Best Drama Movies of 2004

1.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

6.7

8.3/10

Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.

2.

Million Dollar Baby

6.6

8.1/10

Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.

3.

The Notebook

6.5

7.8/10

An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World War II, and is then passionately reunited, seven years later, after they have taken different paths.

4.

Hotel Rwanda

6.5

8.1/10

Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.

5.

Before Sunset

6.5

8.0/10

Nine years ago two strangers met by chance and spent a night in Vienna that ended before sunrise. They are about to meet for the first time since. Now they have one afternoon to find out if they belong together.

6.

The Bourne Supremacy

6.3

7.7/10

When a CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

7.

Man on Fire

6.2

7.7/10

Jaded ex-CIA operative John Creasy reluctantly accepts a job as the bodyguard for a 10-year-old girl in Mexico City. They clash at first, but eventually bond, and when she's kidnapped he's consumed by fury and will stop at nothing to save her life.

8.

The Machinist

6.2

7.7/10

The Machinist is the story of Trevor Reznik, a lathe-operator who is dying of insomnia. In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. This is no ordinary insomnia...

9.

Crash

6.2

7.8/10

Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption.

10.

Finding Neverland

6.1

7.7/10

During a writing slump, playwright J.M. Barrie meets a widow and her three children—who soon become an important part of Barrie’s life and the inspiration that lead him to create his masterpiece. Peter Pan'.

11.

Collateral

6.1

7.5/10

Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.

12.

The Terminal

6.1

7.3/10

Viktor Navorski is a man without a country; his plane took off just as a coup d'etat exploded in his homeland, leaving it in shambles, and now he's stranded at Kennedy Airport, where he's holding a passport that nobody recognizes. While quarantined in the transit lounge until authorities can figure out what to do with him, Viktor simply goes on living – and courts romance with a beautiful flight attendant.

13.

The Passion of the Christ

6.1

7.2/10

A graphic portrayal of the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life.

14.

The Aviator

6.0

7.5/10

A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.

15.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

6.0

7.3/10

Renowned oceanographer Steve Zissou has sworn vengeance upon the rare shark that devoured a member of his crew. In addition to his regular team, he is joined on his boat by Ned, a man who believes Zissou to be his father, and Jane, a journalist pregnant by a married man. They travel the sea, all too often running into pirates and, perhaps more traumatically, various figures from Zissou's past, including his estranged wife, Eleanor.

16.

Dawn of the Dead

5.8

7.3/10

A group of survivors take refuge in a shopping mall after the world is taken over by aggressive, flesh-eating zombies.

17.

Closer

5.8

7.2/10

A witty, romantic, and very dangerous love story about chance meetings, instant attractions, and casual betrayals. Two couples disintegrate when they begin destructive adulterous affairs with each other.

18.

Primer

5.7

6.9/10

Friends and fledgling entrepreneurs invent a device in their garage which reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it, but they discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilities - ones that could enable them to do and to have seemingly anything they want. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity is the first challenge they face. Dealing with the consequences is the next.

19.

Mysterious Skin

5.6

7.6/10

A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth.

20.

Ray

5.5

7.7/10

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered couping gospel and country together.