Dave’s Top Ten of 2004 – Your Results May Vary

Let me preface this by saying that this year, as usual, I didn’t see nearly as many movies as I would have liked. In fact, a couple of key ones didn’t make it to Philly before the clock struck twelve. So let me mention a few that, based on buzz, may be better than these ten, but I wouldn’t know, and reserve the right to say “my bad” if they are.

Bad Education
The Sea Inside
The Motorcycle Diaries
Dogville
Million Dollar Baby
There are many, many others…

Let me also stress that this year was relatively weak. That’s not to say that these ten aren’t as strong as last year’s ten, but that these ten are probably more individual. That is to say, while I expect anyone would like two or three of the films I’ve picked, there are several with, shall we say, more selective appeal. Put another way, me and probably five other people would like them. Anyone else, your results may vary.

Finally, let me say that Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 9/11, and Kinsey came damn close. But there are only ten slots. Why? Because we have ten fingers. (Honestly, that’s about as good an answer as any for the appeal of top ten lists.)

10. Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

It’s how comedy is done. Gives “wacky” a good name. Also proves that Neil Patrick Harris is one of the single funniest humans on Earth.

9. Garden State

Believe the hype. This writing/directing debut from Scrubs star Zach Braff finds its own niche of comedy and drama with a unique look and an outstanding soundtrack. Plus it has Method Man asking “who just saw some titties?” You can’t beat that.

8. Friday Night Lights

You have never seen a sports movie that looks like this. Rundown director Peter Berg comes into his own with this feature, which takes all the sports clichés and replaces them with tough family drama. You want the team to win so these players will have one bright spot of hope in their terrible lives, but you also want them to lose since the reason their lives are so terrible in the first place is because of their parents’ obsession with football. Just brilliant.

7. A Very Long Engagement

Amelie director Jean Pierre Jeunet takes the tricks that made that film so unique and charming and applies them equally well here, but to a completely different end. Instead we have a tragic yet hopeful war/love story wrapped in a mystery, which builds to an insightful dénouement similar to one of the other romances on this list. Also, best assassinations of the year. See it and you’ll know what I mean. As the dear departed Rick James might sing, “Cooold-blood-ehd.”

6. The Five Obstructions

Hardly anybody got to see this and that’s too bad, because it’s a great film…if you’re a filmmaker. I don’t know how much appeal this would have, actually, outside of that niche, but inside, it has quite a bit. Crazy Lars Von Trier challenges his mentor Jorgen Leth to remake Jorgen’s film The Perfect Human five times over, each time with a number of restrictions to raise the bar. In one case each shot can only last half a second. In another he must shoot it in a format he despises – the cartoon. Each time he surprises himself, and us, with the results. It ultimately ends up being a film about filmmaking and the responsibility (or avoidance of responsibility) of the director as a storyteller. Bored yet? If not, check it out.

Article Author: David Dylan Thomas

David Dylan Thomas is a Philly-based writer/filmmaker who opines voraciously about dem pictures what move on the screen at DavidDylanThomas.com.

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