Best movies of 2003?

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 😛

Next up on the list:

21 Grams

Mystic River

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Finding Nemo

Hands down, Pirates of the Caribbean! Honestly, what can I even say? It’s just an absolute blast of a movie with a killer cast

Should have it delivered to my place in Chicago by Monday, then we'll see...
No clue which one is the best... probably Kill Bill...

Lost in translation

Perhaps I’m just watching all the wrong movies, but honestly, any flick produced by Jerry Bruckheimer is practically guaranteed to be a dud! 😉 I suppose if I were still fifteen and chasing cheap thrills, I might actually enjoy them... 😉
On another note, I can't help but wonder—what was Dee actually looking for there?

Hollywood
No spoilers allowed!

Mind you, there were quite a few absolutely stellar ones!

Why on earth would anyone bother with Dogville? Honestly, folks, you really ought to head down to the local community theater sometime instead! 😉

I suppose I see where you're coming from... however, we really must acknowledge that theater and cinema are two entirely distinct art forms! It isn't merely the minimalist and unconventional set design that makes a film a masterpiece, is it? *Dogville* is so much more profound than just its visual staging...

On another note, I found myself reminiscing about the Russian classic *The Return* just now, and honestly, I am left quite conflicted—can anyone else tell me which of those two films actually held the title of my favorite from last year?😕

I’ve never been much of a fan of putting together top lists, to be honest.
But I suppose I can give it a shot...

Starting with some of the heavy hitters from the mainstream rotation:

Here are my top ten (and please, don't hold me to the specific order!):
LOTR: ROTK
Punch-Drunk Love
Femme Fatale
Master and Commander
Mystic River
The Bourne Identity
Y Tu Mamá También (even though I first caught that back in 2002)
Talk to Her
Adaptation
The Pianist

Coming in at number eleven:
Bowling for Columbine
Matchstick Men
Firestarter
25th Hour
Crash
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
8 Mile
Far From Heaven
Frida
Chicago
Roger Dodger

Some of the absolute best Hollywood gave us:
Pirates of the Caribbean
X2

Then there are those great films I either missed out on in theaters or just couldn't make it to see, but luckily managed to catch on DVD later:
About Schmidt
28 Days Later

If I had to pick the most underrated film of the year:
Femme Fatale

And the ones that felt way too overrated this year:
Kill Bill: Vol 1.
Dogville

Finally, some standout films outside the usual mainstream circuit:
Morvern Callar
The White Ribbon
Uzak
Divine Intervention
Occident

( Richard Hernandez13, my bad, just lost it for a second 😁 )

Best movie—Probably Chicago, though All About My Mother is super close.
Worst movie—Russian Ark.
Worst movie in the last 3 years—Russian Ark
Worst single shot in a movie—Russian Ark
Worst Russian film ever—Russian Ark
Best directing—A tie between Paul Thomas Anderson for Punch Drunk Love and Roman Polanski for The Pianist... mostly because for Chicago, I think the editor deserves more credit than the director.
Best editing overall—Chicago
Best scene transitions—Hulk
Award for untapped directing potential, specifically regarding atmosphere: Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation
Best "blue-collar" directing—unflashy, no glam, just solid work: Peter Weir for Master and Commander
Biggest personal growth award—going from crappy 80s directing to really strong recent stuff: Clint Eastwood for Mystic River
Best original screenplay—All About My Mother
Best adapted screenplay—Master and Commander. Runner up: Rules of Attraction (since nothing else was actually good)
Best actor—Nicolas Cage in Adaptation / Adrien Brody in The Pianist
Best actress—Julianne Moore in The Hours / Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation
Best supporting actor—Chris Cooper in Adaptation, runner up: Paul Bettany in Master and Commander
Hottest—Scarlett Johansson and/or Jennifer Connelly
Worst actor—Keanu Reeves. (With caveats)
Worst screenplay—Bruce Almighty
Worst directing—Alex Sokurov for Russian Ark
Biggest quality pivot: The Pianist, went from mediocre to amazing after that train scene heading to Treblinka.
Cinematography—Master and Commander
Production design—Master and Commander / The Hours
Worst waste of locations—The Two Towers
Music—None. A total year of soulless tracks.
Best use of music that isn't even worth mentioning on its own (original scores only): that weird guitar vibe in Kill Bill.
Overrated—Russian Ark, runner up: Far From Heaven
Underrated—Nothing.
Best scene—The anime sequence in Kill Bill. Runner up: That puppet musical number in Chicago
Saddest scene—Russian Ark. Runner up: The final showdown in Hulk
Why, just WHY?!?!? – Russian Ark – the entire damn movie.
Best ending—Terminator 3. Runner up: All About My Mother
Worst ending—Matchstick Men
Worst final shot—Adaptation
Best song usage—Probably Roxie in Chicago
Most terrible song usage: I Will Survive in Little Manhattan
Best line—“I want to smash your face with a hammer” from Punch Drunk Love
Best movie hook/opening—Rules of Attraction. Mostly just because of the timing.
Pleasant surprise—Anger Management, All About My Mother, The Pianist
Bad surprise—Bruce Almighty, Russian Ark
The absolute worst—Those damn high-concept movies where EVERYTHING is sacrificed for one gimmick, including the actual quality of the film.
Best action scene—The sword fight in Revolutions / the first scrap in Master and Commander / Hulk escaping prison in Hulk
Worst action scene—The fight at the end of Hulk
Special mention for pure megalomania in an otherwise mid scene: the final battle in Matrix Revolutions
Best bad guy—None
Biggest face—None
Biggest cliché—Pretty much the whole Bruce Almighty thing
Biggest waste of a genre—Bruce Almighty
Best fight—When Sandler beats people up in the car in Punch Drunk Love
Best filmed car crash—Adaptation
Some great touches—The motor oil in Kill Bill, the cops "following" that guy in Little Manhattan, and the "mine, mine!" line, the perfect escape plan, and the sadistic girl... all from Finding Nemo.
Best clever bits—The camera shake in Punch Drunk Love, the messy framing in Rules of Attraction, the handheld look in Rules of Attraction, and the way they used subtitles in the final scene of All About My Mother.
Scariest scene/movie? None. (don't watch much horror)...
Best sound— probably Master and Commander
Best visual effects overall— Master and Commander. Runner up: Two Towers
Best single visual effect— Gollum in Two Towers, no competition
Prettiest short shot— that first shot in Lost in Translation
Most intense shot— the girl's face in Rules of Attraction
Worst dialogue— the Matrix movies.
Best newcomer— Paul Bettany in Master and Commander
Solid example of a typical Hollywood blockbuster: Pirates of the Caribbean, runner up: Anger Management
Bad example of a typical Hollywood blockbuster: Bruce Almighty
The "Get a Grip" award for most self-indulgent directors of the year— a tie between the Wachowskis and Quentin Tarantino
Best movie I ever saw on TV/VHS— Mangold's Heavy
Annual breast award— Scarlett Johansson
Character of the biggest (hidden) bitch you definitely wouldn't want as a wife— Laura Linney's character in Mystic River
The biggest "give me an Oscar!!!" movie of the year— The Hours
Award for killing off a precious animation genre: Sinbad

Give him one tiny compliment and he loses his mind 😁

21 grams!!!!!!!!!! It’s not some mystical thing, it’s barely even worth mentioning

😲...what is this, some kind of zombie apocalypse? 😁

Lost in translation, Dark Water, the domino effect...

Man, I just can't stand those five. 😢