Best and Worst Movies of 2003

Okay. I went through the list of 8378 Movies, Videos, Video Games, and TV shows listed in imdb‘s list of “movie titles only” from 2003, and made two lists. I only considered movies whose initial release was in theatres in 2003, so most of the titles were … annoying …. being non-movies. Anyway. One list was of movies of 2003 which I’ve seen, and the other list is of movies of 2003 which I haven’t seen yet, but want to.

Click here is you want to see these lists.

Now, if you saw a movie with me this year in a theatre that isn’t on either list, let me know. It’s possible I missed it while going through the 8378 titles. It’s also possible that the movie’s official initial release was in another year.

So why, you may wonder, did I do this? Well, in previous years I’ve wanted to do an end-of-the-year list of my favorite movies of the year, but I can never remember which movies I saw in which years, and I often forget many movies. This year, while I was cutting back on my movie watching overall, I still have opinions. And now, I have a way of safely limiting my lists to the movies of 2003. So here are the 15 movies I consider my favorites (after only a quick review; my opinions may change after multiple viewings of these films) among all the movies of 2003 which I actually saw:

15 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
14 American Splendor
13 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
12 Confidence
11 Cat in the Hat, The
10 Matchstick Men
9 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The
8 Head of State
7 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
6 Matrix Revolutions, The
5 Peter Pan
4 Order, The
3 Kill Bill: Vol. 1
2 Matrix Reloaded, The
1 Elf

And here are the 10 movies I consider (again, after only a quick review in my mind) to be the worst movies of 2003 which I have seen:

10 Daredevil
9 Seabiscuit
8 Wrong Turn
7 Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
6 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
5 Dreamcatcher
4 Guy Thing, A
3 Jeepers Creepers II
2 Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
1 Absolon

Still, because of limited funds, there are many movies I did not get a chance to see this year (or that I plan simply to buy on DVD sight-unseen, knowing full well that they will be satisfying). So here are two quick lists, only 8 titles each, of the best and worst movies of 2003 which I haven’t seen, based on … what I think they’ll be like when I do see them:

Best:
8 Haunted Mansion, The
7 Bad Santa
6 Cooler, The
5 School of Rock, The
4 Love, Actually
3 Northfork
2 Girl With a Pearl Earring
1 Lost in Translation

Worst:
8 Pieces of April
7 Company, The
6 Uptown Girls
5 Basic
4 Dracula II: Ascension
3 Marci X
2 Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
1 Brown Bunny, The

Which brings an interesting thing to mind: despite the fact that I believe that those last 8 movies will be among the worst movies of 2003 that I will see, I still want to see them. Especially The Brown Bunny. Wow.

Anyway, I’d love to hear your feedback, and I’d certainly love to be reminded of films I’ve somehow left out. Of note to me are things like this: In America, which will probably get multiple Oscar nominations this year, had its theatrical debut in Canada in 2002. I haven’t seen it, but I plan to buy it, and if it was a 2003 movie, it would be on my Best list.

Wheeee!!