2004

I hate making top 10 lists but I loved so many movies from 2004 that I thought I'd chime in. My lack of commentary (and italics) comes from the fact that my Internet is broken so I am typing this one-fingered on an iPad. Please just know that these are just the movies that were my *favorite* (which I distinguish from "best"... obviously.) There are quite a few others from 2004 that I'd like to see, including a few you guys mentioned.

1. The Life Aquatic - Jeff I am also a huge Wes Anderson fan, and this is my favorite of his too, and also one of my favorite movies ever. It's so beautiful, both visually and plot-wise. There's something about this entire film that really grips me and makes me want to show it to people to get them to like films. :)

2. Eternal Sunshine - You guys said it better than I ever could.

3. We Don't Live Here Anymore - Totally agree Ben. This is the movie that got me hooked on indie films. It so truthful. Best performances I've ever seen from these actors (and they are some of my favorite actors).

4. Garden State - Me too, Ben. It's another one that's one of my favorite movies ever. I think I've watched it a million times. I loved the script, the acting, the ambiance, the soundtrack, the shots. And there was just something about it that just resonated with me. "Good luck exploring the infinite abyss." Maybe it is a generational thing. But I think I'll always love this movie.

5. Closer - I think I should be embarrassed about this one, but I really loved it. It's another one that I thought was visually stunning, and I thought all 4 of the leads gave great performances. It felt real to me.

6. Before Sunset - You guys win. Going back and thinking about all the 2004 movies I've seen, I couldn't not put this on my list. It was great.

7. Kill Bill 2 - I agree with Brandon, I think this baby can stand alone. But like Jeff, I've never tried watching them back-to-back. Maybe I should. Anyway I loved this one, more than the first.

8. Saved! - I thought this movie was genius. Maybe more so since I went to Catholic school. But when it came out on DVD my college roommates and I watched it almost every weekend. It was a unique, smart comedy.

9. Wicker Park - I'm sure this will be an unpopular pick but I love this movie. I thought it was really well written, directed, shot and edited. Plus I'm a sucker for a twist ending. Here began my girl-crush on Rose Byrne.

10. Documentary Tie: Control Room, Born Into Brothels, Capturing The Friedmans, Super Size Me, Outfoxed - This set of 2004 documentaries (plus a couple others) are really what got me interested in documentaries. I can't decide between them, so I give them a tie.

Honorable Mentions: Maria Full of Grace, Sideways (I think you guys hated it but I really liked it), The Incredibles, I Heart Huckabees, Butterfly Effect (director's cut only! the ending to the theater version was horrible).

Movies I was too embarrassed to ever even consider putting on my list: Miracle (I'm such a sucker), Secret Window (me too Ben), Napoleon Dynamite (love it), The Village (I know it's known as Shyamalan's worst movie... why do I like it?!), Mean Girls (damn I love Tina Fey), I Robot (I know, I know, but it was so pretty and beautiful and cool and sentimental! My imagination totally took over when it came to the robots - I usually hate CGI but I totally bought into the whole thing).

Ben, I liked The Girl Next Door too! I thought it was kind of mis-marketed. Definitely deserves more attention.

I feel like I have 8000 movies to watch, even just from 2004. Too bad my Netflix doesn't work. Blurgh.

Oh well

I'm with Brandon on the Harry Potter thing. I was too old or something, I don't know, I never got into it. I had read and loved the Tolkein books like 6 years before the Potter books came out, and I think when the first book came out I was reading Anna Karenina... I started reading the first book in the store and I guess compared to that it seemed so kid-ish (and I mean at B&N you literally had to walk into the children's section to get it), not that I mind reading YA books, actually sometimes I like reading them. But the kids I gave piano lessons to were always squealing about it, so I guess it just held little appeal for me at the time as far as reading it myself. Obviously the series didn't end up being kid-ish, but it was like, by that point I had missed the boat. I never read them and just missed the whole thing. But I'm not anti-Potter at all, I think it ended up being a great series, and like Brandon said, what a great thing it did in terms of getting kids to read. At this point I just feel kind of left out. I always say maybe one day I'll read the series. Maybe like Brandon I'll read them to my kids one day. But I've seen movies 1-5 though! I liked them, they were really entertaining, even without having read the books. I'm sure I'll finish the movies eventually, but I have no plans to catch up just to see the last one in theaters with all the screaming fans. :)

My wireless internet is broken, and therefore my Netflix is broken. Ahhhh.

Deep in the 100 acre wood

Winnie-the-Pooh: Favorite movie of the year. :) It was seriously so great. Hilarious and adorable and done in traditional animation for once instead of CGI. All ye with kids, you should totally show it to them at some point. But I have to say the adults in the audience loved it the most. The wordplay in the movie is fantastic. I haven't laughed that much in a long time. Silly old bear.

Chris - I love The Twilight Zone! I used to watch it with my mom when I was little. The episodes used to scare me half to death - but what a great show. I am also a huge Joss Whedon fan, including Firefly. And I know Ben and I have both seen Twin Peaks (love it!), although for me it's been about 5 years. May need to do a rewatch of that, I'm a bit fuzzy on most of it. I watch Weeds also. I actually did not like last season, I thought they got totally off track with things. I agree that this season is lackluster as well. The stakes are SO low compared to previous seasons. I started really hating Nancy last season, I thought she was indiscriminately fucking everyone's lives up... but I guess at least she had Stevie as an excuse... this season she has no excuse whatsoever and I continue to hate her. She is probably the most selfish character on TV. Also, I miss Guillermo. (My guy friends from home always greet me with "Hola Blanca" haha.) I used to watch Curb but I had to cancel my HBO this year because it was all getting too expensive. I'm looking forward to watching it on DVD once it's over. (Or maybe I can catch it on my parents' On Demand - I've actually gotten my mom into it lately.) I agree, season 4 was definitely the last great season for them. (Why the hell did they have them get divorced? That whole thing was totally weird.) But I don't want him to stop doing it either. :) Weeds, on the other hand - I think their time has come.

Brandon - Congrats on the recording, that's awesome. :) And I am also a huge Louis C.K. fan. His standup is great.

I really need to see Certified Copy.

Oh, also, Harry and the Hendersons

Chris - My best friend growing up was obsessed with Harry and the Hendersons. Every single time I went to sleep over at her house, which was like once a week, we watched either Harry and the Hendersons or Hocus Pocus - her two favorite movies when we were little. They're SO bad. But totally nostalgic for me. I also loved that 30 Rock episode. (It's one of my favorite shows.)

I'm jealous of John's vacation activities

Hey John - you're right, that's exactly where I stopped watching. I was frustrated and bored with those episodes, I didn't understand why they wrote that in. But I promise, if you hang in there and power through those episodes things do actually get back to normal.

Coen brothers - I remember liking Intolerable Cruelty. I haven't seen it in such a long time though. I need to give that a rewatch. Speaking of rewatches, I made my sister watch Fargo on Monday. God I love that movie. She has been resisting watching it for years because a) she just refuses to watch anything I recommend to her because she's stubborn and doesn't want to watch anything that wasn't her idea, and b) I guess for some reason she thought it was about a fat kid? She was a little surprised when nobody was fat and everyone started getting shot. Anyway, that is one of my favorite movies ever.

"You found a hitman ONLINE?"

Honestly I was expecting Horrible Bosses to be pretty horrible. But it played so much to Jason Bateman and Charlie Day's strengths that it ended up being funny. I liked the first half better than the second half - I wasn't a big fan of how it kind of turned into a car chase/comedy of errors scenario (I wouldn't have been surprised if I'd looked up who the director was in advance - Brett Ratner). I also thought there were a few parts that were unnecessarily racist - it felt lazy to me that they stooped to it. (The "most dangerous bar in town" does not have to be filled with a bunch of black guys in order to write funny jokes.) And, as with most buddy flicks, there were also some gross parts I had to cover my eyes for. But it's really the unique humor of Bateman (from Arrested Development) and Day (from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) - you would have thought it was Michael Bluth and Charlie in the film - that kept me entertained. If you are a fan of either of those guys, you will enjoy their funny-as-always delivery and also the way they play off of each other. It's like a dream cast - picture Michael Bluth reacting to Charlie's antics. Funny, right? (I hope Charlie Day is in more movies in the future.) I wouldn't advise paying $15 to see it like I did. But if you're ever in the mood for comedy + car chase, or if you just want to see Kevin Spacey acting like a complete psycho, it's not the most horrible option.

Does whatever a spider-pig does

Thanks for the birthday wishes! Sunday's the big day that I turn 28 and all my tastes in film change. Happy birthday in advance to you too John.

Chris, welcome to Film Club. Yayyyyy I'm not the new guy anymore!

I'm getting sad with talk of film club pilgrimages to Rochester or anywhere else. Pretty soon I'm going to be way too far away to be included. Jason don't feel so bad about living in Rochester, I can't imagine there will be a film club pilgrimage to Chapel Hill! Except by Brandon, whose band will be coming to see me. :)

Le Rayon Vert and Kiss Me Deadly both sound totally up my alley. But I'm getting impatient with Netflix snail-mail. I need to watch the one I have here and get the ball rolling again.

I haven't been feeling like watching many movies lately, I've been in a weird phase of doing crossword puzzles while watching sitcoms from days of yore, like The Cosby Show, Cheers and Wings. I've also been watching My So Called Life. I think I'm getting nostalgic in my soon-to-be-old age. I watched one indie romance called Nice Guy Johnny. The story was ok but the production quality was distractingly bad, as was the acting. It's one to skip. I haven't really watched anything else. I need to get back to watching the '30s movies, but I haven't had the attention span either. I agree with Brandon - summer is definitely the time for stupid movie going.

Speaking of which, I am seeing Horrible Bosses tonight. I was pushing for Larry Crowne, but majority rules. I'll let you know how much you guys will hate it on a scale from 1-indie. :-D