Movies I've Seen-2004

Slick action thriller from Michael Mann about a hitman who forces a hapless cabbie to drive him around while he picks off his targets.Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx are both good as the hitman and cab driver,respectively.They have an interesting,complex relationship and have good chemistry together.Some of the dialogue falls flat but the two leads manage to (mostly) rise above it.The digtal video cinematography allows for deep focus in darkness as most of the film is set at night,but a few shots looked like a tv show,too video like.There's a lot of interesting locations used in LA that aren't overly familiar and there's a suprising amount of black comedy here,considering how dead serious Mann's films usually are.The stars are backed up by a strong supporting cast,including Javier Bardem as a gangster and Mark Ruffalo as a narc.The nightclub scene is an action highlight,in a strange way,kind of reminded me of the nightclub shootout in The Terminator.One of the best films of 2004.

The equally great second half of Tarantino's epic revenge tale.Michael Madsen,Darryl Hannah and David Carradine all have expanded roles here and they all turn in excellent performances.Madsen is the down on his luck Budd who still has some tricks up his sleeve.He really infuses the character with some depth and is one of the only somewhat sympathetic characters.Hannah is one hateful bitch in this.Love the showdown between her and the Bride in the trailer.And then there's Carradine who gives the performance of his life as Bill.I cant believe how good he is in this.The training sequence with hardass Pei Mei is another highlight.This has more of a spaghetti western feel,which I loved,a lot of the great composer Ennio Morricone's music is used from past films.More character moments and storyline in this,unlike the action extravaganza of Vol 1.This is more traditional of Tarantino.And last but not least,there's Uma Thurman who continues to be the anchor of these two films,she's goes deeper into what makes the Bride tick here,she's never been better.One of my top ten films of all time and the best film of 2004.