I generally like all the stuff that the American Film Institute does. The organization just put out their list for the 10 best films of 2004, although they didn’t have enough guts to put them in any particular order. So why am I posting about it? Just because they were smart enough to put Spider-man 2 on the list.
AFI’s Ten Best of 2004
• The Aviator
• Collateral
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Friday Night Lights
• The Incredibles
• Kinsey
• Maria Full of Grace
• Million Dollar Baby
• Sideways
• Spider-Man 2
Although, my pick (so far) for Best Film of the year, Finding Neverland, isn’t on the list. Interesting.
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I am in no position to name the ten best films of 2004 as I have not seen them all. I have seen The Aviator and The Incredibles and they definetly deserve to be on any Top 10 list. Many of the critics have raved over Spiderman 2, but I don’t see what the big deal is. The movie was good, but I don’t think it should be on any of the years best list’s (especially if one is going to exclude such favorites as Finding Neverland in the process).
Also, just a little lesson in film for “BillSaysThis”. He had previously commented in this message board that he found it “absurd” that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was picked as a top ten winner over The Bourne Supremacy, and in further displaying his ignorance of film, stated that “Eternal” shouldn’t be on the list due to it’s reviews from the release, when in reality “Eternal” actually opened to rave reviws and was declared a 4-star feature by over 50 critics in major papers across the nation (unlike The Bourne Supremacy which opened to decent reviews but nothing spectacular like “Eternal”).
Charlie Kauffman may in some sense be overrated, but he’s the beat writer Hollywood has, after turning out gems like “Being John Malcovich” and “Adaptation”.
And in Kauffman’s defense, most of the Hollywood and movie going community has no idea who the writer of The Bourne Supremacy is (whose name by the way is Tony Gilroy, but I bet even “BillSaysThis” didn’t know that.
I think Kaufman is great. I think the movie going audiances/critics dont understand his movies…meaning their idiots.
The problem with most the movies on that list is that they are predictable. I am 40+ years old and I hate spending money on a movie so by the numbers its a waste of my time (Collateral).
Kaufmans movies, even small ones like Sunshine, are so whacked out I enjoy the freshness of them.
So, if you want paint by number movies, then yeah, Spielberg/Lucas are your guys…
Robert
If these guys had any guts they would have put Bourne Supremacy in the 10. To pick one of the 10 I’d eliminate, I think the recognition for Eternal Sunshine is pretty absurd given the reviews from its release. Gondry is still learning his way around feature length and scope and Kaufman is overrated, Being JM is great and otherwise nothing much (yet).
Here is my Top 6 so far:
1. Finding Neverland
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Before Sunset
4. Collateral
5. Beyond the Sea
6. The Incredibles
I reckon we should ask everyone to order them, well at least the ones they’ve seen themselves. So…
1. The Incredibles
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Collateral
4. Spiderman 2
…and to be quite honest, it’s so hard to distinguish the first three I just had to go for it. Incredibles is such a good multi-layered movie that hits all the entertainment buttons. Eternal Sunshine is just such an amazing concept carried through with such love and care, with Collateral bringing out two of the best performances on the cinema screen this year!