Steve Reinhardt’s 2005 Movie Web Page
My Friend, Jack Kleinman’s Top Ten Films of the
Year
My Picks for the Academy Awards
My Favorite Critic Andrew Sarris Top Ten Lists
Millions Await Awards Night With Fear, Dread
Friends,
It is time to look back at the past year and select my
favorites as I have been doing ever since 1976. Looking back on my own lists I found I have sometimes missed a
good movie (“Caddyshack”
never made my top ten in 1980). But it is fun to remember the best movies I saw
each year. This year was good in yielding a few gems and many first rate films.
The Academy Awards will be hard to guess because of the lack of a clear front
running film. And it is good to see many films receive some recognition. My own
preference is for the smaller, less popular film that has a different story and
style. This year’s top pick, “Before
Sunset” is one of those movies. So too
was “Sideways” and “In Good Company”. I hope you enjoy my list and I’ll see you
on the red carpet!
Steve Reinhardt’s Top Ten for 2004
2.
Sideways
3.
In Good Company
4.
Finding Neverland
5.
The Aviator
6.
Hotel Rwanda
7.
Dogville
8.
Ray
9.
Kinsey
10.
Teacher’s Pet
Click on the picture to find out more about my favorite
movies of the past year.
Jack Kleinman’s Top Ten for 2004
My friend Jack Kleinman has been seeing more movies than I
have for many years. He is the manager
of the Santa Cruz Cinema 9 and an avid movie fan. Over the years we have seen many movies together and he has been
my friend and guide to great films. This year he’s allowed me to include his
top ten picks (plus the runners
up). We don’t always agree, but over
the years he’s steered me to many a good and even great movie I would have
missed on my own. Here’s his list of
this year’s best:
1.
Sideways
2.
Before Sunset
3.
Kill Bill Vol. 2
4.
The Return
5.
The Aviator
6.
Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring
7.
Wilber Wants To Kill Himself
8.
In Good Company
9.
Collateral
10.
Love Me If You Dare
Runners Up: Maria
Full of Grace, Fahrenheit 911, Ray, Spartan, The Mother, Intimate Strangers,
Million Dollar Baby, Hotel Rwanda, Napoleon Dynamite, Finding Neverland, Red
Lights, Japanese Story.
Steve Reinhardt’s Picks for the Academy Awards
Here are picks of who I think will win the Academy Awards on
February 27, 2005. These picks were
made on February 20, 2005 so I can’t change them at the last minute! It was very hard to guess the mood of the
Academy this year and I don’t really see too many sure winners. It is great to
see so many of my favorite films nominated: Sideways, Aviator and even one
nomination for my #1 favorite: Before Sunset.
My picks are in BOLD below.
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Don Cheadle in
“Hotel Rwanda”
Johnny Depp in
“Finding Neverland”
Leonardo DiCaprio in
“The Aviator”
Clint Eastwood in
“Million Dollar Baby”
Jamie Foxx in “Ray”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Alda in “The
Aviator”
Thomas Haden Church
in “Sideways”
Jamie Foxx in
“Collateral”
Morgan Freeman in “Million Dollar Baby”
Clive Owen in
“Closer”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Annette Bening in
“Being Julia”
Catalina Sandino
Moreno in “Maria Full of Grace”
Imelda Staunton in
“Vera Drake”
Hilary Swank in
“Million Dollar Baby”
Kate Winslet in
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
Performance by an
actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in
“The Aviator”
Laura Linney in
“Kinsey”
Virginia Madsen
in “Sideways”
Sophie Okonedo in
“Hotel Rwanda”
Natalie Portman in
“Closer”
Best animated feature film of the year
“The Incredibles”
“Shark Tale”
“Shrek 2”
Achievement in art direction
“The Aviator” Art Direction: Dante Ferretti
Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Finding Neverland”
Art Direction: Gemma Jackson
Set Decoration: Trisha Edwards
“Lemony Snicket’s A
Series of Unfortunate Events”
Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs
Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik
“The Phantom of the
Opera”
Art Direction: Anthony Pratt
Set Decoration: Celia Bobak
“A Very Long
Engagement”
Art Direction: Aline Bonetto
Achievement in cinematography
“The Aviator”
Robert Richardson
“House of Flying
Daggers” Zhao Xiaoding
“The Passion of the
Christ” Caleb Deschanel
“The Phantom of the
Opera” John Mathieson
“A Very Long
Engagement” Bruno Delbonnel
Achievement in costume design
“The Aviator” Sandy
Powell
“Finding
Neverland” Alexandra Byrne
“Lemony Snicket’s A
Series of Unfortunate Events” Colleen Atwood
“Ray” Sharen Davis
“Troy” Bob Ringwood
Achievement in directing
“The Aviator” Martin
Scorsese
“Million Dollar
Baby” Clint Eastwood
“Ray” Taylor
Hackford
“Sideways”
Alexander Payne
“Vera Drake” Mike
Leigh
Best documentary feature
“Born into Brothels”
“The Story of the
Weeping Camel”
“Super Size Me”
“Tupac: Resurrection”
“Twist of Faith”
Best documentary short subject
“Autism Is a
World”
“The Children of
Leningradsky”
“Hardwood”
“Mighty Times: The
Children’s March”
“Sister Rose’s
Passion”
Achievement in film editing
“The Aviator” Thelma
Schoonmaker
“Collateral” Jim
Miller and Paul Rubell
“Finding Neverland”
Matt Chesse
“Million Dollar
Baby” Joel Cox
“Ray” Paul Hirsch
Best foreign language film of the year
“As It Is in Heaven”
“The Chorus (Les
Choristes)”
“Downfall”
“The Sea Inside”
“Yesterday”
Achievement in makeup
“Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events”
“The Passion of the
Christ”
“The Sea Inside”
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original
score)
“Finding
Neverland” Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
“Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban” John Williams
“Lemony Snicket’s A
Series of Unfortunate Events” Thomas Newman
“The Passion of the
Christ” John Debney
“The Village” James
Newton Howard
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original
song)
“Accidentally In
Love” from “Shrek 2”
“Al Otro Lado Del
Río” from “The Motorcycle Diaries”
“Believe” from “The
Polar Express”
“Learn To Be Lonely”
from “The Phantom of the Opera”
“Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)” from “The Chorus
(Les Choristes)”
Best motion picture of the year
“The Aviator”
“Finding Neverland”
“Million Dollar
Baby”
“Ray” (Universal)
“Sideways”
Best animated short film
“Birthday Boy”
“Gopher Broke”
“Guard Dog”
“Lorenzo”
“Ryan”
Best live action short film
“Everything in This
Country Must”
“Little Terrorist”
“7:35 in the Morning
( 7:35 de la Mañana)”
“Two Cars, One Night”
“Wasp”
Achievement in sound editing
“The Incredibles”
“The Polar Express”
“Spider-Man 2”
Achievement in sound mixing
“The Aviator”
“The Incredibles”
“The Polar Express”
“Ray”
“Spider-Man 2”
Achievement in visual effects
“Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban”
“I, Robot”
“Spider-Man 2”
Adapted screenplay
“Before Sunset”
Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy &
Ethan Hawke
Story by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan
“Finding Neverland”
Screenplay by David Magee
“Million Dollar Baby”
Screenplay by Paul Haggis
“The Motorcycle
Diaries”
Screenplay by José Rivera
“Sideways”
Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Original screenplay
“The Aviator”
Written by John Logan
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman
Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry
& Pierre Bismuth
“Hotel Rwanda”
Written by Keir Pearson & Terry George
“The Incredibles”
Written by Brad Bird
“Vera Drake”
Written by Mike Leigh
The Best and Worst Movies of 2004
by Andrew Sarris
Movie Critic for the New
York Observer
As far as I can determine, 2004 seems to be neither the best
nor the worst year for movies, at least as far as the proportion of good (low, as
always) to bad (high, as always) is concerned. Of course, the technology keeps
changing—often to the consternation of the Luddites among us—and there’s also
that mindless nostalgia for an idyllic past, in which all the bad movies have
been mercifully expunged from memory. After all, I’ve been in the year-end
10-best business since 1958, when Jonas Mekas graciously allowed me to share
his "Movie Journal" column in The Village Voice with my 10-best list,
which I’m now ashamed to remember failed to include both Alfred Hitchcock’s
Vertigo and Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. But that was 46 years ago, and I very
much doubt that I will be around 46 years from now to second-guess my Top 10
lists for 2004. So with little fear of afterthought and without further ado,
here are my considered preferences for the year past:
English-Language Pictures
1. Before Sunset
2. Sideways
3. Ray
4. Dogville
5. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
6. Hotel Rwanda
7. The Aviator
8. Finding Neverland
9. I § Huckabees
10. Collateral
Foreign-Language Pictures
1. The Motorcycle Diaries
2. Intimate Strangers
3. House of Flying Daggers
4. Moolaadé
5. The Sea Inside
6. Maria Full of Grace
7. A Very Long Engagement
8. Fear and Trembling
9. Rosenstrasse
10. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring
Nonfiction Films
1. The Five Obstructions
2. Born into Brothels
3. Persons of Interest
4. Fahrenheit 9/11
5. Bright Leaves
6. Tarnation
7. Going Upriver
8. Orwell Rolls in His Grave
9. Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
10. Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
You may reach Andrew Sarris via email at: asarris@observer.com.
Millions Await Awards Night With Fear, Dread
by
Andy Borowitz
With little over one week until the 77th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood,
a new poll reveals that a majority of Americans already know Best Actor nominee
Jamie Foxx’s acceptance speech by heart.
According to the poll, 68% of all Americans have either seen Mr. Foxx accept
trophies given by the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild or heard his
tribute to Ray Charles at Sunday’s Grammy Awards and now believe they can
recite his entire Oscar speech in their sleep.
Even more astoundingly, 85% say that they could deliver at least one part of
Mr. Foxx’s acceptance speech verbatim, such as the aphorism, “Just keep doing
what you’re doing -- if you win or if you lose -- just keep walking in the same
direction.”
While most of those surveyed say they admired Mr. Foxx’s performance in the
film “Ray,” they still await his eventual Oscar speech with a mixture of fear
and dread.
In Washington, new homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff held an
emergency press conference to call the probability of Mr. Foxx delivering a
tearful Oscar acceptance speech “severe.”
Advising Americans to “remain calm,” he said that “there are simple things each
of us can do to protect ourselves” from Jamie Foxx’s acceptance speech.
Chertoff advised that every family seal off one room in their house with duct
tape and plastic sheeting, “and when Jamie Foxx begins speaking, go into that
room.”