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In alphabetical order, VanRamblings’ five Best Pictures nominees for 2004 demand your attention, touch the heart, and seek to cause a fundamental shift in how you see the role of film in contemporary culture …
- Closer: One of the best written, most well-acted and best directed films of 2004. If you don’t fall in love with Natalie Portman, appreciate the music of Patrick Marber’s script and Mike Nichols’ peerless cinematic composition of this tour-de-force work, TV may be right up your alley as the medium of choice.
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: With tour-de-force performances from Jim Carrey (yes, Jim Carrey) and the always exquisite Kate Winslet, and a knock it out of the ballpark script by Charlie Kaufman (not to mention, outstanding direction by Michel Gondry), it’s nothing short of criminal that Sunshine will not be one of the Best Picture contenders on Sunday night.
- Man on Fire: Simply because there was no more honest relationship captured onscreen in 2004 than that which exists within this film between Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington.
- Metallica - Some Kind of Monster: Riveting and endlessly fascinating, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s documentary look at America’s pre-eminent heavy metal group ranks as one of the must-see films of 2004.
- Million Dollar Baby: Lean, spare and unlike any other Hollywood film released in 2004, this is the movie that should win the Best Picture Oscar, simply because it’s the only worthy contender among the nominated films.
