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Our Top 10's of 2003: Time To Throw Down! - Page 5

post #121 of 210
2/2/04 at 10:53am
Yes, Dana, great job! Your efforts are appreciated.

~Edwin
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post #122 of 210
2/2/04 at 11:29am
1. American Splendor (****)
2. Big Fish (****)
3. Whale Rider (****)
4. Spellbound (***1/2)
5. Kill Bill I (***1/2)
6. Return of the King (***1/2)
7. The Station Agent (***)
8. Lost in Translation (***)
9. Mystic River (***)
10. 21 Grams (***)
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post #123 of 210
2/2/04 at 5:11pm
Great job, Dana -- very interesting!

(I've actually seen more 2003 films if I include those seen on DVD; however, my 2003 list only includes those seen theatrically. I DID, however, include "Spider" in my Top 10, the only film viewed on DVD in my Top 10. )
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post #124 of 210
2/2/04 at 7:29pm
You know me Dana, I love a good list, and I love it even more when some other dumb SOB is doing the work.


Last Samurai is another Gladiator for me, its doing much better with other people than me, though TLS is doing worse than Glad. both with myself and everyone else. I thought TLS was mediocre summer popcorn.

Kill Bill was the other film that I thought was more style than substance. There it sits at #2 feeling a little bit like a film that would dominate a male film-geek centric HTF poll, yet we do have a great mix of film lovers involved so I'm actually reluctant to make such an assumption...even if it would explain why I'm not so alone with the 2 Matrix films making the HTF top 30 just like they did my list. I'll put it down as good taste and that I just didn't get Kill Bill rather than that its a bunch of film fanboys around here.

I'm really pleased to see X2 where its at. I thought it was an outstanding action/adventure film whose plot contained a lot more depth than would normally be required without forgetting that the action sequences were where its bread was going to be buttered.
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post #125 of 210
2/2/04 at 8:02pm
Seth,

<DeNiro mode>You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only here. Who do you think you're talkin' to?</DeNiro mode>

I agree with you on Kill Bill's status on the list (I put it much lower on my list than most here did), but I do think those who rate it high really DO feel it's worthy of that rating, and not just putting it there because they're Tarantino groupies or trying to make a statement on art. My friend Dave thinks KB was the best film of the year ("If it weren't for Return of the King, that is," he then says as a caveat )

I also agree about X2. I can also say the same about Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean (though I'm really hoping for PotC to grab like #8 or so and knock out Irreversible, another film like KB that I just couldn't rate highly). I'm hoping that Whale Rider goes up in the list before it's all over -- I'd like to see that one get within the top 15 (I think it's a beautiful gem, as much as those who feel Lost in Translation is...and I think Keisha deserves the Oscar ("If it weren't for Charlize Theron," I sez as a caveat )

Elizabeth, please DO add your DVD-viewed films to your 2003 Film List (if they're 2003 releases, of course); just single them out in a different section or something, and I'll add them to your list in my database and your numbers will increase by your name (which will help a little on the FWT column for those films you ranked in your top 10).

Everyone else, thanks again for the compliments; you're making me blush :b

Another update will come later this week. Stay tuned...
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post #126 of 210
2/2/04 at 8:11pm
Oh, by the way...

Here's the link to last year's Top 30 of our Top 10; the last post I made was in March, right around the Oscars. Sure is fun to make comparisons to last year. Looks like there's a much greater consensus on this year's #1 than last year. Interesting to see the parallels between the 2 years (and the differences).

Top 30 of Our Top 10 of 2002
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post #127 of 210
2/2/04 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Kill Bill was the other film that I thought was more style than substance. There it sits at #2...
Well, to a certain extent, I don't know as there's anything wrong with being style over substance. Certainly, I wouldn't want nothing but that, but the visuals, choreography, use of music, etc., are all legitimate filmmaking achievements just as impressive as making you identify with the characters. For a movie like Kill Bill, style is substance, and that's fine.

To a certain extent, it's tough to avoid discriminating by genre. Kill Bill is a fight movie, but it's a masterpiece of one. Similarly, I kept finding myself questioning how high I was ranking Intolerable Cruelty (I was just stubborn about Finding Nemo) until I sat down and told myself, self, you did not have two more enjoyable hours in a movie theater all year, and quite frankly, comedies have disappointed you much more often than dramas. It's like I have to consciously remind myself that these other genres aren't less important, difficult, or capable of greatness.
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post #128 of 210
2/2/04 at 9:07pm
Quote:
Well, to a certain extent, I don't know as there's anything wrong with being style over substance.

I agree and thought that when writing it. Perhaps I could ammend that to say a lack of substance OF style.

Just style for style's sake rather than for an intended affect, and not neccessarily a narrative one. You can make mood films, including hip-moods, moods of overt violence, etc. To some degree Pulp did this of course. But Kill Bill, IMO only I realize, simply had no focused vision of mood or style. It didn't feel like the style existed for any consistent reason at all.

And that was why I was strongly let down by QTs effort, though at times the film was just what I hoped for. As I said in my top 10 list post, the film felt like QT referencing himself (and I've heard others say that).


So I think you and I just disagree on the effectiveness of his use of style in KB, not that using style is inherently wrong. I'm totally with you on the idea that it is about how you feel for the 90-180 minutes in the theater. It doesn't matter WHICH emotion you feel, just that the film can engage you strongly. Comedies make you laugh a lot, thrillers scare the shit out of you, dramas send you into tears or introspection, and kung-fu revenge flicks keep you wanting to see the next fight.

QT at times made me think "boring, you are going too long with this" or "gee, is this a reference of a reference".

However, I would agree whole-heartedly that the film showed a great deal of creative ambition in trying to be something interesting to watch, reference or otherwise.
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post #129 of 210
2/2/04 at 10:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Edit #2: Well, at least for Jason the 29/30 is right -- he's not listed House of Sand and Fog.]

Whoops, forgot to put it on my 2003 Film List...I saw it the first few days of January and forgot to notch it in there...should be fixed now.

Jason
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post #130 of 210
2/3/04 at 8:20pm
I've updated my list to include Lost in Translation (finally).
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post #131 of 210
2/4/04 at 3:39am
Finally saw Spellbound. Great doc, but not great enough to bump May (my #10 film).

Next up, Lost in Translation later tonight.
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post #132 of 210
2/4/04 at 5:39am
Here's my Top 10. I didn't exlude anything based on geographic "wide release" dates, but I did see these between 1/1/03 to 12/31/03, all theatrically except Camel(s).

01. Since Otar Left (Julie Bertucelli)
02. Goodbye Dragon Inn (Tsai Ming-Liang)
03. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
04. Life on the Tracks (Riles) (Ditsi Carolino)
05. Happy Here and Now (Michael Almereyda)
06. Pornography (Jan Jacob Kolski)
07. Pretend (Julie Talen)
08. Raising Victor Vargas (Peter Sollett)
09. Camel(s) (Park Ki-young)
10. Good Morning, Night (Marco Bellocchio)
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post #133 of 210
2/4/04 at 6:07am
.
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post #134 of 210
2/4/04 at 9:09am
I've seen Lost in Translation and put it in second place after The Return of the King. I've updated my list.

What a wonderful movie! After seeing it, I felt like something is missing in my life (read: Scarlett Johanssen)
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post #135 of 210
2/4/04 at 11:03am
1. Finding Nemo (Say what you want, it was a brilliant film and surprised me by how excellent it was! ) ****
2. Kill Bill Vol I ****
3. Pirates Of The Caribbean ****
4. Lost In Translation *** 1/2
5. American Splendor *** 1/2
6. Big Fish *** 1/2
7. Seabiscuit *** 1/2
8. 28 Days Later *** 1/2
9. Lord Of The Rings: ROTK *** 1/2
10. 21 Grams ***

DISHONOURABLE MENTION:
Bad Boys II
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post #136 of 210
2/5/04 at 1:48am


1 - X-Men 2
2 - Lord of the Rings : Return of the King
3 - Matrix : Revolutions
4 - The Last Samurai
5 - Kill Bill : Volume 1
6 - Peter Pan
7 - Pirates of the Caribbean
8 - Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines
9 - Matrix : Reloaded
10 - Phone Booth
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post #137 of 210
2/5/04 at 1:15pm
Updated my top ten to include The Fog of War bumping out Bend It Like Beckham.

Rob
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post #138 of 210
2/5/04 at 9:42pm
Updated my Top Ten to include Lost in Translation.

...finally!

What a fantastic film. 21 Grams got the bump.
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post #139 of 210
2/5/04 at 10:46pm
Added American Splendor to my top 10 and did a bit of shuffling after reviewing my list.

Main features left to see - 21 Grams, In America

Need to also see most of the docs and foreign films.
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post #140 of 210
2/6/04 at 1:37am
Forgot to mention, I also caught The Last Samurai but didn't like it enough to put it on my top ten.

Tomorrow: Big Fish
Saturday: Monster
Sunday: In America

...hopefully.
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post #141 of 210
2/6/04 at 9:43am
Still a few movies I have to see so maybee some editing.

1. Return of the King
2. Whale Rider
3. Kill Bill
4. Raising Victo Vargas
5. Bend it like Beckham
6. Finding Nemo
7. The Last Samurai
8. Sea Biscuit
9. Open Range
10. All The Real Girls

Still need to see Lost In Translation, from everything I know about it I bet it finds a place on this list.

There were a lot of foreign films that just hit DVD this year that I saw, if this were a top 10 movies i've seen this year I'd have to add.

The Cuckoo
Nowhere in africa
Russian Ark

All 3 would be very high in my list if eligable.
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post #142 of 210
2/6/04 at 12:19pm
Here's the latest & greatest, including everybody's entries and updates (except Michael Perez' 2003 Film list still - I promise to get that in this weekend and update this post here with his totals).
The Top 30 of Our Top 10 of 2003
Contributing, Qualifying Members:71
Includes all member updates through:06 Feb 2004
# Film Total Score Fractional Weighted Total Top 10 List Appearances : 2003 List Appearances Weighted Average Unweighted Average
1 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 431 46.98 52 : 61 8.28 6.06
2 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 313 38.03 46 : 57 6.80 4.41
3 Lost in Translation 244 29.34 37 : 48 6.58 3.43
4 Finding Nemo 196 23.77 30 : 49 6.53 2.76
5 Cidade de Deus (City of God) 134 17.25 20 : 31 6.70 1.89
6 Mystic River 132 19.50 25 : 39 5.28 1.86
7 21 Grams 125 16.27 21 : 33 5.95 1.76
8 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 114 15.55 21 : 40 5.40 1.60
9 The Last Samurai 112 15.65 20 : 39 5.60 1.58
10 X2 102 12.85 22 : 48 4.64 1.44
11 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 101 14.85 22 : 45 4.59 1.42
12 Irréversible (Irreversible) 88 13.06 15 : 28 5.87 1.24
13 American Splendor 87 11.15 13 : 26 6.69 1.23
14 Elephant 78 9.99 11 : 15 7.05 1.09
15 The Matrix Reloaded 76 11.21 18 : 46 4.22 1.07
16 Whale Rider 68 9.93 13 : 32 5.23 0.96
17 Seabiscuit 62 8.77 13 : 37 4.77 0.87
18 Big Fish 58 7.69 11 : 27 5.27 0.82
19 28 Days Later 55 7.87 12 : 40 4.58 0.77
20 The Matrix Revolutions 54 6.11 9 : 35 6.00 0.76
21 In America 53 7.57 10 : 24 5.30 0.75
22 House of Sand and Fog 52 7.98 10 : 24 5.20 0.73
23 Capturing the Friedmans 46 5.88 6 : 14 7.67 0.65
24 Raising Victor Vargas 43 6.51 9 : 23 4.78 0.61
25 Spellbound 41 5.04 6 : 18 6.83 0.58
26 All the Real Girls 39 6.31 8 : 21 4.88 0.55
27 Gerry 39 6.65 7 : 13 5.50 0.54
28 Open Range 38 5.97 10 : 26 3.80 0.54
29 Hulk 38 5.61 10 : 37 3.80 0.54
30 Matchstick Men 37 5.88 10 : 29 3.70 0.52
Columns:
  1. Position
  2. Film Title
  3. Total Score: A summation of each film's position in each contributor's top 10, with points given as follows: 1st place = 10, 10th place = 1. 10th place ties get .5 points per tie, limit to 2. All ties above 10th place have the points averaged for the positions (i.e., a 2-place tie for first would give 9.5 points for each place: 10+9, divided by 2).
  4. Fractional Weighted Total: The total combined fractional weighted scores of each contributor's film. Fractional weighted scores are computed for each contributor by the position of the film against the total number of films seen -- i.e., if a contributor saw 50 films, 1st place is 50/50 (1.00), 10th place is 41/50 (0.82). This gives more weight to lists with higher film totals.
  5. Top 10 List Appearances : 2003 Film List Appearances: Ratio of a film's appearance in this thread to how many appearances it makes in contributors' lists in the 2003 Film List thread. This gives better value to the Weighted Average (and Total Score) numbers.
  6. Weighted Average: Total Score divided by Top 10 List Appearances. This is considered weighted because it only takes into account those contributors who have the film in the top 10.
  7. Unweighted Average: Total Score divided by total number of Top 10 contributors (currently 71).
Contributing members [Number of Films in Top 30 Seen/30 : Total Films Seen]; if your name is not on here, and you are sure your list is complete, email me. Grey numbers beside names denotes 10 or less -- if you have only those listed here in the Top 10 list, then you didn't post a list in the 2003 Film List.
23/30 : 310 Adam_S
09/30 : 010 Alex Spindler
11/30 : 073 Andrew Schwarz
30/30 : 225 Arman
29/30 : 295 Bill Harris
17/30 : 059 Bill J
05/30 : 010 Brian F
04/30 : 010 Brian Lawrence
04/30 : 010 Brook Bowers
26/30 : 088 Brook K
03/30 : 010 Cary T
06/30 : 010 Chad A Wright
10/30 : 010 Chazz_S
07/30 : 010 Chris Atkins
24/30 : 107 Chris_Richard
07/30 : 010 ChristopherDM
13/30 : 083 Colin Hartnett
07/30 : 010 CoreyII
25/30 : 096 Craig S
09/30 : 010 Dalton
11/30 : 034 Damin J Toell
18/30 : 076 Dana Fillhart
07/30 : 010 David Lawson
10/30 : 010 David_Kosovec
09/30 : 012 Doug R
27/30 : 092 Edwin Pereyra
18/30 : 087 Elizabeth S
08/30 : 010 Eman_Ramos
07/30 : 010 Ernest Rister
10/30 : 011 Fred Bang
09/30 : 010 George See
09/30 : 010 GregGS
30/30 : 224 Jason Whyte
09/30 : 010 Jeff Adams
18/30 : 050 Jehan
11/30 : 040 John Thomas
08/30 : 010 JonZ
08/30 : 010 Jose Martinez
07/30 : 010 Justin Hargis
13/30 : 049 Justin_S
28/30 : 147 Kevin Leonard
28/30 : 100 Kirk Tsai
22/30 : 059 Kristian
05/30 : 012 L. Anton Dencklau
20/30 : 038 Lowell_B
15/30 : 051 Marc_Savoie
28/30 : 223 Mark Pfeiffer
10/30 : 012 Matt Pelham
19/30 : 072 Matt Stone
11/30 : 061 Matthew Chmiel
08/30 : 010 Michael Perez
23/30 : 094 Nick Sievers
30/30 : 149 NickNC
02/30 : 010 Pascal A
08/30 : 010 Paul Case
13/30 : 050 Raymond_H
07/30 : 010 rhett
05/30 : 011 Rob P S
18/30 : 043 Rob Willey
08/30 : 010 Robert Anthony
09/30 : 010 Ryan_TD
30/30 : 247 Scott Weinberg
18/30 : 051 Scott_MacD
21/30 : 066 Seth Paxton
08/30 : 010 Shawn_KE
30/30 : 141 Stephen R
20/30 : 082 Stevan Lay
09/30 : 011 Tim RH
11/30 : 042 Travis_S
10/30 : 010 Wesley Mead
20/30 : 050 ZacharyTait
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post #143 of 210
2/7/04 at 5:08am
Updated with the fantastic American Splendor. It placed at #4 on my list putting it right after Lost in Translation and right before The Shape of Things.

Going to see Big Fish in about 3 hours.
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post #144 of 210
2/7/04 at 10:56am
I put In America at #3. Great script, strong acting.

I also swapped around M&C and Mystic River, mainly because I think In America was better at being an "actors film" than MR was, which in turn dropped it a bit in my eyes (not that much though).

I bumped Whale Rider by swapping it with PotC. What can I say, when it comes down to tough decisions I love that pirate film. I guess that's a good sign that it worked for me.
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post #145 of 210
2/7/04 at 11:02am
Back from Big Fish. Good film, but not good enough for my Top Ten.

American Splendor bumped Finding Nemo from the list.
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post #146 of 210
2/7/04 at 2:17pm
.
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post #147 of 210
2/7/04 at 6:04pm
Updated my list to include Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Mystic River.
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post #148 of 210
2/7/04 at 11:10pm
I've updated my top ten and 2003 lists with Intolerable Cruelty at 9.
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post #149 of 210
2/8/04 at 12:36pm
Added Capturing the Friedmans to my film list. Still stewing on it to see if it's Top Ten material.
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post #150 of 210
2/9/04 at 9:04am
Updated to include Open Range. Very good, solid film but won't bump anything out of my top 10.

That brings me to 112 films seen from 2003
25 of the top 30 films seen
next up: Raising Victor Vargas
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