All of CinemaBlend.com's top ten lists are in, and we've got some wild opinions for you.
Check out Bill's Top Ten Movies of 2004 here.
Check out Rafe's Top Ten DVDs of 2004 here.
And if you haven't already read my Obligatory Top Ten of 2004 here.
Want more lists? Here's my last batch of random listing:
4 Movies You Might Have Missed… But Shouldn’t Have
1. Alfie
Jude Law is the world’s most heterosexual metrosexual.
2. Team America: World Police
Puppets prove flexible and funny.
3. The Girl Next Door
Return of the 80’s teen raunch comedy, complete with all the right music.
4. Spartan
Mamet caters only to the brawny brained.
2 Documentaries That Aren’t Fahrenheit 9/11
1. Super Size Me
It’s a documentary so effective it kept me away from McDonalds… for a week or two. You won’t stop eating cheeseburgers just because Super Size Me says so. But it may help you consider getting on a treadmill. What surprised me is that the film is not an all out assault on corporate fast food America as much as it’s a responsible look at American eating habits. Despite a propensity for using bad pie charts, Super Size Me does an entertaining job of pointing out a serious cultural flaw in our society. Director/Guinea Pig Morgan Spurlock’s way of doing it may not be perfectly unbiased, but if you sort through the propaganda you’ll discover that bias doesn’t mean he isn’t right.
2. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
The only real flaw in Some Kind of Monster is that it’s the “making of” story of a horribly album. “St. Anger” may be one of the worst pieces of garbage Metallica has ever produced, but watching them attempt to create it, amidst therapy sessions and departing band members is weirdly captivating. In fact, this documentary is so good it came close to making me like the album. Of course once I heard the songs again I quickly came to my senses.
Best and Worst of Jude Law in 2004
No one has been busier in 2004 than Jude Law, who seemed to be popping up in theaters on a weekly basis by the time we’d reached summer. Unfortunately, no one noticed and most of his films slipped in and out of theaters with barely a box office whisper. If Jude Law is a mega-star, someone forgot to tell the general public.
He may not be a box office draw, but he’s pretty and one of this generation’s finest actors. He’s also British, which makes him sound really smart to us poor Americans whenever he opens his mouth. Here’s a look at the year in film according to the places you might have seen Jude Law.
3 Best Jude Law Films of 2004
1. The Aviator
Ok, it’s only a cameo, but this isn’t a list of his best performances, only his best movies. After all, he’s been in a lot of them. Jude shows up for a minute as Errol Flynn, does his thing, and gets out of the way so Martin can work magic. Not that he’s bad, he does a pretty great job of making Flynn the total jerk everyone has always assumed him to be. Flynn interrupts a romantic dinner, Howard Hughes looks uncomfortable, Kate Hepburn looks disgusted, and Law waltzes his way into one of the year’s best movies with very little effort beyond the application of a snarky looking mustache. The Aviator is a masterpiece, and probably Jude’s best chance to be in a 2004 movie that isn’t a flop.
2. Alfie
Every year there’s at least one movie I absolutely love that no one else seems to get. This year that movie is Alfie, a film in which Jude actually stars, as opposed to the really great flick chosen for number one. It’s an impressive, wholly adult film that succeeds in doing something remakes almost never do, being as good as the original. It’s all about Jude, whose charismatic performance makes the bastard Alfie charming and personable, if not particularly forgivable. Alfie is a slime and the movie doesn’t shy away from that. Neither does Jude. It’s a downbeat film that doesn’t give easy answers to the question “What’s it all about?”
3. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
It’s hard to believe people could overlook a movie with so many giant freakin robots, but they did. Sky Captain took a nose dive in the U.S. box office, despite great reviews and a shiny, fuzzy, glamour shot effect that made everything look nostalgic. Jude spends a lot of time in an airplane or rolling around with Gwyneth Paltrow, the only thing in the film that wasn’t a special effect. Sky Captain is a fun, family friendly action film that a few years from now will fit comfortably into a Sunday afternoon double feature with the likes of Swiss Family Robinson.
3 Worst Jude Law Films of 2004
1. I Heart Huckabees
2004 may be the year in which Jude Law proved to be box office poison, but critically speaking, you’re doing pretty well if Huckabees is the worst film on your list. Jude starred opposite an eclectic cast as Brad, a manager of note at supermarket giant Huckabees. Though moderately well reviewed, the film is a confounding mess that appears even less interested in connecting with its audience than it is in stringing together some sort of coherent plot. Is there meaning somewhere in there? I don’t think so. Like the characters in it, the movie simply exists.
2. Closer
For the third time in 2004, Law played an absolute sleaze as he was called upon to emotionally abuse Natalie Portman in Closer. Not that anyone noticed, most of the film’s buzz consisted of overblown talk about the removal of nude scenes originally filmed of Portman. Lack of celebrity nudity aside, the script feels pointless and hollow, its zesty, short, choppy dialogue a mixed bag of realism and awkwardness. Jude’s character, as are most of the people in the film, is terminally unsympathetic. Closer isn’t exactly a bad movie, it just feels like an empty one.
3. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain pulls double duty, making both my Best and Worst lists simply because Jude’s little part in Lemony Snicket didn’t feel like it fit. Sure, Sky Captain had those giant freakin robots, but Angelina Jolie steals the show right out from under Law with little more than a glorified cameo. The blurry look proves a double edged sword, and at some point director Kerry Conran’s fuzzy style choices become annoying. The film’s opening is weak, and while some improved chemistry between Law and Paltrow helps pick the pace up in the second act, you have to get through the first act in order to see it. Some people didn’t. Others just stayed home and rented The Iron Giant.
