Usually I don’t end up doing a list because I get so overwhelmed by the number of movies I wanted to see over a year but never got around to it (like Mayor of Sunset Strip, Open Water, and Collateral). This year was no different. I still wanted to do this list though because I realized that most of the movies I end up choosing fall into a few broad categories:
Teen Girls:
Chasing Liberty
13 Going on 30
Mean Girls
Saved!
Out of these, I loved Saved! Not only did it feed my Mandy Moore obsession, but Susan Sarandon’s daughter didn’t annoy me as much as I anticipated. Plus, I really liked Jena Malone and Patrick Fugit’s interactions and that the movie wasn’t completely over the top satire of Christian teens. 13 Going on 30 would be the runner up, mostly because Mark Ruffalo rules the school. Mean Girls was entertaining but still the biggest disappointment out of the 4; it could’ve been a lot better.
Documentaries that don’t surprise me but I like to see them anyway:
The Corporation
Fahrenheit 9/11
I’d say that Fahrenheit 9/11 edges out The Corporation for two reasons: 1. The Corporation was too long and therefore, the only people who went to see it were those who were already on board. 2. The truly moving moment in Fahrenheit 9/11 was not all of the dead soldier’s mom stuff, but the scary military recruiting strategies in the mall parking lot in Michigan.
Broad comedies:
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
I have big love for Republican Vince Vaughn but he wasn’t great here. The movie made me laugh but I don’t remember any standout moments 8 months later. Didn’t see Anchorman or Harold and Kumar, but they’re on my to-see list and would fall under this category.
Depressing:
Maria Full of Grace
The depressing movie I’ve actually been wanting to see is We Don’t Live Here Anymore with yummy Peter Krause *and* Mark Ruffalo, but it never came to Champaign. Maria Full of Grace did. I liked the subtle commentary about the crappy flower industry in the beginning of the movie and the scenes from Queens at the end, but I probably wouldn’t watch this movie again.
Quirky:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I Heart Huckabees
Garden State
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind captured all of the everyday details of maintaining and/or ending a relationship in a really cool way. I enjoyed it while I was watching and it really stuck with me afterwards. I Heart Huckabees was a total disappointment, although I liked Marky Mark and the bike riding. It felt like it was trying too hard, which was a bummer. As for Garden State, all the cool kids thought this was good so I thought I should think it was good. Then all the cool kids changed their minds and said it was overrated so I thought I should think it was overrated. My real opinion is somewhere in the middle—entertaining, but annoying at points. The ending sucked.
Interesting action:
Bourne Supremacy was like a movie form of what Alias used to be—fun ass-kicking, unbelievable gadgets, and a suspenseful plot. Conveniently, the bad guy crashes his car at the end.
Stuff other people convinced me to see:
Kinsey was totally fine in an obvious, end-of-the-year, Oscar movie kind of way.
Talky movies:
Sideways
Closer
In Good Company
Before Sunset
Out of these, I liked Sideways and Before Sunset the best. When I left Closer, I couldn’t decide what I felt about it because the whole time I watched, I was trying to extract the play from my memory. As time has passed, I decided I liked it. The writing was great and like Eternal Sunshine, dealt with all of the breakup crap in a way that I could really feel. In Good Company was not as good as About a Boy but I’m still glad I saw it. I was depressed at the end because in real life, most people who work for companies that get taken over by bigger companies and then get fired usually don’t get their jobs back at the end.
Yes, Sideways is suffering from the overrated buzz, but I don’t care. In Entertainment Weekly, Chris Rock talked about how Sideways is a vision (as opposed to the Day after Tomorrow which is just corporate consensus) and I can stand by that. I’ll admit that it’s a totally bourgeois movie but I loved it. Before Sunset was like a warm-hearted reunion with old friends. And how great was the ending? These two, along with Eternal Sunshine and Saved!, are probably among my favorite of the year. Could I be more of an aging Gen-X cliché?
2004
LISTS
dan
mitch
sujan
chris m.
amy w.
kaci
donovan
bill w.
jeremy
