The 2004 movies I'm excited about

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The movies I'm eagerly awaiting in 2004, excerpted from my movies page:

  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Mar 19): The premise: what if there was a medical procedure by which you could erase your most painful memories, like a relationship gone bad? With a script from Charlie Kaufmann, and starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. Faux related website. Teaser trailer.

  • If Not Now (Spring?): Sequel to the wonderful Before Sunrise which starred Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. In this sequel from Richard Linklater, those two characters meet again, nine years later, while Ethan Hawke's character Jesse is on a book tour in France.

  • Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Feb 20): I will go out on a limb and predict that this is the one where she kills Bill.

  • The Passion of the Christ (Feb 25): Mel Gibson's controversial take on the last twelve hours of Christ's life.

  • Starsky and Hutch (Mar 5): It stars Owen Wilson, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Snoop Doggy Dogg, which guarantees nothing other than my $9.00. Will either be glorious or gloriously bad.

  • The Ladykillers (Mar 26): There will come a day when we forsake Coen brothers movies that star Tom Hanks and feature a soundtrack produced by T-Bone Burnett, but it is not this year. View the trailer. This is a remake of the The Ladykillers starring Alec Guiness.

  • Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2 (Spring 2004 in Japan): Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell was one of the most influential and brilliant anime movies ever made.

  • Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (Summer): Cool retro look.

  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Jun 4): I'm not a rabid fan of the books, the first two of which failed to excite me. But I'm intrigued by the selection of Alfonso Cuaron as director, and fans of the series tell me the books improve as they go. Cuaron as director is a bold and admirable choice.

  • The Terminal (Jun 18): teams two unknowns named Spielberg and Hanks. And Catherine Zeta-Jones.

  • Spiderman 2 (July 2): Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) wrote the screenplay so the story should be stronger, and hopefully they'll fix the goofy special effects this time around.

  • King Arthur (July 2): Produced by Bruckheimer, helmed by Antoine Fuqua, so unlikely to be great. Odd romantic pairing of Clive Owen as King Arthur and Keira Knightley as Guinevere. However, it will be difficult to pass up an opportunity to gaze on Keira Knightley for a few hours to a Hans Zimmer score. View the trailer.

  • Anchorman (Jul 9): Will Ferrell is Anchorman.

  • The Village (Jul 30): M. Night Shyamalan's next movie. The trailer (available off the Flash-enabled site or here) seems to indicate another of his favored mystery plots. I'm always curious to see the surprise twist, but when I guess what's going to happen, as with Signs, it's not quite as fun.

  • The Life Aquatic (Fall): Let's examine the talent involved. Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Henry Selick...good Lord.

  • The Incredibles (Nov 5): Pixar's next computer-animated tale. Let's draw a trend line based on all the past Pixar movies. Hmm. Apparently this movie should be really good.

  • Alexander (Nov): Oliver Stone's take on the original Great One will beat Baz Luhrmann's to the big screen. Stars Colin Farrell as Alexander the Great and Angelina Jolie as his mom(?!).

  • Ocean's Twelve (Dec 12): Soderbergh directs the followup to Ocean's Eleven, itself a wonderfully fun flick. This time, the heist(s) takes place in London, and Vincent Cassel joins the cast.

  • The Aviator (Dec 17): Leonardo DiCaprio continues to tackle famous historical figures by playing Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's next project.

  • Izô: Kaosu mataha fujôri no kijin (Winter?): Takashi Miike directing Takeshi Kitano?! In. I think the title means "Sweet Ass-Kicking Samurai Movie."