Josh's Obligatory Top Ten of 2003

By Joshua Tyler: 2004-04-15 00:00:00

The peculiar thing about this list, is that if you compare it to my list from 2002, there are some remarkable similarities. The obvious is of course that a Lord of the Rings movie is again, number one. But the unexpected thing is that my number two movie is again, a superhero opus. Number three is another quirky indie movie with a big comedic star in it, finally making his mark as a heavy hitter in the drama department. Any other comparisons I leave for you to draw. But I submit to you that 2003 was almost a carbon copy of 2002… or was it? Love it or hate it, below is my top ten. These are the movies I enjoyed watching the most. I hope you didn't miss any of them.

1. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Directed By: Peter Jackson Written By: Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, Stephen Sinclair (I), Frances Walsh Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, John Rhys-Davies, Liv Tyler

Lord of the Rings succeeded where just about every other movie franchise has failed. The last movie delivered. While The Matrix sputtered, faltered, and fell flat on its face with Revolutions, Jackson and company gave us an ending truly worthy of film's greatest epic. We can safely say that now. Lord of the Rings is without a doubt the greatest trilogy and maybe even one of the greatest movies ever made. Return of the King sealed the deal, ensuring that 20, 30, 40, or 50 years from now we'll all still be in awe of this Kiwi work. Return of the King is the best film of 2003, not just because of the huge, eye-popping spectacle sequences, but because of the quiet, soul touching character moments it weaves in between. It's hard to say goodbye.

Best Moment: Theoden rallies his troops for one last ride into certain death.

2. X2: X-Men United
Directed By: Bryan Singer Written By: David Hayter, Zak Penn Starring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Ana Paquin, Kelly Hu

X2 breaks the bonds of the tight-wearing superhero genre to bring heady, mutant-driven drama to the screen in a way we've never quite seen before. Returning characters are given their proper due, new characters are delved into deeply. Director Bryan Singer achieves a perfect balance between an emotional story about discrimination and high flying, adventure epic with a practiced ease. This is one of those rare gifts that somehow manages to completely eclipse its already good predecessor to set a new standard in movie-making. Lock this cast and crew up forever. I can envision no happier future than to see them all making X-Men movies for decades to come.

Best Moment: Bobby tells his parents he's a mutant. “Have you tried not being a mutant?”

3. Lost in Translation
Directed By: Sofia Coppola Written By: Sofia Coppola, Ross Katz Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi, Yutaka Tadokoro

Oddly enough, I just finished watching this for the third time. If I had nothing but free time, I'd turn around and watch over and over again. Using Tokyo as a gorgeous backdrop, brilliant director Sophia Coppola paints a subtle and beautiful relationship between two very different people trapped alone in a very different country. Lost in Translation is delicate, heartfelt, and mesmerizing. Oh and somewhere in there it also manages to be funny, though please don't make the mistake of pigeonholing this soulful drama as another slapstick Bill Murray comedy. Murray is in it, but he serves up what is without a doubt the most moving dramatic performance of the year. Coppola has given us a movie about people of opposite sexes and love, but without dipping her toe into the realm of Hollywood romance, or heaven forbid, the worn out world of rom-coms. LIT is original, refreshing, and wonderful.

Best Moment: Bob's final words whispered to Charlotte.

4. The Last Samurai
Directed By: Edward Zwick Written By: John Logan, Marshall Herskovitz, Edward Zwick Starring: Tom Cruise, Billy Connolly, Tony Goldwyn, Shin Koyamada, Timothy Spall, Ken Watanabe, Hiroyuki Sanada, Koyuki, Shichinosuke Nakamura, Seizo Fukumot

Director Edward Zwick makes great use of some stunning cinematography by John Toll to bring a vibrant and fragile vision of nineteenth century Japan to life. Tom Cruise is capable and even gritty as shattered cavalry soldier Nathan Algren, searching for redemption and finding it amongst Japan's Samurai culture, caught in a death struggle with impending modernization. But it is Ken Watanabe, as Samurai leader Katsumoto who brings this movie a greater life. It isn't just the great, big, army clashes which drive Last Samurai, but the deep, delicate threads of honor and friendship woven between characters struggling to understand one another's culture and preserve a way of life. Not since Kurosawa has a samurai epic felt so right.

Best Moment: Samurai versus Ninjas!!!!!

5. American Splendor
Directed By: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Written By: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini Starring: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, Toby Radlof

What a weird movie. In some really odd way it actually reminds me of Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World from a couple of years ago and not just because both were based on underground comics. Here's hoping American Splendor launches Paul Giamatti's career the way Ghost World did Scarlett Johansson's. In Splendor, directors Berman and Pulcini bring Harvey Pekar to life with quirky, innovative editing and stellar acting. Harvey is an easy to grok everyman who struggles with trying to find success and getting stuck in line behind old Jewish ladies with equal tenacity. American Splendor the movie manages to do what “American Splendor” the comic book never could: Get the real Harvey Pekar and the comic book version of him together in the same frame.

Best Moment: Harvey gets fed up with Letterman.

6. Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
Directed By: Peter Weir Written By: Peter Weir, John Collee Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Edward Woodall, Chris Larkin, Max Pirkis, Billy Boyd

Virtually ignored in theaters, Master and Commander is the best Star Trek movie since Star Trek: First Contact. It just happens to be set on water rather than in space. Paul Bettany is great as a crotchety old Doctor McCoy type, providing counsel to Russell Crowe's Captain Kirk, and then doubling up his duty to play Mr. Spock when the need for a science officer arrives. Director Peter Weir has a sharp eye for detail, turning Master and Commander into not only a great Star Trek movie, but also one of the most ALIVE and ACCURATE feeling movies ever made on the subject of high seas soldiery.

Best Moment: The lesser of two weevils.

7. The Matrix: Reloaded
Directed By: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski Written By: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Matt McColm, Jada Pinkett Smith, Monica Bellucci, Lambert Wilson, Harold Perrineau J

Unlike the third part of the series, which only gets more disappointing every time I see it, Reloaded has actually improved in my mind with time. By my second viewing I found myself really liking it. When I got around to renting it on DVD before seeing Revolutions, I discovered that I loved it. No, it isn't the science-fiction masterpiece that the original was. It isn't an instant classic. But it is an ambitious piece of action filmmaking that manages to keep its head together to make us think. Is it Reloaded's fault that the series finale failed to answer all the great questions the second installment had swimming around in our heads? I think not. At least Reloaded was smart enough to ask them in the first place.

Best Moment: Freeway chase.

8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Directed By: Jonathan Mostow Written By: John D. Brancato, Michael Ferris Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Kristanna Loken, David Andrews, Mark Famiglietti

Ok, maybe this isn't the classic that the original two Terminator movies have become. But it is surprisingly good, when you consider that James Cameron wasn't involved. The script delivers smart sci-fi in a big big big action wrapper, while hanging on to the human elment which kept the other two movies interesting. Making T3 this fantastic a success is a bit of a shock, but Arnie still sporting a perfect body builder physic, well that's something of a minor miracle.

Best Moment: John Connor at the end of the world.

9. Old School
Directed By: Todd Phillips Written By: Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong Starring: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ellen Pompeo, Sara Bryan, Sydney Bryan, Craig Kilborn, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini

Will Ferrell's best comedic performance of the year was not in Elf. It was as a supporting role in this inspired and unredeemable comedy about middle-aged men trying to recapture their college party-youth. John Belushi would be proud of this beer swilling, fun fest of rampant stupidity. Not since Belushi donned his last toga has the cinema seen a real guy comedy like this. Perfectly crafted and horribly irresponsible, this is the way any good comedy classic should be. Guys'll be playing this in their basement with their buddies for decades to come. A good reminder not to take this list too seriously. Good is good, excessive inebriation or otherwise.

Best Moment: We're going streaking,

10. Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Directed By: Gore Verbinksi Written By: Terry Rossio, Ted Elliott Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Keira Knightley, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce

That name is still too long. Let's call it Pirates of the Caribbean: Johnny Depp Rules instead. More accurate, because this movie is all about Depp. From his instantly classic entrance to his “Yo ho me hearties yo ho” exit, Depp carves out an immediately iconic character in Captain Jack Sparrow. With his help, Caribbean brings the swashbuckling pirate genre back from the dead. A pirate movie made with a pirate's sensibility for filmmaking, Gore Verbinski's adventure epic flies across the high seas playful and triumphant, with eye popping effects, vibrant characters, and the year's best musical score.

Best Moment: Captain Jack Sparrow arrives in Port Royal.

Great stuff that didn't make the cut:
Open Range, School of Rock, Elf, Finding Nemo, Bad Santa, Lost in La Mancha, Monster, Shattered Glass, Phone Booth

Just in case you were wondering:
Bringing Down the House was the worst film of 2003. Also the most racist. Fun with stereotypes it was not.