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?
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