Best movies of 2003?

Noah Harris50 said:Watching Mystic River tonight.

watched it. killer movie.

Not strictly in this order, though:

21 Grams
Mystic River
Lost in Translation
Norfolk
Return of the King

All these films had pretty high production budgets. I didn't even bother including the indie stuff—though maybe Lost in Translation and Norfolk could count if you ask some Americans who think anything under five million bucks is "indie."

As for actual indies and foreign films, definitely: Sixteen
In the Cut
Dogville
Hero

I can't remember any others off the top of my head. I haven't been able to track down half of them yet, but hopefully I'll make it to a film festival soon to actually get an education.

1. Kill Bill
2. The Pianist

I'm saving a spot for RETURN OF THE KING.

How did I totally blank on "In the Cut"

While I’m sitting here waiting to see which of my own personal "favorites" actually make the cut for the top spots... well, here is the annual best-of list from UNCUT magazine, which—if you ask me—is easily one of the most reliable publications out there when it comes to actual, thoughtful film criticism.

1. City of God
2. Kill Bill
3. Adaptation
4. Lilya 4-Ever
5. The Pianist
6. Far From Heaven
7. About Schmidt
8. Gangs of New York
9. Secretary
10. Mystic River
11. Igby Goes Down
12. Rodger Dodger
13. Comandante
14. Confessions of Dangerous Mind
15. Belleville Rendez-vouz
16. Russian Ark
17. All the Real Girls
18. Intolerable Cruelty
19. Pirates of the Caribbean
20. Spellbound
21. Spirited Away
22. Good Bye, Lenin!
23. Solaris
24. The Rules of Attraction
25. Once Upon a Time In Mexico
26. Punch Drunk Love
27. Buffalo Soldiers
28. Man of the Year
29. Animal Factory
30. 25th Hour

p.s. Just a heads up, they calculate the year based on the theatrical release dates in the States... so you'll notice a few holdovers from last year, or even the year before that—like Spirited Away.

Pirates of the Caribbean and Kill Bill👍
I was actually thinking about throwing Matrix III in there too, mostly just because it’s part of the Matrix franchise🙄...but I decided against it...

So, Newsweek just dropped their top ten list, and I can't help but feel a little bit called out by my own movie choices.

1. ‘AMERICAN SPLENDOR’
2. ‘THE RETURN OF THE KING’
3. ‘LOST IN TRANSLATION’
4. ‘FINDING NEMO’
5. ‘SCHOOL OF ROCK’
6. ‘MYSTIC RIVER’
7. ‘MAN ON THE TRAIN’
8. ‘IN AMERICA’
9. ‘DIRTY PRETTY THINGS’
10. ‘THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS’

Rolling Stone’s top ten picks according to Peter Travers

1 Mystic River
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3 Lost in Translation
4 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
5 Cold Mountain
6 American Splendor
7 Big Fish
8 A Mighty Wind
9 Kill Bill: Vol. 1
10 Angels in America

So, I was thinking about all those movies that hit the big screens in American theaters this year...
1. P.T. Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love
2. Polanski’s The Pianist
3. Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1
4. Almodóvar’s Talk to Her
5. Spike Lee’s 25th Hour
6. Eastwood’s Mystic River
7. Spike Jonze’s Adaptation
8. Verbinski’s The Ring
9. Stephen Daldry’s The Hours
10. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Fresh off the press!

The New York film critics just dropped their awards, and honestly, there were quite a few curveballs in the mix:

Best Picture: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King!!!!!!
Supporting Actress: Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
Supporting Actor: Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind
Best Animated Feature: The Triplets of Belleville
Best Actor: Bill Murray
Best Director: Sofia Coppola
Best Actress: Hope Davis (American Splendor, Secret Lives of Dentists)
Best Documentary: Capturing the Friedmans
Best First Film: American Splendor
Best Foreign Language Film: City of God
Harry Savides Award: Elephant, Gerry
Best Screenplay: The Secret Lives of Dentists

1. Gangs of New York
2. The Orator
3. The Ring
4. Identity
5. Frailty
👍 👍

Haven't gotten around to Kill Bill yet, but it’ll probably end up on here too.😁

1. Talk to her
2. Dogville
3. Ten Minutes Older: It’s more of an anthology than a single feature, really. Most of them—maybe five out of seven—actually hit the mark for me.
4. In the Fog: An old Almodóvar piece. I’ve been putting it off for years, but finally sat down to watch it this year.
5. And your mother, too.

1. The Pianist (Polanski)

2. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (Tarantino)

3. Laws of Attraction (Avary)

I’m dying to know, which movies have been your absolute all-time favorites to watch? Give me your top five list!

1. Far enough away from home, it’s easily the greatest movie ever made, let alone just one of the best this year...
City of God 🙏 🙏

2. Kill Bill
3. Secretary
4. About Schmidt
5. Solaris

And I have to give a special shout-out to the one scene that actually made me almost 🙂 and swore I’d never shave my legs again for as long as I live: that whole leg-shaving moment in the bathtub from "Cabin Fever"....

1. Secretary
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1
3. Finding Nemo
4. Donnie Darko (finally caught this one earlier this year)
5. Identity

Here’s my list...

.Dogville
.Lilja4ever
.Talk to Her
.Kill Bill
.Irreversible

Movies that were close, but didn't quite crack the top 5...
..Mystic River
..Bowling for Columbine
..The Ring
..Rules of Attraction
..Matchstick Men
..Oh, and maybe Two Towers

Since most of these flicks you guys are throwing around aren't even from 2003, I'm gonna take a little liberty and throw in something slightly older from 2001: Musa, directed by Kim Sung-su
Everything else has basically already been covered.

The rule is simple: if it hit theaters in the States this year, it counts. That’s the only fair way to judge, since everything released overseas usually doesn't land in our local multiplexes until halfway through next year.
There you go.
Besides, Musa was actually acting in films this year...

James Reyes said:5. Your mom too, too.

Personally, I found that movie to be a complete disappointment. The narrator was the only decent part; 🙂everything else was just garbage.

I hit the local AMC theaters pretty often, so I honestly can't even keep track of everything I've sat through. But from what I can recall being actually worth the ticket price, I'd pick out (not necessarily in order)

The Pianist
Talk to Her
28 Days Later
Identity
Mystic River

...I still haven't gotten around to Kill Bill, nor have I seen Lord of the Rings.