You will disagree, I am sure.

Listening to: Sonata for Flute and Bass Continuo, in E Major
Reading: The Force of Character and the Lasting Life
Watching: Messengers

Ok, here are my favorites from 2004. For some reason I could only come up with eight. Go figure.

1- Last Life in the Universe

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If you decide to watch anything I reccomend, watch this. But only if you have an open mind.

2- Once Upon a Time in High School

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This could have easily been my number one. In fact, its only number two because though my love for them is equal, I've loved Last Life in the Universe a little longer.

3- Twilight Samurai

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This is the best samurai film in ages, and it breaks conventions of the genre in the most wonderful of ways. It's great to see a samurai film that goes beyond honor and seppuku. The few fight scenes are among the best ever filmed.

4 -The Dreamers

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Bertolucci's love letter to film. Though I felt the ending was a little forced, I loved the world this film pulled me into, and it's great use of music and imagery. Plus I fell in love with Eva Green, despite her characters' unbelievable level of wonkiness.

5- Kill Bill Vol. 2

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Trumps Volume one in every way in my opinion. Well, not visually. Gone are those lame scowls, empty action, and ugly toes. They've been replaced with interesting dialouge, credible action work, and David fucking Carradine in one of my favorite performances of the year. Way to go Tarantino.

6- Spiderman 2

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The Best Superhero movie ever? Maybe. It sure trumped part one in every possible way, and not simply by going bigger either. With a tighter script, better pacing, more creative action scenes, a better villain, there was no way this could miss. I can't think of anything cooler than seeing Doc Ock brought to life, convincingly and true to the source material. Rock on Mr. Raimi. if you would have included just one ninja, that would have been enough to move this from number 6, to number 1. Figure that out.


7- Casshern

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A visual masterpiece, plain and simple. This movie blows my mind, and it frightens me that I may be in the minority, but oh well. I adore this picture. I'm seriously looking forward to what comes next from Kazuaki Kiriya. It reminds me of Akira in that it's beautiful, but so wonky that it turns people off. Not to say that it's as good as Akira or anything. I just think they're similar in that way. I'm a whore for amazing visuals,a nd Casshern has them in spades.

8- Ghost in the Shell2: Innocence

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Remember what I said about visuals? Yeah, look no further. If you're into Oshii's style, Oshii doesn't dissapoint.


Well, that's it. I know I forgot a few things, but these are the films that stuck with me most. Mighty was their resonance, and I walked away happy, or happy that I was sad as the case may be.

bye bye