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Hollywood will always rely on special-effects for their big money-spinners in
the summer, but this year we were blessed with a more varied choice for
cinemagoers: the eco-friendly
The Day After Tomorrow,
the politically-charged Fahrenheit 9/11, a battlecry against fast-food
in the Super Size Me documentary, religious blockbuster The Passion
Of The Christ, and many more. Even Will Smith's I, Robot had brains
behind its CGI, being based on an Isaac Asimov story!
Take a look below and you'll realize just how many of the year's most popular
movies were great leaps forward in terms of ambition, creativity and genuine
quality. Hollywood is even becoming more accepting of world cinema - with
Britain's
Shaun Of The Dead
becoming a hit Stateside, as well as foreign cinema's Hero and House
Of Flying Daggers raking up cash. A Japanese director was even allowed to
direct the English-language remake of his horror smash The Grudge!
All this bodes very well for next year, but let's take a look at 2004's most
popular movies and how they fared in the year.
Modern cinema's greatest double-act, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, teamed up yet
again for their affectionate parody of Starsky & Hutch. Managing work as
a traditional buddy-cop comedy, while also taking swipes at 70's culture, the
movie was a big success and has prompted next year's Dukes Of Hazzard remake.
Of course, beyond the sublime casting of Snoop Dogg as Huggy Bear, the laughs
in S&H are actually pretty few and far between, but it's still an entertaining
but mostly flat adventure.
A star was born with Scarlet Johanssen receiving plaudits for her role in
Lost In Translation,
the romantic fish-out-of-water comedy drama from Sophia Coppolla, and co-starring
Bill Murray. Unfortunately, the domination of The Lord Of The Rings at
the Academy Awards meant LIT only took away Best Original Screenplay.
2004 was definitely The Year Of The Zombie, with three cinematic offerings
from the walking dead. First to make its mark was Zack Snyder's remake of George
Romero's Dawn Of The Dead (2004). Despite predictably low expectations
and ridicule from fans of the original, this update was a pleasant surprise -
managing to improve on the original in quite a few key areas and provide enough
bloody scares to keep zombie aficionados happy!
By far the most controversial movie of the year, and perhaps the decade, was
Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, with James Caviezel as Jesus
and Monica Bellucci as Mary. Focusing on the final hours of Christ's life
before his crucifixion, the movie divided opinion - with many people appalled
by the movie's excessive violence. Despite this, many Churches used the publicity
to their advantage and the movie became the most successful independent movie
made... ever!
Occasionally, Britain manages to make a movie that finds success around the
world. These movies usually star Hugh Grant and have Richard Curtis in the
credits... until now. Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright, fresh from cult
sitcom Spaced, brought their skills to the big-screen with a low-budget English
take on zombie lore in
Shaun Of The Dead.
A hit in Britain, the movie found an audience in America thanks to word-of-mouth,
and entered the Top 10. Not bad for a debut movie Working Title has almost forgotten
about while prepping their big-budget Wimbledon and Thunderbirds movies!
Easily the most mind-bending movie of the year arrived courtesy of cranium obsessed
writer Charlie Kaufman, in Michael Gondry's beautifully executed
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.
Starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslett as lovers who decide to erase each other
from their memories, the film is a sublime mix of romance, science-fiction and
fantasy.
Eagerly awaited sequel Shrek 2 bounced into multiplexes in the summer,
now packed with more characters and more startling CGI animation. Of course, none
of the technology really matters to children, so it was a good job the story
and characters remained as entertaining as the first time. However, while
entertaining and technically superior to the original, the movie never quite
hits the same high for adults.
Another hotly anticipated sequel arrived in blue and red spandex, with Toby
Maguire returning in Spider-Man 2 as everyone's favourite (and only)
web-slinging superhero. The effects were better, the action more elaborately
staged, and the villain more monstrous in the guise of Alfred Molina as the
eight-armed Doc Ock. While Spidey deservedly set the box office alight, the
film was continually crippled by a romantic subplot that quickly became
repetitive and a somewhat silly sense of humour. Still, no doubt superior in
most respects to the original and amongst the best in its genre.
M Night Shyamalan has quickly become the Stephen King of the movie world after
The Sixth Sense in 1999. Now, every time he releases a movie the weight
of expectation grows heavier and the quest to predict his stereotypical
"twist endings" a global sport!
The Village was Shyamalan's first foray into period drama, but his tale
of a small village community surrounded by terrifying creatures in the woods,
met with a lot of criticism. The Village is another beautifully constructed
and meticulously filmed piece of gentle spooking, but maybe it's time Shyamalan
moved away from twists in the tale before they bite him in the hand once too
often...
Five years ago you'd have thought it crazy that a political documentary would
ever be released to worldwide cinema audiences, but Michael Moore proved there
was a market for such cerebral movies with last year's
Bowling For Columbine.
In 2004, Moore went one step further, winning the coveted Palm D'Or with
Fahrenheit 9/11 - a biased, yet extremely persuasive argument against
President Bush and his "War On Terror". The movie split audiences, but at least
provoked debate amongst usually apathetic voters. Still, perhaps the movie's
message didn't hit home quite as strongly as it seemed, with Bush voted to
stay in office until 2008...
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Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.