DVDizzy Forum

Since all the critics are releasing the Top 10 Lists for 2003, I thought it would be a good idea for us to post our own Top 10's. When I see a few films I missed during the year, I'll formulate and post mine. Everyone feel free to respond. ! !

Here is my list of the Top 10 movies of 2003

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Finding Nemo
3. X2: X-Men United
4. Bruce Almighty
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
6. The Matrix Reloaded
7. Brother Bear
8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
9. Freddy Vs. Jason
10. The Matrix Revolutions



Worst Runner-up: Gigli, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, Jeepers Creepers 2 and Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat

Great Runner-up: Daddy Day Care, Freaky Friday, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Hulk, Daredevil, The Lizzie McGuire Movie and The Last Samurai

LOL, we both posted the same topic at the same time. I'll just delete my thread and post my list here:

(Runner ups: Big Fish, The School of Rock, Hulk)

10. The Haunted Mansion
Kept me amused and laughing from start to finish. The cast does a good job, with Terrance Stamp being the stand out as the creepy but funny butler. The sets are truly fantastic, and its always fun to see the numerous refrences to the Disneyland ride. To put it simply, this was just a fun time at the movies.

9. Seabiscuit
It's hard for me to pinpoint what I like so much about this movie, I guess because I like pretty much everything about it. Jeff Bridges, one of my favorite actors, creates a really likable character in this film, and the rest of the cast all do great jobs too. I love the narrative approach to film, making you feel as if its taking you back in time. It contains the best cinematography of the year, and is just beautiful to look at, alternating between black and white and glorious color. I think its really the perfect length to, unlike so many recent films.

8. The Matrix Reloaded
The pacing was horrible, the dialogue and acting were on the lame side, but The Matrix Reloaded has an uncanny characteristic of rewatchability. It contains some of the most exhilerating action sequences ever put to film, and I find it enjoyable to watch every time. I feel really bad putting it above Seabiscuit, but I can't help it. For me, its very entertaining to watch.

7. S.W.A.T.
I was pleasently surprised this summer when I went in for a viewing of this film. I expected a mindless, non-stop action, cleche Summer film. But what I got was a well-thought out, surprisingly realistic, and character driven film. It doesn't insult the intelligence like many Summer movies, and really takes time to weave in character development. Along with that, it delivers a surprising twist that leads to some pretty intense adventure. This is probably my favorite action flick ever.

6. Finding Nemo
What can I say that hasn't already been said? This is a really enjoyable film that has grown on me even more since the DVD release. There's really nothing wrong with it, except its a little too episodic for my tastes. Pixar made another slam dunk - will they ever miss?

5. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Where do I begin? Anyway I describe this movie won't do it justice. It takes a documentary style approach, following a crew on their voyage without ever leaving them, allowing the audience to get to know each one of them, see how they interact, view their hardships, losses, and triumphs. I don't really think I've ever seen a movie like this that sticks with a single group of people without cutting away to another event. It's really well done and a really satisfying movie.

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
This is another movie that has grown on me immensly since its DVD release. Apon first seeing it in theaters, I thought it was an O.K. flick with an entertaining performance by Johnny Depp. I didn't get what the big deal was. When seeing it again this December, something changed, and I don't know what. But I like it a heck of a lot more now, enough to put it at #4. Don't know what else to say.

3. X2: X-Men United
I'm a big fan of the X-Men characters and was left wanting much more after the first film. This movie delivered beyond my expectations with a bang! The plot was great, the action was fantastic (Wolverine kicking ass in the mansion, anyone?), and the ending was an uber-cool surprise. Bring on X3!

2. Brother Bear
It may not have the best story, or characters, of the movies this year. It may not be deserving of this high a rank on my list, some may think. But for me, this movie brought back the Disney magic that has been absent, in my eyes, since The Lion King. It made me feel like a kid again, and that's all that matters to me.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
After being somwhat let down by The Two Towers, the final chapter of the epic LOTR trilogy brought back the magic I felt in The Fellowship of the Ring. While the battle scenes were spectacular, what I loved most about the film was pretty much everything with Sam and Frodo. Virtually every scene they were in touched me, and often times really worked me up emotionally. By the end of the movie, I felt so satisfied, like I'd been on this long, long journey with all these characters and had finally seen them through to the end. Bravo to all the folks who worked so hard on the trilogy - its payed off immensely.

I haven't seen Peter Pan or Brother Bear, yet, so here's my list so far without them (though I expect both to be in the top 5):

1. Finding Nemo
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. Pirates of the Caribbean
4. Down With Love
5. Daredevil
6. X2: X-Men United
7. Phone Booth
8. Hulk
9. The Matrix Reloaded
10. The Last Samurai


Honorable Mention: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Holes, S.W.A.T, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Recruit

This is always really hard for me, because I always find myself putting in things that I think I SHOULD rather than those that I really liked. However, this year proved pretty easy, as I had a fair bit of fun this year at the fillums....

1. Lord of the Rings: ROTK (without a doubt, PJ has made the best 10 hour movie ever)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. X2: X-Men United
4. Kill Bill Vol 1
5. Finding Nemo
6. Lost in Translation
7. Brother Bear
8. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it wasn't the comic, but it was still fun)
9. Undead (Aussie Zombie film, really fun)
10. Freddy vs. Jason (for pure fun)

1 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2 Brother Bear
3 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
4 Finding Nemo
5 Whale Rider
6 In America
7 Secondhand Lions
8 X2
9 Seabiscuit
10 The Matrix Revolutions
11 The Matrix Reloaded
12 Master and Commander: The Curse of the Black Pearl
13 Holes
14 Daredevil
15 Down With Love
16 The Haunted Mansion
17 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
18 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
19 The Hulk
20 T3: Rise of the Machienes
21 Freaky Friday
22 Peter Pan
23 Phone Booth
24 Bringing Down the House

Still need to see: Big Fish, Cold Mountain, Last Samurai, Cheaper By the Dozen, Bad Santa, Northfork, Shattered Glass, LXG, Luovo, Triplets of Bellville

Man do I envy those of you that can actually *see* 10+ movies a year in the theatres to actually have a Top 10

Jake Lipson wrote:12 Master and Commander: The Curse of the Black Pearl

I think you're mistaken here - didn't notice Russell Crowe walking around as a skelaton in the movie.

Here's mine...

1. Lost in Translation
2. Brother Bear
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
5. The Station Agent
6. Something's Gotta Give
7. In America
8. Cold Mountain
9. A Mighty Wind
10. Finding Nemo

I think I saw about 18 movies this year, which is the most I've ever seen...in a single year, at the theater. Last year I saw 9.

Loomis wrote:This is always really hard for me, because I always find myself putting in things that I think I SHOULD rather than those that I really liked. However, this year proved pretty easy, as I had a fair bit of fun this year at the fillums....

8. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it wasn't the comic, but it was still fun)

It sure was. Not as dumbed down as I expected. And Dorian Grey actually had a reason to be in the movie - he did more than just "stand around not aging" as I originally feared.

Still, I didn't see the need for Tom Sawyer if he was only going to shoot guns. Surely if they were going to use Sawyer, they should have included some of his wit and trickery.

I can't really do a definitive (or long list) but here's mine:

Adaptation
X2
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Daredevil
Hulk
Finding Nemo
Chicago
Holes

Definitely not:
Maxtrix Reloaded

01) Lost In Translation

02) City Of God

03) Triplets Of Belleville

04) American Splendor

05) Kill Bill

06) Pirates Of The Carribean

07) Return Of The King

08) 21 Grams

09) Adaptation

10) Finding Nemo


Other considerable mentions: Swimming Pool, Big Fish, Old School, The Last Samurai & Open Range.


Worst movies of the year: Daredevil, Master & Commander & Thirteen.

2099net wrote:
X2
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Daredevil
Hulk

Hey, spot the comic book nerd!!! Ok, this is coming from someone with a Green Arrow avatar. Actually, as a comic book fan myself (as if you couldn't tell), I think it is great that the adaptations this year have been fairly solid and managed to please (for the most part) both comic fans and the genral public.

Daredevil was an "also ran" for me too...

2099net wrote:Definitely not:
Maxtrix Reloaded

Or Revolutions. Did they just forget Neo existed for most of Revs on purpose, so they could have a big battle scene with props left over from Aliens? Oh, yeah...the chosen one...go fight the Australian in sunglasses....that Elrond guy....[/quote]

I guess i´ll say:

1 LOTR return of the king
2 Finding Nemo
3 Pirates of the Caribbean
4 Brother Bear
5 Matrix revolutions
6 Phonebooth
7 Matrix reloaded
8 Down with love
9 Lara croft tomb raider: cradle of life
10 Frida

the most disapointing: The Hulk

I edited my list above to include Return of the King which I just recently saw (and freaking loved. It's by far the best of the trilogy.) Will edit the list as soon as I see Peter Pan.

It's a little late but here's my top ten

1. Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Carribean
3. Finding Nemo
4. Master and Commander
5. X2
6. The Last Samurai
7. Lost In Translation
8. Something's Gotta Give
9. SWAT
10. Old School

DDMAN26 wrote:4. Master and Commander

How could anyone have possibly enjoyed this movie?!?

STASHONE wrote:

DDMAN26 wrote:4. Master and Commander

How could anyone have possibly enjoyed this movie?!?

I'm questioning why anyone would want to see it when Russell Crow is CLEARLY in all the promotional material...

...mind you, the ponytail could be good for a laugh, though.