I won’t see The Dreamers because I’m not big on Bertolucci, and I won’t see Eternal Sunshine because I’m not big on Charlie Kaufman (“I can see your sadness” ranks as 2002’s dumbest line not written by George Lucas). I’ll probably also skip Dogville, because I’m not inclined to check out another Von Trier, even if he’s spinning Our Town.  If I have to watch a Dogme man reinterpret Thornton Wilder, I’ll wait for Thomas Vinterberg to take a deranged stab at The Matchmaker.

BEN B. CHUNG: First off, I’m a bit dismayed that as a fellow admirer of cinema, you’re not “big on Charlie Kaufman.” The man’s an unequivocal genius and the fact that his scripts have attracted the attention of such brand names as Nicolas Cage, Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep (in a supporting role, no less), makes his work all the more admirable. I defy you to name another working screenwriter who has invented a film premise as consistently innovative as Being John Malkovich, a screenplay as audacious as Adaptation, or a plot structure that is as simultaneously accessible and convoluted as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.

Also, in defense of the line, “I can see your sadness” (I apparently have more invested in this debate than even I expected), you seem to forget its context. It was delivered by an immigrant worker whose imperfect English was intended to make it sound somewhat stilted, excusing any loss of impact derived therein. I present to you another line from Adaptation that single-handedly trumps any off-day Kaufman offerings, when Donald Kaufman describes the screenplay he’s working on: “So the killer flees on horseback with the girl, the cop’s after them on a motorcycle and it’s like a battle between motors and horses, like technology vs. horse.”

But I seem to have derailed my train of thought quite a bit and will now dive into 2004’s other promising offerings. The summer months will be slightly less clogged with redundant sequels than in years past, though general quality hardly seems a guarantee. I’m expecting solid laughs from Eulogy, a dysfunctional family comedy starring Zooey Deschanel, an exceptionally talented ingenue who’s been looking for a bigger vehicle after working wonders in minor classics Almost Famous and All the Real Girls.

The third Harry Potter looks substantially better than its two predecessors, likely due to acting lessons for li’l Radcliffe and the capable direction of Alfonso Cuaron, who could probably turn See Spot Run into a haunting examination of the human soul with vague sexual undertones. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow has been apparently sitting on the shelf for some time which immediately sends up warning signals, but the outlandish, late ’30s detective comic visuals in the trailer suggest a full realization of the powers of CGI technology. A safer bet will be Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset, a continuation of the Before Sunrise story nine years after Jesse and Celine first meet on that train to Vienna.

I will try to keep the ink spilt on 2004’s inexorable dreck to a minimum, but I must mention the worst-looking film of the year, The Whole Ten Yards, an inexplicable sequel to 2000’s marginally successful Matthew Perry/Bruce Willis buddy vehicle. The film’s preview features a mulleted, apron-donning Willis vacuuming in bunny slippers as he scolds Perry for touching his chickens. So many questions, so very little interest in the answers.

As usual, the year’s end is rich with prestige films that studios will cast out as juicy Oscar bait. One of my most cherished films, The Manchurian Candidate, is being remade with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep on board. Though remakes of classic films are only occasionally successful, this pedigree will guarantee at least a vastly entertaining mess (I can hear those Gus Van Sant Psycho violins now).

Michael Mann has yet to strike out and he has Tom Cruise and Mark Ruffalo for the cabbie-in-peril thriller Collateral. The reliable Johnny Depp also tries for a second consecutive Academy nod in J.M. Barrie’s Neverland, as the titular author of Peter Pan. And finally, Michael Moore’s Bush-bashing documentary Fahrenheit 9-11 will sparkle as the Winged Migration of 2004. “Kerry/Moore 2004” has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

BEN SOSKIN: On Kaufman’s alleged greatness: the very same year that Adaptation came out, there was a wonderful Scandinavian film called Songs from the Second Floor that managed to be audacious, innovative, accessible and convoluted all at once. But the ease or difficulty of such a feat shouldn’t be the issue here: Kaufman, along with “creative” filmmakers like Wes Anderson and Darren Aronofsky, have proven that audacity and innovation don’t automatically beget relatable characters, untiresome plotting, or, as I alluded to with the “sadness” line, thematic grace; if Kaufman didn’t want the line to be trite and heavy-handed, he should have found a different way to express the sentiment behind it.

Not that there are a lot of people who can consistently write Grade-A dialogue for the above passel of purposes; one of the only ones who’s currently working is Richard Linklater. Which is why I’m overjoyed that you uncovered Before Sunset, whose predecessor was everything that Lost in Translation could’ve been. I think Linklater’s been hit-and-miss for a few years—School of Rock aside, Tape underwhelmed me, and all that Waking Life had going for it was innovative presentation (there’s that dubious “I” word again) and enough aimless, useless philosophizing to fill a semester of Moral Reasoning lectures—but I am very pumped for the Ethan/Julie reunion. It’s the next best thing to the Brief Encounter sequel that we never got.

Like you, I love The Manchurian Candidate, and, like you, I’m apprehensive about the remake; I don’t think that Jonathan Demme’s flair can compensate for a script written by a guy whose past credits include The Sum of All Fears and Doc Hollywood. On the other hand, I don’t think that remakes are necessarily bad, especially with the right cachet; I was fine with paying top dollar to see the Psycho remake, for example, because I couldn’t pass up the chance to see William H. Macy and Julianne Moore slotted into a Hitchcock movie. I would also enjoy a shot-by-shot North by Northwest remake starring Jeff Bridges and Reese Witherspoon, or a do-over of The Birds starring people who could act.

And not that you asked, but I actually didn’t mind The Whole Nine Yards; I thought it had a lot of the same good scene-by-scene, line-by-line timing that its no-name director brought to My Cousin Vinny, and I may be one of the few people who thinks that Matthew Perry is the most talented Friend (I know, that’s like declaring that there’s a tastiest diet soda).

—Staff writer Ben B. Chung can be reached at bchung@fas.harvard.edu. Staff writer Ben Soskin can be reached at bsoskin@fas.harvard.edu.