The Red Room Movie Palace Presents the Darren Keeny Movie Experience 2004 Film Awards

Yes, it is February 1st and I'm just announcing this. However, some of us do not live in large cities or are constantly invited to special screenings where they bribe you with wine and cheese, get you drunk, then expect you to sign a contract stating you'll choose their movie as the best of the year. (That's my theory as to what happened this award season.) All bitterness aside, I noticed something truly interesting about this year: the studios seemed to have gotten it right. I noticed of the 20 films on the most top 10 lists, 13 played in wide release. That, to me at least, doesn't mean that indies are getting more exposure, rather that mainstream films have improved. It seemed that there was also a lack of indie breakouts. Most of the acclaimed independent films were released in the second quarter of the year and were almost instantly forgotten even missing on a lot of top 10 lists.

I think the line between independent and mainsteam has blurred. This year, a documentary opened at #1 and eventually grossed more than $100 million. Sarah Polley starred in a zombie remake. Jake Gyllenhaal fought natural disasters. The Bourne Supremacy had an acclaimed Irish director whose previous film didn't even gross more than a million dollars. John Cassavettes indie-trained son directed his mother, Gena Rowlands, and two sexy Canadians in the sleeper smash of the summer, The Notebook. Collateral, a big budget star vehicle, had groundbreaking cinematography. For every one of these, there's three National Treasure's, of course, but thankfully those are instantly forgotten. 2004's biggest problem area was the lack of an original comedy. I can see why Napoleon Dynamite took off considering that it didn't star Ben Stiller, a Wilson brother or feature a cameo by Vince Vaughn. The bright side is that Tina Fey and Paul Weitz are already writing their next films.

Here is the list of the 116 films released in 2004 that I saw:

13 Going on 30, 50 First Dates, Alfie, Alien Vs. Predator, Along Came Polly, Anchorman, The Aviator, Before Sunset, Beyond the Sea, Birth, The Bourne Supremacy, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Broken Lizard's Club Dread, The Butterfly Effect, Catwoman, Cellular, Christmas With the Kranks, The Clearing, Closer, Coffee and Cigarettes, Collateral, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Dawn of the Dead, The Day After Tomorrow, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Dogville, The Door In the Floor, The Dreamers, Ella Enchanted, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Fahrenheit 9/11, Finding Neverland, The Forgotten, Friday Night Lights, Garden State, Garfield, Ginger Snaps Back, The Girl Next Door, Godsend, The Grudge, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Havana Nights: Dirty Dancing, Hellboy, Hero, Hidalgo, Highwaymen, A Home at the End of the World, Home on the Range, Hotel Rwanda, House of Flying Daggers, I Heart Huckabee's, In Good Company, The Incredibles, Jersey Girl, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, King Arthur, Kinsey, The Ladykillers, Laws of Attraction, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Little Black Book, The Manchurian Candidate, Maria Full of Grace, Mean Creek, Mean Girls, Meet the Fockers, Million Dollar Baby, The Motorcycle Diaries, Napoleon Dynamite, National Treasure, Ned Kelly, The Notebook, Ocean's Twelve, Open Water, The Perfect Score, The Phantom of the Opera, The Polar Express, The Prince and Me, The Princess Diaries: Royal Engagement, The Punisher, Raising Helen, Ray, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, The Return, Saved!, Saw, Secret Window, Seed of Chucky, Shall We Dance, Shark Tale, Shaun of the Dead, Shrek 2, Sideways, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Spanglish, Spider-Man 2, Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring, Stage Beauty, Starsky and Hutch, The Stepford Wives, Super Size Me, Surviving Christmas, Taking Lives, The Terminal, Troy, Van Helsing, Vanity Fair, Vera Drake, A Very Long Engagement, We Don't Live Here Anymore, When Will I Be Loved, Wimbledon, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!, Without a Paddle.

The Bad:
WORST MOVIES OF THE YEAR:
1. Surviving Christmas
2. Seed of Chucky
3. Shark Tale
4. Jersey Girl
5. Without a Paddle

Worst Actor - Ben Affleck - Surving Christmas & Jersey Girl
Worst Actress - Sharon Stone - Catwoman
Most Undeserving of Their Success - Meet the Fockers & National Treasure
Most Overrated Film of the Year - Napoleon Dynamite
Biggest Disappointment - The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Best Performance In A Bad Movie - Eric Bana in Troy & Liv Tyler in Jersey Girl




The Best:

Best Director - Michel Gondry - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Runner up: Zhang Yimou - House of Flying Daggers

Best Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator
Runner up: Paul Giamatti as Miles in Sideways

Best Actress - Kate Winslet as Clementine Kruczynski in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Runner up: Julie Delpy as Celine in Before Sunset

Best Supporting Actor - David Carradine as Bill in Kill Bill: Volume 2
Runner up: Clive Owen as Larry in Closer

Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett as Katharine Herpburn in The Aviator
Runner up: Natalie Portman as Jane Jones in Closer

Best Ensemble Performance (Drama) - Mean Creek

Best Ensemble Performance (Comedy/Musical) - Mean Girls

Best Comedic Performance (Male) - Simon Pegg - Shaun of the Dead
Best Comedic Performance (Female) - Jennifer Garner - 13 Going on 30

Sexiest Performance (Male) - Jude Law - Alfie
Sexiest Performance (Female) - Lindsay Lohan - Mean Girls

Breakthrough Actor - Topher Grace - In Good Company & Ocean's Twelve & Win a Date With Tad Hamilton

Breakthrough Actress - Rachel McAdams - Mean Girls & The Notebook

Breakthrough Filmmaker - Jacob Aaron Estes - Mean Creek
Runner up: Joshua Marston - Maria Full of Grace

Best Original Screenplay - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Written by Pierre Bismuth, Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman.
Runner up: Mean Creek - Written by Jacon Aaron Estes.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Before Sunset - Written for the screen by Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater. Based on the film Before Sunrise written by Kim Krizan and Richard Linklater.
Runner up: Mean Girls - Written for the Screen by Tina Fey. Based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman.

Best Art Direction - The Aviator
Runner up: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Best Costume Design - The Aviator
Runner up: Ocean's Twelve

Best Editing - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Runner up: Kill Bill: Volume 2

Best Cinematography - The Aviator
Runner up: Collateral



Best Original Score - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Runner up: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Best Adapted Score - The Aviator
Runner up: Kill Bill: Volume 2

Best Song From a Movie - "A Waltz For a Night" - Before Sunset
"Accidentally In Love" - Shrek 2

Best Sound - Kill Bill: Volume 2
Runner up: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Best Visual Effects - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Runner up: Spider-Man 2

Best Makeup - Dawn of the Dead
Runner up: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Best Trailer - Spider-Man 2
Runner up: The Stepford Wives (teaser trailer)

Most Underappreciated Film of 2004 - Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

TOP 10 LIST COMING TOMORROW!!!!