was "House of Flying Daggers", a handful of beautiful action scenes stuck in the middle of a love story featuring a bunch of people I didn't care about at all who seemed to care about each other very deeply. Yawn.
Worst Movie I Loved: Roland Emmerich's "The Day After Tomorrow"
OK. "Loved" is too strong a word. But I just laughed my butt off at this movie. The special effects were so obviously expensive, but so patently cheesy, how could you not embrace them? How could you not get a kick out of the fact that even though he was the only man in the world who understands why the weather had turned upside down, Dennis Quaid is allowed to just walk out on the President to snowshoe to New York because his son may or may not be alive? Brilliant. OK. It's an awful movie, but it's totally in the "So bad it's a hoot" category.
Proof That Musical Biopics Are Tough to Do Right: "De-Lovely" (dir. Irwin Winkler), "Beyond the Sea" (dir. Kevin Spacey), "Ray" (dir. Taylor Hackford)
Hmmm... Two of these inept biopics dealt with musical legends who most mainstream moviegoers have barely heard of and who died decades ago. One of these inept biopics dealt with a musical legend who everybody loved and who just died months before the movie's release. Which one do you figure made money and picked up Oscar nominations? No fair cheating. To its credit, "Ray" is the best of these three movies and Jamie Foxx's performance is the best of the three ego-driven lead performances. What does it say, though, that Foxx is the one who's going to win the Oscar, but he's the only one of the three who didn't do his own singing? Just curious. Anyway, though... None of these clunky and childishly structured biopics can hold a candle to freaking "La Bamba", and what does that say?
'Napoleon Dynamite' Isn't Freaking Funny:
This isn't so much a category as a basic statement. I'm fine with movies that dislike their lead character. Something like "Reversal of Fortune" or "Max" can be engaging without embracing anybody. But a movie with just clear contempt for everybody in it? That's pretty impressive. I also love that MTV made "Napoleon Dynamite" into a hit by marketing it to the exact people who kicked the snot out of real-life Napoleon Dynamites in their own high school. Well done, gang.
The Correct Director-Actor Pairing For the Next James Bond Movie: Mike Hodges and Clive Owen
Anybody who has seen "Croupier" and the 2004 release "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" knows what I'm talkin' about. Of course, the Broccoli family has already hired Martin "Vertical Limit" Campbell to direct. But it's not too late to make the right pick on Owen.
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