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Capone's Best & Worsts of 2004 List!
Hey folks, Harry here with Capone's Best of list... Interesting choices, some that I really don't agree with, some that I do, and yet a couple that I have yet to even see. Now before you get too hard on Capone for being late with his list. Remember, Moriarty still hasn't turned in his. In fact, I hear it's right on the hard drive with the 90's list. So fret not, it's almost here.
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here, a little later with my Best (and Worst) of 2004 list, but not as late as usual. I saw nearly 420 films in the theatres in 2004, and in my usual overachieving manner, I've boiled my favorites down to 30, with additional lists for documentaries, re-releases, and worst of 2004. Here it is will very little commentary.
Best Films of 2004
1. ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND-Managed to be the most originally told film of 2004, while being the most traditional and pure love story I've seen in many years.
2. MILLION DOLLAR BABY-Sublime, straight-forward filmmaking that packs as much of an emotional punch as I've ever seen from director Clint Eastwood.
3. SIDEWAYS-No explanation needed. If you haven't seen this film yet, something's wrong with you.
4. THE AVIATOR-Best of the end-of-year bio flicks we were bombarded with in '04. Leonardo DiCaprio reminds us once again what he's capable of as an actor. And Scorsese slam dunks every aspect of the direction. The most complete portrait of a man who was both highly disturbed and utterly brilliant; in other words, a visionary.
5. RAY-See above, but insert Jamie Foxx's and Tayor Hackford's names. This was a tough call, what RAY lacks in sweeping scope, it makes up for in its detailed personal story. And then there's that lovely music...
6. KILL BILL, VOL. 2
7. HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS
8. THE INCREDIBLES
9. GARDEN STATE-Second best love story of the year.
10. SPIDER-MAN 2
11. NOBODY KNOWS-Should be making its way through the art-house theatres of America in the first quarter. The latest stroke a magnificence from Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda (AFTER LIFE; MABOROSI) about four young children left to fend for themselves in a small apartment when their mother essentially abandons them. The film is overwhelmingly touching and quietly devastating, and, not surprisingly, based on a true story.
12. A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT
13. HOTEL RWANDA
14. KINSEY
15. BAD EDUCATION
16. NAPOLEON DYNAMITE-For those of you who think THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST polarized a nation, think again. This hilarious film about nerds sparked more debates about its merits among movie geeks than any other film this year. I saw it months before its theatrical release knowing absolutely nothing about it, and it made me laugh non-stop. My favorite comedy of the 2004.
17. SAVED-Of all the early 2004 releases, this is the one that has been all but ignored by critics looking back at the year's best. I find this shocking, since the film got such overwhelmingly good reviews and was fairly well attended. If you didn't catch it in the theatres, it's absolutely worth the rent.
18. SHAUN OF THE DEAD
19. SPANGLISH
20. VERA DRAKE
21. THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
22. MARIA FULL OF GRACE
23. SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER...AND SPRING-From Korean director Ki-duk Kim (THE ISLE, BAD GUY), this story of an old monk and young boy who like on a tiny island in a lake follows the pair over the course of many years. You've never seen anything like this. Available on DVD. You will love it.
24. THE WOODSMAN-Scariest movie of the year.
25. ENDURING LOVE
26. I'M NOT SCARED-From Italy, this tale of a young boy who discovers another boy held captive in a pit deep in the ground was one of the most frightening of the year. The boy is afraid monsters are involved, but the real threat is all too human
27. THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON
28. TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
29. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
30. COLLATERAL
Best Documentary: This was a phenomenal year for documentaries, particularly ones of a political nature, but in considering the year that has past, the one film that stuck with the longest, the one I wished I could see the hours of raw source material for is METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER. I don't own a single album by the band, and I probably never will, but this documentary was so engaging and so gut-wrenching, that I just wanted to thank each band members for opening up their lives so completely. I'm sure they've regretted the decision from time to time, but the world owes them a debt of gratitude for showing what goes into making something that touches so many people's lives. Was Metallica a more worthy subject than the election or the war in Iraq? Absolutely not, but that's not what this is about. I defy you not to by affected by this film, maybe even shed a tear or two on their behalf.
Runners Up: ARAKIMENTARI; BORN INTO BROTHELS; BRIGHT LEAVES; BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS; CONTROL ROOM; THE CORPORATION; THE END OF THE CENTRY: THE STORY OF THE RAMONES; FAHRENHEIT 9/11; GOING UPRIVER; MY FLESH AND BLOOD; THE NOMI SONG; OVERNIGHT; RIDING GIANTS; THE SOUVENIERS OF MR. X; SUPER SIZE ME; THIS SO-CALLED DISASTER; TOUCHING THE VOID; WORD WARS;
Best Restoration/Reissue
THE BIG RED ONE: THE RECONSTRUCTION
Runners Up: DONNIE DARKO: DIRECTOR'S CUT; GODZILLA; THX-1138: DIRECTOR'S CUT
Worst Film of 2004: VAN HELSING-A colossal disappointment on every conceivable level. The more I thought about it after seeing it, the more it pissed me off. A close second goes to TAXI, of which I had the lowest expectations, and it still managed to surpass my worst nightmares of bad filmmaking. I kept dreaming up ways the film might get better or be bearable, and TAXI kept slamming these hopes back in my face. Come to think of it, these films are tied for 2004's worst film.
Runners Up--There were plenty of bad movies last year, but these are the ones I wish could erase from my memory: AFTER THE SUNSET; THE ALAMO; ALIEN VS. PREDATOR; ALONG CAME POLLY; ANACONDAS: SECRET OF THE BLOOD ORCHID; AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS; BLADE: TRINITY; BROTHER TO BROTHER; CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS; THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK; DARKNEESS; ENVY; EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING; FAT ALBERT; FIRST DAUGHTER; GARFIELD; THE GRUDGE; HIDALGO; HOME ON THE RANGE; JOHNSON FAMILY VACATION; LITTLE BLACK BOOK; NATIONL TREASURE; NEW YORK MINUTE; THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA; THE PRINCE AND ME; THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2; RAISING HELEN; SEED OF CHUCKY; SHARK TALE; SOUL PLANE; THE STEPFORD WIVES; SURVIVING CHRISTMAS; TORQUE; WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT; WHITE CHICKS; THE WHOLE TEN YARDS; WITHOUT A PADDLE
Capone
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The Grudge and Chronicles Of Riddick do not belong on the worst list. I know it's an exercise in futility to say this but Capone's taste is a little too highbrow for me, and he's obviously not a genre fan.
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or was it 420 when you were watching the films (I am implying that he was high on marijuana while watching movies)I wish I was high right now
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Van Helsing is just.....ugh and Taxi is embarrasing. Would have liked to have seen Closer in your best list though. I agree about Spotless Mind as number 1 though.
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Jan 11, 2005 4:52:04 AM CST
Saved and Napoleon Dynamite higher than Shaun of the Dead?
by tryfailure
That makes the list null and void, correct?
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Jan 11, 2005 5:00:40 AM CST
Capone, if that's the worst you can come up with, it must've bee
by monkey butler
In anyone else's list, all those movies would just be written off as forgetable crap, so either you particularly despise mediocrity or you saw a hell of a lot of movies you liked.
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Jan 11, 2005 5:15:42 AM CST
Eternal Sunshine was the best film to drop last year by far
by sirbiatchreturns
The one movie that made me go "AHHH!" Fresh air. It was totally fresh, imaginative, combined a lot of concepts but yet, remains the most realistic/touching romance movie i've ever seen. Big Props to everyone involved. Jim Carrey's best performance ever. same for the rest of the cast. This needs to win big at the Oscars and people need to see this. i dont want to lose hope in the world. For once, its a movie that actually says "you know what, the girl/boy i have isn't all that bad. everyone has their faults". Thats REAL!
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Why not 3030? It's normally and traditionally ten... but if you can't make a simple choice...
(And why aren't there 30 of the worst ones, in that case?) -
Yes, definately yes.
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The orginal Taxi was great fun... (it was filmed in Marseille where I live...) the American Taxi was just another stupid buddy movie..
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Jan 11, 2005 7:37:18 AM CST
Why have none of the AICN staff seen 'Dead Man's Shoes' - film o
by workshed
Everyone should see this gem of a movie. Shane Meadows/Paddy Considine are the new Scorcese/De Niro.
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You really should, you know.
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Jan 11, 2005 8:36:11 AM CST
Shaun was funny (I agree with that), but still quite overrated
by stlfilmwire
That is all.
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Jan 11, 2005 8:52:29 AM CST
Riddick was good. Time's going to tell on that one. And Collater
by i dunno
Collateral kicked ass and I can't stand Tom Cruise. Michael Mann deserves Best Director.
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on your worst list. I know that's it's so unforgetable, that you probably forgot it.
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I have a great deal of respect for you and your contributions to AICN, but as I look at your worst of list, and hear your plea to erase some of those titles from your mind, one can't help but think, what the hell are you seeing some of those movies for anyway? They must've been free viewings. New York Minute? WTF? You deserve all the paing you get for dragging yourself to that.
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Just to open myself up to critisism, Garden State was awful. And no, it's not that I didn't get it, I just didn't like it.
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Jan 11, 2005 11:40:21 AM CST
Good list...I agree with everything on Capone's list except
by lost skeleton
the worst movie of the year. The worst movie of 2004 was King Arthur...just plain boring and uninspired. It takes a lot for me not to like an action movie and Catwoman and King Arthur both achieved that; however, we all knew Catwoman was going to be terrible and Van Helsing is easily ripped apart...but Fuqua's failure was glaring with a horrible script and boring action. Clive Owen deserved better.
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2 Fast 2 Furious, SWAT, xXx... all of those suck. But this... jesus. I don't think I've ever had that much fun.
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Might be the worst worst of list i've ever seen. Troy as the worst film of the year? You've got to be fucking kidding me. And Girl Next Door at #3, fuck off!
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The surefire way to tell a movie is going to suck: "starring Queen Latifa"
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Come on, Hildago was good old fashioned fun. My crap tolerance level is pretty low, but I really did enjoy it as a film. I don't care if it turns out to be based on someone's tall tales, it was a darn good popcorn movie.
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Jan 11, 2005 1:42:42 PM CST
Any list that doesn't put The Passion on best or worst of the ye
by silver shamrock
We're talking a year when Mel Gibson made a better film than Steven Spielberg. If Capone had trashed it or praised it I'd have SOME respect for him, but to pretend that it didn't exist shows a lack of balls.
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What a boring film that repeats itself over and over. Hughes dates a famous actress, he flys a plane, goes a little whacky, repeat! By the end of the near 3 hour mess you don't know anything more about Hughes then you did the first time they told it in the first hour.
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This site hyped that a lot over the past year, and no mention? And Napoleon Dynamite was truly a stupid movie... Eurotrip was funnier than that shite. The problem with that movie is it's really not nice to make fun of mentally retarded people... Wait, what? He wasn't retarded? wow.
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Its about how people keep making the same mistakes. The two of them getting back together is a MISTAKE. My understanding is that this aspect is more prominent in the book (which I haven't read), as one would expect Hollywood would sugar coat the most sensible point of the film.
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(the movie) is cool enough to let people draw different conclusions. Personally, I like SirBiatch's conclusion better--i.e., that the two lovers have a better chance at succeeding the second time because they have been forwarned by their knowledge that each other is not perfect. Basically, SirBiatch knows that, in relationships, people learn from experience. I would guess that INWOsuxRED's conclusion is more common among younger people who have not have had meaningful relationships through which they have matured and become comfortable with the fact that a relationship changes with time. (Basically, Jim Carrey's and Kate Winslet's characters, in their first go-around, didn't seem to know how to deal with a longer relationship and so they botched it.)
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Jan 11, 2005 5:18:54 PM CST
princess diaries 2? white chicks? why waste your time on that c
by windowlicker74
Learn to make a choice instead of these dumb geek-lists
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There is a logical answer. I think Capone did not see it otherwise it would of made his best of list. Reguardless of faith, that movie stands on its own merits.
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Jan 11, 2005 6:41:33 PM CST
"If you haven't seen Sideways yet, something's wrong with you"?
by cooldan989
Well, there must be something wrong with like 98 percent of America, then...I mean, I'm sure Sideways is a good movie, but come on, that's a bit extreme, especially seeing as how it's only been in like 500 theaters so far...but that statement does make sense, I guess, this is a pretty fucked up country...but that's another story.
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Honestly I'm not sure if I either especially really liked or hated Napolean Dynamite -- this isn't a cop out but it may be the kind of film I'd have to watch again to really get a grasp on how I feel about it. But alas, at the very least I have to say how utterly adorable Ms. Tina Majorino turned out to be in this (sporting the classic side-ponytail). Jesus, I can't believe that's the same little girl from "Waterworld". But hey, she's 19, damn close to 20. So at 29 myself, that's enough to where I don't have to feel like a perve to find her really cute. hee hee
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The "two lovers" don't have the knowledge actually, because they erased the knowledge. Just like the receptionist makes the same mistakes, the couple will make the same mistakes. The couple actually actively removed all ability to grown and learn from their experience. Yes they have tapes that explain some of it, but without the experience they don't "know" at all, and they generally chose to discount what is on the tape without putting much thought into it. They didn't change or grow at all. - While the film is in my top half of what I've seen this year, it isn't even close to Sideways. I tend to think Closer is a significantly better movie too. A few others I liked more too. I've heard the deleted scenes on Eternal Sunshine are good and may have made the film better, so I'll have to check that out.
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Jan 11, 2005 8:48:30 PM CST
Before Sunset? - Saved fell apart in the end - Envy sucked
by inwosuxred
Not even an honerable mention of Before Sunset? I guess not many people saw it, but it is significantly better than most of the films I've seen on this list(which is unfortunatly slightly less than a third). Fortunatly I only saw one of Capone's "worst of" films, and it was the worst film I saw this year. Envy just plain sucked. World Police and Dynamite are pretty low on my list too though. Saved totally fell apart in the end. It started good, the cast was great, but the end was a horrible clusterfuck. Thats why it isn't on any "best of" lists.
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didnt make number one on anyones worst list because absolutely no one was stupid enough to see it.
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there is no book of Eternal Sunshine--it's an original story
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Eraser_x, u read my mind 100%. that is exactly what i'm talking about. It is very much a mature movie. in fact, only if u've had a relationship before that didn't quite work out, then u'll begin to understand the many hidden gems in this movie. INFOred, u do not have much of an argument. I haven't seen Sideways, i know Eternal Sunshine will be quite better. Secondly, the couple are quite aware of the mistakes they made. They even came to the conclusion together that "a relationship can never remain in the same form as it started out". Remember? the last scene. So they're quite unlikely to make the exact same mistake again. They may end up breaking up a second time but that is not in the movie. What is important is that, with a clear knowledge of how relationships develop, one can improve their own relationships and make them last longer. I think this has to be one of the most brilliant messages in film. ever. I've read some critics. A number of them have said: 'i have never seen a movie on the silver screen depict relationships so accurately before.' anyway, i am expecting this to do well in Oscars.
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Terminal is the largest piece of shit, from the same guy who made Jaws, Close Encounters, the Indys. OMG. Worst film I have seen for years. I haven't walked out of a movie since Freejack, but I walked out of this one when that Indian fucker stopped the plane with his mop and said, "Do you have an appointment?" Spielberg is a hack, and I'm not going to see War of the Worlds, because like Bush says, Fool me once, shame on... me. You won't fool me again.
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was that, yes, definitely, Eternal Sunshine blah blah long title was the best film I saw this year. Van Helsing was so bad it was hilarious. For me the worst cinematic attrocity this year was Phantom of the Opera - it was badly directed, painfully abysmally sung and ridiculously presented. No redeeming features whatsoever.
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On the money all around.
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Let's make that a C.
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Jan 12, 2005 3:45:22 PM CST
I think Catwoman isn't on the list because it really is a movie
by theginger twit
Yes yes I know, spiderman is better because he's spiderman.
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I can't beleiev Im saying this but this film was the most surprising film of the year. i had low expectations for this but damn did it blow me away. fuck i have even taken the time to learn lines and routines like a dumb nerd. ive seen it like 5 times now. this one deserved mention. that was so NOT extreme.
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does my laundry
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