2005 Shanghai Diaries Movie Club
Sideways stands tall (and no minority winners for the fourth year in a row)
OK. I’ll get this out of the way up front: There are no Chinese members of the Shanghai Diaries Movie Club. And only one member actually lives in China. The SDMC was formerly known as the Orange Street Oscars and it was based in lily-white Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. We have moved our operations to Shanghai because labor is cheap, movies are cheaper and the Chinese appear to be on a cinematic hot streak (especially when compared to the Amish, who, frankly, have been a big disappointment since showing so much promise in Witness).
Released just in time to be dramatically overshadowed by the real Oscars, the Shanghai Diaries Movie Club is the year in film as seen through the eyes of five guys in Pennsylvania, one guy in Shanghai and another guy lost somewhere in New Jersey. We give you our Top-20 Films of 2004 and a glimpse of what the Oscars would look like if we were in charge. Scroll down and see rough biographical sketches and individual top-20 lists from each voter. (One movie club member only managed a top-12 list this year. Forgive him — he’s from Scranton.)
The SDMC is looking for new members — especially ones based in China. So, please leave your comments and your own top-whatever lists as comments to this post. We’d love to hear from you. Maybe we’ll invite you back next year. We know you are dying to learn the secret club handshake … and meet the man known to millions of women worldwide simply as Big Daddy.
Enjoy.
02.27.2005, 5:47 PM · Movies · Comments (55)