2004: Year in Review
The Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. Throw Down (dir: Johnnie To)

2. Birth (dir: Jonathan Glazer)

3. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring (dir: Kim Ki-duk; US release date)

4. House of Flying Daggers (dir: Zhang Yimou)

5. Dogville (dir: Lars Von Trier; US release date)

6. Million Dollar Baby (dir: Clint Eastwood)

7. Spider-Man 2 (dir: Sam Raimi)

8. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 (dir: Quentin Tarantino)

9. Bad Education (dir: Pedro Almodóvar)

10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (dir: Michel Gondry)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy (dir: Adam McKay), The Aviator (dir: Martin Scorsese), Baadasssss!  (dir: Mario Van Peebles), Collateral (dir: Michael Mann), Dig! (dir: Ondi Timoner), Hellboy (dir: Guillermo del Toro), Hero (dir: Zhang Yimou; US release date), The Incredibles (dir: Brad Bird), Mean Girls (dir: Mark Waters), Primer (dir: Shane Carruth), The Saddest Music in the World (dir: Guy Maddin), Secret Things (dir: Jean-Claude Brisseau; US Release Date), Shaun of the Dead (dir: Edgar Wright), Team America: World Police (dir: Trey Parker) and Vera Drake (dir: Mike Leigh)

Best Film of the Year: Throw Down
Director: Johnnie To Producers: Stephen Lam, Johnnie To
Distributor: China Star Entertainment

Best Director:
Johnnie To, Throw Down
2. Zhang Yimou, House of Flying Daggers
3. Jonathan Glazer, Birth
4. Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. Sam Raimi, Spider-Man 2

Best Actor:
Gael García Bernal, Bad Education
2. Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby
3. Bruno Ganz, Downfall
4. Jamie Foxx, Collateral
5. Will Ferrell, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Best Actress:
Nicole Kidman, Dogville AND Birth
2. Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
4. Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
5. Zhang Ziyi, House of Flying Daggers

Best Supporting Actor: 
Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
2. Mark Wahlberg, I Heart Huckabees
3. Mark Ruffalo, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Michael Madsen, Kill Bill, Vol. 2
5. J.K. Simmons, Spider-Man 2

Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
2. Isabelle Rossellini, The Saddest Music in the World
3. Kirsten Dunst, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Joy Bryant, Baadassssss!
5. Rachel McAdams, Mean Girls

Best Original Screenplay:
Dogville – Lars von Trier
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Charlie Kaufman
3. Bad Education — Pedro Almodóvar
4. Primer — Shane Carruth
5. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring — Kim Ki-duk

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Mean Girls — Tina Fey
2. Baadassssss! — Mario Van Peebles and Dennis Haggerty
3. Million Dollar Baby – Paul Haggis
4. The Saddest Music in the World – Guy Maddin and George Toles
5. The Twilight Samurai – Yoji Yamada and Yoshitaka Asama

Best Cinematography:
Birth – Harris Savides
2. Throw Down — Cheng Siu Keung
3. Hero — Christopher Doyle
4. House of Flying Daggers — Xiaoding Zhao
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Ellen Kuras

Best Original Score:
Birth – Alexandre Desplat
2. I Heart Huckabees – Jon Brion
3. A Tale of Two Sisters – Lee Byung-woo
4. Spider-Man 2 – Danny Elfman
5. Hellboy – Marco Beltrami

Best Film Editing:
Kill Bill, Vol. 2 – Sally Menke
2. Shaun of the Dead – Chris Dickens
3. Hero — Vincent Lee and Ru Zhai
4. Spider-Man 2 – Bob Murawski
5. House of the Flying Daggers — Long Cheng

Best Production Design:
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou — Mark Friedberg and Gretchen Rau
2. House of Flying Daggers — Tingxiao Huo and Bin Zhao
3. Dogville – Peter Grant and Simone Grau
4. The Aviator – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
5. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 — David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco

Best Costume Design:
House of Flying Daggers — Emi Wada
2. The Aviator — Sandy Powell
3. Hellboy — Wendy Patridge
4. Kill Bill, Vol. 2 — Kumiko Ogawa and Catherine Marie Thomas
5. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou — Milena Canonero

Best Visual Effects
House of Flying Daggers
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Best Sound
The Saddest Music in the World
2. Spider-Man 2
3. The Aviator

Best Makeup
Hellboy
2. Dawn of the Dead
3. The Passion of the Christ

Best Documentary Feature:
Ondi Timoner, Dig!

Best Animated Feature:
Brad Bird, The Incredibles

Best Limited Series:
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, The Staircase

Best Ensemble Cast: 
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Orson Welles' Best First Feature:
Adam McKay, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

Best Ensemble Cast (dir: Michel Gondry; in alphabetical order): Jane Adams, Jim Carrey, David Cross, Kirsten Dunst (pictured), Mark Ruffalo (pictured), Tom Wilkinson (pictured), Kate Winslet, and Elijah Wood

Best First Feature: Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate (pictured) in Adam McKay’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

RECAP

W I N S :

Birth — 3,
Dogville — 2, House of Flying Daggers — 2, Throw Down — 2, Anchorman — 1, The Aviator — 1, Bad Education — 1, Dig! — 1, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — 1, Hellboy — 1, The Incredibles — 1, Kill Bill: Volume 2 — 1, The Life Aquatic — 1, Mean Girls — 1, Million Dollar Baby — 1, The Saddest Music in the World — 1, The Staircase — 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S :

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — 8, House of Flying Daggers — 8,
Birth — 5, Kill Bill: Volume 2 — 5, Million Dollar Baby — 5, Spider-Man 2 — 5, The Aviator — 4, Dogville — 4, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring — 4, Hellboy — 3, The Life Aquatic — 3, The Saddest Music in the World — 3, Throw Down — 3, Anchorman — 2, Baadasssss! — 2, Bad Education — 2, Hero — 2, I Heart Huckabee’s — 2, Mean Girls — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s