2003 IN FILM

My favourite films released in the U.S. in 2003. Top 30 & many honorables. Also a "Best in Film" ballot for select categories of 2003. 

Here's the countdown:





              
                 TORNEHEKKEN
30.   [THE HEDGE OF THORNS]

.

29.                IN THE CUT

.

28.          DOWN WITH LOVE

.

27.                    HULK

.
              DRACULA: PAGES
26.    FROM A VIRGIN'S DIARY

.

25.            CABIN FEVER

.

24.      MILLENNIUM MAMBO

.

23.            THE COMPANY

.

22.               ELEPHANT

.

21.            28 DAYS LATER

.

20.        ALL THE REAL GIRLS

.

19.              BALSEROS

.

.

18.         KILL BILL: VOL. 1

.

.

17.           DEMONLOVER

.
      

16.      LOST IN TRANSLATION

.

15.       BLISSFULLY YOURS

.

.

14.               BIG FISH

.

13.
  THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

.

12.    UNKNOWN PLEASURES

.

11.           FRIDAY NIGHT

.

.

10.   LA COMMUNE (PARIS, 1871)

.

.

       MASTER AND COMMANDER:

9.  THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

               LOONEY TUNES: 

8.     BACK IN ACTION

.

7.           THE FOG OF WAR

.

6.        MILLENNIUM ACTRESS

.
        THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
5.    THE RETURN OF THE KING

.

4.                   GERRY

.

3.       TO BE AND TO HAVE

.

2.                 THE SON

.

1.               IN AMERICA

*****

ALSO ESSENTIAL. NOT RANKED. 

(other titles of 2003 I loved that could've placed)

TEN

RAISING VICTOR VARGAS

.

BAD SANTA

.

AMERICAN SPLENDOR

.

SUICIDE CLUB

.

THE HUNTED

.

RUNNING ON KARMA

.

THE SEPARATION

FINDING NEMO

.

HEROD'S LAW

CHERNOBYL HEART

.  

WAITING FOR HAPPINESS

. 

TERMINAL BAR

. 

LILYA 4-EVER

. 

CITY OF GOD

.

 

SIGUR ROS: 
UNTITLED #1 [aka VAKA]

.

MYSTIC RIVER

. 

HUKKLE

.

THE STATION AGENT

. 

KING OF THE ANTS

.

 

BUBBA HO-TEP

. 

CAT SOUP

.

( )

[Morgan Fisher's "PARENTHESES"]

 .

BUS 174

.

 

POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS

.

DOPPELGANGER

.

THE RUNDOWN

.

X2: X-MEN UNITED

.

SAMURAI X: TRUST & BETRAYAL
[2 hour Director's cut]

.

STUCK ON YOU

.

MAROONED IN IRAQ

. 

THE GOOD THIEF

.

 
 

LOVE AND DIANE

.

SCHOOL OF ROCK

.

PIRATES OF CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL

.

THE LAST LETTER

. 

HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES

. 

SEABISCUIT

. 

DESTINO

.

 

MAY

.

ANA AND THE OTHERS

.

SWIMMING POOL

. 

ICHI THE KILLER

.

 

WARD 13

.

 

FINAL DESTINATION 2

.

 

THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI

. 

ABEL FERRARA: NOT GUILTY

.

 

JAPÓN

.

 

THE SECOND RENAISSANCE PART I & II [THE ANIMATRIX]

.

THE FLOWER OF EVIL

. 

IRREVERSIBLE

.

COWBOY BEBOP: THE MOVIE

.

THE SINGING DETECTIVE

.

FEAR X

.

BETTER LUCK TOMORROW

. 

 

MY ARCHITECT

. 

STEVIE

.

MOST [THE BRIDGE]

. 

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM

.

JEEPERS CREEPERS II

**watch free here**
.

 

HARVIE KRUMPET

. 

ANYTHING ELSE

.

 

MAN ON THE TRAIN

*****

2003 recap
TOP 30

1. IN AMERICA (Sheridan)
2. THE SON (Dardenne bros)
3. ÊTRE ET AVOIR (Philibert)
4. GERRY (Van Sant)
5. RETURN OF THE KING (P.Jackson)
6. MILLENNIUM ACTRESS (Satoshi Kon)
7. FOG OF WAR (Morris)
8. LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION (Dante)
9. MASTER & COMMANDER (Weir)
10. LA COMMUNE: PARIS, 1871 (Watkins)
11. FRIDAY NIGHT (Denis)
12. UNKNOWN PLEASURES (Jia Zhangke)
13. TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE (Chomet)
14. BIG FISH (Burton)
15. BLISSFULLY YOURS (Weerasethakul)
16. LOST IN TRANSLATION (Sofia Coppola)
17. DEMONLOVER (Assayas)
18. KILL BILL: VOL. 1 (Tarantino)
19. BALSEROS (Bosch/Domènech)
20. ALL THE REAL GIRLS (D.Gordon Green)
21. 28 DAYS LATER (Boyle)
22. ELEPHANT (Van Sant)
23. THE COMPANY (Altman)
24. MILLENNIUM MAMBO (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
25. CABIN FEVER (Eli Roth)
26. DRACULA: VIRGIN'S DIARY (Maddin)
27. HULK (Lee)
28. DOWN WITH LOVE (Reed)
29. IN THE CUT (Jane Campion)
30. TORNEHEKKEN (Anita Killi)

RUNNER-UP:
TEN (Kiarostami), RAISING VICTOR VARGAS (Sollett), BAD SANTA (Zwigoff), AMERICAN SPLENDOR (Berman/Pulcini), SUICIDE CLUB (Sono), THE HUNTED (Friedkin), RUNNING ON KARMA (To), THE SEPERATION (Morgan), FINDING NEMO (Stanton/Unkrich), LA LEY DE HERODES (L.Estrada), CHERNOBYL HEART (M.DeLeo), WAITING FOR HAPPINESS (Sissako), TERMINAL BAR (Nadelman), LILYA 4-EVER (Moodysson), CITY OF GOD (Meirelles), SIGUR ROS: UNTITLED #1 (Sigismondi), MYSTIC RIVER (Eastwood), HUKKLE (Pálfi), STATION AGENT (McCarthy), KING OF THE ANTS (Stuart Gordon), BUBBA HO-TEP (Coscarelli), CAT SOUP (Tatsuo Sato), PARENTHESES (Morgan Fisher), BUS 174 (Padilha/Lacerda), POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS (Jianqi Huo), DOPPELGANGER (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), THE RUNDOWN (Berg), X2 (Singer), RUROUNI KENSHIN: TRUST & BETRAYAL (Kazuhiro Furuhashi), STUCK ON YOU (Farrelly bros), MAROONED IN IRAQ (Ghobadi), THE GOOD THIEF (Jordan), LOVE & DIANE (Jennifer Dworkin), SCHOOL OF ROCK (Linklater), PIRATES OF CARIBBEAN (Verbinski), LA DERNIERE LETTRE (Wiseman), HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES (Zombie), SEABISCUIT (Ross), DESTINO (Dali), MAY (McKee), ANA & THE OTHERS (Celina Murga), SWIMMING POOL (Ozon), ICHI THE KILLER (Miike), WARD 13 (Cornwell), FINAL DESTINATION 2 (Ellis), TWILIGHT SAMURAI (Yôji Yamada), ABEL FERRARA: NOT GUILTY (Rafi Pitts), JAPON (Reygadas), SECOND RENAISSANCE (Mahiro Maeda), FLOWER OF EVIL (Chabrol), IRREVERSIBLE (Noe), COWBOY BEBOP THE MOVIE (Shinichirô Watanabe), SINGING DETECTIVE (Keith Gordon), FEAR X (Winding-Refn), BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (Lin), MY ARCHITECT (Kahn), STEVIE (Steve James), MOST (Garabedian), BEND IT LIKE BEKHAM (Gurinder Chadha), JEEPERS CREEPERS II (Salva), HARVIE KRUMPET (Elliot), ANYTHING ELSE (Allen), MAN ON THE TRAIN (Leconte)