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I accounted for 24 of The Hand's 30 points, someone else chipped in 6, and not even Eros's 5 more could get it across the line. For me only In the Mood for Love exceeds it in Wong's filmography (I did have 2046 at 8). My other also-rans are:

9 House of Flying Daggers
14 Take Out
21 Saving Face
22 9 Songs
24 Control Room

Orphans
20 Influenza (amazed it only got one vote-almost ranked it higher but it would not have mattered)
25 Ma mère (the cinematography and Huppert)

swo17 wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 6:19 pm

denti alligator wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 6:01 pm 10. 1-39-C (orphaned)

Not orphaned, I also voted for it!

Oops, my mistake. What a fantastic film! Your comment about not having a headache when watching made me put it off till nearly the end—and it wasn’t at all what I expected.

I'm glad others voted for Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, which I think is on par with the original though it's doing entirely its own thing

Thanks again for your work. 2004 seems to be my most out of sync with the majority. It also looks like getting through the dvd's I took out from the library wouldn't have made any difference as I've probably seen at least 75% of the top 50, probably more than any other year so far. I'm really surprised to see a number of films I considered to be mediocre at best doing significantly better than their other (earlier) films that I regard more highly (particularly from directors I normally like) this time around (Almodovar, Wong Kar Wai...)

1. The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear
2. [Downfall]
3. [Our Own]
4. Control Room
5. [Nobody Knows]
6. The Merchant of Venice
7. [Kung Fu Hustle]
8. [María Full of Grace]
9. [3-Iron]
10 Tarnation
11 [A Very Long Engagement]
12 Hotel Rwanda
13 Vera Drake
14 [Look at Me]
15 [Howl's Moving Castle]
16 Moolaadé
17 Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
18 Dawn of the Dead
19 [The Motorcycle Diaries]
20 The Take
21 Take Out
22 [The World]
23 The Nomi Song
24 The Yes Men
25 Team America: World Police

denti alligator wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 5:18 pm Me: shocked that Untergang placed and then placed so high. What, besides Bruno Ganz’s performance, is there to like about this film?

The film has an 8.2/10 on IMDB with over 400K ratings, so clearly you're out of sync with the majority. Perhaps the overuse of the meme has distorted your view of the film itself?

This year’s Almodovar is widely considered one of his best films. Obviously you don’t have to like it but I’m not sure why you’d be surprised by its popularity on the list

Lowry_Sam wrote:

denti alligator wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 5:18 pm Me: shocked that Untergang placed and then placed so high. What, besides Bruno Ganz’s performance, is there to like about this film?

The film has an 8.2/10 on IMDB with over 400K ratings, so clearly you're out of sync with the majority. Perhaps the overuse of the meme has distorted your view of the film itself?

Saw the film before the meme was a thing. It may be popular, but so are a lot of awful films (I’m talking to you, Interstellar). I repeat my question, which you should be able to answer, as someone who rated it so highly: what is there to like?

domino harvey wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2026 9:27 pm This year’s Almodovar is widely considered one of his best films. Obviously you don’t have to like it but I’m not sure why you’d be surprised by its popularity on the list

I didn't think it was bad, just ok (7/10), whereas everything from Women On The Verge to Volver gets at least an 8 (except Kika & Flower Of My Secret) for me. [And I regarded everything Wong Kar Wai did before 2046, except Ashes InTime, more highly than 2046] It's the one film of his from the period that I didn't feel compelled enough to buy it on disc, so I've never revisited it. Part of the problem might be that it followed his 2 best films (All About My Mother, Talk To Her) and so the expectations were high. I also perhaps had high expectations from the subject matter. Song For A Raggy Boy came out a year earlier and dealt with Catholic school abuse better (but in Ireland). I can appreciate Almodovar trying to do something different than past Catholic/boy's school/crush/abuse films by doing something different with the narrative structure, however for me the distancing effect that creates minimizes the emotional punch the film could have had. For me the best film on Catholic school boy abuse is still The Boys of St. Vincent (1992) and the best Catholic school boy crush movie is Les amitiés particulières (1964).

Thanks for another great job for another great year, swo!

Sometimes these lists yield interesting chance ties. This year it's The Weeping Meadow and Bourne Supremacy, two films that cannot be more different. I wonder if they make for a curious double bill.