Fav Movies of 2004 Part 2.

This round, I will talk about 2 more movies that I enjoyed this year. The Terminal and The Passion of Christ.

The Terminal: Tom Hanks is back in form again. He plays a transit traveller stuck at the international Terminal of the NY airport with no citizenship, and nowhere to go. The screenplay is based on a true story, though the movie used a phony country name and the actual airport wasn't a US airport. However, this movie succeeds in the same way Cast Away did - it carried the main character through a process of change and discovery. Both characters were placed in a strange location where they cannot leave, and they both tried to find the reasons to carry on with their lives. The setup was good, with cleverly designed characters. Another thumbs up from me for this movie by Steven Spielberg.

The Passion of Christ: This movie is a powerful one. The message is universal, and the images are strong. Whether it is an accurate depiction of the last 12 hours is debatable. This interpretation was that of Mel Gibson's, which was inspired by a description of the Passion by Lady Anne Catherine Emmerich from the 18th century who had a vision of the crucification. However, the movie resulted was that faithful to the visions, and Mel Gibson's guerilla tactics of marketing the film had a huge impact on well it was eventually received. Churches all around the world hailed the film and praises for the film spread like wildfire. Eventually, the "documentary" style of the film worked great to bolster the film's credibilty, and the seriousness of the subject was dealt with in a respectful manner. A great movie that will touch and be watched by millions in years to come.