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Bob Mondello's Favorite Movies of 2004

By Bob Mondello

Published December 31, 2004 at 12:00 AM EST

NPR resident film critic Bob Mondello looks back at the films released in 2004, and finds a handful that prove to filmmakers that you can create films that deal with politics, memory and religion and not suffer at the box office.

Mondello's Picks for 2004:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Bad Education

Kinsey

The Aviator

Finding Neverland

William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice

Maria Full of Grace

Vera Drake

Hotel Rwanda

The Incredibles

Also Memorable:

Osama

Moolaade

Good Bye Lenin!

The Motorcycle Diaries

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

Sharp Performances:

Sideways

Million Dollar Baby

Offbeat Discoveries:

Garden State

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

Bob Mondello

Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.

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