The score for 04.

"Contrary to perennial cliché, the past week premiered films more surprising and stimulating than December's bloated and unpalatable prestige flicks." Armond White is bullish on January, specifically on Torque and Teacher's Pet, with Crimson Gold and Peter Pan receiving honorable mentions.

So is 2004 going to be a good year for movies? Two previews: In the San Francisco Chronicle, Hugh Hart blurbs 46 major releases between today and April 30, sprinkling buzz on those blurbs where he's got it. And in Movie City News, David Poland picks out 17 opening between now through December he thinks might stand a chance come next Oscar season.

A highly subjective shortlist of films there may well be reason to have at least some hope for, in alphabetical order, gleaned from those two pieces and a recent discussion at the main site:

Wong Kar-wai's 2046.

Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

Richard Linklater's Before Sunset.

Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm.

Takashi Miike's Chakushin ari.

David Gordon Green's A Confederacy of Dunces.

Lars von Trier's Dogville.

Barry Levinson's Envy. With Jack Black and Ben Stiller.

Alfonso Cuarón's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees.

QT's Kill Bill Vol. 2.

The Ladykillers. From the Coens, with Tom Hanks.

Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Un long dimanche de fiançailles, with Audrey Tautou.

Walter Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries with Gael Garcia Bernal.

David Mamet's Spartan.

Fairly safe bet: Oodles of articles about our ongoing 70s thing (Anchorman, Starsky and Hutch, and to an extent, The Stepford Wives).

Posted by dwhudson at January 23, 2004 8:36 AM