On a related note, I finally feel qualified to post my list of the ten best movies of 2004. As always, this list is subject to revision, especially because I haven't seen Vera Drake or two of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture—not to mention 50 First Dates—but my top choices shouldn't change very much:

1. Garden State
2. Sideways
3. Closer
4. Kill Bill Vol. 2
5. The Life Aquatic
6. The Five Obstructions
7. Spider-Man 2
8. Collateral
9. Million Dollar Baby
10. Bad Education

That final slot could have been filled with any number of contenders, ranging from Tarnation and My Architect to The Incredibles and The Bourne Supremacy, or even Dogville and The Dreamers. It was, as I noted to Noah recently, the year I learned to be forgiving. There isn't a single film in my list of ten that isn't flawed in some way—except, I've got to say, for Sideways, which still strikes me as almost perfect, if resolutely minor—and yet their flaws make me love them all the more.

You could make a good case, for example, that Closer's flaws far outweigh its virtues. I'd be inclined to agree, but that doesn't make it any less fascinating or terrifying, or leave me any less convinced that, on balance, it was the most interesting movie from this year to brood, talk, and argue about. Closer also has the best line from any of this year's movies, although I'm not sure I want to choose just one: I used to think it was "This will hurt," but these days I'm more fond of "I don't love you anymore. Good-bye."