zwolanerd

I have seen 67 of the 422 movies released in 2003, and I couldn’t make this list any shorter than 20. Just couldn’t bring myself to do it, sorry. So you get an extended list today (but no honorable/special mentions).

Here are my favorites from 2003:

20. Final Destination 2 – My favorite of the series (is it weird that I have a favorite from this series?) and includes the best movie death(s) sequence of all time so far: the air bag->cigarette->gas->barbed wire fence one.

19. Identity – John Cusack and a whoooooooooooole lot of rain.

18. Hulk – The swirling colors “fight” at the end and the crazy dad aren’t the best, but there’s a lot of really good Hulk stuff in this movie.

17. School of Rock – This movie honestly gave me an appreciation for classic rock.

16. Elf – This movie would have ranked higher before I had to see it 850 times.

15. The Matrix Reloaded\The Matrix Revolutions\The Animatrix – Yes, this is cheating a little, but without The Animatrix the other two get bumped way down, so they should be thankful and shut their mouths.

14. Open Range – One of my top five favorite Westerns. The main shoot-out had what I can only describe as a “real feel” to it. Believable.

13. Daredevil – People give this one a lot of grief, but I’ve always liked it, particularly the Director’s Cut. I still haven’t watched the new TV show, if you can believe. I plan to, I just haven’t yet.

12. Freddy vs. Jason – This movie was better than it had any right to be.

11. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – It’s hard to remember amidst the haze of the sequels, but this first one is pretty good.

10. Big Fish – I feel like I don’t completely understand this movie, but I still like the feel and look of it.

9. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines – T1 and T2 stand as two of the all-time greats, but I really like the twist they put on the Terminator storyline here, making Judgment Day a different thing than they expected. It looks like they’re taking that a few extra steps in Genisys, and I’m looking forward to how that’ll go.

8. A Mighty Wind – I didn’t have much connection to folk music before watching this one, but I’ve always maintained that the best satires teach you about the subject while they’re making fun of it (reference: Portlandia).

7. Lost in Translation – Oh, man, just the feel of this one.

6. Finding Nemo – Another Pixar movie that I was just “meh” on originally, but have grown to really like. That hasn’t happened (nor is it likely to) with Cars.

5. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life – Again, I wish they’d made several more of these with Angelina Jolie.

4. The Rundown – The Rock in his first “on his own” movie (no one counts “The Scorpion King”), and it’s better than you think.

3. Kill Bill Vol. 1 – So many great fights in this movie!

2. X2: X-Men United – So many mutants!

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Most people griped about the multiple endings and I was all “where’s the cleansing of the Shire??”

 

Tags: Tuesday10, Yearly

Written by: Mark