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2004 Top 10 - #1 (2004 Dec 30)

#1: Maria Full of Grace : For those who are regular vistors to this site, the selection of Maria Full of Grace as #1 will not come as a surprise. It is, after all, the only 2004 theatrical release to which I assigned four stars. That's not an ...

2004 Top 10 - #2 (2004 Dec 29)

#2: Spring Summer Fall Winter...and Spring : Sublime, stunning, and emotionally powerful, Spring Summer Fall Winter...and Spring spent a number of months at the top of my "favorites" list for 2004 (until it was supplanted by my end-of-the-year #1). ...

2004 Top 10 - #3 and The Hall of Shame (2004 Dec 28)

#3: Before Sunset : For an early summer Valentine to all of us romantic movie-goers, Richard Linklater not only formulated a worthy sequel to his early-'90s love story, Before Sunrise, but he crafted 2004's best English-language motion picture. ...

2004 Top 10 - #4 (2004 Dec 27)

#4: Moolaadé : For me, one of the great disappointments of 2004 was the anemic performance of this compelling feature at the art-house box office. If one of the purposes of movies is to take us to places we have never previously visited, most ...

2004 Top 10 - #5 (2004 Dec 26)

#5: Sea Inside, The : The most mature and emotionally wrenching film to-date from Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar (Open Your Eyes, The Others), The Sea Inside represents a cathartic and satisfying experience. Based on a true story, this film ...

2004 Top 10 - #6 (2004 Dec 25)

#6: Million Dollar Baby : One could make a strong argument that this is the best movie Clint Eastwood has ever been involved in, either in front of or behind the camera. Although Million Dollar Baby will be classified as a "sports movie" by many, ...

2004 Top 10 - #7 (2004 Dec 24)

#7: Closer : Closer is an anti-romance film. At first, it appears to be about longing and love, but it quickly becomes apparent that the forging and breaking of relationships in this movie are conduits for gaining power and causing pain. Sex is more...

2004 Top 10 - #8 (2004 Dec 23)

#8: Sideways : Sideways represents the most mature film to-date from director Alexander Payne, whose impressive resume already includes Election and About Schmidt. By turns poignant and hilarious, Sideways follows the misadventures of two mismatched...

2004 Top 10 - #9 (2004 Dec 22)

#9: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind : An early-year release that will probably not get much (if any) Oscar consideration becuase of its opening date, Eternal Sunshine is already available on DVD for the enjoyment of those who missed its March ...

A New Philosophy (2004 Mar 14)

A few weeks ago, after seeing both Welcome to Mooseport and Eurotrip during the same week, I came to a conclusion: it is time to change the philosophy I use in determining which movies to review. I wasn't particularly interested in either film, yet...

A Reversal/Groundhog Day (2004 Feb 02)

Those of you who have stopped by this page before may notice a few changes as of the beginning of February. In addition to the pull-down menu bar (the first step in archiving "ReelThoughts" topics), I have "reversed" the text/background color ...

April Foolishness (2004 Apr 06)

For me, April is one of the busiest months of the year. In addition to the usual early spring rush of movies, there are the opening of baseball season (when even followers of perennial losers try to watch as many games as possible) and a local film ...

Ben and Jen - Does Anyone Care? (2004 Jan 23)

So apparently it's over, and does anyone really care? From the beginning, I never understood why this relationship was such a big deal, and why the media circled these two like they were worth front page gossip column coverage. Yes, they courted ...

Closer Later/Mixed Messages (2004 Nov 30)

One unfortunate aspect of living so far from screening locations is that I occasionally have to miss a screening for one reason or another (a 2-hour movie eats up about 5 hours of my time). Admittedly, I don't have an overwhelming desire to see ...

Down and Dirty (2004 Apr 30)

I briefly considered writing a "formal" review of Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures, but decided that I didn't want to officially branch out into book criticism. I'd rather be able to read things without thinking about how I'm going to present...

For Real? (2004 Feb 09)

To date, the best movie I have seen this year is Touching the Void. Many critics are mistakenly referring to this as a documentary, but, based on the rules of factual filmmaking, it's not. More than 50% of what's on screen is an impressive re-...

Halftime Report: The Top 10 (2004 Jul 09)

Generally speaking, no one talks about Top 10 lists until the November/December timeframe. While that makes sense for annual (January-December) lists, there's no reason not to take a snapshot of an evolving Top 10 list any time during the year, and ...