I looked through all the movies released in 2003 and made a few lists:
My top ten movies of 2003
1. American Splendor, US (dir. Berman/Pulcini)
Paul Giamatti and Judah Friedlander are gods.
2. 28 Days Later, UK (dir. Danny Boyle)
The best zombie movie ever.
3. Lawless Heart, UK (dir. Hunsinger/Hunter)
Ordinary lives, amazing drama.
4. The Good Thief, UK/France (dir. Neil Jordan)
Nick Nolte's wild heroin-addicted thief makes for best heist movie in a long time.
5. Dirty Pretty Things, UK (dir. Stephen Frears)
Frears' best since the eighties, a return to a very different London underwold.
6. Shattered Glass, US (dir. Billy Ray)
Peter Sarsgaard plays 180 degrees from his Boys Don't Cry role and blew me away.
7. Raising Victor Vargas, US (dir. Peter Sollett)
A sweaty, simple, honest story of a Lower East Side I was so happy to know about.
8. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, US (dir. Peter Weir)
A joy, an adventure, a learning experience, Hollywood storytelling at its apex.
9. L'Auberge Espanole, France (dir. Cedric Klapisch)
Joyful multi-colored, funny pastiche of the classic Year Abroad.
10. Bend it Like Beckham, UK (dir. Gurinder Chadra)
A beautifully balanced clash-of-cultures tale.
Honorable Mention: The Station Agent, Thirteen, Capturing the Friedmans, Finding Nemo
Movies with amazing, amazing first halves but I recommend leaving at that point: Bad Santa, The Triplets of Belleville, Lost In Translation, Swimming Pool, Lost in La Mancha
Movies I was sort of or very interested in but missed: The Man Without a Past, Spellbound, The Stone Reader, Cremaster, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Casa De Los Babys, Tupac: Resurrection, The Fighting Temptations, Dreamcatcher, The Safety of Objects, The Shape of Things
Movies that are still in the theatres that I don't want to miss: Elephant, In America, The Fog of War, The Hebrew Hammer, Modern Times
Posted by marstall at January 1, 2004 03:22 PMInteresting. You seem to have better movies than we do in Paris. Or than I do: I have this uh multiplex card, which means I miss some indie movies. But it's been a bad year for movies for me. I haven't seen any of the movies you mention, except for the Euro ones at the end, which were quite unrmarkable to me. I'm assuming the exotic holds some appeal, just like from Paris I can tolerate some pretty silly American movies.
Here's what I found, with help from a French list. Note 2003 movies in France != 2003 movies in US. Looking at my lists makes me wonder whether I should still bother to go to movies. But sometimes it's enough to just see some nice bits in an otherwise unremarkable movie...
Top 10 (hmmm, really?):
Final Destination 2
The Pianist
The Russian Ark
To Be and To Have
How to Lose A Guy In 10 Days
Irreversible
Anger Management
Zatoichi
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines
Good bye Lenin !
Really bad and/or overrated:
Frida
The Truth About Charlie
The Hours
The Life Of David Gale
The Hole
Dogville
Kill Bill: Volume 1
The Barbarian Invasions
Histoire de Marie et Julien
Chicago
(OK, I just needed a 10th. Probably it wasn't that bad. I slept through it, so I wouldn't know).
Posted by: Kai Carver at January 1, 2004 08:32 PMMy mind boggles at the difference in lineup between France and U.S.
Posted by: Chris Marstall at January 1, 2004 11:29 PMKai, I could have told you Dogville, Kill Bill, and Frida would be turnips.
We'll have to get Gloria in here. I loved "Elephant"; she hated it. "So boring!" she complained. "But that's the point!" I pedanted.
"Master and Commander" just opened here. The fact that my dear old neocon friend has been voraciously reading Patrick Briant, or Brian, is warning me away from it. He has been growing humorless if not cranky, and I'm afraid "Master and Commander" will be Joseph Conrad without the Polish tongue in cheek I love so much.