AP reviewers' favorite movies of 2004

By The Associated Press | December 21, 2004

The top 10 films of 2004, according to AP Movie Writer David Germain:

1. "The Saddest Music in the World": Filmmaker Guy Maddin spins a blissfully twisted tale of a legless Depression-era beer baroness (Isabella Rossellini) who stages a contest to find the world's gloomiest tunes, and a can-do American (Mark McKinney) determined to win the prize for the Yanks. The distorted black-and-white images and demented music perfectly complement Maddin's absurdist tone.

2. "A Very Long Engagement": "Amelie" in the trenches. Audrey Tautou and director Jean-Pierre Jeunet reunite for this charmer that combines the whimsy and dash-along pace of their romance "Amelie" with heavy drama and biting commentary on the folly of war. Tautou is bewitching as a woman driven by indefatigable faith that her lover survived the battlefields of World War I, all evidence to the contrary.

3. "Million Dollar Baby" -- Hilary Swank deserves a second Academy Award as an explosively dauntless boxer who knows in her bones when to pounce -- and when to quit after life throws her the cruelest of left hooks. Director and star Clint Eastwood follows "Mystic River" with another terrific morality play. He, co-star Morgan Freeman and Swank merit serious Oscar consideration.

4. "Sideways" -- Speaking of Oscar, Paul Giamatti is a modern Ernest Borgnine, a character player who has broken into romantic leads. If Borgnine can win an Oscar for "Marty," why not Giamatti as an endearing loser with a fresh chance at love in Alexander Payne's sparkling road-trip comedy? Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh zestfully complete Payne's near-perfect quartet.

5. "House of Flying Daggers" -- What a year for director Zhang Yimou (see No. 6 below). His martial-arts epic is the year's most gorgeous film, awash in color and masterful imagery, packed with dazzlingly choreographed dance and fight sequences. Zhang Ziyi combines ferocious spirit and a tenderly tragic heart as a rebel caught in a love triangle with two allies (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau) turned rivals.

6. "Hero" -- The belated 2004 U.S. release of Zhang Yimou's first martial-arts saga served as a glorious appetizer for "House of Flying Daggers." The 2002 adventure stars Jet Li, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi and Donnie Yen in a craftily constructed assassination tale that unspools in a cascade of shifting flashbacks, each presented with its own radiant color scheme.

7. "The Motorcycle Diaries" -- The seeds of the humanist revolutionary are planted in Walter Salles' wry, raucous tale of a road trip through South America by young Ernesto Guevara and a mischievous buddy. The future "El Che" is passionately played by Gael Garcia Bernal, while Rodrigo de la Serna makes for the sort of comically intrepid sidekick we all should be blessed with as traveling companion. Continued...

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