Best of 2004

This is quite a powerful film. An intimate character study of a man driven to near-madness by his own guilt combined with his lust for revenge.
Paddy Consadine is as always magnificent. He is terrifying and yet you feel sorry for him.
I've heard complains that this film lacks any real moral redeption, but I disagree. I don't want to spoil the ending, but all I will say is it makes a comment on the futility of revenge ultimately.
This film is also shot incredibly. The use of film and super 8 combines to create an amazingly nightmareish dream-like quality for almost the entire film. It's spell-binding, but in an eerie way. That combined with haunting locations gives this film quite an aesthetical edge.
Ultimately, it's a difficult film to watch, but well worth it.

Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10

Very heavy, but brilliant all the same.

Very meaningful and powerful with a fairly gripping plot and good acting. And music very similar to the Rambo theme. That's all I have to say about it.

Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 9/10

Hilarious, the parodies are spot on, the animation is suprisingly quite beautiful and it's actually got a very good, strong plot. Easily the best thing to come from The Fairly OddParents.

It's a solid thriller, nothing more, nothing less. Tom Cruise gives a Tom Cruise performance, by which I mean it's fantastic, but it's very much Tom Cruise. Jamie Foxx is also great. The film constantly keeps you on edge and the adrenaline flowing, but there's not particularly much, if anything to set this apart from the many, many good thrillers to show up every year. It's good, but ultimately quite forgettable.

Personal enjoyment: 8/10
Actual quality as a film: 8/10

Masterfully made, definately one of Danny Boyle's best.

It's shot nicely and the acting and music are superb but it ultimately is just a collection of facts with no real message or meaning behind it. It plays out almost like a documentary. Whilst this is fair enough as it's what the film was striving to achieve, it's just not for me. Too long, and the first half was boring, but it really pulled itself together for the final 50 minutes or so.

Brilliant, not quite my cup of tea hence only a 7 but if you like mundane little feel good films along the lines of Ghost World, then this is perfect for you.

OMFG RACISM!!
To say this film lacked subtlety would be an understatement. EVERY scene without fail manages to lead back to the film's "racism is bad, don't judge a book by it's cover" subtext. It's like they don't care about the plot or anything, it's all about the message that racism is out there.
That said, it's an impeccably well made film. And despite the obvious subtext (I don't even know if subtext can be used in this case, it's just a text really), the dialogue is fantastic at times. The performances are on the whole brilliant and all the technical aspects such as how it's shot all hit the mark. It's also a great example of the interweaving plot line style of narrative, though it leaves you yearning for superior films such as 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Magnolia' instead.
Overall it's a film that's trying to be too much, trying to say too much and trying too hard to achieve something it can't, but that doesn't stop it being a good film.

Personal enjoyment: 7/10
Actual quality as a film: 7/10

Absolute shite animation as is the normal for anime, but a decent movie if you don't mind that. Still, horrible, horrible animation.

As a film in itself, it's completely and utterly average. Not bad because it does everything competently, but not good because it does nothing that isn't 100% by the book. Also, it's completely ludicrous.
As such, it's a decent bit of fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

Personal enjoyment: 6/10
Actual quality as a film: 5/10

I love the film's style and what's it's trying to do, but I don't think it really reaches it's full potential. It's still a decent bit of work though.

It's alright.

Shit but easy to watch.