Last Updated: 09/04/04
Total 2003 Films Seen: 60
Top Ten of 2003
1.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Everything that I love about the movies is in full display in Peter Jackson's glorious final chapter to this saga: A moving story with great drama, brilliant acting, breathtaking cinematography, awe-inspiring action, beautiful music and humor in all the right places. I left the theater with a great joy that is still with me today.
2.
Love Actually
Before
Return of the King, this was the 2003 film that had most made me happy. Without ever feeling awkward, the film manages to be both deeply moving (the moment Jason Whyte mentioned with the little boy at the airport nearly made me cry) and extremely funny (like with all of Bill Nighy's scenes).
3.
Finding Nemo
Pixar does it again. Nuff said.
4.
Lost in Translation
Following her stellar debut
The Virgin Suicides (which, btw, is one of my favorite "first-time" viewings of the year), Sofia Coppola gave us a very smart, funny and charming film with a career-best performance by Bill Murray and another winning turn by Scarlett Johansson.
5.
Kill Bill Volume 1
Pure exhilirating fun at the movies. Well, maybe not so pure, considering all the gore.
6.
X2: X-Men United
Much better than the original
X-Men,
X2 is also the finest comic-book adaptation since Richard Donner's
Superman: The Movie. It was thrilling to see elements of such classic X-Men stories as "God Loves, Man Kills" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga" on the big-screen. Kudos to Bryan Singer for being true to the spirit of the comics.
7.
School of Rock
After seeing the trailer, I never thought I'd go to see this film, let alone have it in my top ten. But the great reviews convinced me to go see it and I'm glad I did. Jack Black is hilarious here, but the kids really steal the show. The movie displays a real love for music (not just rock and roll) and that's one of the reasons why I loved it so much.
8.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
A movie no one expected to be any good turned out to be one of the most entertaining and successful blockbusters in recent years. Johnny Depp's performance here is absolutely wonderful and shouldn't be overlooked for the awards.
9.
The Last Samurai
Sure, it's not the most original of epics, but what made it stand out for me was the respect the movie had for the samurai. There is a very mournful tone to the film as you see this fascinating way of life of the samurai swiftly being destroyed. You really understand why Tom Cruise's character turns on his own people to defend that way of life. An excellent performance by Ken Watanabe cements this movie's place on my top ten.
10.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
One of the major themes of 2003 in film has been that friendship, love and loyalty are stronger than any obstacle. We see this in the relationship between Frodo and Sam in
The Return of the King and it's also what drives
Master and Commander. You can tell that Captain Aubrey and Doctor Maturin are old friends and even though their perilous voyage puts that friendship to the test, it isn't enough to break it. I should also mention Peter Weir's strong direction here. You really do get the sense that you are with these people on this ship, experiencing what they experience.
Bottom Five of 2003
1.
Madame Satã
A potentially interesting biopic about a Brazilian drag queen instead turned out to be one of the ugliest movies of this or any year. The lead character is not only a criminal, but an absolute jerk to boot. He treats everyone he meets in the film like garbage for absolutely no reason. One moment he's talking with someone and the next he inexplicably lashes out in anger. The movie is shot to make everything look darker and grimier than it would normally look, making it even harder to feel anything but disgust while watching the film. To top things off, the very reason for there being a biopic about this person (his transformation into Madame Sata) is only briefly dealt with in the film's coda.
2.
The Medallion
I've put up with a lot of flawed Jackie Chan movies because he always seems to redeem his movies with his humor and agility. But alas, he could not save this one. The script is too awful to give Chan anything funny to do or say and the action sequences are boring because they rely on too much bad CG.
3.
All the Real Girls
I understand this movie has a lot of fans, but I'm sorry to say that it nearly put me to sleep. Not even the charming Zooey Deschanel could make me care about anything going on in this film.
4.
Cradle 2 the Grave
Why did I pay to see this? I really have no idea. I must've been really desperate to see a movie that day.
5.
Bringing Down the House
At least I know why I paid to see this one: The trailer was mildly amusing and I really like Steve Martin and Eugene Levy. But even the best laughs in the trailer were rendered unfunny by the film's blatant racism and sheer stupidity.
Top Ten Older Films Seen for the First Time in 2003
1.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2.
Safety Last! (1923)
3.
Unforgiven (1992)
4.
The Color Purple (1985)
5.
12 Angry Men (1957)
6.
Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål) (1998)
7.
The Virgin Suicides (2000)
8.
American Beauty (1999)
9.
Grand Canyon (1991)
10.
All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre) (1999)