The Films of 2004

[Disneykid]

Now that the year's drawing to a close, I thought it'd be good to rank and rate all of the 2004 films we've each seen. If you've seen too much and don't want to rank them all, then just list your top 10 or 20. For help remembering what films came out this year, you can refresh your memory by checking out this page: http://www.darkhorizons.com/releasedates.php

**** (Excellent)
1. The Passion of the Christ
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
3. Spider-Man 2
4. The Incredibles
5. Ella Enchanted

***1/2 (Great)
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
7. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
8. Hellboy
9. Shrek 2
10. Kill Bill: Volume II
11. The Stepford Wives
12. Mean Girls
13. Troy
14. 13 Going on 30
15. The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

*** (Good)
16. A Series of Unfortunate Events
17. I, Robot
18. Home on the Range
19. King Arthur
20. The Punisher
21. 50 First Dates
22. Van Helsing
23. Dawn of the Dead

**1/2 (Okay)
24. The Grudge
25. Godsend

** (Medicore)
26. Exorcist: The Beginning

[DDMAN26]

I haven't seen any of the December releases yet and I want to definitely see the Aviator to be sure and Million Dollar Baby. Plus I want to check out Lemony Snicket and Ocean's 12 So the list may or may not be incomplete but my top ten from January to November:

1. Lord of the....darn it was so easy the last three years

Okay the real list:

1. City of God-Okay so techically this wasn't a 2004 release but it came out on dvd this year. But it was the best film I saw this year. It will stay with you for days
2. The Incredibles-Pixar keeps getting better and better
3. Spider-Man 2-That rare thing a sequel that outdoes a pretty good original film.
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-Speaking of original, simply mind blowing. Gets better everytime I watch.
5. Ray-Jamie Foxx is incredible
6. Collateral-Michael Mann is the best action director today
7. Harry Potter-The best book in the series gets the best movie
8. The Bourne Supremacy-Note to the makers of James Bond this is how it's done
9. Hellboy-I knew nothing about the comic nor did I have any desire to see this. How wrong I was. One best times I've had all year.
10. Shrek 2-I love the big green guy

Honorable Mentions go to: The Manchurian Candidate, The Passion of the Christ and Super Size Me

The worst film I saw in 2004, actually it's two

Van Helsing and The Punisher

[Jack]

**** (Excellent)
1. Finding Neverland
2. Napoleon Dynamite
3. The Incredibles
4. Collateral

***1/2 (Great)
5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
6. Troy
7. 50 First Dates
8. The Terminal
9. Spider-Man 2

*** (Good)
10. The Phantom of the Opera
11. I, Robot
12. Man on Fire
13. National Treasure
14. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
15. The Day After Tomorrow
16. Walking Tall

**1/2 (Okay)
17. Home on the Range
18. Alien vs. Predator
19. The Village
20. The Bourne Supremacy
21. Shrek 2
22. Hellboy
23. Secret Window
24. Along Came Polly

** (Mediocre)
25. Hidalgo
26. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

* (Bad)
27. King Arthur
28. Open Water
29. DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
30. The Chronicles of Riddick
31. Van Helsing

[Wonderlicious]

2004 hasn't been a wonderful year for movies, but it's been okay. I've actually been seeing (for the first time and for an umpteenth time) many older movies, so I haven't seen every single movie. I really wanted to see a few, but never got round to it (Finding Neverland, Home on the Range).

My favourite movie this year was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which was just wonderful. My two runners up are both sequels; Shrek 2 (go ahead and kill me) and Spider Man 2.

The Incredibles warrants a high rating, but I must admit that it's my least favourite of the Pixar films so far. It was a great movie on all accounts, but not as good as the others.

Two movies from this year which everyone except me hated were The Stepford Wives and Mona Lisa Smile (the latter was 2003, but it came out in England in 2004 ). I'm always in the minority, aren't I?

I should also mentition that I enjoyed Mean Girls and Dodgeball. In fact, up until earlier today, there was no 2004 movie that I saw and hated it. I skipped a number of critical flops like Scooby Doo 2 and Van Helsing, so bare that in mind. I kind of thought Starsky and Hutch was a wee bit blah, but it wasn't a bad movie. However, Mum and Dad insisted that I come to see Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really wished that I'd gone to see another movie; that film was sheer crap.

[castleinthesky]

I Saw Most of these Theatrical

King Arthur-10/10
The Passion of the Christ-10/10
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabam-9/10
The Village-9/10
The Incredibles-9/10
The Polar Express-9/10
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow-7/10
Home on the Range-7/10
Shrek 2-4/10
A Shark Tale-2/10
Starsky and Hutch(saw it at a friend's house)-0.5/10

I hopefully can catch National Treasure, Lemony Snicket, and Finding Neverland before the year is up. I might rent Van Helsing, Spiderman 2, The Day After Tomorrow, Troy(when it comes out),and Farenheit 9/11.

I'll probably receive Home on the Range for Christmas.

[lord-of-sith]

**** (Excellent)
1. Harry Potter 3 - Near the top of my all time favorites.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Confusing, yet great.
3. Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events - Same as HP3.
4. Mean Girls - I could watch this over and over.
5. Spiderman 2 - An overall better movie then SM1.
6. Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow - Every minute was gold.

*** (Good)
1. Anchorman - Very funny!
2. The Stepford Wives - The only thing bad was the ending.
3. Garfield - Not a disaster.
4. Shrek 2 - It was good , but not a classic.

** (Okay)
1. Super Size Me - Too pointless, a guy eats fast food, bad things happen to his body, we know.
2. Home on the Range - Disney can do better.
3. The Passion of the Christ -
4. The Polar Express -

And for the record, I haven't seen The Incredibles ( Yes, I know)

[Just Myself]

*****(excellent)
3. Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera Superb. This film was amazing, possibly the best film of the decade, I cried especially at the end. Great film, go see it, give Butler and Rossum the Oscar now!
2. National Treasure As we've joked about in chat, I find it Cage-tastic . The best Bruckheimer collaboration to date.
3. Spider-Man 2 Bloody good film . Possibly the best comic book film ever made.

Soon I'm going to watch Collateral, and over Christmas break some of the films I plan to see are The Aviator and Finding Neverland, so stay tuned.

****(very good)
1. The Village The only reason it's not listed as excellent is because I found the ending a bit left open and flawed, not M. Night's typical way to go.
2. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events If you only need one reason to pay full price of admission, it's Jim Carrey. This has got to be the best comic role he's ever played. Plus his scenes with Sunny usually end in crude hilarity(check out the quote in my signature).
3. The Incredibles Not as good as Nemo and Monsters, but a very close third. Brad Bird's superhero extravaganza deserves the Oscar, but we just know they're gonna go with...
4. Shrek 2. Even though TI is the better film(which surprised my very low expectations), they have to go with the money .

HM: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Polar Express, Ladder 49, I Robot, Two Brothers, Day After Tomorrow, 50 First Dates


***(average)
1. Shark Tale Funny, got the same moral DW's been pushing since Antz: Acceptance.
2. Starsky & Hutch I'd actually rate this more as a ***1/2. I think the Owen Wilson is one of the funniest guys around(except in the Royal Tannenbuams ), and him with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn was great.
HM: Christmas with the Kranks, Sky Captain, Cellular, Mr. 3000, Garfield, SpongeBob SquarePants, King Arthur, basically everything else

**(poor)
1. Ocean's Twelve Such a massive disappointment. Utter crap if you ask me.
2. Taxi Queen Latifah = Jimmy Fallon =
3. The Prince & Me What do you get when a girl from Wisconsin falls in love with a Prince from Denmark? Danish Cheese, as Jay Boyar put it.

*(terrible)
1. Van Helsing Why don't you go hunt some interesting plot and a better ending, Stephen?
2. Alien Vs. Predator The only film of the whole year I walked out of and asked for my money back.

[Satoshi]

I decided to make my list exclusive to films that I saw in theaters this year, as opposed to including films that came out in theaters this year, but I didn't see till they hit DVD (like Hellboy for instance). So here ya go!

1. Spider-Man 2 - 9.4 (great characters, story, and action; can't really find much fault here)
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 9.3 (I just can't get past all of those book omissions....)
3. The Incredibles - 9.2 (wonderful, though I wasn't too fond of the villain)
4. Shrek 2 - 9.0 (so shoot me, but I love the songs and characters)
5. The Bourne Supremacy - 8.8 (would be higher if not for the shaky camera)
6. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - 8.5 (beautifully made, shame it performed so poorly at the BO)
7. The Village - 8.3 (very underrated in my opinion. the acting and story were both stellar)
8. Napoleon Dynamite - 8.0 (extremely funny, but not so much of a "film" in my opinion *shrugs*)
9. I, Robot - 7.95 (very enjoyable the first time, but it probably won't hold up that well to repeat viewings)
10. The Princess Diaries 2 - 7.7 (not as good as the original, but still "good")
11. Van Helsing - 7.5 (take it for what it is, an enjoyable popcorn movie)
12. The Forgotten - 7.2 (I thought the concept was great, and it was pretty well made; it just didn't turn out to be my kind of movie)

[jambo*rafiki]

***** (most excellent!)
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - far and away my favorite movie this year . . .
2. Spider-Man 2 - Saw it on midnight on opening night, and BOY was it worth it . . . incredibly action scenes + great villain + enough emotion to keep you connected + Tobey Maguire in general + corny 'raindrops are falling on my head' scene featuring hot dog = eat your green vegetables, comic book movie directors, because you're going to have to be top form to even come close to this . . .
3. The Incredibles - made me go "awww", and then laugh, and then wonder "how the heck did they do that?" And I'm still talking about it, a month later. Not my favorite Pixar movie, but still one of the best movies of the year . . .

**** (great)
1. A Series of Unfortunate Events - Extreme eye candy!! (see my review for more details)
2. Mean Girls - I split my sides laughing the first time. And the second time. AND the third time! I heart Tina Fey.
3. The Stepford Wives - "VIGGO!"

HM: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Farenheit 9/11
*** (good)
1. Shrek 2 - it may be because I saw it on DVD and my friends told me virtually all of the jokes beforehand . . . but I didn't think it was all that great. Not nearly as good as the first one. Still enjoyable, though.
2. National Treasure - hahahaha, JM, 'Cage-Tastic' . . . it was all right. Worth the price of admission, but I won't be buying it on DVD.
3. 13 Going on 30: awwww . . .

HM: Anchorman, Two Brothers, Jersey Girl (was that this year?)

** (fair)
1. The Princess Diaries 2 - Ehh. John Rhys-Davies can do better.
2. Home on the Range - Not as great as Disney can be, but still all right. The yodelling scene is awesome.
3. The Forgotten - Very jumpy, but not as clever as the writers thought it was, and dull in some parts.

HM: The Prince and Me

* (bad)
1. Christmas with the Kranks - AUGH! MY EYES! Not at all enjoyable. And I had to pretend to like it, which was even worse . . .

[Marianne81]

1. Finding Neverland **** (A truly beautiful and touching masterpiece. A delicate, ethereal, and enchanting film that everyone should see. It Really made me cry.It should win the Best Picture Oscar.)

2.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ***1/2 (Probably the most focused, exciting, and visually exquisite of the 3 Potter films. Loved it!)

3. 13 Going On 30 ***1/2 (What a sweet and funny movie. And surprisingly poignant. I got teary eyed a few times.)

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ***1/2 (One of the most imagnitive films I've ever seen. The acting is supurb especially Kate Winslet)

5. Spider-man 2 ***1/2 (very entertaing, it far exceeds the original)

6. National Tresaure ***1/2 (Fun, fun adventure movie. I liked the chemistry between the 3 main actors)

7.Sky Captain and the World of Tommorow ***1/2 (Throughouly fun and unlike anyhting I've ever seen. I liked it's old-fashoined charm)

8. Hidalgo *** (I also seem to enjoy movies like this. Viggo Mortensen was perfect for this role)

9. Miracle *** (Uplifitng, and exciting despite knowing the ending. I didn't get to experience this first hand, but have been told it was captured well)

10. Raising Helen *** (Very sweet and nice family values here)

11. Princess Diaries 2 *** (So, so sweet. Settings are beautiful. Corny, but sometimes it's good to watch movies like that)

12. Secret Window *** (Quietly intense, but would have been nothing without Johnny Depp)

13. Troy *** (Everything looks great, but it felt long. I enjoyed all of the performances excpet it's main star. Pitt could have been better, but Bana, Bloom and O'Toole are great)

14. The Prince and Me **1/2 (Cute and pleasnet enough, but somewhat uneven)

I still want to see King Arthur, The Phantom of the Opera, The Incredibles,
The Terminal, Ella Enchanted, and The Aviator.

This was really fun
Marianne

[Toy Story Girl]

**** (Excellent)
Harry Potter and the Prisnor of Azkaban (my favorite of the three, it was dark and told the story great)

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (I haven't read the book series before but because of this movie it makes me want to read the series now, the sets and costumes were awesome and Jim Carrey was hillarious!)

The Incredibles (in short it was incredible, though I still favor the Toy Story movies more, as my parents say the movie is more adult directed, but I still enjoyed it)

Polar Express (the animation was exeleant! It so real and the story was great too)

Princess Diaries 2 (it was cute and very funny, I really enjoyed it)

***1/2 (Great)
The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (this movie was so funny, Patrick was so stupid, I loved it!)

Scooby-Doo 2 (so shoot me! I thought it was better then the first, it stayed truer to the series, the first one seemed to make fun of it a bit)

Shrek 2 (this year was a good year for sequels not counting the sequel to Pitch Black, but this movie was funny/cute, as they say nothing is better then the original, Puss in Boots was my favorite he was so funny!)

A Cinderella Story (I admit that I did enjoy this movie it was very funny and dare I say it I cried a little, you really had to feel for Sam in this movie, and the stepmom was hillarious!)

13 Going on 13 (Jennifer Garner was so hillarious in this movie! It is such a great movie)

*** (Good)


Christmas With the Kranks (Tim Allen was very funny in this movie!)

Raise Your Voice ( I usually enjoy HD's movies but I think Hilary should stick with comedy more or just stay away from musical movies, she pulled off the dramatics but the plot has been done too many times)

Farieniet 9/11 (although I am not able to vote I thought that Michael Moore did a great job at getting his point across and the music in the movie are hillarious)

I, Robot (I ended up in the theatre in this movie because I walked out of Anchorman, and this movie was really funny, the robots were crazy, and Shia who played Louis Stevens on Even Stevens was cussing, weird for me to see)

Spider Man 2 (I thought it was way better then the first movie)

**1/2 (Okay)

Home on the Range (although it was funny, Cuba was hillarious at the horse! it got a little weird when the bad guy was yodeling to all the cows, not one of Disney's best)

Thunder Birds (I haven't seen the show before but thought the movie was pretty good, it was a good movie to spend some quality time with my dad)

Mean Girls (I'm not a Lindsay Lohan fan but this movie was funny, but it got a little corny at the end, her friends were so funny in this, Tina Fey and the other castmembers from SNL did a great job in it, but like I said before it got a little corny in the end)

* (Bad)
Anchorman (Will Farrell is usually funny but in this movie he was not funny at all, I ended up walking out of theatres only 10 minutes and went into I, Robot instead)

It's late and I can't remember the rest of the movies I have seen but I think of covered most or all of them. I wanted to see Finding Neverland but no one I know seems interested in seeing it so I guess I have to wait for it to come on DVD.

_________________

[I am the Doctor]

2004 was a rather interesting year for movies. Here's my top 10:

1. Two Brothers. A quiet little movie about two tiger cubs who grow up among humans. It's a real shame that so few people saw it in the theatres but I sort of blame that on Universal (you don't release this kind of movie at almost the same time as Spiderman 2). It just came out on DVD today, I recommend checking it out. **** out of ****

2. Fahrenheit 9/11. Love it or loathe it, it's either the truth unvarnished or the truth distorted. Regardless, a brilliant piece of work. ****

3. The Passion of the Christ. Once again, a brilliant piece of work. My only complaint is that the resurrection scene could have been longer. And yes, it is okay to like both Fahrenheit 9/11 and Passion of the Christ. ****

4. The Bourne Supremacy. The best of the summer action movies-smart and clever and doesn't overdo it with the CGI effects. ***1/2

5. Ella Enchanted. Sure it doesn't follow the book at all, but as a movie it's quite clever. ***1/2

6. Princess Diaries 2. Another Anne Hathaway movie. Not quite as good as the first, but then again what sequel ever is? ***

7. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Jim Carrey does a good job as Count Olaf, but it's the kids that make this film. ***

8. National Treasure. Fun romp through American history-the Declaration of Independance as a treasure map-clever idea! ***

9. The Incredibles. Let's face it, Edna steals the show! ***

10. Shrek 2. Let's face it, Puss in Boots steals the show! ***

[DisneyChris]

I have yet to watch quite a few films, but for now here is my top 10 list:

1. Spider-Man 2 (**** - the best comic book movie ever made)
2. Collateral (**** - Thrilling ride with only a few flaws)
3. The Terminal (***1/2 - Shoot me, but I think it's an extremely underrated nice piece of work)
4. Troy (***1/2 - Quite a disappointment but its action scenes were well-made)
5. TaeGukGi: The Brotherhood of War (*** - Some may not have watched this Korean film but it's a very touching piece although the camera moved too much during the war scenes)
6. Shrek 2 (*** - the most overrated movie EVER. Still, Puss-in-Boots is fantastic)
7. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (*** - Good film but not quite as fun as Vol. 1)
8. The Day After Tomorrow (*** - weak plot but AMAZING special effects)
9. I, Robot (*** - disappointing... but still an action-packed fun movie)
10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (**1/2 - a lot of people here love it. But although it's the best Potter film to date, I think it's just an OK job)

Honorable Mentions: The Butterfly Effect, Ocean's Twelve

Terrible Films: Van Helsing

The movies of 2004 which I have not watched and will watch later are: The Incredibles, National Treasure, Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, The Passion of the Christ, The Bourne Supremacy, The Polar Express, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, The Phantom of the Opera, Alexander.

[orestes.]

My top three is actually films I saw this year. They aren't in order either.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - It's a 2003 movie but I saw it 2004 and in fact it's the ONLY movie I saw in theatres this year. I really avoided the theatre because, well my friends are now far away and I have no one to see movies with. Anyways it was a great movie but I don't need to really convince anyone of this.

Hero - Again not a movie made this year but it was released on DVD in North America this year and it was one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen actually.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Of movies actually made in 2004 this film is a five star gem and I would say it's my favourite movie of the year.

There are other movies I actually really enjoyed including two that really surprised me, Mean Girls, Saved!; there were also movies that turned out better than I thought they would be like I, Robot, The Passion of the Christ and Hellboy and then there are the movies I enjoyed but they weren't quite what I was expecting but enetertianing anways like Van Helsing.
Oh Shrek 2 was one of my top picks of the year too. The villain actually makes my non-existant list of favourite villains in animation.

Two movies I'm sure I'll love but I haven't seen yet are The Incredibles and Spider-Man 2. Everyone I know has seen them but no one thought to invite me. People can say, "Well go alone then." It's just not the same...

[ichabod]

1. Home on the Range 9/10

I absolutely adored this movie, I thought everything about it was perfect! Love it Love it Love it!

2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 9/10

Defintely the best in the series so far. Loved the darker side to it, I can't wait to see how the 4th film turns out!

3. Finding Neverland 8/10

Wonderful! Johnny Depp is so versatile, he deserves an oscar!

4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 8/10

Jim Carrey can do serious acting! Who knew?

5. The Phantom of the Opera 8/10

six Words! 'Give the Oscar to Minnie Driver' Hilarious! Loved it!


6.. The Passion of the Christ 7/10

Wonderful! What a good epic movie should be! But a bit too whingy for me!

7. Shaun of the Dead 7/10

Simply hilarious

8. A Series of Unfortunate Events 7/10

When it was good it was great, but there were a few moments that made me cringe! On the whole it wasn't as bad a some reviews made it out to be! And the visuals! Wow! Lake Lachrymose was stunning!

9. School of Rock 7/10

Great film.

10. The Village 7/10

Great ending! But on the whole noy quite as strong as shyamalan's other films.

11. The Incredibles 6/10

Edna is a creation of genius! I love her, but one the whole this movie did nothing for me, and when Jack Jack turned into that baby monster thing at the end? What the hell was that all about?! On the whole I thought it was OK, but nothing to write home about, and overhyped!

12. Princess Diaries 2 6/10

Not the car crash I was expecting! nice to see Julie singing again!

13. Mean Girls 6/10

I hate Lindsay Lohan, so not the greatest starthaving her in it, even though it was trash i quite liked it!

14. Shark Tale 5/10

When it was good it was great. When it was bad it stank!12.

15. The Terminal 5/10

Overhyped! Nice idea but wasn't as good as the previes and trailers made it seem.

16. Shrek 2 4/10

Ouch!

17. Van Helsing 4/10

Yawn!

18. Troy 3/10

Kill me! Kill me now!

[Wonderlicious]

1. Home on the Range 9/10

I absolutely adored this movie, I thought everything about it was perfect! Love it Love it Love it!

If you thought it was perfect, why didn't you give it a fully blown 10/10?

Well, I'm glad that some people (ichabod included) liked Home on the Range, or at least thought it was passable. I wanted to see it in cinemas, but I never got round to it, so I think that I may rent it sometime soon...

[ichabod]

If you thought it was perfect, why didn't you give it a fully blown 10/10?

I did actually give it 10/10 at first but then I edited my post.

Perhaps perfect was the wrong choice of word, It is almost perfect, but there are movies I like more than Home on the Range and so if I gave HOTR 10/10 what score could I give to a movie I liked more?

It's the only film I've ever seen more than once at the cinema.

[PatrickvD]

I really enjoyed Home on the Range as well... but I just couldnt see passed the misfires and the rushed storyline and animation. I have a love/hate thing with that movie. I do think it will get better in time. The third Harry Potter movie was the best movie of the year though. for me anyway

[MickeyMousePal]

My Top 15 of 2004

1. The Incredibles
2. Spider-Man 2
3. National Treasure
4. Shrek 2
5. Hellboy
6. Van Helsing
7. The Bourne Supremacy
8. Hidalgo
9. The Day After Tomorrow
10. Miracle
11. King Arthur
12. Home on the Range
13. 50 First Dates
14. The Princess Diaries 2:Royal Engagement
15. The Village

[Andy]

I dont really have a top 20, as well i cant remember half the films i watched this year, so i've listed some of my favourites!

Mean Girls I love lindsay lohan, and this film was just sooooo good!
Shrek 2 Im sorry but it was great!
I Robot I was really surprised at what this film was like, its good!
Spiderman 2 I liked it better than the 1st one.....
The Village The ending was great.....
Two Brothers Such an amazing film and those tigers are such amazing animals! I cant wait too get the dvd!
Day After Tomorrow One of the best this year, i loved the way they did it!

And if you are wondering why Home On The Range and The Incredibles arent there thats because i havent seen them yet!