Movies seen in 2004
Submitted by spoky on Fri, 01/02/2004 - 11:17
Tags:
- December
- Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King
- Bridget Jones's Diary
- Kill Bill Vol. 2
- Kill Bill Vol. 1
- 13 going on 30
- Shaolin soccer : Most of the Asian films I see tend to dramas, so I found Shaolin Soccer to a refreshing change. I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
- Secondhand lions
- Lumière & company
- November
- Home Alone
- Terminator 3 rise of the machines
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
- The singing detective
- The 13th warrior
- Harold & Maude : This is a movie that I have wanted to see for a quite while now, having heard so many good things about it. Last winter I noticed that my sister had a copy in her DVD collection but she spends spring summer and most of fall in Ontario for her work, and left before a had a chance to watch it. So when she came back to Nova Scotia this fall I figured I should grab it while it was here. I am very glad to say that the before viewing hype that I heard did not disappoint me this time. I thought the movie was every bit as good as I had heard. It was funny and charming and I loved the Cat Stevens soundtrack which I had not heard about.
- 50 first dates
- Mulan
- Metropolis
- Cops
- The playhouse
- The general
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Dirty pretty things
- The Core
- The Incredibles
- October
- The Cooler
- The secret lives of dentists
- Spider : I did like this movie but found it was hard to watch especially at the start when it was basically just a man mumbling to himself. Once the story of his childhood started the movie came into its own, and I thought that it wrapped up quite well.
- Mona Lisa smile
- Paycheck
- Monster
- All the real girls
- Together
- Master and commander. The far side of the world.
- Buffalo soldiers
- Bad Santa : Very enjoyable dark comedy. I felt the relationships between all the characters (Santa and the boy, Santa and the Elf, Santa and "Mrs Claus's sister" ) where all well done. I would have liked to see more of John Ritter's character he seemed to disappear in the last third of the movie. I am not sure if his death was the reason or if it was the script, but I felt his presence near the end would only of helped the film more.
- Uptown girls
- The Princess Bride
- Saving Private Ryan
- The Waterboy : I found this to be a better movie then it should have been, but not quite as good as it could have been. It gave me cause to laugh enough to make up for the lags in between, but not enough to make up for that horrible accent that Sandler used all movie. All in all I would say this was a little better then average but not really in the realm of what you could call good.
- Dances with wolves
- 50 first dates
- September
- Legally Blonde
- The Bourne Identity
- Cold mountain
- The whole wide world
- In America
- Hero : What a beautiful movie! The colours, the imagery, the scenery, all of it is simply beautiful. There was a scene near the beginning where it looked like they were playing Go, but the subtitles said they were playing chess; this pulled me out of the movie after having just settled in, but the dripping water in during the fight shortly afterwards pulled me back and I thoroughly enjoyed everything that happened after that. To a point that when my wife leaned over to complain about some guys a few rows behind us making to much noise I had to answer her "What guys?", having not even noticed them at all.
- Basic
- Secretary : A good movie, but I think I kept looking for more. I had heard such good reviews here and elsewhere that I think I was expecting too much. I hate when that happens.
- Cheaper by the dozen
- Love actually
- Freaky Friday
- There is Something About Mary
- Garden State : This is a great movie. I would say that it is the best of the 2004 releases that I have seen so far, not that I have seen a whole lot of movies from 2004. I liked the story, the characters, the dialog, the acting, the music, I pretty much just liked everything.
- Gothika
- Girl with a pearl earring
- Shattered Glass
- Amelie
- August
- The Mask of Zorro : I quite like this movie, having a passable story, and a good mix of action and comedy it has made its way into our very small collection of DVDs. This was only our second time watching the movie since purchasing it but I foresee that it will probably make its way off the shelf at least once every year or two.
- My boss's daughter
- City of God
- Children of a lesser god
- Big fish
- The wedding singer
- Calendar girls
- The princess and the warrior
- Veronica Guerin
- Confidence
- The Italian job
- July
- The quiet American
- Amores perros
- Swimming pool
- Ran
- Thirteen
- Spellbound (2002)
- American wedding
- Spiderman 2
- Under the Tuscan sun
- 21 grams
- Raising Victor Vargas
- Underworld
- DareDevil
- Something's gotta give
- June
- The life of David Gale
- The Last Casino
- Finding Nemo
- Me without you
- Almost Famous
- Alex & Emma
- Bruce Almighty
- Ginger snaps
- Pirates of the Caribbean the curse of the Black Pearl
- Russian Ark : I like this movie more upon reflection then I did while watching. My first impression was of a very confusing story, but after finishing the movie and watching a bit of the making of documentary on the DVD, I have grown a greater appreciation for what was going on and what the director was trying to convey. And I must say the fact that it was shot as one continuous take blows my mind.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban : I liked this movie better then the second, and probably better then the first (though I should probably rewatch that one). My major complaint would be how most of the minor characters (that I am pretty sure where all properly introduced in the previous movies) were used and then thrown away once they served their purpose. . It has been awhile since I read the book and it may be that the same thing happened there as well, but in the movie I found it to rather jarring.Spoiler: Highlight to viewFor example how the twins showed up to give Harry the map, or Snape arrived at the shrieking shack after only being in a few brief scenes
- Owning Mahowny
- In the cut
- Anger management
- Castle in the sky
- May
- The league of extraordinary gentlemen
- Modern Times
- The Rundown
- School of rock
- Down with love
- Shrek 2
- Confessions of a dangerous mind
- Open range
- Charlie's angels full throttle.
- S.W.A.T.
- Troy
- High Fidelity
- Holes
- Pieces of April
- Matewan I liked this, enjoyed watching it, but I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that I didn't find it as good as I had heard it would be. Not a movie that I would ever recommend to anyone but I would tell anyone to steer clear of it either.
- April
- Hulk
- Matchstick Men
- Runaway Jury
- Mambo Italiano
- Le divorce
- Intolerable cruelty
- The bicycle thief
- Sinbad legend of the seven seas.
- Groundhog Day : This was a rewatch of a movie that I remembered liking, but only really remembered what the premise was. I am happy to say that I still really like it, probably more this time then when I first saw it. Bill Murray seems to have an uncanny ability to make a character who is obviously meant to viewed as an arrogant jerk, magically become a character that you end up rooting for in the end.
- 28 days later
- March
- Grave of the fireflies : One of the best anti war stories I have seen, this is a very good, very moving, yet very sad movie. Not something that I would care to watch again soon but definitely worth checking out.
- Bend it like Beckham
- Better luck tomorrow
- February
- The hunted
- A mighty wind
- Bowling for Columbine : This documentary definitely makes one think. Michael Moore seems to be a bit one sided in his documentary about Guns and Violence in the United States, but he does put across a thought provoking yet entertaining film. Being Canadian and having only visited the US twice in my life, I have to say most of my knowledge of the state of affairs in the US comes to me through the media, both entertainment and news. Also most of the news I hear comes from Canadian sources, mainly CBC radio and local TV news. Therefore I am inclined to believe that at least to some degree the fear and violence that Moore says is pushed onto the American public is a bit of an over exaggeration, though I have no real proof either way.
- Seabiscuit
- X2 X-Men united.
- Max
- Finding Nemo
- The Sixth Sense
- Lara Croft tomb raider the cradle of life
- Rouge
- While You Were Sleeping
- Confidence
- 8 1/2
- Lost in Translation : What can I say about this wonderful little movie that much more articulate writers than I on this site have not already covered. It was a great movie with amazing performances by the two leads. It definitely deserves all the attention that it is garnering. I somehow don't think that it will manage to beat out Return of the King for the Best Picture statue, but it wouldn't upset me at all if it does.
- January
- Once Upon a Time in Mexico
- Blanc
- Bollywood Hollywood
- Bleu
- House of Sand and Fog
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels : I really like this movie. It's fun, it's funny. Probably my favourite of the English gangster type films that I have seen. It is definitely a movie that I will happily watch again and again.
- View from the Top
- Sunset Blvd
- The Good Thief : I had not heard anything about this movie when it showed up on "This month's new Dvds" where my library puts all its new acquisitions a quick two minute jump to imdb intrigued me enough to put it on hold, but not enough for me to look any closer. So when it was finally my turn to watch it I really had no idea if it would be any good or not. In the end it was a good movie. Nolte did a great job in the lead role and the others were at least passable to good, and I enjoyed the way the heist played out in the end. One complaint I do have though is Spoiler: Highlight to viewwhy the twins needed Bob's help in pulling off their heist. If it was explained I must have missed it, because it seems to me that they could have easily done that heist all on their own.
- Finding Nemo
- BackDraft
- Whale Rider : A very good film. I thought the relationship between the girl and her grandfather was very well done. Good performances all round including the girl playing Paikea. Which is really important, if Paikea was annoying me the movie would have been bad. But she's not and it's not.
Author Comments:
Comments are on Hold for now but I will take requests and get to them as I can
Short list of movies that I am going to try and get comments for as soon as possible
Shaolin soccer
Cloned From:
I'm not positive, but I think you're the first person to post a "seen in 2004" list. There should be a prize or something. I was about to post my first 2004 entry (Nine Queens), but I guess there's no rush now. :-)
How was Whale Rider? I have it in my queue.
Five minutes of free time on a busy new years day might get me to be the first "seen in 2004" list, but being too busy to respond to your comments for more then a week should disqualify me for any prizes.
I quite enjoyed Nine Queens when I saw it. Probably one of my favourite movies about con artists. I will be interesting to see what you thought of it.
Cool, I'm going to try to get that review and couple others up tonight. And I think you and I may have seen The Good Thief on the same night (it's one of my other pending reviews). I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on that one too.
Yes, I had the same problem with The Good Thief. Perhaps they needed the distraction he provided? Just a guess though - they certainly never told us that.
I'd love to see your review of Nine Queens/Nueve Reinas. I got such a huge kick out of it. It's even better if you speak spanish, like I do, but that's not to say the translation of the film isn't first rate, because it certainly is.
It is now on my 2003 list.
Just in case you were talking to me, it's here. Not one of my better reviews, I'm afraid (in terms of the quality of the writing, that is).
Actually, your review is quite good. Being that my parents are both from Argentina (I was born in NYC), I was able to absorb much of the colorful slang and banter between Ricardo Darin and Gaston Pauls - the translators do a terrific job, but it's so much funnier if you can speak their lingo.
Thanks for the compliment. After I wrote it I kinda felt like I was cloaking my lack of things to say about the movie (which often happens with movies I like) with all that heist/con meta-feelings stuff.
I'm certainly envious of your ability to watch that movie in its native tongue. Every time I watch a non-English movie I wish I spoke the language. So much must be lost in translation. Ah well, I *will* learn at least one more language before I die.
I'll try not to bury you with such requests this year, but I'd love to see a Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels review.
I do not mind putting the reviews in. In fact I would prefer to put reviews for all the movies. It' s more the time factor involved in doing that. This is why I decided to work on request, this way I know which reviews to concentrate my time on. So please ask me to review anything that interests you, and if that happens to be every single movie you might just have to wait a bit longer for some of them. I will try to get Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels up by the weekend.
That seems like a good system to me. Looking forward to you LS&2SB review, thanks!
Now that it's up, thanks again! I agree. Have you seen Snatch? I have a theory: everybody that likes LS&2SB also likes Snatch, and vice versa. However, the one you saw first is the one you prefer.
Your theory is still holding true! I did see Snatch, and I do like it, just not as much as LS&2SB which I saw first.
Whale Rider is my FAVORITE movie!!!
Now come on, you know I'm gonna beg ya for Lost in Translation reactions...
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I'd like to request a Bowling for Columbine review, if I may.
Thanks!
You're right about Michael Moore being one-sided with his commentary in Bowling for Columbine, but it's not as if he's being hysterical about it. Americans are extremely obsessive about guns, and I have firsthand knowledge of this being that I live in the South. You can pretty much do whatever to a man except take his gun and his pickup. That's whom Moore was assailing in his documentary.
You probably knew this was coming: Can I have your thoughts on Grave of the Fireflys?
I did know, but you may have to wait a bit as I am going to be away on a business trip for the next week. I will hopefully get something up soon after I return.
I have a vague recollection we've discussed Groundhog Day elsewhere, but I can't find it, so I'd like to request a review, if I may.
I don't think that we have, but I do remember you discussing it with someone else, so I was expecting your request. This week is kind of busy but I will try and find some time over easter.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Matewan.
Thanks! Now how 'bout Harry Potter 3 and Russian Ark?
How'd you like Mask of Zorro?
There you go. I was hoping that I would be able to give you my thoughts on Hero today as well (since I know if it went on the list you would be compelled to ask about it), but unfortunately my plans to see it last night fell through when my wife ended up having to work late. I will do my best to see it though and I promise to add it to the list complete with thoughts when I do.
Thanks! I hope you like Hero, and of course I'm looking forward to your review.
How was Garden State?
yeah ditto, how was it?
We must have crossed paths since I just put my very short but very positive review up and at the time your post wasn't here. Anyway my thoughts are now up there for both you and Jim
Thanks for the Hero review! What did you think of Secretary?
I will try to get Secretary up by the weekend.
Thanks! Sorry about the hype problem on Secretary. I hate it when that happens.
Spoky, your thoughts on "The Waterboy"?
Sorry it took so long but I finally posted my thoughts about The Waterboy.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on Bad Santa, Spider, and Harold & Maude, if you have it in ya.
Thanks!
What did you think of Shaolin Soccer?
This week end was quite busy but I will try to get something up soon