2003 was the year of missed opportunities for some eagerly anticipated offerings. The Wachowski brothers succeeded in only trying audience patience (regardless of money totals) with two Matrix sequels neither of which intelligently expanded upon the universe they gave birth to in 1999. And the summer box office bonanza was won by an animated fish (Finding Nemo) followed closely by a live action version of a beloved Disney fun ride (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl). With Lara Croft Tomb Raider: the Cradle of Life, Angelina Jolie suffered another failed sequel attempt by Director Jan de Bont (remember Speed 2) despite generally favorable reviews, and a built-in video gaming market thirsty and already buzzing about the second Resident Evil film due out in 2004.

Summer sophisticates rewarded a true story about a horse named Seabiscuit with a hundred plus million dollar purse.

New art house cinemas opened in Atlanta (where our principal place of business is located) and Memphis (where our very own curmudgeon Rusty White lays his head). Speaking of curmudgeons, cult character Harvey Pekar had reason to smile as his comic book and his life were adapted for the big screen in American Splendor which has appeared on several already published "best of" lists. After attending Sundance (at which Splendor made a splash) in January, our mail was filled with screening copies (keep ‘em coming) independent films many of which are worthy of distribution but remain victims of the numbers game.

In other news, both Tom Cruise and his former marital partner Nichole Kidman appeared in Oscar hopeful period films. Kidman made an impression with two nude scenes and two different accents in two separate films (The Human Stain and Cold Mountain) under the tutelage of award-winning directors only to be upstaged by Renee Zellweger in Mountain who kept her clothes on and provided much needed comic relief that pulled tightly at your heart strings.

Also in 2003, we got the fourth film from Quentin Tarantino. His enormously entertaining Kill Bill: Vol. 1, made other derivative action films look soggy by comparison. Unfortunately, the blood soaked first installment of Bill was hampered somewhat by the marketing strategy in an effort to Matrixize Tarantino’s story releasing it in two parts within a 12 month period. While I’m looking forward to the second helping due out in February 2004, I wonder whether a longer single film would have translated into more initial box office (the first film is lackluster shy of $70 million) and a possible Oscar nomination.

The list below includes films we saw this year at festivals, in the multiplex on the corner of suburban America, and in the comfort of our homes courtesy of an earnest filmmaker or an agent devoted to a labor of love. Unlike other lists that focus on films actually released in the theaters in 2003, we list films that may be hard to find but will be worth the trouble finding (even if that means emailing the filmmaker directly from his or her website).

1. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Yes, we start our list with one of the biggest releases of the year. Sometimes it can harder to get it right with unlimited funds especially when expectations are through the stratosphere. Frankly, as far as big budget films were concerned, prior to seeing the excellent concluding chapter to the LOTR trilogy, Seabiscuit was the most entertaining film I had seen in 2003. The PR firm that handled the screening for The Return of the King in Atlanta was nice enough to load us up with coffee and donuts before the film started. Anyone who knows me can attest that I will never pass up free coffee (and it never ceases to amaze me how long I will wait in line at Starbucks for a Grande Latte).

Therefore, I carefully timed my exit to the restroom around the 2 hour point in ROTK, a sprawling 3 hour and 20 minute, intermissionless epic that is really the best movie of the year on many levels. Peter Jackson gets high marks for being mature enough to spend a good half an hour wrapping up the various story-lines. Honestly, with a second restroom break, I could have watched another hour of this stuff easy.

Rusty White of EI felt betrayed by the cutting of a scene (critical to most hardcore fans) involving Saruman the White (played by Christopher Lee). But consider that additional scene (to be available on the DVD release) to be just one more reason, as if you really needed any more, to buy the DVD which is sure to be a must have for home theaters everywhere. My review demonstrated just how little I know about the Tolkien universe and many thanks to students of the books for putting me in my place. Despite my lack of knowledge of the source material, I couldn't get enough of Hobbits and their fellow middle earth inhabitants, and neither could you in 2003.

2. Seabiscuit

We really shouldn't forget that while Finding Nemo was taking over the summer box office another film managed to appeal to audiences both young and old. Seabiscuit was a thrilling little yarn that felt real and why not, it's based on a true story. The appeal of horses is combined beautifully with the story of an underdog in Seabiscuit producing drama that was as moving as anything I saw this year (and easily one-upped in the entertainment department the limp Matrix sequels).

Seabiscuit was smartly packaged with a star-studded cast led by Jeff Bridges (who ages well in the story), a pencil thin Tobey Maguire, and the newly minted Oscar winner Chris Cooper (who has had a knack for choosing good roles over the years, anyone remember Lone Star). Telling a brutally honest story that touched audience soft spots, Seabiscuit cannot be forgotten by Oscar voters.

3. Les Invasions Barbares (The Barbarian Invasions)

My sentimental favorite film of 2003 was Les Invasions Barbares (The Barbarian Invasions). Denys Arcand told me that when he was having a hard time writing the script which tells the story of a man dying of cancer and attempting to reconcile his relationship with his estranged son, Arcand decided to go back to a character from his past films (principally 1986’s The Decline of the American Empire). That character, the larger than life Remy, enabled Arcand to breathe a little humor into the sad story. The result is a subtle masterpiece that sensitive moviegoers will find engaging. The title itself is telling and the patient way the film conveys Remy's last days is rich and heart-rending.

4. Purgatory House/Thirteen

2003 was the year of the tween movie, films searching for the real often shockingly lurid example of young people, particularly girls, on the edge of the teenage experience.

Director Cindy Baer with her festival favorite Purgatory House smartly tapped into this growing sub-genre. Blending reality with an experimental flair (smartly toying around with the story-line jumping from one time and reality to another dimension between Heaven and earth), Purgatory House raised questions regarding faith and the existence of God. It brutally asks what would happen if you committed suicide to escape your horrible life but end up discovering that Hell is that you remain the same miserable young person for the rest of eternity wearing the same tired fashions gobbling copious amounts of the same destructively useless elicit drugs in the process. Depicting God as a drag queen game show host, PH surprisingly avoids teetering over the edge and into insulting bad taste territory. Written by then 13 year old Celeste Davis who also makes an astonishing debut as its little star appropriately named Silver Strand, PH was the coolest tween offering of 2003.

Another film perfectly entitled Thirteen boasted a 13 year old co-writer named Nikki Reed who doubled as a co-star handling her role with star-making presence. Although the attention may center on the young people who chew up the scenery, the Oscar nomination should go to the powerful pint-sized Holly Hunter who literally bears all as the mother of an impressionable pre-teen (sometimes referred to as "tween"). Films like Thirteen pull no punches in displaying the scary risks taken by this nation's disaffected youth.

Other excellent examples in this category that should be mentioned here include the little seen Sweet Sixteen (Ken Loach's incremental view of a child on the brink), The Magdalene Sisters (definitely in line for best foreign picture consideration), Cautiva (an Argentinean film that may find a home in American video stores in 2004), The Lizzie Maguire Movie & Freaky Friday (the two most kid friendly of the bunch), and the upbeat Bend It Like Beckham (perhaps the best soccer film ever made).

5. Winged Migration /Venus Boys

Great documentaries were available in 2003 to save from the encroachment of reality TV into the theaters (remember the embarrassing The Real Cancun!?!?). Of the bunch which includes the sure to be Oscar nominated Capturing the Friedmans, I was impressed by the transgender non-fiction film Venus Boys which introduced me to Drag King culture (and I thought that I had seen everything).

Scott Mantz was taken by Winged Migration saying the following in his review:

While the touching, funny and devastating Winged Migration is just as informative and entertaining as it is breathtaking and beautiful, Director Perrin wisely chooses to keep his dialogue sparse and let the fantastic imagery speak for itself. As it is, there is nothing more fantastic than embracing the "personality" of each species while marveling at their stamina, lust for life and will to survive (especially in one poignant scene, where a caged parrot frees itself and soars back into the wild blue yonder).

6. Irreversible

Rusty White and I spent several days kicking around different films before settling on this list. Irreversible was always on his short list and made the cut. Here is why he thinks it is worthy of being called “best of” 2003:

Gasper Noe's Irreversible is a gut-wrenching film that is admittedly difficult to watch. The film deals with the question of vengeance in a way that has never been done before. The film's format is challenging and inventive. The story is told in reverse in 15-minute segments. The brutal beginning (or ending!) is tough to watch. Eventually we see what motivated that horrific attack in the most uncompromising and horrific scene ever shown in a mainstream film. Tough to watch. Impossible to forget. Monica Belucci brings a vulnerability to her craft that few American actresses would even attempt.

7. Mystic River

Clint Eastwood's quiet treasure Mystic River was the most favorably talked about film this year and with good reason. Starring a bevy of acting talent headed by the immensely empathetic Sean Penn (who could be nominated for best actor twice this year) as Jimmy Markum, a former small-time criminal whose teenage daughter is tragically killed.

Eastwood is a shoe-in for the Oscar nomination for best director by capturing the agony of this tiny event with skilled perfection. River runs well over 2 hours in length but few will be checking their watches because of the story's gripping nature.

Penn's winning performance permeates everything here keeping your eyes glued to the screen (when you're not pawing at them to fight back or clear away the tears). One of the concluding scenes (normally reserved for a soft epilogue in such films) in which Penn's character talks with wife is enough to set up a darkly interesting sequel with Godfatheresque implications.

8. The Station Agent

Another Sundance favorite, Thomas McCarthy's perceptive tiny film, The Station Agent, featured a massive breakthrough performance by Peter Dinklage as expert train watcher Finbar McBride. Dinklage, a dwarf, plays a man forced to deal with the way the world sees him--a society that primarily zeroes in on his height.

Dinklage told me that The Station Agent is a film that understands how much people close themselves off when either rejected or circumstances become untenable. Amazingly, Dinklage in a calm but emotional performance manages to shift the focus of the film from his size and onto the universal plight he shares with the other lead characters--the inability to let others get close to them, intimacy but not necessarily in a romantic way.

Bobby Cannavale, who plays another character, the ever talkative Joe, continually, whether intentionally or unintentionally, distances himself from everyone so much that his ailing father has marooned him in rural New Jersey where he must attempt to make his living from a snack truck. There he befriends Finbar and the reclusive, damaged artist Olivia (played by Patricia Clarkson). You will want to sit around with these characters and drink one of Joe's cafe con leche's half way through this wonderful film. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dinklage holding an Oscar in 2004.

9. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Russell Crowe is in command of his craft demonstrated terrifically Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. The wonderfully epic story sweeps through the audience like an ocean wave. Life aboard a ship has never been more harrowing or accurately portrayed in a feature.

The saddest thing is that this hundred fifty million dollar budgeted picture failed to significantly grab enough viewers (domestic box office stalled around $76 million) to ensure that another outing of this potentially many sequel producing franchise takes place.

10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Rusty White convinced me to include this unbelievably popular film (having hauled in over $300 million in domestic box office) on our list. And why not, although I see so many excellent dramatic features each year, the little kid inside me yearns for some great rip roaring entertainment that doesn’t tax my synapses. Here is what Rusty has to say about the film:

Some may dismiss The Pirates of the Caribbean as fluff. It may be fluff, but it is fluff on a grand scale. Unlike Irreversible, which challenges the viewer to keep their eyes on the screen, Pirates of the Caribbean magically draws your retinas to the flickering light and you dare not blink. Pirates is grand entertainment of a type rarely produced in Hollywood anymore. Part Errol Flynn; part Rock and Roll Pirates is wonderful, the best time in any theater this year. Johnny Depp might just steal Sean Penn's Mystic River Oscar. The extremely talented Depp (who outshined everyone in another film released this year Once Upon and Time in Mexico ) enthralls audiences as Jack Sparrow. He based his mannerisms on Keith Richards. The cast is fine, the special effects dazzling, the story fun.

Well, those are our picks for the ten best features this year and there are plenty more like the camcorder-like mockumentary Say I Do, and the small Iranian wonder Gomgasheti dar Aragh (Marooned in Iraq) . Still others include Stephen Frears scary cool thriller Dirty Pretty Things and the darkly slick cool Buffalo Soldiers . And other films will be mentioned around Oscar time which are worthy of mentioning like Lost in Translation (that is sure to garner Bill Murray a best actor nomination) and the Polish Brothers visionary Northfork. 2004 brings in another grouping of films promising to cut across, bend, and even break the existing genres and the EI staff will be taking notes in the darkness of the theater pen light in hand.

Jonathan W. Hickman