Overstreet’s Favorite Films: 2004

Here is the current (but occasionally updated) list of my favorite films from 2004.

In order to understand the purpose and meaning of this list, please read my introduction to the Looking Closer Favorite Films lists here.


Red = Treasures
Purple = Favorites
Blue = Achievements
Gray = Decent/Noteworthy
Green = Unseen or Undecided
* = This film was discovered after the year in question and added in a list revision.

  1. The Return*
  2. Millions
  3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  4. The Incredibles
  5. The Motorcycle Diaries
  6. Birth
  7. Before Sunset
  8. Born Into Brothels
  9. Shaun of the Dead
  10. Songs from the Second Floor*
  11. Tony Takitani*
  12. Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow
  13. Spider-man 2
  14. The Taste of Tea* (review)
  15. Mean Creek
  16. The Bourne Supremacy
  17. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
  18. The World
  19. Primer
  20. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
  21. Napoleon Dynamite
  22. Vera Drake
  23. Million Dollar Baby
  24. Hotel Rwanda
  25. Howl’s Moving Castle*
  26. Dear Frankie
  • Nobody Knows
  • Kill Bill, Volume Two
  • Downfall
  • Saved!
  • Land of Plenty
  • Ocean’s Twelve
  • Sideways
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • House of Flying Daggers
  • Collateral
  • The Passion of the Christ
  • THX 1138: Director’s Cut
  • I Heart Huckabees
  • The Aviator
  • The Manchurian Candidate
  • Since Otar Left*
  • Closer
  • Finding Neverland
  • Strings
  • The Village
  • America’s Heart and Soul (review) (interview)
  • We Don’t Live Here Anymore
  • Maria Full of Grace
  • In Good Company
  • Intimate Strangers
  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
  • Shrek 2
  • Super-Size Me
  • Yes
  • Bride and Prejudice
  • Hellboy
  • Kung Fu Hustle
  • As It Is In Heaven
  • Garden State
  • A Very Long Engagement (review)
  • Undertow
  • Melinda and Melinda
  • Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
  • Ray
  • Winter Solstice
  • Hawaii, Oslo*
  • Mean Girls
As-yet Unseen or Unratable Films of 2004
3-iron (Kim Ki-duk)
5×2
A Christmas Carol
A Film About Townes Van Zandt
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
All the Ships at Sea (Dan Sallitt)
Ana and the Others (Celina Murga)
AVP: Alien vs. Predator (Paul W.S. Anderson)
Bad Education
Be Here to Love Me:
Birthday Boy
Bombón: El Perro
Breaking News (Johnny To)
Brothers
Chiens égarés
Clean
Connie and Carla
Criminal
Darwin’s Nightmare
Dead Man’s Shoes (Shane Meadows)
Delivery
De-Lovely
Destination Mars!
DiG!
Duck Season
Electric Edwardians
Ett Hål i mitt hjärta
Evolution of a Filipino Family (Lav Diaz)
Firecracker
Frankie & Johnny Are Married
Gilles’ Wife
Goodnight, We Love You
Gunner Palace
Haryu insaeng
Head in the Clouds (John Duigan)
Head-On (Fatih Akın)
Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinematheque
Holy Lola
I’m Not Scared
In My Father’s Den
Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 (Mamoru Oshii)
Innocent Voices
Isn’t This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
It’s All Gone Pete Tong
Keane (Lodge Kerrigan)
King of the Corner
Kings and Queen (Arnaud Desplechin)
Lavorare con lentezza
Layer Cake
Le Grand voyage
Lightning in a Bottle
Little Terrorist
Look at Me (Agnes Jaoui)
Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa)
Moolaadé (Ousmane Sembene)
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili
Mouse Heaven (Kenneth Anger)
My Summer of Love
Mysterious Skin
Never Die Alone
Notre musique (Jean-Luc Godard)
Omagh
Or (Mon Tresor) (Keren Yedaya)
Ovunque sei
Palindromes (Todd Solondz)
Promised Land
Red Lights (Cedric Kahn)
Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher
Riding Giants
Ryan
Saving Face
ScaredSacred
Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire
Silver City
Sombra Dolorosa (Guy Maddin)
Stand van de maan
Star Spangled to Death (Ken Jacobs)
Suspect Zero (E. Elias Merhige)
Taking Lives
Team America: World Police
Tell Them Who You Are
The Alamo
The Assassination of Richard Nixon
The Bridesmaid (Claude Chabrol)
The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo)
The Chorus
The Consequences of Love
The Garden of Earthly Delights (Lech Majewski)
The Gate of the Sun (Yousry Nasrallah)
The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (Asia Argento)
The Hero
The Intruder (Claire Denis)
The Keys to the House
The Libertine
The Merchant of Venice
The Notebook
The Phantom of the Opera
The Sea Inside
The Staircase
The Syrian Bride
The Talent Given Us
The Woodsman
Three… Extremes
Throwdown (Johnny To)
Tout un hiver sans feu
Triple Agent (Eric Rohmer)
Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Turtles Can Fly
Udalionnyy dostup
Waiting (Sky Hirschkron)
Walk on Water
Watermarks
When Will I Be Loved
With Blood on My Hands: Pusher II
Woman is the Future of Man (Hong Sang-soo)
Word Wars
Yesterday