December 31, 2003

2003 Movies

You know how sometimes you run across people that are so organized they can provide a list of all the new movies they saw in a year and rank them in order? I've decided I want to pretend to be that sort of person. Except that I haven't been keeping very careful notes, so I looked at Movieweb's 2003 films and listed the ones I've seen. There's some questionable movies here (Chicago is officially from 2002, but it was released in 2003 in most places), but I'm just taking the list as it was given.

Keep in mind that I'm not saying these movies are ranked according to "quality." I'm not interested in declaring something the "Best Film of the Year." These movies are listed in "Enjoyment Order" -- the top movie is the one I enjoyed the most, and so on down the list until you reach the movie I disliked the most. Here we go!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Back Pearl
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
American Splendor
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
School of Rock
X-2: X-Men United
Finding Nemo
Bend It Like Beckham
Lost in La Mancha
Bubba Ho-Tep
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Chicago
Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
The Haunted Mansion
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life
Shanghai Knights
Bulletproof Monk
Daredevil
The Matrix Revolutions
The Hebrew Hammer
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Underworld
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The Matrix Reloaded
Kill Bill: Volume 1

The top eight movies are the ones I thought were really, really good. That's about a third of the field, so I guess I'm a pretty generous grader. On the other hand, if a movie looked like it was going to be terrible, I probably didn't see it, so it's kind of a biased sample.

One exception is Finding Nemo. I hated the trailers and commercials. A lot. I've come to the conclusion that everything about Pixar is great, except for the marketing department, because I also found the Toy Story campaign repellent. And that was a really good movie. I'm going to have to start just ignoring the ads, I guess, because it took me until last week to see Finding Nemo even though it stars Ellen DeGeneres, who's one of my favorite comedians ever.

I saw it on DVD, of course. Perhaps I should have made that clear earlier: these aren't just the movies I saw in theatres. As far as I'm concerned, if it's a movie that came out in and I only saw it on DVD several months later, that still counts. For that matter, I'm counting The Hebrew Hammer, which was on Comedy Central a few weeks ago, because it's supposedly getting a theatrical release soon. I also only saw Lost in La Mancha on DVD, although that wasn't my fault; it was in Seattle for a week and in only one theatre. I did manage to see Bubba Ho-Tep legitimately, though.

This list more or less reflects my opinions. The closer you get to the top or bototm of the list, the more likely I actually thought about the rankings. Did I really like The Haunted Mansion more than the new Tomb Raider movie? Maybe. I thought they were both "okay," so I gave extra credit to the one with the theme park in-jokes.

The movies I just didn't enjoy at all are the bottom three. Yeah, I know, a lot of people liked Kill Bill and thought it was a great leap forward in derivative splatterfests. I already discussed my objections and there were so many comments for and against the movie that I ended up turning off the comments on that page. And I'm kind of surprised that I have such a big gap between the two Matrix movies that came out this year. I thought Reloaded was just a big waste of time, while Revolutions at least had some things I liked in it.

The only movies I saw more than once in theatres were Pirates of the Caribbean, Master and Commander, and Kill Bill. Yeah, that last one seems a little odd to me, too. But I saw it at JournalCon, and I was willing to give it another chance. It didn't take, though.

Since there were 26 films, that averages out to one every other week. I always hope I'll see more movies than that, but it never works out that way. There's still a chance I'll see Big Fish or The Triplets of Belleville, but I don't think that'll be until next year.

I've had the exact same thoughts about Pixar. I own the Finding Nemo DVD, so when I played the extra material, I realized how truly awful the Pixar trailers are. They give you absolutely no idea of the emotional heft or sophisticated humor of the movie, and prefer to focus on eye candy or stupid gags. Maybe they outsource the trailers . . . ?

Posted by: Marissa at December 31, 2003 02:26 PM

I had the same experience with the Matrix movies. Most people seemed to like 2 better than 3, but 2 bored me from beginning to end, where at least 3 had a fairly exciting middle part, I thought. The beginning and ending, though... ugh.

Posted by: tomthedog at January 2, 2004 09:29 AM

Monty, this is why I adore you so. Gigantic! Cowboy Bebop! The entire top 8! Every time you post a list of books or movies that you enjoyed, or talk about Trivia Night at your local pub, I always think "If Monty lived in my town, and came to my pub, we would definitely be friends." It's true, too, I think you'd fit right in with our bunch. Reading your entries feels just like talking to my friends. It's nice.

Posted by: fennec at January 5, 2004 12:29 PM



	« A New Home (for the holidays) \| Main \| You Say You Want a Resolution » December 31, 2003 2003 Movies You know how sometimes you run across people that are so organized they can provide a list of all the new movies they saw in a year and rank them in order? I've decided I want to pretend to be that sort of person. Except that I haven't been keeping very careful notes, so I looked at Movieweb's 2003 films and listed the ones I've seen. There's some questionable movies here (Chicago is officially from 2002, but it was released in 2003 in most places), but I'm just taking the list as it was given. Keep in mind that I'm not saying these movies are ranked according to "quality." I'm not interested in declaring something the "Best Film of the Year." These movies are listed in "Enjoyment Order" -- the top movie is the one I enjoyed the most, and so on down the list until you reach the movie I disliked the most. Here we go! Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Back Pearl Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World American Splendor The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King School of Rock X-2: X-Men United Finding Nemo Bend It Like Beckham Lost in La Mancha Bubba Ho-Tep Cowboy Bebop: The Movie Chicago Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle The Haunted Mansion Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life Shanghai Knights Bulletproof Monk Daredevil The Matrix Revolutions The Hebrew Hammer Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines Underworld The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen The Matrix Reloaded Kill Bill: Volume 1 The top eight movies are the ones I thought were really, really good. That's about a third of the field, so I guess I'm a pretty generous grader. On the other hand, if a movie looked like it was going to be terrible, I probably didn't see it, so it's kind of a biased sample. One exception is Finding Nemo. I hated the trailers and commercials. A lot. I've come to the conclusion that everything about Pixar is great, except for the marketing department, because I also found the Toy Story campaign repellent. And that was a really good movie. I'm going to have to start just ignoring the ads, I guess, because it took me until last week to see Finding Nemo even though it stars Ellen DeGeneres, who's one of my favorite comedians ever. I saw it on DVD, of course. Perhaps I should have made that clear earlier: these aren't just the movies I saw in theatres. As far as I'm concerned, if it's a movie that came out in and I only saw it on DVD several months later, that still counts. For that matter, I'm counting The Hebrew Hammer, which was on Comedy Central a few weeks ago, because it's supposedly getting a theatrical release soon. I also only saw Lost in La Mancha on DVD, although that wasn't my fault; it was in Seattle for a week and in only one theatre. I did manage to see Bubba Ho-Tep legitimately, though. This list more or less reflects my opinions. The closer you get to the top or bototm of the list, the more likely I actually thought about the rankings. Did I really like The Haunted Mansion more than the new Tomb Raider movie? Maybe. I thought they were both "okay," so I gave extra credit to the one with the theme park in-jokes. The movies I just didn't enjoy at all are the bottom three. Yeah, I know, a lot of people liked Kill Bill and thought it was a great leap forward in derivative splatterfests. I already discussed my objections and there were so many comments for and against the movie that I ended up turning off the comments on that page. And I'm kind of surprised that I have such a big gap between the two Matrix movies that came out this year. I thought Reloaded was just a big waste of time, while Revolutions at least had some things I liked in it. The only movies I saw more than once in theatres were Pirates of the Caribbean, Master and Commander, and Kill Bill. Yeah, that last one seems a little odd to me, too. But I saw it at JournalCon, and I was willing to give it another chance. It didn't take, though. Since there were 26 films, that averages out to one every other week. I always hope I'll see more movies than that, but it never works out that way. There's still a chance I'll see Big Fish or The Triplets of Belleville, but I don't think that'll be until next year.
	« A New Home (for the holidays) \| Main \| You Say You Want a Resolution »
	Comments I've had the exact same thoughts about Pixar. I own the Finding Nemo DVD, so when I played the extra material, I realized how truly awful the Pixar trailers are. They give you absolutely no idea of the emotional heft or sophisticated humor of the movie, and prefer to focus on eye candy or stupid gags. Maybe they outsource the trailers . . . ? Posted by: Marissa at December 31, 2003 02:26 PM Isn't Disney Pixar's marketing behemoth? Also: hooray for including Gigantic on your list! "This is the (sob) happiest day of my (choke) life!" Posted by: Sundry at December 31, 2003 08:42 PM I had the same experience with the Matrix movies. Most people seemed to like 2 better than 3, but 2 bored me from beginning to end, where at least 3 had a fairly exciting middle part, I thought. The beginning and ending, though... ugh. Posted by: tomthedog at January 2, 2004 09:29 AM Monty, this is why I adore you so. Gigantic! Cowboy Bebop! The entire top 8! Every time you post a list of books or movies that you enjoyed, or talk about Trivia Night at your local pub, I always think "If Monty lived in my town, and came to my pub, we would definitely be friends." It's true, too, I think you'd fit right in with our bunch. Reading your entries feels just like talking to my friends. It's nice. Posted by: fennec at January 5, 2004 12:29 PM hry thanks for all the movie selections they are really great Posted by: Danielle at January 7, 2004 10:08 AM Syndicate this site (XML)

2003 Movies

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