Strat's 20 of 2004

2004 was a year marred with controversy from both the right and left. I suppose it's also not surprising that it was an election year. Looking at it, this is probably one of the most diverse lists of all. The most solid since 2001 when movies like "Friday Night Lights", "I, Robot" and "Hellboy", "Farenheit 9/11" can't cut it.

20. Starsky and Hutch (comedy)

Remake of the 70s show is not without its homages. Nor is without great chemistry between Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller - starring in the same movie together for the gazzillionth time. Not a bad thing at all.

19. Van Helsing (action)

Probably the only movie from Stephen Sommers that I truly enjoy. What's not to like about seeing all of your favorite classical horror beasts in one tale. The visual effects are top notch and Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale are not bad to look at.

18. Control Room (documentary)

A great look at the logic/illogic of what makes something a hard news story in the US versus the Middle East.

17. Collateral (action)

A night following an assassin from the view of the unwilling sidekick. Michael Mann pairs Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in this romp through the underbelly of the world of the modern lone hitman.

16. The Aviator (drama)

Scorsese and DiCaprio team up for a Bio pic movie following the eccentric and great risk-taking pioneer of aviation, Howard Hughes. Probably the first movie where Leo is clearly playing both a character with depth and an adult.

15. Maria Full of Grace (foreign drama)

Ever wondered who these people are that traffic drugs into America? You come to discover these people do it for the same reasons people in first world movies do very risky things - desperation. Superb acting.

14. The Motorcycle Diaries (drama)

A tale of two pre-revolutionary Latin American leaders traveling South America. Not often you see a dramatic, eye-opening road trip.

13. The Chronicles of Riddick (sci-fi action)

Yes, I'm placing a movie nominated for a Razzie or two that is a sequel to a movie I have never seen all the way though here. It's the most fun, mindless, but never numbing movie of the year. Pure, fun popcorn.

12. Hero (foreign drama)

It's an updated version of the Japanese classic Rashoman. Not a bad thing. Especially when Yimou Zhang is directing Jet Li , Ziyi Zhang, Tony Leung

11. Elf (comedy)

I'm not sure why I never realized the awesomeness of Will Ferrell's comedy until this. His innocence is what makes this work beyond being just a holiday movie.

10. Napoleon Dynamite (comedy)

It's about as dry an American comedy as you can get. It's 80s meets 00s. The main character is great along with Pedro.

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (drama)

It's a movie that's hard to explain. Between Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman, that's not surprising. A most surreal and illogical film. And it's about relationship breakups and memory. Yes strangely compelling.

8. Passion of the Christ (drama)

First off, it's hard to watch. It's brutal. Having studied religious art and some passion plays, it's rather true to those origins. Not to mention the risk of doing an entire movie in Aramaic. Best cinematography of the year.

7. Super-Size Me (documentary)

First time a documentary really made me think about what I eat. Yes, it's really propoganda, but you cannot help but realize how bad the fast food is on your body. This movie made me avoid McDonalds. Most of the time at least.

6. Butterfly Effect (sci-fi)

If there was a movie that affected me personally in 2004 it was this one. I totally forgot about some incidents and people in my youth. This movie resurrected all of this. It's the best real non-comic sci-fi movie I've seen in many years. I hope this movie is not a flash in the pan for the directing duo.

5. Team America:World Police (comedy)

Okay. Where do I start? Puppets. Puppets doing action movie kinds of stuff. Puppets doing stuff only Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park) would dare to do. You know where I'm going. Not to mention - song of the year: America: F%$* Yeah!"

4. Spider-Man 2 (action)

Thought it couldn't get better than the original? The sequel takes great pains to look at where the drive to be a good doer comes from and the curse of being apart from loved ones. It's essentially Batman Returns without the quirky dark turn and better storytelling.

3. The Incredibles (animated)

Pixar takes their story sensibilities to the comic book world and creates a blend of modern and 50's futuristic. It takes great fun at acknowledging some of the quirks of the superhero genre while never being less than cool.

2. Million Dollar Baby (drama)

I thought boxing movies were done. Just like a lot of people started to write off Eastwood with "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." Easily best pure drama of the year. As always, acting and story are king.

1. Garden State (comedy)

No film has ever made me fall more in love with the lead actress in a film than this one. Not to mention the quirky, offbeat Zach Braff performance. This made me actually check out Scrubs.

Lupe's Top 20 of 2003

20. Hulk (action)
Nice try, Ang Lee, but you should have started from scratch rather than stick with the Hulk dogs.  And why does Hulking out eliminate body hair?  If Hulk's pants ripped a little more, would everyone be able to see he has no pubes?

19. 21 Grams (drama)
Is this a movie or a jigsaw puzzle?  A grim, humorless, funereal jigsaw puzzle.

18. The Cooler (drama)
William H. Macy's luck begins to turn around in this movie after a girl cradles his nutsack.  On camera.  Yeah, that's really the image I want in my head.

17. Lost in Translation (drama)
I get frustrated watching this gaijin sitting in his hotel room because he doesn't know how to have a good time in Tokyo.

16. Daredevil (action)
I didn't know stabbing a girl in the heart could become a sex act.  But now I'm intrigued.  Pity about Ben Affleck, though he was good in Shakespeare in Love.

15. The School of Rock (comedy)
Substitute teaching is like babysitting, just without the refrigerator privileges.  And being a rock star is like having full refrigerator privileges everywhere you go, except instead of snacks, you get heroin.  What a wonderful marriage of ideas!

14. Bend It Like Beckham (comedy)
The world outside America is so quaint with its idea of what constitutes "football".  What's really impressive is this movie takes a plot that wouldn't be out of place in a 1980's sitcom episode and somehow keeps it interesting.

13. Peter Pan (fantasy)
I like an appropriately arrogant and self-absorbed Peter.  Makes me believe in fairies.  For example Oscar Wilde, George Takei, Freddy Mercury...

12. Matchstick Men (crime)
Look out, nerds, this movie proves that life would be more interesting if everything isn't some vast conspiracy.  I liked it up until the last fifteen minutes or so.

11. Finding Nemo (animated comedy)
This is the sort of movie made by people who look at that painting of dogs playing poker and think, animals are people too.  Who says fish can't be single dads?

10. Master and Commander (period drama, war)
Shame this is after Jack Sparrow's time.  He has a lot more personality than any of these limeys.  How many times can you use the word 'bosun' in a two hour movie?

9. Love Actually (romantic comedy)
You know, love actually is all around us, especially on the internet.  And yes, there's a little of that in this movie.

8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (action)
Dude, what is with the age of sail revival of 2003?  It's all silk shirts and cutlasses.  And Aztec gold.  And ghost pirates.  Or is that pirate ghosts?

7. Big Fish (fantasy)
Tim Burton has a grand time indulging himself.  He turns Danny DeVito into a werewolf and that's really incidental to the actual plot.

6. Kill Bill vol. 1 (action)
Quentin Tarantino missed a great opportunity to include copious B-movie giant afros and naked chicks in prison, but at least the kung fu is pretty cool.

5. Oldboy (foreign, action)
Imagine if you accidentally drank blood meant to be a life saving transfusion for a loved one.  And then, humiliated and grossed out, you flee from the hospital and someone drives over your foot.  Insult to injury, right?  Well, not to spoil anything, but the ending to this movie is way more brutal than that.

4. Intolerable Cruelty (romantic comedy)
No Coen Brothers movie is quite as quotable as The Big Lebowski, but this has got to be the next best thing.  "Are you Wheezy Joe?" is like the antithesis of "I am Spartacus!"

3. X2: X-Men United (action)
Until The Dark Knight came along, this was the best superhero movie ever made.  Why?  Because Magneto loves what Rogue has done with her hair.

2. American Splendor (comedy)
This old geezer is now my hero.  He's got his own comic book, and he gets to tell off David Letterman, and he's got jellybeans, and there's only one other guy in Cleveland with the same name.  Though the cancer doesn't look like much fun.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (fantasy epic)
Shut up, it's totally platonic.  Hobbits can be friends.  They can even star in the most awesome fantasy epic of all time.  It's completely innocent.