Harry here and I've got about a zillion arguments with Capone's list of the best. However, I'll just let it go, as Capone didn't comment on my list... twitch... twitch... here ya go...
Hey Harry. Capone in Chicago here. Well, we're well into 2004, so it much be time for my annually late Best of 2003 list. This was maybe the most difficult year in recent memory to rank. I was tempted to just list the films with no ranking, but wheren't the fun in that? Instead, I've gone in the other direction and broken out my favorite documentaries, reissues, as well as the worst of 2003. But first, the obligatory Top 30 of 2003 with 10 honorable mentions...
BEST OF 2003:
1. LOST IN TRANSLATION--The film I feel the greatest affection for in 2003, perhaps in years. Sheer perfection in the writing, acting, directing, existing.
2. 21 GRAMS--The whole film felt like a ticking time bomb; the screwy chronology made this the film I was the most awake and aware of all year. You couldn’t blink for fear of getting lost. I didn’t.
3. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING--The conclusion of the most satisfying movie event in film history. Three films, each successive one better than the one before it. A testament not only to Peter Jackson’s abilities as a storyteller but also a confirmation that not everything that I look forward to in cinema gets screwed up.
4. AMERICAN SPLENDOR--I love it when filmmakers find ways of reinventing the biopic. Harvey Pekar is as much a voice of his generation as Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan only without the musical talent. It’s a shame that Paul Giamatti probably won’t get an Oscar nomination. He deserves far more than most of the men named as front runners.
5. MYSTIC RIVER--You can’t dismiss pure nuts-and-bolts filmmaking without all the flash and gimmicks. This is richly by Clint Eastwood, who continues to make films that reach the deepest corners of our soul. The finest ensemble cast of the year. The acting is tempered, without anyone getting to showy, and the mystery at the center of the film is compelling.
6. MASTER & COMMANDER: THE FAR END OF THE WORLD--Wind-swept and water-logged Russell Crowe pulls another great performance out of his behind for this high-seas thrill ride. The attention to detail is the greatest I’ve seen in a film set aboard a ship.
7. IRREVERSIBLE--Gasper Noe’s earth-shattering, mind-blowing film about the death of the future. In this case, the future of a young, deeply in love couple whose lives are changed forever by a horrendous act of violence. The only thing worse than the film’s brutal rape scene is seeing what happens right after (or right before if you follow the story’s chronologically) when the couple lie in bed together happy and clearly mad about each other, not knowing what’s in store for them. This film confirms that there’s nothing worse than knowing your own fate. This movie upset me a great deal, and that rarely happens any more in films.
8. FINDING NEMO--Entertainment in its purest confectionary state. I could watch this movie a dozen times and never look at the same part of the screen twice.
9. SCHOOL OF ROCK--Wait. A movie filled with little kids that doesn’t suck? Not only that, it excelled. Finally, a showcase for the most talented actor working today: Jack Black. Okay, maybe I’m overstating things a bit, but fans of Black have been waiting a loooong time for his to really break out like this. We just all thought it was going to happen with the Tenacious D movie. I defy people to dislike this film.
10. KILL BILL, VOL. 1--Sometimes wearing your influences on your sleeve can be a good thing, especially when you influences are crazy, blood-squirting kung fu films. Watching KILL BILL put me in a trance that will probably only be matched by VOL. 2, whenever the hell Miramax decides to release it.
Here are 11 through 30 with limited commentary.
11. MONSTER
12. IN MY SKIN
13. COLD MOUNTAIN
14. 28 DAYS LATER
15.THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE
16. SEABISCUIT
17. THE MAGDALENE SISTERS
18. THE STATION AGENT
19. OPEN RANGE
20. BAD SANTA
21. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
22. WHALE RIDER
23. BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM
24. X2: X-MEN UNITED
25. A MIGHTY WIND
26. SWEET SIXTEEN--Ken Loach’s sad and poignant coming of age film.
27. SWIMMING POOL
28. OLD SCHOOL
29. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO
30. DOG DAYS--from Germany, about the residents of an apartment complex during one sweltering hot summer. The most grotesque film of 2003 that didn’t use any special effects.
HONORABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order): OWNING MAHOWNY; THIRTEEN; ALEXANDRA’S PROJECT (from Australia about a woman who gets revenge on her insensitive husband; I hope it gets a U.S. release because this thing creeped the hell out of me); LOVE ACTUALLY; THE COOLER; IN AMERICA; JAPANESE STORY (is scheduled to be released in 2004; in a lesser year this would have ranked much higher; the story of an Australian woman--Toni Collette--and a Japanese man who get lost together in the desert); INNER SENSES (from Hong Kong, the lovely final film appearance of Leslie Cheung); CRIMSON GOLD (from Iran); and RAISING VICTOR VARGAS.
10 BEST DOCUMENTARIES:
1. CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS
2. SPELLBOUND
3. STONE READER
4. CINERAMA ADVENTURE
5. GIGANTIC
6. TO BE AND TO HAVE
7. WINGED MIGRATION
8. STEVIE
9. CINEMANIA
10. DAUGHTER FROM DANANG
FIVE BEST RESTORATIONS/REISSUES:
1. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
2. IKIRU
3. MODERN TIMES
4. HIRED HAND
5. ALIEN: DIRECTOR’S CUT
6. ONE FROM THE HEART
WORST OF 2003:
There were so many bad films to pick from, but the following movies had that little something extra. They were trying harder than the rest and, therefore, had farther to fall. ALEX & EMMA; BEYOND BORDERS; HOUSE OF THE DEAD; JUNGLE BOOK 2; THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN; THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE (second-worst of 2003); MARCI X; MY BOSS’S DAUGHTER; and UPTOWN GIRLS. But the absolute worst film of 2003, the one that seemed to go that extra mile to piss me off and waste me valuable time, was THE CAT IN THE HAT.
Whew! I'm going to take a friggin' nap now. Yours always,
Capone
If you want to touch when I'm asleep, go ahead.
| 
