2004 was a great year. It gave us unquestionably the best film of the new millennium, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (it's not my favorite film of the new millennium...but it's up there). In fact, that film might just be the best picture of the entire 99-06 period. If not, it's up there with American Beauty, Lost in Translation, the Kill Bill opus, and the other masterpieces this time period has offered.
Best Picture
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Kill Bill, Vol. 2
3. Sideways
4. Kinsey *
5. Dogville
6. Spider-Man 2
7. Bad Education
8. Before Sunset
9. Mean Girls
10. Collateral
Best Director
1. Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill, Vol. 2
2. Michael Gondry for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Mike Leigh for Vera Drake
4. Lars Von Trier for Dogville
5. Martin Scorsese for The Aviator
6. Zhang Yimou for Hero and House of Flying Daggers
7. Alfonso Cuaron for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8. Michael Mann for Collateral
9. Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 2
10. Alexander Payne for Sideways
Best Actor (tremendous year, one of the best ever for lead male acting)
1. Clive Owen in Closer (<3333. Best male performance of the new millennium)
2. Paul Giamatti in Sideways
3. Jamie Foxx in Ray (totally amazing and deserving of his Oscar win)
4. Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
5. Jeff Bridges in The Door in the Floor
6. Kevin Bacon in The Woodsman
7. Gael Garcia Bernal in Bad Education
8. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Liam Neeson in Kinsey
10. Christian Bale in The Machinist
(seriously. what a ridiculously strong year)
Best Actress (also very very strong)
1. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Nicole Kidman in Dogville
3. Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Vol. 2
4. Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake
5. Nicole Kidman in Birth
6. Laura Linney in P.S...
7. Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace
8. Julie Delpy in Before Sunset
9. Jennifer Garner in 13 Going on 30 (shut it)
10. Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls (doubly shut it)
Best Supporting Actor
1. Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees
2. Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby (OMG I LIKE THE OSCAR WINNER! I MUST BE SHAMED!)
3. David Carradine in Kill Bill, Vol. 2
4. Thomas Haden Church in Sideways
5. Peter Sarsgaard in Kinsey
6. Paul Bettany in Dogville
7. Liev Schrieber in The Manchurian Candidate
8. Tom Wilkinson in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Topher Grace in In Good Company
10. Antonio Banderas in Shrek 2
Best Supporting Actress
1. Virginia Madsen in Sideways
2. Natalie Portman in Garden State (her role in Closer is not supporting; she's #12 for the lead ladies)
3. Laura Linney in Kinsey
4. Darryl Hannah in Kill Bill, Vol. 2
5. Kirsten Dunst in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls
7. Cate Blanchett in Coffee and Cigarettes (yes, she was better here, and undeserving of her Oscar)
8. Lily Tomlin in I Heart Huckabees
9. Meryl Streep in The Manchurian Candidate
10. Sandra Oh in Sideways
Best Screenplay
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Kill Bill, Vol. 2
3. Sideways
4. Kinsey *
5. Before Sunset
6. Mean Girls
7. Dogville
8. I Heart Huckabees
9. Bad Education
10. Closer
* Yes, Kinsey. Probably the most underrated film of the entire new millennium. It's flawlessly acted, very funny and smart, and I dunno. Most biopics, even those with greater acclaim from this very year (I'm looking at you Ray and Finding Neverland!), weren't interesting. This one was. Maybe the subject matter helped? I dunno. All I know is I think it's a great movie, and probably the best biopic that's the typical big, sprawling, someone's-entire-life-in-two-and-a-half-hours, Oscarbait type (as opposed to Raging Bull, Amadeus, and Marie-Antoinette, more slice-of-life biopics).
