I’ve finally found my favorite movie of the year. Granted, the year isn’t over – and I’ll probably change my mind a dozen or so times before December 31st rolls around. But as of May 31st, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” stands as the best film of 2004, at least in my book.

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After being trapped in a jungle board game for 26 years, a Man-Child wins his release from the game. But, no sooner has he arrived that he is forced to play again, and this time sets the creatures of the jungle loose on the city. Now it is up to him to stop them. Written by Joshua Davis {xtnb64a@prodigy.com}

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“National Treasure” is a summer movie released a few months too late. It’s one of those big action/goofball plot/popcorn movies that does well during the long, hot days of summer. Why it’s hitting theaters smack dab in the middle of what’s unofficially referred to as the Oscar-hopeful season is a bit of mystery. Not quite as big of a mystery as what made the filmmakers cast Diane Kruger as Nicolas Cage’s love interest (I like her but she’s way out of her league in this film), but a head-scratcher nonetheless.

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To avoid spoiling the movie this plot summary is very brief. It starts when three people living together in a four bedroom flat are looking for a house mate. The interviews they conduct are very unorthodox and very funny. Eventually the three agree on one prospective tenant. He moves in, locks his door, and is not seen again. After a couple of days the three become curious and break in to his room. What follows is an amazing piece of cinema and to say more would ruin it. Written by {djm@sinope.kbs.citri.edu.au}

The movie is based on a children’s series by the same name. Meg and Charles Wallace are aided by Calvin and 3 interesting women, Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit, and Mrs. Who in the search for their father who disappeared during an experiment he was working on for the government. Their travels take them around the universe to a place unlike any other. They must learn to trust each other and to understand that everyone is different. Written by Mandy Heuer

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Epic tale of a group of Jewish gangsters in New York, from childhood, through their glory years during prohibition, and their meeting again 35 years later. Written by Andrew Welsh {andreww@bnr.ca}

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This sweet romantic comedy reunites “Sleepless In Seattle” stars Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. He’s the owner of a bookstore chain; she’s the woman he falls for online. Both are unaware that she runs the little shop his company is trying to shut down. Written by Kris Hopson

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Based on J. G. Ballard’s autobiographical novel, tells the story of a boy, James Graham, whose privileged life is upturned by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, December 8, 1941. Separated from his parents, he is eventually captured, and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield. Amidst the sickness and food shortages in the camp, Jim attempts to reconstruct his former life, all the while bringing spirit and dignity to those around him. Written by Jeff Hansen {jmh@umich.edu}

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Valentine’s Day 1988: At the school dance, geeky Jeremy Melton bravely faces one rejection after the other when asking four popular girls to dance with him. A fifth girl, plump and insecure, agrees, but they end up making out under the bleachers. When a group of school bullies catches them, the girl claims that Jeremy attacked her. This causes them to strip off his clothes and beat him up in front of the entire school. Flash forward to 2001. We meet the five girls who were in that school gym: Kate (Marley Shelton), Paige (Denise Richards), Shelly (Katherine Heigl), Lily (Jessica Cauffiel) and the formerly plump Dorothy (Jessica Capshaw). They are all in their 20’s now and trying to sort out their love lives, which is appropriate, since Valentine’s Day is coming up. After a disastrous date with a loser, one of the girls, a pre-med student, is murdered by a Cherub-mask wearing killer who sent her a death threat in the form of a Valentine card prior to the attack. After the four remaining girls are reunited at her funeral, they all start receiving threatening cards and messages. At first they don’t know who would want to hurt them, but eventually they figure that maybe Jeremy is responsible. Police records show that Jeremy has completely disappeared, so no one knows what he looks like. Could the formerly nerdish Jeremy have had plastic surgery and turned into one of the girls’ handsome boyfriends? Who ever it is, the lone survivor has to put a stop to this spurned individual’s murder spree before she, too, becomes a valentine to die for. Written by Tertius Saayman {tsaayman@hotmail.com}

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Marcus Burnett is a hen-pecked family man. Mike Lowry is a foot-loose and fancy free ladies’ man. Both are Miami policemen, and both have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station’s nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other. Written by James Hastie {jdh1000@cus.cam.ac.uk}

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