Top flicks of the Noughties - 2004

A Very Long Engagement
This one brings back together the wonderful team of Audrey Tautou and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (from Amelie). Again, beautifully shot. Don't be afraid of subtitles!!

Anchorman
Need I say more.

Around the World in 80 Days
Fun remake with Steve Coogan and Jackie Chan. Lots of colour, even a bit of Schwarzenegger.

Batman Begins
1034 previous Batman movies that just didn't quite cut it. Chris Nolan makes a Batman movie the way a Batman movie should be made... with Christian Bale talking in an extremely gruff voice. I'm Batman.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Long time partners Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up for this Willy Wonka remake. Loved the back story with Christopher Lee as Willy's dental-mad father. Thankfully Burton left out the scene with the chicken getting it's head cut off. Thank you Mr Burton.

Collateral
An 'OK' Tom Cruise movie. Tis a rare thing.

Constantine
What does Keanu Reeves do after he's all Matrixed out? I liked this one. I'm sure I should have read the comics first. Say hello to Shia LaBeouf..

Crash
Won Best Picture and Best Screenplay Oscars and very deservedly so. Listen to Jeff Goldsmith from Creative Screenwriting Magazine interview writer/director Paul Haggis here.

Dawn of the Dead
Zach Snyder goeth where thou shant goeth and remakes George Romero's 1978 classic zombie flick. I thought he did pretty good.

Dodgeball
And so it begins, the sporting parody. Lots of laughs and highly quotable, just that I can't remember any right now...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Still not sure what it all meant but it was good? Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet do a great job at what they do.

Fahrenheit 9/11
The movie I thought that was going to change the world. Unfortunately it didn't, but on the bright side, we all got to laugh and George W Bush for another four years.

Finding Neverland
Lovely movie about the dude who wrote Peter Pan, Sir James Matthew Barrie. Freddie Highmore (who goes on to play Charlie Bucket alongside Depp's Wonka) is a standout.

Garden State
A melancholic flick starring and written by Zach Braff. Prodigal son returns and meets Natalie Portman...

Hellboy
I've loved Ron Perlman forever. What a great role for him to play! Guillermo Del Toro, thank you very much. Definite must see!

House of Flying Daggers
I must admit, all those lovely looking martial arts movies all kinda blur into one, they are all very beautiful to watch so pick any one, you won't be disappointed

Kill Bill Volume Two
Wow. Go Uma!

Millions
Danny Boyle does it again. A charming story about a boy who sees saints and stumbles across a bag chockers with money. Just brilliant.

Napoleon Dynamite
Vote for Pedro!

Nightwatch
When did Russian films get so good! Forces of good and evil fight it out when you're fast asleep and flip buses. I wish I watched it at the cinema to see the crazy subtitles.

Saw
I liked it the first time. The second time I took notice of the script. Hmmm... They've done how many now?

Secret Window
Johnny Depp in a Stephen King movie? Yes please with John Turturro on top! Don't write books in a lonely cabin in the woods. You've been warned.

Shaun of the Dead
In my top five all time favourite flicks, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright got together and created a new genre, the rom-zom-com (romance-zombie-comedy). What a frikken awesome flick. Every time I watch it I laugh and laugh and laugh. Oh to make a flick like that. You've got red on you...

Sideways
Subtle flick about friends and wine tasting and that chick from Grey's ASnatomy, no not that one, the other one. Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, what a pair. Don't order the Merlot.

Stage Beauty
Not a widely screened flick starring Claire Danes and Billy Crudup, set in 17th century England when women weren't allowed to act on stage. Quite well done.

The Day After Tomorrow
I am a sucker for disaster movies. Big and loud and full of super effects. Hey, lets flood New York. Oh, OK.

The Libertine
Johnny Depp donnes a wig and does something really bad to his nose and becomes the original Johnny Rotten, the Earl of Rochester. Grimy green shades take you to a time of awful smells and appalling hygiene. Depp is good.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Another Wes Anderson flick with the usual suspects. Bill Murray just can't put a foot wrong. Super cool soundtrack.

The Punisher
Thomas Jane. Such a nice boy

The School of Rock
Someone let Jack Black loose in a school? Cool!

The Terminal
Yes, it's a bit corny but it's Spielberg!

Vanity Fair
I don't think anyone knows how much I love this movie. It's Mira Nair's vision of William Thackeray's classic. Acid-tongued Becky Sharp (Reece Witherspoon) makes her way through society meeting some very nice boys along the way. A sumptuous feast with amazing costumes. Another one to watch over and over again.

War of the Worlds
Steven Spielberg, yay. Tom Cruise, hmmm... Tell me again how the video camera kept recording after the alien things wiped out every other electronic device...?