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THE BEST OF 2004

#1 Dogville Directed by Lars von Trier Lars Von Trier, easily one of the most creative and original auteurs working in cinema today (as well as one of the most hated and despised and one of the most venom-filled and pretentious), has created a masterpiece (yet another one) that outshines even his own prior masterpieces (with the possible exception of his Dreyeresque version of Medea). And I use the term masterpiece twice, which is not a term I tend to toss around all willy-nilly. Set upon a minimilistic soundstage, in the homagal manner of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, von Trier's quite Brechtian Dogville exists as both a heated diatribe on the American value system and a mesmorizing - near lyrical - montage of the insecurities of the human species. Von Trier's Dogville, seemingly sedate at first, is actually Darwinism at its most rabid and contagious - a brilliantly vile attack on the supposed Christian ethics of society. And, to use it a third time - a masterpiece.

#2 Kill Bill: Vol. II Directed by Quentin Tarantino

#3 Goodbye Dragon Inn Directed by Tsai Ming-liang Never one for over-dialoguing his films, Tsai Ming-liang - the Taiwanese master of minimilism - brings us his sweet, sad, somber ode to the days of yesteryear. A concrete slab of a movie theatre is having one last night before closing down forever. King Hu's classic film, Dragon Inn is playing upon the screen as the theatres patrons - some there to watch the movie, most there for cheap sexual encounters - wander about the old building like ghosts of days past. Once someone finally speaks (about forty minutes into the film) it si to speak of ghosts and spirits that haunt the theatre. Tsai has given us a modern day ghost story full of the footstep echoings of the past.

#4 The Dreamers Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci

#5 Before Sunset Directed by Richard Linklater

#6 The Brown Bunny Directed by Vincent Gallo

#7 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Directed by Michel Gondry From the wonderfully warped mind of Charlie Kaufman, although not as warped as his Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine plays out like Kafka done by Dali. Carrey, in a surprisingly sedate role, and Kate Winslet, utterly near-perfect as always, play a couple who decide to not just call it quits, but have their minds erased as well - a thing that doesn't seem so strange in the mix of this movie. Michel Gondry, who two years ago made the quasi-animalistic Human Nature, here puts together a brilliantly ramshackle mess of a movie, running every way but the expected way. Shakingly hilarious and at the same time, a 'real' love story (certainly much better than a certain sinking ship romance that also starred the lovely Miss Winslet), this Gondry/Kaufman melange is a great blend of romantic fairy-tale and batshitcrazy chutzpah.

#8 Dawn of the Dead Directed by Zack Snyder

#9 Birth Directed by Jonathan Glazer

#10 Primer Directed by Shane Carruth With a non-existent budget and not a single name actor, nor anything even close to resembling a special effect, first time helmer, Shane Carruth has given birth to the most dizzying, dazzling and deceptively simple science fiction stories since Kubrick was giving Arthur C. Clarke his strained seriousness best. The story of time travel and its bizarre complexities on the timeline of this universe and the possibility of variant realities somehwere out there in the space-time continuum. All this without ever even entertaining the thought of CGI - a cerebral sci-fi morality tale with the outer edged impressionism of a still-evolving Stanley Kubrick.

#11 Sideways Directed byAlexander Payne Alexander Payne, who with each successive film, grows more and more into the auteur we see here in his fourth film, Sideways. The story of two men, one successful and immature, the other a failure and insecure, who take one last trip - to wine country - before the impending nuptials of the one. Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church are marvelous as this very undynamic duo and Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen are hilarious as their would be lovers. Payne has created a real-feeling venue for these great - and usually under rated - actors to play around in and investigate their own self worth. A smart, witty, un-farrelly-brothered comedy.

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