2004 has to be one of my favorite years in film this decade. So many great films were made and so many didn’t make my list barely. One of those were Million Dollar Baby because I didn’t see it until late January 2005, long after I made my list. Again, this was my list as I made it that year and might be different if I made it today:

1. Sideways: Alexander Payne’s comedy about life, love, and wine is one of the best comedies I have seen in my entire life. This movie hosts Oscar-worthy performances from Paul Giamatti, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Thomas Hayden-Church, some of the best cinematography and well-crafted dialogue. So pop open a bottle and have a blast!
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Charlie Kaufman has finally made his masterpiece alongside director Michel Gondry’s mind-bending visuals. Jim Carrey gives one of his most emotional performances to date as a man wiping the memories of his ex-girlfriend (Kate Winslett) from his mind. This is a love story that really resonates.
3. The Aviator: Martin Scorsese has made his best film since Taxi Driver and Leonardo DiCaprio has finally proven to be the actor I never saw him being. The story of Howard Hughes as you never could have imagined is one of my favorite biopics of all time.
4. Fahrenheit 9/11: Michael Moore has stopped playing nice guy and has ratcheted up a full-scale attack on Number 43. This no-holds-barred documentary goes for the jugular and makes a disturbing case against the President. He might be wrong, but you have to give the devil his due, this is not a boring film.
5. Hotel Rwanda: Don Cheadle shows just why he’s one of my favorite actors of all time as he plays a hotel manager who saves thousands of people’s lives using his hotel as refuge. Even though it has a PG-13 rating, this film is much scarier and more intense than many of it’s R-rated brethren more interested in gore. After the movie was over, I didn’t feel like a simple observer.
6. The Dreamers: Bernardo Berdollucci’s epic story of rebellion without understanding is as much tragedy as it is intrigue. Eva Green is breathtaking and exciting to watch in a film that really marks the spot.
7. The Incredibles: Brad Bird’s…okay I’ll say it…incredible film is the reason I’ll never count against Pixar. Who else would think about a movie about a family of superheroes who have to navigate a world of real peril and family strife? Great voice acting by Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee.
8. Kill Bill Vol. 2: If Quentin Tarrentino had your bloodlust slaked in the first film, he has your mind completely blown in this one. While the fights aren’t as over the top as the first, it’s all about getting to that damned Bill. David Carradine gives an amazing performance as Bill but Uma Thurman’s The Bride will go down as one of the most exciting antiheroes of all time.
9. The Village: M. Night Shyamalan’s film might not be Signs, but it’s still a skillfully deceptive thriller about arrogance and the nature of society. Bryce Dallas Howard’s debut is promising and Joaquin Phoenix is amazing, underplaying this role and making this a character that we really care about.  The twist at the end isn’t really a twist, merely reaching a conclusion that we knew from the beginning.
10. House of Flying Daggers: Director Zhang Yimou’s film Hero also came out this year but was release years before and therefore I couldn’t place it in this list. But thankfully he made the just as impressive House of Flying Daggers, whose visual allure and emotional undertones are just as poignant. And the Drum sequence is simply worthy of this list alone.