David Edelstein, Nerd Hero

Just had to give you guys a link to David Edelstein's Top Movies of 2004 list. This guy is King of the Critics for this list, which is closer to my own than any other professional critic's by a good distance.

Here are his 13 picks:

1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2. Sideways
3. Hero and House of Flying Daggers
4. Bad Education
5. The Incredibles
6. Tarnation
7. Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
8. Moolaadé
9. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
10. Goodbye, Dragon Inn
11. Spanglish
12. Team America: World Police
13. Collateral (FIRST HALF ONLY)

Okay, so that's pretty good. No love for Napoleon Dynamite, but I like that he has Incredibles on there, he's the only critic I've seen to give props to Team America. I didn't love it myself, but any critic willing to go out on a limb and award Trey Parker and Matt Stone something is alright with me. (Plus, he relates his love for "South Park" in the article).

Even better are his Honorable Mentions:

The Sea Inside, Kinsey, Supersize Me, The Saddest Music in the World, The Mother, Intermission, Bright Young Things, Osama, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Shaun of the Dead, The Hunting of the President, Outfoxed, The Agronomist, The Yes Men, The Aviator, Shrek 2, Maria Full of Grace, Primer, Son Frere, The Bourne Supremacy, Before Sunset, Anchorman, Hellboy, 50 First Dates, A Very Long Engagement, Mr. 3000, Ray, and, for all its misdirection, Fahrenheit 9/11

Some odd choices in there...I thought Outfoxed was a pretty awful documentary, despite agreeing with its basic point. Ditto The Hunting of the President. Kinsey is far too bland and forgettable to belong on the list. And I didn't see 50 First Dates, but it's hard to believe it's worthy of mention in the company of Maria Full of Grace, The Aviator and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. But a critic giving honorable mention to Anchorman! What an incredible mack.