Don Hosek - Movies I've seen in 2003

Each movie's given with a quickie review and the date that I've seen it. They're listed from best to worst. If a film has a number in brackets after the title, that indicates a film I've seen more than once, and which viewing I'm listing. I'd also point out that I do see revival and repertory stuff so not every film on the list will be a 2003 release. It will, however, be a film I saw projected on a screen in a dark room filled with strangers. Titles in bold are movies which had at least one actor in common with the movie I saw just before it (in honor of John C. Reilly).

  1. 21 Grams (12/10) A bit melodramatic at times, but González Iñárritu is getting a better filmmaker with each film.
  2. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (1/17) A better film than Fellowship, I thought. Maybe it's because it's been a longer time since I read the books this time around.
  3. Hable con Ella (4/?) The silent film sequence was a bit out of tune, but the rest of the film was fantastic.
  4. Finding Nemo (8/13) How does Pixar manage to be so consistently good?
  5. School of Rock (10/?) Brilliant
  6. Chicago (2/17) I never would have thought this would be this good.
  7. Pirates of the Caribbean (7/11) OK, it didn't make much sense, but Johnny Depp was just too much fun
  8. Bad Santa (12/5) Definitely not for children, but one of the funnier films of the year
  9. Phonebooth (4/?) A near-perfect film
  10. Matchstick Men (9/14) Gotta love Nicolas Cage's performance
  11. Adaptation (2/3) Charles Kaufman is a genius
  12. 25th Hour (1/21) A brilliant film. Don't be turned off because the protagonist is a drug dealer.
  13. Bend it like Beckham (6/2) If I have daughters I will make them play sports
  14. Seabiscuit (7/?) Now I want to read the book
  15. Holes (5/1) Fantastic off-beat children's film
  16. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2/20) Chuck Barris is also a genius
  17. 28 Days Later (8/6) I'm always up for a good zombie flick
  18. Intolerable Cruelty (10/?) Great romantic comedy from the Coen brothers
  19. Kill Bill, vol. 1 (10/?) Maybe I'm getting old, but the fight scenes seemed awfully long to me
  20. The Matrix Reloaded (6/16) Better than the first, I thought, although most fight scenes ran too long
  21. Down with Love (5/22) Fun light comedy
  22. X2 (6/11) Interestingly ambiguous morality
  23. Honey (12/28) A pleasant, uplifting film
  24. Confidence (5/5) Worth watching just for Dustin Hoffman's over-the-top performance
  25. Lost in Translation (9/?) Perhaps my expectations had been raised too much, but I was a bit disappointed
  26. The Italian Job (5/12) Decent heist film
  27. Anything but Love (9/?) Fascinating to see how Woody's developing in his self-portrayal.
  28. Daredevil (2/25) Great superhero film
  29. The Hulk (6/20) Good, although the action scenes ran too long
  30. Old School (3/4) Mindless fun
  31. The Recruit (3/17) Lost its way after the training sequence ended
  32. The Hours (2/13) Intriguing and beautiful.
  33. Identity (6/10) A bit of a mess, but entertaining at times
  34. Willard (3/18) Crispin Glover weirdness
  35. Matrix Revolutions (12/4) Everything wrong with Reloaded and nothing that was right from Reloaded.
  36. Amandla (3/12) Needed more music
  37. A Mighty Wind (5/14) The least satisfying of Christopher Guest's improv ensemble comedies
  38. The Safety of Objects (3/30) OK film, but not much to distinguish it from any of a million other ensemble dramas
  39. The Quiet American (3/18) It got the politics right, but blew the human relationships. The exact inverse of the first film of this novel.
  40. Rivers and Tides (4/?) Too much talking
  41. Lost in La Mancha (3/12) Not as interesting as I had hoped.
  42. The Life of David Gale (2/21) Great cast, awful film.
  43. The In-Laws (6/4) Skip this film and rent the original
  44. Timeline (12/13) Why did every actor in this film remind me of Keanu Reeves?
  45. About Schmidt (1/8) Kind of dull and unexciting