Ten Best of 2003

[CMJ]

Here it is the end of another year. It's time for me to once again start reflecting on the best movies I saw from '03. This list is by no means done - because I still have alot of movies I wanna see. Feel free to add your own.

***Note: Made changes, and rethought some of the order. Still have some stuff yet to see, but making progress.***

Honorable Mentions in no particular order...
X-Men 2
Confidence
Lost in Translation
Freddy vs Jason

10. Bad Santa - One of the most hilarious movies I've seen in a long time. Billy Bob Thornton may have given his best ever performance. That's saying alot considering he's one of his generations best actors IMHO.

9. A Mighty Wind - Christopher Guest once again makes a rolling in the aisle mockumentary. This time it's about the Folk Singing movement. While not quite on par with 'Best in Show' this was still a seriously funny movie in the 'This is Spinal Tap' tradition.

8. American Splendor- Atruly unique experience. A movie about the making of a comic book, which was made into a play...and then a movie. Terrific style and wonderful performances.

7. Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World - Well acted and produced high seas drama. The first hour was among the best I've seen all year. Weir sort of lost his way in the middle section but this was still a stunning effort. A movie I admired more than I loved.

6. Big Fish - Tim Burton's explortaion of the Southern tradition of telling Tall Tales(I'm originally from the South...it does exist, at least in my family) was really compelling. Well acted all the way around, with an award worthy supportng turn by Albert Finney.

5. Monster - One of the most sympathetic, disturbing, and probably countless other adjectives - portraits of a serial killer. Charlize Theron is a revelation. Who knew she could be this good? One of the best acting jobs....ever.

4. The Last Sumarai - When I first saw the preview for this, I thought it looked preposterous. I mean seriously...I didn't believe for a second Tom Cruise could fit in with samurai. Get real. I was simply amazed how well this movie came together. Everything, and I mean everything was top notch. Technically supurb, great acting, great dialogue, terrific battle sequences, hell even the music was good. A true delight.

3. Seabiscuit - The story of the 1938 horse of the year is too good to screw up. While not on par with the book(one of the best I've ever read), it's still really well put together. Jeff Bridges is fantastic and William H. Macy steals the show. The race scenes are wonderfully staged and choreographed. Maybe the best movie on horseracing ever - certainly since 'Phar Lap'.

2. Mystic River - Clint Eastwood is at his very best here. The three leads : Penn, Bacon, and Robbins are all wonderful. The script echos a Shakeaspearian tragedy. Gut wrenching stuff all the way around.

1. Return of the King - Peter Jackson makes one for the ages. Remember, I'm not the biggest LOTR fan alive..not by any stretch. Did I have problems with it? Yes. It may not even be my favorite movie of the year...but it's the cinematic experience of '03. All involved should be proud. Bravo.

[Ryan Pode]

10. Matrix: Revolutions/ Matrix: Reloaded
9. Daredevil
8. The Hulk
7. Finding Nemo
6. Daredevil
5. Anger Management
4. Pirates of the Carrebian
3. X-2: X-men United
2. The Last Samurai
1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by CMJ
Billy Bob Thornton ... is one of his generations best actors IMHO.

Agreed.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I kinda of reserve making a list right now. I haven't seen enough of the big films of 2003 (especially those from the last three months) mainly Cold Mountain, Master and Commander, The Last Samurai and Mystic River those four I would have to see to really do any kind of a list. Right now the best three movies I have seen in order that I have seen them are X-Men 2, Seabiscuit, and ROTK.

[JMK]

I've barely seen about 10 movies (13 to be exact) this year, so they all get ranked whether I liked them or not. So here goes:

17. Charlie's Angels 2
16. Daredevil
15. The Recruit
14. Bad Boys 2
13. Matrix: Revolutions
12. Master and Commander
11. Pirates of the Carribbean
10. Matrix: Reloaded
9. Cold Mountain
8. Terminator 3
7. Big Fish
6. Hulk
5. Kill Bill
4. X2
3. The Last Samurai
2. Seabiscuit
1. Return of the King

I never got to see The Last Samurai as I had hoped, but I'm sure based on the opinions here it would have made it fairly close to the top of my list for this year as well.

EDIT: The Last Samurai comes in at #3 behind Return of the King and Seabiscuit, and Big Fish comes in at #7.

[TCM'74]

10. Master and Commander
9. Matrix Reloaded
8. Kill Bill
7. 28 Days Later
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
5. X-Men 2
4. The Hulk
3. Return of the King
2. Seabiscuit
1. Mystic River

I still haven't seen The Last Samurai, Cold Mountain, and the limited releases of 21 Grams and Monster. 2003 wasn't an impressive year IMO, rather weak overall. But the action, fantasy, and sci-fi geeks more than received their fill I suppose.

[ReaperFett]

1 Kill Bill (Seen twice)
2 Daredevil (Seen three times)
3 Once Upon a Time in Mexico (Seen twice)
4 X2 (Seen twice)
5 Equilibrium
6 Return of the King
7 Underworld
8 Matrix Revolutions
9 Pirates of the Carribean (Seen twice)
10 LXG
11 Ripley's Game
12 Hollywood Homicide
13 Bruce Almighty
14 Terminator 3
15 Freddy vs Jason
16 Matrix Reloaded (Seen twice)
17 Johnny English
18 Hulk
19 The Two Towers (Seen twice)
20 Tears Of The Sun
21 Tomb Raider 2
22 The Tuxedo

Bottom three were BAD, next two were meh, the rest I enjoyed to SOME extent.

[CMJ]

Originally posted by TCM'74

....2003 wasn't an impressive year IMO, rather weak overall. But the action, fantasy, and sci-fi geeks more than received their fill I suppose.

Man, I thought '03 was a pretty good year. Not the best, but certainly not as weak as say...2001. That was one of the weakest movie years I can remember. Certainly the weakest since I *really* started keeping up with things in '97 or so.

[Dutchy]

I've seen very few 2003 releases yet. Finding Nemo is hands down my favorite so far.

[Jinn Fizz]

10. The Haunted Mansion
9. Hulk
8 The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
7. Daredevil
6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
5. Freddy vs. Jason
4. Finding Nemo
3. Peter Pan
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
1. X2

There were 2 other movies I saw this year that I was really, really looking forward to, and which I ended up being really, really disappointed with. So if I were to make a list of the worst of 2003, they'd both be on it. Worst not necessarily in the sense of quality, but in the level of disappointment.

2. Looney Tunes: Back In Action
1. The Matrix Reloaded

[Syo]

1. Return of the King
2. Underworld
3. The Last Samurai
4. Gothika
5. Pirates of the Caribbean
6. Whale Rider
7. X-Men 2
8. Confidence
9. Kill Bill
10. Matrix Revolutions

[TCM'74]

Originally posted by CMJ
Man, I thought '03 was a pretty good year. Not the best, but certainly not as weak as say...2001. That was one of the weakest movie years I can remember. Certainly the weakest since I *really* started keeping up with things in '97 or so.

I would have to go back and look over 2001 again, now that I am curious. But looking at this year's listings and the listings of those participating in this thread. It seems 2003 was the year of F/X. Though I haven't seen a few movies I mentioned in my earlier post and also forgot to include Shattered Glass which is receiving alot of praise. Yet, F/X remains the biggest stars of the year. And that turned out to be a personal letdown for me.

[Dutchy]

2001 had quite some great movies:

- Monsters Inc.
- Shrek
- Y tu mamá también
- A Beautiful Mind
- No Man's Land
- I Am Sam
- In the Bedroom
- Ice Age
- The Others
- Monster's Ball
- Ghost World

[ReaperFett]

Originally posted by TCM'74
It seems 2003 was the year of F/X.
They made another? I loved those movies! :D







...;)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Plus
LOTR: FOTR
Harry Potter and the Sorceror stone (might not be the best movie but it was one of the favorite movies for me from that year)

[Doc Milo]

This is kind of embarassing, but I don't think I've seen ten movies this year!

My short -- very short -- list contains all the movies I've seen in decending order of likeability:

6. Wrong Turn
5. Matrix Reloaded
4. Timeline
3. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2. X-Men 2
1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King


Wrong Turn and T3 I saw on DVD. Don't know if Wrong Turn was a 2003 release or not...

[CMJ]

Dutchy every year has *some* great movies, but the overall quality in '01 was WAYYYY down.

[Taylor Millard]

I think I only saw like 7 movies this year...

7.
6. Underworld
5. Matrix Reloaded
4. Scary Movie 3
3. X2
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
1. Return of the King

Correction...I saw 6 movies this year.

[Charley]

1. Kill Bill
2. The Last Samurai
3. RotK
4. Finding Nemo
5. X2
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
7. Matrix Revolutions
8. Matrix Reloaded
9. Bruce Almighty
10. Underworld
11. Terminator 3
12. Anger Management
13. The Recruit
14. The Hulk
15. Equilibrium (sucked)
16. Master & Commander (SUCKED)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I think 2003 was a weak year movie attendance was down for the first time since 91 which was one of the worst years in the last 50 years. I think what hurt this year was the period from September to November. Usually there are several big films but this year only three movies from that period made 100 million and two barely (Cat in the Hat and Matrix Revolution) and those two films were two of the most trounced movies by critics and word of mouth. Personally 2001 was a better movie year for me than this year but hey that is my opinion.

[CMJ]

You can't totally look at attendence to judge quality. Sometimes no one goes to see the best movies because they're small, and pretty lame ones do quite well.

I remember my Top 10 for '01 was by far my weakest since I've really started doing them. Half of them probably wouldn't be on any other end of year list. In addition really good movies that didn't end up there were few and far between(usually I have like 25 movies I wanna put on it - that year it was like maybe 15).

Other bodies seemed to be similarly frustrated. I don't always agree with the Academy, but they came up with some seriously bad nominees in '01. It was the weakest set of nominees for Best Picture that I can remember(maybe '96 was worse).

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I consider this year weak because there weren't many movies I liked there was a lot of crap out there in September and October (Part of the reason why nobody went to the movies). This is just my opinon but I think 2003 was weaker than past years. I still think 91 was the weakest year that I can remember that year had a slew of bad movies and I can only remember T2 and Robin Hood from that year after that the rest of the year is a complete blur.

[CMJ]

Septemeber and October are almost always littered with movies the studios dump. Other than holdovers from December; January and February are the same way. Actually other than a few weeks during the summer and the November/December onslaught of award contenders- I never see anything in the theatres(unless somehow gets misplaced in the "offseasons").

Movies that are released the rest of the year are usually wait till video types. Every now and then one will surprise you, but usually it's all average stuff.

[Jedi Master Carr]

This year just seemed worst than last year. Also the holiday season seemed weaker especially at the box office. Maybe it was because of the Cat in the Hat and the Matrix Revolution being such huge disapointments. I don't know.

[ReaperFett]

There's no such thing as a bad year, merely a year where you missed the good movies :)

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Jedi Master Carr
This year just seemed worst than last year. Also the holiday season seemed weaker especially at the box office. Maybe it was because of the Cat in the Hat and the Matrix Revolution being such huge disapointments. I don't know.

There were some genuinely good moives about this year. X2 was excellent, Finding Nemo was brilliant, Kill Bill Pt 1 was up there... add Last samurai

And of course...

Oddly enough, I havent poured love over ROTK yet. I finally saw it again last weekend and it is, without a doubt, one of the finest cinematic experiences ever put to film. First time around, I had my mind on other things. This time, I didnt and I could savour it properly. I would describe ROTK as a mix of FOTR, TTT without a standout flaw or wince scene. TTT made me go a bit cold on LOTR, but ROTK I can be proud I was a LOTR geek before these three magnifient movies came out. I can hardly believe what we LOTR geeks got.

[ReaperFett]

When you say TTT made you go cold on LOTR, did you actually dislike it or just think it was a let-down?

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by ReaperFett
When you say TTT made you go cold on LOTR, did you actually dislike it or just think it was a let-down?

It was a letdown after FOTR and especially FOTR:EE, which admittedly a frelling hard act to follow. TT is still superb, TT:EE brings TT back up to the right level, but not up to FOTR:EE. And all are beaten by ROTK. TTT just has a few "WTF was he thinking?" moments.

But how can I quibble? FOTR, TTT, ROTK are all excellent.

[CMJ]

I thought TTT was way better than FOTR. Every movie got increasingly better IMHO. That's why 2 years ago I said a FOTR win would be the worst choice for BP in years...and this year I'm rooting for ROTK.

Talk about a big change over a 2 year period.

[Sanis Prent]

Originally posted by CMJ
I thought TTT was way better than FOTR. Every movie got increasingly better IMHO. That's why 2 years ago I said a FOTR win would be the worst choice for BP in years...and this year I'm rooting for ROTK.

Talk about a big change over a 2 year period.

Really? I thought RotK and FotR were leaps and bounds over TTT. Must be preference I guess.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by CMJ
That's why 2 years ago I said a FOTR win would be the worst choice for BP in years...


I'd rather that Fellowship had won it instead of A Beautiful Mind. :x



Anyway... ROTK > FOTR >> TTT. That's pretty much my opinion. I like them all, but a few parts of TTT irked me too much to ignore. ROTK and FOTR are close.


I'll hold off on my Top 10 List for now. I have yet to see a couple of films that could make it into my top 10.

[ReaperFett]

>FOTR:EE or ROTK>THE OTHER ONE>A LOT OF OTHER STUFF>TTT

Not seen the EE of TTT yet.

[CMJ]

Originally posted by Figrin D'an
I'd rather that Fellowship had won it instead of A Beautiful Mind. :x


No way...ABM was pretty deserving in '01. At least out of the nominated films that is(my #4 film of the year overall). Of course that was one of the worst sets of finalists in recent memory that year though...at least for me. ;)

[Sanis Prent]

A Beautiful Mind was fantastic. I might be partial though, since I'm routinely being force-fed John Nash's Game Theory, all the time.

[Figrin D'an]

Different strokes for different folks. I would have given it to Fellowship, Moulin Rouge or In The Bedroom. ABM annoyed me greatly. Gosford Park was terrible.

The real best film of that year, IMO, was Memento.

[Sanis Prent]

In the Bedroom? That movie was 10 pounds of hell in a five pound bag. No way, no how.

You're right about Gosford Park though.

I still need to see Memento. Even my dad liked it, and my dad is a movie neanderthal.

[CMJ]

At the time, I had 'Memento' as my #2...but looking back...yeah I agree. It was my favorite movie of 2001. How it lost Original Screenplay to 'Gosford park' is mindblowing. One of the worst decisions of recent memory by Oscar voters.

[Droo]

My top ten:

1. Return of the King
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. X2
5. The Two Towers: Extended Edition
6. 28 Days Later
7. Finding Nemo
8. Equilibrium
9. Underworld
10. Matrix Revolutions

I love In the Bedroom; that film tore me to pieces emotionally, the first time I saw it, and has every other time I've watched it after that had a profound effect on me. I don't think there's ever been a film, as far as I know, that has studied with such ravaging detail the mourning of a loved one. I wanted to turn it off when I was watching it on TV but felt like I owed it to the Fowlers to stick with them and see it through. I don't think any other film has made me appreciate life so much.

Gosford Park was great, it had a great ensemble and one of my favourite actresses in it - Emily Watson. (:love) It some great moments of humour, particularly from Maggie Smith, and it's one of those quaint films I can just throw on and sit back and watch. I understand why it's not everyone's cup of tea though.

[Dutchy]

Originally posted by Dru
I love In the Bedroom; that film tore me to pieces emotionally

And in 2003 no movie did, looking at your top 10?

I hated every minute of Gosford Park, btw. Loved ITB.

[Droo]

Originally posted by Dutchy
And in 2003 no movie did, looking at your top 10?


Eh?