MAIN » ARTICLESTop 10 Cinematic Releases of 2003
I only saw around 30 films this year, but most of them were worth the investment of an unlimited UGC card. Some of them such as Cabin Fever and The Matrix Revolutions were disappointing, although for entirely different reasons. The year threw up a fair few surprise gems that didn't make the top 10 including In America, which hardly anyone bothered to go and see, despite the good reviews it recieved. House of 1000 Corpses - a halloween special from Rob Zomie that went mostly un-noticed - was almost too weird but at the same time intriguing enough to enjoy.
The classic cinema season at UGC also gave us some films that we otherwise wouldn't have got to see. Jack Nicolson and Robert De Niro were the highlights with my personal favourites being the 90's remake of Cape Fear and Nicholson's quirky performance in About Smidt.
Later on in the year Alien: Director's Cut showed up to make everybody, well me at least, dribble enough to buy the Alien Quadrilogy released just in time for Christmas. The only other worthy mention is my decision to leave out both of the Johnny Depp films - Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Pirates of the Caribbean, the first due to its lack of originality, being the third in a trilogy and not doing enough to excite me. The second, despite making pirates cool again and being a big summer hit, wasn't impressive enough viewing second time around and in the end just a bit too long. Terminator 3 was good though, just not good enough.
1. Seabiscuit
Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Tobey Maguire, William H. Macy, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
Now, I'd like to point out right at the start that I'm not just picking 'the film about the horse' or the 'one about the biscuits' for novelty value. I do genuinely believe that it was one of the best films of the year, and my pick for best cinematic release, not just in content, but in experience. For those of you that didn't catch it, you've missed out here, as the DVD release just won't do the film justice like the big screen. The film is about a horse called Seabiscuit, who along with it's jockey and owners overcomes more hurdles than the ones on the course, with a major downfall seemingly occuring every time you start to relax and bask in the warmth of the 'biscuits last victory.
So, why is this the number one? Well not only is the film reaking of quality all-round, a classic hollywood epic, but it has a powerful impact. It's not an all-out entertainment thriller like Die Hard that you watch and then walk away from. It actually makes you like horses. This film was also the most emotional film I saw all year. By tugging at the heartstrings with the courage and determination of its characters, you tingle as Seabiscuit storms to a win from last place after coming back from a crippling injury only a few weeks before, legs strapped to stop them snapping at any point along the way. It's this connection with the audience that puts Seabiscuit ahead of Cold Mountain, which would have otherwise been at the top. This is what going to the cinema should be like, and Tobey Maguire is also one of the best young actors around right now.
2. Cold Mountain
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renée Zellweger, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack White
This was the last film I saw in 2003, and probably my favourite. Even though I rate the cinema-experience of Seabiscuit higher, I am much more likely to want to watch this again in the future. I already keep myself up at night dreaming about the day it's released and I queue outside HMV until it opens at 9am on a saturday morning so I can buy it first before work. If only that day was tomorrow.
The first thing of note about this film is the amazing cast. It couldn't be much better and I don't think anyone was wasted or out of place in the whole narrative. Jude Law is a great british actor who deserves to be hitting the big-time roles like this, and I never object to looking at Nicole Kidman on film, even if she is moving hay or building a gate from some logs now and again - she gets naked near the end.
This is by far Renée Zellweger's finest film to-date, and the supporting cast is second to none: Jack White sneaks in looking ominous and ends up having a child with Zellweger, so well played to him. Definately not a bad inclusion of a man who has genuine acting talent and gives a superb and believable contribution to the soundtrack. Hoffman and Portman aren't in it for too long, but Hoffman especially adds a fair bit of comic relief - humour is constantly scattered throughout Inman's (Law) journey back to Cold Mountain - which is guaranteed to get some laughs. Anyone who has seen his performance in Happiness is well aware of his comic talent, and the scene with the saw is priceless.
Definately my top recommendation going into 2004, go see it before it leaves the box office, or be condemned to hell for an infinity of Moulin Rouge re-runs.
3. Kill Bill: Volume One
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Sonny Chiba, Chiaki Kuriyama
This was by far the most anticipated film for me this year. I was looking forward to it more than any Lord of the Rings nonsense, and it was certainly just as greatly desired by the people around me. Tarantino would easily be in the top 5 director's list of any one in my generation who knows film, and with his two previous efforts Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown still making me foam at the mouth, I was almost forgetting to sleep the day before this came out. I didn't even go on the first day - but the point is I was excited.
During the film I was struck by the amazing cinematography and the soundtrack, oh the sountrack. Jackie Brown, I think, was the first film to make me seriously appreciate a good soundtrack, and Tarantino is a master of getting the best songs for every scene - 'Stuck in the Middle' Reservoir Dogs - 'You Never Can Tell' Pulp Fiction. There is no doubt that Quentin's films are some of the most stylish and attractive around, even if they come few and far between. The content of the film itself didn't grab me as much as the previous two. I enjoyed it immensley, but on second and third viewings it became slightly tired - something that I hadn't experience with his films before. I think it will be much better as a complete package once Volume Two comes out, then we can truly see what his vision was. But even with the negative points, as a standalone, it was still far better than virtually everthing else to be released this year.
4. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, David Wenham
I don't think there is much I need to say about this, and I can't quite come up with anything witty enough to fill the space. Best finalé to a trilogy there ever was and possibly ever will be. Simply sublime. Would have been No. 2 except Tarantino made us wait a lot longer than Peter Jackson, that handsome devil.
5. Finding Nemo
Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Starring: Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Albert Brooks
6. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
Directed by: Peter Weir
Starring: Russel Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Billy Boyd
Any film that has boats in it's trailer is usually enough to sell the whole package to me. I wanted to see this from the first showing of the boat-packed 90 seconds that I can only describe as 'boatastic' or 'unboatlievable'. Pirates of the Caribbean had boats, but they were like candy-floss when I wanted a Quarter Pounder burger. I wanted Maximus Decimus Meridius on a boat talking in the most horrific accent in the world, I wanted waves to rival that in A Perfect Storm and I wanted more boats to come along and shoot cannons at the main boat and for the main boat to win and float somewhere in that way that only boats can afterward.
I wasn't disappointed in any way by this film. It was great!
7. Mystic River
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne
I remember the least about this film, except for the fact I couldn't wait for it to come out whilst everyone around me claimed to have never heard of it. Being a big fan of Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, I had seen very few if any of his directing escapades, so I was interested to see how this one turned out. With a great cast shown above, especially Penn, they shined and made a great story even better. I want to see this one again. Don't like Tim Robbins though.
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Andrew Bryniarski
Part of the reason this film is in the top 10 is because I'm such a fan of the original. It's shocking that I currently have neither in my ever-growing DVD collection, it's well cheap now but I'm an idiot. Anyway, this is one of those films re-released for the modern audience more on reputation and cult status than the artistic merit for its existence. All the same, I didn't feel that they pissed in the mouth of the original too much. So the script was still shit and there was far too much build up before anything interesting happened, but when you get to the last third of the film everything is forgotten.
(Image taken from The Texas Chainsaw Massace (1974) - the women weren't as good looking then)
When leatherface starts running through the clothes lines, you know you're back in the world of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For me it was actually like watching the film for the first time again, and I did jump every time the girl shot herself, all of the 2 times I've seen it.
I don't find films scary at all due to intense desensitisation in all forms of media, but the scenes in the slaughter house were some of the most disturbing things I experienced last year, but then maybe I'm just afraid of slaughter houses.
Best horror film of 2003.
9. Raising Victor Vargas
Directed by: Peter Sollett
Starring: Victor Rasuk, Silvestre Rasuk, Judy Marte, Altagracia Guzman
I saw this on a dull autumn afternoon with my friend Matthew Osborne, who became a great fan of the feature - claiming it to be his 'Film of 2003' only a couple of weeks ago now. It also left a good impact on me. It was different, it was gritty, an independant realistic depiction of family life from one guy's point of view; victor. Although not all of us live in a slum with our grandmother and lick our lips every 10 seconds, but examined here are the simple aspects of life that so often go ignored for more glamerous outputs. It hardly made anyone notice at the box office, but go underground, and this was one of the nicest surprises of the year. Worth a rental next time you fall into Blockbuster or Choices.
10. Phone Booth
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Colin Farrel, Keither Sutherland, Katie Holmes, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell
Starring the guy who played a Milkman in the 1999 TV version of David Copperfield, Colin 'Eyebrows' Farrel, Phone Booth was a short, fast-paced thriller than caught a lot of people's attention due to the fact it seemed to all take place in... well, in the phone booth.
Sniper films usually go down well, and although this wasn't the epic of Enemy at the Gates, it had a striking documentary feel of realism entwined with some serious tense claustrophobia. Throw Katie Holmes on the top as Farrel's bit on the side, and you've got one cool movie, infinately more watchable for the MTV-generation than any of the 3-hour epic tales we put ourselves through this year.
All in all, as things go, 2003 was a pretty good year for cinema. With no more Lord of the Rings or Matrix sequals to wait for, 2004 doesn't immediately jump out quite as exciting, but underneath the surface a multitude of more subtle masterpieces. Brad Pitt's long absence from the big screen ends with Troy whilst Scarlett Johansson will become more than just 'the good looking girl from ghost world' with a couple of hit films. Alexander and King Arthur add to the list of epic historical films, whilst The Incredibles and at least 2 more 'Finding-Nemo-like' fish films will be coming out to entertain the child in all of us. Spiderman and Kill Bill come back for second helpings, whilst the latest ultimate disaster movie; The Day After Tomorrow's trailer is an enticing as any so far in 2004. Finally, The Last Samurai is a must-see, even if you don't expect it to be the best film of all time, which it isn't. It's about time we had some good sword-fighting, samurai action around, and slightly more realistic fighting than that of Kill Bill too.
We'll keep on praying for Red Dwarf; the movie to be completed.
Written by Jay
The classic cinema season at UGC also gave us some films that we otherwise wouldn't have got to see. Jack Nicolson and Robert De Niro were the highlights with my personal favourites being the 90's remake of Cape Fear and Nicholson's quirky performance in About Smidt.
Later on in the year Alien: Director's Cut showed up to make everybody, well me at least, dribble enough to buy the Alien Quadrilogy released just in time for Christmas. The only other worthy mention is my decision to leave out both of the Johnny Depp films - Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Pirates of the Caribbean, the first due to its lack of originality, being the third in a trilogy and not doing enough to excite me. The second, despite making pirates cool again and being a big summer hit, wasn't impressive enough viewing second time around and in the end just a bit too long. Terminator 3 was good though, just not good enough.
1. Seabiscuit
Directed by: Gary Ross
Starring: Tobey Maguire, William H. Macy, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper
Now, I'd like to point out right at the start that I'm not just picking 'the film about the horse' or the 'one about the biscuits' for novelty value. I do genuinely believe that it was one of the best films of the year, and my pick for best cinematic release, not just in content, but in experience. For those of you that didn't catch it, you've missed out here, as the DVD release just won't do the film justice like the big screen. The film is about a horse called Seabiscuit, who along with it's jockey and owners overcomes more hurdles than the ones on the course, with a major downfall seemingly occuring every time you start to relax and bask in the warmth of the 'biscuits last victory.
So, why is this the number one? Well not only is the film reaking of quality all-round, a classic hollywood epic, but it has a powerful impact. It's not an all-out entertainment thriller like Die Hard that you watch and then walk away from. It actually makes you like horses. This film was also the most emotional film I saw all year. By tugging at the heartstrings with the courage and determination of its characters, you tingle as Seabiscuit storms to a win from last place after coming back from a crippling injury only a few weeks before, legs strapped to stop them snapping at any point along the way. It's this connection with the audience that puts Seabiscuit ahead of Cold Mountain, which would have otherwise been at the top. This is what going to the cinema should be like, and Tobey Maguire is also one of the best young actors around right now.
2. Cold Mountain
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renée Zellweger, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack White
This was the last film I saw in 2003, and probably my favourite. Even though I rate the cinema-experience of Seabiscuit higher, I am much more likely to want to watch this again in the future. I already keep myself up at night dreaming about the day it's released and I queue outside HMV until it opens at 9am on a saturday morning so I can buy it first before work. If only that day was tomorrow.
The first thing of note about this film is the amazing cast. It couldn't be much better and I don't think anyone was wasted or out of place in the whole narrative. Jude Law is a great british actor who deserves to be hitting the big-time roles like this, and I never object to looking at Nicole Kidman on film, even if she is moving hay or building a gate from some logs now and again - she gets naked near the end.
This is by far Renée Zellweger's finest film to-date, and the supporting cast is second to none: Jack White sneaks in looking ominous and ends up having a child with Zellweger, so well played to him. Definately not a bad inclusion of a man who has genuine acting talent and gives a superb and believable contribution to the soundtrack. Hoffman and Portman aren't in it for too long, but Hoffman especially adds a fair bit of comic relief - humour is constantly scattered throughout Inman's (Law) journey back to Cold Mountain - which is guaranteed to get some laughs. Anyone who has seen his performance in Happiness is well aware of his comic talent, and the scene with the saw is priceless.
Definately my top recommendation going into 2004, go see it before it leaves the box office, or be condemned to hell for an infinity of Moulin Rouge re-runs.
3. Kill Bill: Volume One
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Sonny Chiba, Chiaki Kuriyama
This was by far the most anticipated film for me this year. I was looking forward to it more than any Lord of the Rings nonsense, and it was certainly just as greatly desired by the people around me. Tarantino would easily be in the top 5 director's list of any one in my generation who knows film, and with his two previous efforts Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown still making me foam at the mouth, I was almost forgetting to sleep the day before this came out. I didn't even go on the first day - but the point is I was excited.
During the film I was struck by the amazing cinematography and the soundtrack, oh the sountrack. Jackie Brown, I think, was the first film to make me seriously appreciate a good soundtrack, and Tarantino is a master of getting the best songs for every scene - 'Stuck in the Middle' Reservoir Dogs - 'You Never Can Tell' Pulp Fiction. There is no doubt that Quentin's films are some of the most stylish and attractive around, even if they come few and far between. The content of the film itself didn't grab me as much as the previous two. I enjoyed it immensley, but on second and third viewings it became slightly tired - something that I hadn't experience with his films before. I think it will be much better as a complete package once Volume Two comes out, then we can truly see what his vision was. But even with the negative points, as a standalone, it was still far better than virtually everthing else to be released this year.
4. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Starring: Sir Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Andy Serkis, Elijah Wood, David Wenham
I don't think there is much I need to say about this, and I can't quite come up with anything witty enough to fill the space. Best finalé to a trilogy there ever was and possibly ever will be. Simply sublime. Would have been No. 2 except Tarantino made us wait a lot longer than Peter Jackson, that handsome devil.
5. Finding Nemo
Directed by: Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
Starring: Alexander Gould, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe, Albert Brooks
6. Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World
Directed by: Peter Weir
Starring: Russel Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Billy Boyd
Any film that has boats in it's trailer is usually enough to sell the whole package to me. I wanted to see this from the first showing of the boat-packed 90 seconds that I can only describe as 'boatastic' or 'unboatlievable'. Pirates of the Caribbean had boats, but they were like candy-floss when I wanted a Quarter Pounder burger. I wanted Maximus Decimus Meridius on a boat talking in the most horrific accent in the world, I wanted waves to rival that in A Perfect Storm and I wanted more boats to come along and shoot cannons at the main boat and for the main boat to win and float somewhere in that way that only boats can afterward.
I wasn't disappointed in any way by this film. It was great!
7. Mystic River
Directed by: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne
I remember the least about this film, except for the fact I couldn't wait for it to come out whilst everyone around me claimed to have never heard of it. Being a big fan of Eastwood's spaghetti westerns, I had seen very few if any of his directing escapades, so I was interested to see how this one turned out. With a great cast shown above, especially Penn, they shined and made a great story even better. I want to see this one again. Don't like Tim Robbins though.
8. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Directed by: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Andrew Bryniarski
Part of the reason this film is in the top 10 is because I'm such a fan of the original. It's shocking that I currently have neither in my ever-growing DVD collection, it's well cheap now but I'm an idiot. Anyway, this is one of those films re-released for the modern audience more on reputation and cult status than the artistic merit for its existence. All the same, I didn't feel that they pissed in the mouth of the original too much. So the script was still shit and there was far too much build up before anything interesting happened, but when you get to the last third of the film everything is forgotten.
(Image taken from The Texas Chainsaw Massace (1974) - the women weren't as good looking then)
When leatherface starts running through the clothes lines, you know you're back in the world of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For me it was actually like watching the film for the first time again, and I did jump every time the girl shot herself, all of the 2 times I've seen it.
I don't find films scary at all due to intense desensitisation in all forms of media, but the scenes in the slaughter house were some of the most disturbing things I experienced last year, but then maybe I'm just afraid of slaughter houses.
Best horror film of 2003.
9. Raising Victor Vargas
Directed by: Peter Sollett
Starring: Victor Rasuk, Silvestre Rasuk, Judy Marte, Altagracia Guzman
I saw this on a dull autumn afternoon with my friend Matthew Osborne, who became a great fan of the feature - claiming it to be his 'Film of 2003' only a couple of weeks ago now. It also left a good impact on me. It was different, it was gritty, an independant realistic depiction of family life from one guy's point of view; victor. Although not all of us live in a slum with our grandmother and lick our lips every 10 seconds, but examined here are the simple aspects of life that so often go ignored for more glamerous outputs. It hardly made anyone notice at the box office, but go underground, and this was one of the nicest surprises of the year. Worth a rental next time you fall into Blockbuster or Choices.
10. Phone Booth
Directed by: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Colin Farrel, Keither Sutherland, Katie Holmes, Forest Whitaker, Radha Mitchell
Starring the guy who played a Milkman in the 1999 TV version of David Copperfield, Colin 'Eyebrows' Farrel, Phone Booth was a short, fast-paced thriller than caught a lot of people's attention due to the fact it seemed to all take place in... well, in the phone booth.
Sniper films usually go down well, and although this wasn't the epic of Enemy at the Gates, it had a striking documentary feel of realism entwined with some serious tense claustrophobia. Throw Katie Holmes on the top as Farrel's bit on the side, and you've got one cool movie, infinately more watchable for the MTV-generation than any of the 3-hour epic tales we put ourselves through this year.
All in all, as things go, 2003 was a pretty good year for cinema. With no more Lord of the Rings or Matrix sequals to wait for, 2004 doesn't immediately jump out quite as exciting, but underneath the surface a multitude of more subtle masterpieces. Brad Pitt's long absence from the big screen ends with Troy whilst Scarlett Johansson will become more than just 'the good looking girl from ghost world' with a couple of hit films. Alexander and King Arthur add to the list of epic historical films, whilst The Incredibles and at least 2 more 'Finding-Nemo-like' fish films will be coming out to entertain the child in all of us. Spiderman and Kill Bill come back for second helpings, whilst the latest ultimate disaster movie; The Day After Tomorrow's trailer is an enticing as any so far in 2004. Finally, The Last Samurai is a must-see, even if you don't expect it to be the best film of all time, which it isn't. It's about time we had some good sword-fighting, samurai action around, and slightly more realistic fighting than that of Kill Bill too.
We'll keep on praying for Red Dwarf; the movie to be completed.
Written by Jay