2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

The Top 10 of the Year

1. Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich + Best Adventure Movie of the Year + Best American Movie of the Year + Best Family Movie of the Year + Best Mega-hit Movie of the Year + Best Poster of the Year + Most Profitable Movie of the Year: 282.12 mil. $ range

2. Elephant - Gus Van Sant + Best High School Movie of the Year + Best Societal Critique of the Year + Best True-Crime Movie of the Year + Best Youth Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year

3. The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (documentary) - Errol Morris + Best Biopic of the Year + Best War Movie of the Year

4. Six Feet Under - season 3 - Alan Ball, creator + Best Continuing TV-series of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Los Angeles Title of the Year

5. Anything Else - Woody Allen + Best Huge Flop Movie of the Year + Best New York Movie of the Year + Best Romcom of the Year + Most Under-appreciated Movie of the Year 

6. Elf - Jon Favreau + Best Breakthrough of the Year: Will Ferrell + Best Christmas Movie of the Year + Best Comedy of the Year + Best Huge Hit of the Year 

7. 24 - season 3 - Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow, creators + Best Action Title of the Year + Most Suspenseful Title of the Year

8. Dogville - Lars Von Trier + Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Ensemble of the Year: Nicole Kidman, Ben Gazzara, James Caan, Lauren Bacall, Harriet Andersson, Chloë Sevigny, Patricia Clarkson, Paul Bettany, Stellen Skarsgård, Zeljko Ivanek + Best Epic of the Year + Best Experimental Movie of the Year

9. Reconstruction - Christoffer Boe + Best Art Film of the Year + Best Copenhagen Movie of the Year + Best Debut Movie of the Year + Best Romance of the Year

10. The Triplets of Belleville/Les Triplettes de Belleville/Belleville Rendez-vous - Sylvain Chomet + French Movie of the Year + Best Music Movie of the Year + Most Undeserved Flop of the Year

Other great 2003 movies (in alphabetical order):

21 Grams - Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu

Bad Santa - Terry Zwigoff + Best Big Hit Movie of the Year + Best Dark Comedy of the Year

Casa de los Babys - John Sayles + Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year

Coffee and Cigarettes - Jim Jarmusch + Best B/W Movie of the Year

The Five Obstructions/De Fem Benspænd - Jørgen Leth, Lars Von Trier

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Gore Verbinski + Best New Franchise of the Year + Best Pirate Movie of the Year

Good, recommendable 2003 movies (in alphabetical order):

American Splendor - Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

Beyond Re-Animator - Brian Yuzna + Best Box Office Disaster of the Year + Gore Movie of the Year + Best Horror Comedy of the Year + Best Spanish Movie of the Year

Bruce Almighty - Tom Shadyac

The Company - Robert Altman + Best Dance Movie of the Year + Best Mega-flop of the Year

The Cooler - Wayne Kramer + Best Las Vegas Movie of the Year

Freaky Friday - Mark Waters + Best Fantasy Movie of the Year

Swimming Pool - François Ozon + Best Erotic Movie of the Year

The Bottom 9 of the Year

1. Rapid Exchange (video) - Tripp Reed

2. The Core - Jon Amiel + Most Ridiculous Movie of the Year

3. Dreamcatcher - Lawrence Kasdan + Career-Killer of the Year: Lawrence Kasdan + Most Expensive Flop of the Year: 37.72 mil. $ range

4. The Recruit - Roger Donaldson

5. Runaway Jury - Gary Fleder + Worst Poster of the Year

6. Angels in America (miniseries) - Mike Nichols + Most Overrated Title of the Year

7. Carnivàle - season 1 - Daniel Knauf, creator

8. Final Destination 2 - David R. Ellis

9. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring/Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring/봄 여름 가을 겨울 그리고 봄/Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom - Kim Ki-duk 

[32 titles in total]

Notes:

Despite the low title count from 2004 so far, there are already an impressive 5 masterpieces reviewed: Best of the year is Pixar, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich's universally beloved oceanic adventure fable Finding Nemo, the only 2nd animated film to rank 1st, (after Pixar's Inside Out (2015)), and in a rare occurrence also the year's most profitable film. - 2nd best is Gus Van Sant's Columbine High massacre-inspired true-crime drama Elephant and 3rd best Errol Morris's dizzying Robert S. McNamara documentary biopic Fog of War. The Top 10 goes on with masterpieces; the 3rd season of Alan Ball's poignant funeral home drama Six Feet Under and Woody Allen's hilarious, incisive New-York-set relationship comedy Anything Else. The Top 10 concludes with Jon Favreau's Christmas cheer laugh-fest Elf; the 3rd season of Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow's suspenseful action series 24; Lars Von Trier's staggering US examination, drama epic Dogville; Christoffer Boe's Copenhagen-set love art film Reconstruction, and lastly Sylvain Chomet's eccentric, original animation delight, The Triplets of Belleville.
Among the other great gems of the year are Terry Zwigoff's anti-Christmas comedy Bad Santa, Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's fate-crossing heavy drama 21 Grams, John Sayles' adoption drama Casa de los Babys and Gore Verbinski's swashbuckler, family favorite Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Among the good outputs are Robert Altman's ballet portrait The Company and Mark Waters' body-swap comedy Freaky Friday.
On the Bottom 9 of the year, which is still too slight to pack a full 10, Tripp Reed's action video banality Rapid Exchange takes the cake as the year's worst so far. Jon Amiel's deeply inane disaster/sci-fi movie attempt The Core follows suit, with Lawrence Kasdan's career-crippling, expensive flop horror Dreamcatcher coming in 3rd. The less than envious list goes on with Roger Donaldson's dull The Recruit, Gary Fleder's showy courtroom thriller Runaway Jury, Mike Nichols' too opulent AIDS miniseries Angels in America, the 1st season of Daniel Knauf's impressive but unfocused Carnivàle, David R. Ellis' entertaining but self-serious Final Destination 2, and finally Kim Ki-duk's meditative, religious nature movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring.
Cementing their names in 2003 were Lars Von Trier, who also released evocative artist competition documentary The Five Obstructions (with Jørgen Leth), Johnny Depp, who broke through as a major A level marquee star with Pirates of the Caribbean, - and Jim Carrey, who proved his staying box office power again with Bruce Almighty. On the other end we saw diminishing attraction of senior stars like Dustin Hoffman (Runaway Jury), Al Pacino (The Recruit) and a wobbly, mega-budgeted new venture from HBO with Daniel Knauf's Carnivàle TV-series.

Biggest flops of the year:

[The loss is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account] 

1. Dreamcatcher - 37.72 mil. $ range
2. The Core - 30.64 mil. $ range
3. Anything Else - 12.6 mil. $ range
4. The Company - 12.44 mil. $ range
5. The Recruit - 5.56 mil. $ range
6. The Triplets of Belleville - 3.58 mil. $ range
7. Dogville - 3.36 mil. $ range
8. Beyond Re-Animator - 2.88 mil. $ range
= Combined losses: 108.78 mil. $

Biggest hits of the year:

[The gain is based solely on the cost and box office earnings for the films. Marketing costs and additional revenue (home video, TV rights and other auxiliary profits) are not taken into account] 

1. Finding Nemo - 282.12 mil. $ range
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - 121.68 mil. $ range
3. Bruce Almighty - 112.8 mil. $ range
4. Elf - 55.16 mil. $ range
5. Freaky Friday - 44.32 mil. $ range
6. Bad Santa - 12.4 mil. $ range
7. Final Destination 2 - 10.16 mil. $ range
8. 21 Grams - 4.16 mil. $ range
9. Elephant - 1 mil. $ range
= Combined profits: 643.8 mil. $ range

2003 titles on the watch-list:

The Room, Owning Mahowny, Camp, Latter Days, A Mighty Wind 

Previous annual lists:
    
2018 in films - according to Film Excess  
2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2016 in films - according to Film Excess
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2014 in films - according to Film Excess
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2013 in films - according to Film Excess    
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess   
2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

What do you think of the 2003 list?
Which 2003 titles would make to your top and bottom lists?
Which worthwhile 2003 titles are missing on the watch-list? 

Six Feet Under - season 3 (2003) - The Fishers endure to meet a new profound loss in spectacular drama

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Continuing TV-series of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Los Angeles Title of the Year

The Fishers and their closest others are gathered in a curiously profound vacuum with many-colored roses surrounding their darkness on this terrific poster for the third season of Alan Ball's Six Feet Under

The third season of creator Alan Ball's (Oh, Grow Up (1999, TV-series)) drama series, which centers on the Los Angeles-centered Fisher family, who run their funeral home business as best they can in the wake of the sudden death of their husband and father and head of the business, Nathaniel, continues as a powerful and intense life's drama.
The following recount includes several SPOILERS:

As the season kicks off we make a leap forward in time: Despite uncertainty-sparking déjà-vus, Nate Fisher's (Peter Krause (Civic Duty (2006))) brain tumor removal operation goes well, and in the period around it his mercurial lover Brenda (Rachel Griffiths (Cosi (1996))) has left him, and he has instead married his old Seattle flame Lisa (a brilliantly acted portrayal of a nervously disturbed woman by Lili Taylor (Pecker (1998))) and together they have created a little gemstone in a baby girl named Maya.
The season introduces a string of new characters: Nathaniel's widow Ruth Fisher's (Frances Conroy (Queen (1993, miniseries))) rebellious friend Bettina (Kathy Bates (The Waterboy (1998))), the funeral home's new intern Arthur (Rainn Wilson (Dominion (2006)) plays the strange bird with humor and sincerity), whom their solid restoration expert Rico (excellent Freddy Rodríguez (Ugly Betty (2007-10))) dubs "very home-schooled", and whom Ruth has a weird crush on for a while. - That is before she happens upon the charismatic, six-times-married George (James Cromwell (Marshall (2017))) at a weak moment following a funeral, whom she later marries, rather impulsively. Her independent art student daughter Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose (The Return of Jezebel James (2008, TV-series))) enjoys her new life at the LAC Arts school, where she strikes up a relationship with co-student Russell, (Ben Foster (The Program (2015)) is terrific as the ambiguously masculine deceiver), who screws his male teacher, lies about it and gets the boot.
Brenda is eventually reintroduced to Nate's life, as her new celibate life dictates her taking rounds and excusing her past mistakes. She begins dating her neighbor (Justin Theroux (On the Basis of Sex (2018))), before Nate turns up on her doorstep, busted up and in disintegration: His and Lisa's marriage has slowly deteriorated, and despite a recent reunification at Claire's art school event, Lisa goes missing and stays missing for 3 torturously good episodes (episodes #11-#13, the season's last), - until she is found dead.
In the meantime, Rico's wife Vanessa (Justina Machado (Bones (2010, TV-series))) has become a depressed pill-addict; and the Nate's brother, working bee David (Michael C. Hall (Gamer (2009))) has broken up his long relationship with cop boyfriend Keith (Matthew St. Patrick (Ice Cream in the Cupboard (2019))), - and gotten happily back together with him again.

The performances are all terrific, and the dramatic weight episode for episode is impressive, - somehow without marring the show's realism and authenticity. TV-series only very rarely reach the heights that Six Feet Under steadily navigates.

Best episodes:

11. Death Works Overtime - Written by Rick Cleveland (Inhumans (2017, miniseries)), Nancy Oliver (Lars and the Real Girl (2007)); directed by Daniel Attias (The Americans (2014-18))
Nate files a missing person's report for Lisa, and her disappearance takes its toll on him.

12. Twilight - Written by Craig Wright (Greenleaf (2016-19)), Oliver; directed by Kathy Bates (Have Mercy (2006))
Nate continues to be miserable in a state of unknowing; and Brenda helps Claire have an abortion.

13. I'm Sorry, I'm Lost - Written by Jill Soloway (I Love Dick (2016-17)), Oliver; directed by Alan Ball (True Blood (2008, TV-series))
Nate snaps and unravels in the stress of Lisa's disappearance, when finally definitive news arrive.

Related posts:

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a promo for season 3 here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Uncertain
[Six Feet Under - season 3 was originally broadcasted from 2 March - 1 June 2003 at HBO and runs 13 x 55 minute episodes, totaling approximately 715 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles. The season averaged 4.7 mil. viewers in the US, where the season marked the show's decline, as its 5.6 mil. peak with season 2 thereafter diminished to 2.5 mil. by the last, 5th season. Besides the ratings the show has enjoyed a solid afterlife on home video and now streaming platforms, generating more revenue. The season was nominated for 9 Emmys and 5 Creative Emmys, winning one; it was also nominated for 3 Golden Globes. The show returned in on 13 June 2004 with season 4. Ball returned with something different with Towelhead (2007), which he adapted, produced and directed. Krause returned in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004); Hall in Paycheck (2003) and Bereft (2004); Conroy in Die, Mommy, Die! (2003), and Ambrose in Admissions (2004). Six Feet Under - season 3 is the show's 3rd-highest rated; it is fresh at 92 % it has a 6.75/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Six Feet Under - season 3?

Swimming Pool (2003) - Rampling and Sagnier stand out in Ozon's suggestive, sensual thriller

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Erotic Movie of the Year

A young and an older woman meet by a swimming pool in this poster for François Ozon's Swimming Pool

A British female crime novelist accepts boarding in a plush French residence belonging to her publisher to look for inspiration, but instead she finds her publisher's daughter Julie, who is missing a mother figure in her life ...

Swimming Pool is written by Emmanuèle Bernheim (Lucas (1993, TV movie)) and co-writer/director François Ozon (Under the Sand/Sous le Sable (2000)), with Sionann O'Neill (À Quatre Mains (1995, short)) doing translation. It is not the king of thrillers that keeps one captured in breathless suspense, SPOILER because the murder and resulting suspense is placed towards the end of the film. 
Countering this are alluring shots of magnificent France and a cinematic quality that is hard to describe in words. The acting is also fine; Charlotte Rampling (Broadchurch (2015, TV-series)) and Ludivine Sagnier (Water Drops on Burning Rocks/Gouttes d'Eau sur Pierres Brûlantes (2000)) are both excellent as women of different ages who are both searching for something elusive.
Swimming Pool is an underplayed and suggestive erotic-psychological thriller - with plenty of nice breasts.

 

Related posts:

 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Ozon and stars arrive for the film's glitzy premiere in Cannes in this video

Cost: 7.8 mil. $
Box office: 22.4 mil. $
= Box office success (2.87 times its cost)
[Swimming Pool premiered 18 May (Cannes Film Festival, France, in competition) and runs 103 minutes. Shooting took place in France and in London, UK. The film opened #24 to a 287k $ first weekend in 13 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #16 and in 259 theaters (different weeks), grossing 10.1 mil. $ (45.1 % of the total gross), becoming a rare French breakout hit in the market. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were main production country France with 4 mil. $ (17.9 %) and Germany with 3 mil. $ (13.4 %). Cannes' Palme d'Or was lost to Gus Van Sant's Elephant. The film was also nominated for 2 César awards, France's Oscar, and won 1/5 European Film awards. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Ozon returned with 5x2 (2004). Rampling returned in Imperium: Augustus (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in The Statement (2003); Sagnier in Little Lili/La Petite Lili (2003). Swimming Pool is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7.04/10 critical average rating at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Swimming Pool?