Ah, thanks.

Biggest surprise to me is what an inferior crop of movies we had this year. I don't expect any of the best picture nominees to become widely remembered, the way Titanic, Braveheart, Unforgiven and previous ones have been. This is definitely an off year.

It's a shame they didn't make at least a token nod to mainstream taste with the inclusion of something that was seen by people other than the director's family.

Yes for the sarcasm impaired I didn't mean that last line literally.

Collateral was the most popular artsy movie this year and the most artistic popular movie, so even though it wasn't my favorite of the year, I think it would have done the academy a lot of good if Collateral had gotten more nominations, given more credibility to the whole thing. Eternal sunshine should have gotten more as well, I personally think it will be more remembered than the 5 best pic nominees.

I just hope that ESotSM gets something, like best screenplay.

I personally hated the screenplay, very A Beautiful Mind-esque, but I thought it would get nominated too.

Ray has made over $70M, and The Aviator is approaching $60M. I'm just wondering why you consider those movies "only seen by the director's family"?

I knew someone would take it too literally so I included a disclaimer in white text below that line.

Yes they have made a bit of money and I'm not saying they are bad movies, but it seems to me they need to do a better job of reconciling critical and popular taste which seem so widely different this year.

Oh, yeah, I agree. Heh. Sorry, I couldn't tell that you were being sarcastic because it didn't seem like you...were.

Well, I don't exactly think the critic and popular tastes are that different this year: two of the best reviewed films of the year are Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles, both of which made tons of money at the box office. It just happened that those two come from the two genres which will always have trouble breaking through into best picture race. The critics didn't like Phantom nearly as much as Chicago, and its box office doesn't compare either. Both critics and general public rejected Alexander.

Until Titanic, best picture nominees for most years didn't have that good of box office until after they were nominated and/or won. When all said and done this year, The Aviator will pass $100M, while Million Dollar Baby and Sideways, along with Ray, could all get over $70M.

I agree on one thing that 2004's movie quality isn't as great as some of previous years, and the number of films that will be remembered in 10 years are small.

I think the quality of films this year are higher than last year, but maybe that's just me.

The Aviator is a far flashier film then Million Dollar Baby, of course it got more nominations. They're just technical. Million Dollar Baby got every major award The Aviator did (BP, BD, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay) but it also got Best Actress, and that's perhaps the award it has the best shot at winning. Honestly, I think it will win thanks to WB's smart strategy of releasing it the week Oscar ballots are sent out. It'll be the most fresh in people's minds.

In my opinion, the quality of 2004 films is the best since at least 1999. But many of the year's best films aren't seen by many people.

Of the Oscar nominees, two really really excellent films are nominated for best picture, which is really rare in most years. And the worst of the five nominees is better than most years' worst nominee.

If we only compare oscar nominees, then I agree this year's set of nominees are very good, given the quality of the overall films for the year. The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby are in my top 5, and more I watched Sideways' trailer, more I think I'll like it very much as well. However, we got lucky this year that the good films are nominated, and we at least don't have a Seabiscuit or Chocalat to drag the whole quality of nominees down.

I don't know... Finding Neverland is in that realm to me. Maybe even worse than those two in my opinion. Not as horrific as a choice as Gangs of New York, but in no way is this line up as good as say, 2001's or 2003's line up.

I actually really like Chocolat :-$

I think Aviator is a lock for BP now.

One very important thing, M$B is becoming a controversial movie, god forbid a movie with controversy wins BP IMO it's probably now the least likely movie to win BP. Too bad Aviator will probably win BP, so many better movies out there. It's a shame

If they replace Seabiscuit with 21 Grams or Kill Bill Vol 1, I'd definitely say 2003 is one of the best lineups ever. When making comparison between last and this year, I think Finding Nemo is a little better than The Incredibles, Kill Bill Vol 1 is a little better than Vol 2, and Pirates of The Caribbeans is better than any summer blockbusters in 2004, even Spider-Man 2. Again, all of them are great; I just think the former is a little better than the latter in each case. When comparing late releases, Million Dollar Baby is better than Mystic River, but ROTK is better than The Aviator. Sideways and Lost in Translation will probably be a wash for me, after I see Sideways. 21 Grams and Closer are close as well with tremendous actings. Overall, it's close, but 2003 is a tad better.