What is the defining movie of the 2000s? PART 4: 2003

This is part 4 in an ongoing series.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I briefly wanted to answer some of the people that have left comments about these posts...

1. I'm an idiot about Chocolat. I was getting it confused with Like Water for Chocolate. Neither are going to be considered for defining movie of the 2000s.
2. I've seen at least 2 minutes of Mullholland Drive
3. Thanks for all the suggestions about movies I've missed. You realize I asked for your suggestions, right?
4. Yes, I've never seen Almost Famous. But I still included it on the short list of movies to be considered for the defining movie of the 2000s. So I'm not sure where the vitriol is coming from. The "twist" I'm talking about that so many people have assured me is autobiographical, is the part where the kid's mom allows him to travel the country with a rock and roll band. I get that it's possible it happened; what I'm saying is it's still a little farfetched. Especially in the 2000s. Which would be an argument against it being a defining movie for the 200s.
5. The Nicholas Cage trilogy debate is exactly that - a debate. A subjective debate.
6. Every movie I bring up, I'm not considering as a candidate for the defining movie of the 2000s. Case in point, Gone in 60 Seconds. I'm not considering that. Ok.

That's it. Thanks for the comments!


Let's dive right into this, because to linger with the list of releases from this year is depressing. From Justin to Kelly was made in this year. That should be more than enough information to tell you what I've slogged through.

2003 Academy Award nominated films:

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

Return of the King, not only being the third installment in a trilogy is also a test to your bladder. I've seen less endings in a Choose Your Own Adventure book. While it wrapped the story up rather nicely, I'm not including it on the list.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World? I bet I could I could spot 100 people on the street the "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the --" and people still wouldn't come up with the title. Well made movie, but certainly not memorable, which definitely excludes it from a list of candidates for most defining movie of the 2000s.

Mystic River was a well crafted movie that dealt with very heavy subjects, but at the end of the day it was nothing more than a 2 hour Law and Order special written by M Night Shyamalan.

Seabiscuit? Rocky for horses. Which leaves...

Lost in Translation
A great movie about existentialism and our place in life, disguised as a romance. Lost in Translation uses very little plot to explore issues about the universal feelings people can have, and how we act and don't act on them. Both Johanssen and Murray are brilliant in this, in a way that you'd never expect when first hearing about the pairing. This definitely is a contender for the movie that defines the 2000s.

Ok, so now done with the Academy Award movies, let's dive into the rest of the year's releases. 2003 gave me personally 2 of the most disturbing, depressing movies I've ever watched: 21 Grams and Monster.

Monster tells the story of Aileen Wuornos, the serial killer convicted of murdering seven men, and her relationship with Tyria Moore (different name in the movie). Bleak, depressing and at the very core one very fucked up love story, the movie is important, but not one I'm going to revisit anytime soon. If you've never seen it, it's worth the rent for Charlize Theron's performance alone.



21 Grams is one of those movies that I knew I should see, but when it came via Netflix, I kept finding excuses not to sit down and watch. For over a year. I can't begin to calculate how much that stupid movie cost me in subscription fees, but finally one night, in a pensive if slightly despondent mood, I forced myself to watch.

And it pretty much was exactly what I thought it would be. Open ended, depressing, deep, reflective and nothing I want to revisit. All the performances were top notch, but the subject matter was incredibly deep, dark and devoid of anything I saw or had to deal with in my cushy, pretentious suburban upbringing, which is why I really couldn't relate.

I also don't think it was the defining movie of the 2000s.

So what are some candidates from 2003?

Kill Bill Vol. 1
The Tarantino mashup of styles, genres, and plots was certainly ambitious. Originally supposed to be one long film, (running about 4 hours) it was split into two "volumes," which I believe hurt it significantly - especially this first part. Yes, the big fight at the House of Blue Leaves is impressive, but knowing that there is a second part after this one diminishes it slightly.



Regardless, while on a personal level I don't find this to be one of Tarantino's better efforts, it still deserves to be considered for the defining movie of the 2000s.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
It's hard to go back to this movie and see it fondly after the two sequels destroyed it. I really have no idea what happened. This original was a fun adventure yarn that didn't take itself too seriously, but still delivered the thrills and gave us characters to care about. Depp's Jack Sparrow represented the in-it-for-myself-only pirate and gave us a iconic character that was only later exploited in the sequels for money. Look, I don't begrudge companies creating sequels to make more money - but why not spend a little more time on the plot and create worthy sequels to the original? We know it's possible, the first movie is evidence.

Still, we can't hold the sequels against this movie, so I'm including it on the list.

By my count, that's pretty much it for 2003. Of course, we haven't looked at some of the clunkers of the year...

From Justin to Kelly
Awesome. A movie that took two reality stars that have good voices, and turned them into Hollywood stars. Well, Ok, tried to turn them into Hollywood stars. Luckily, this endeavor failed, or we probably would have gotten Kris Allen in Point Break 2. Actually, we'll still probably get that, but at least we can all laugh about it.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Long ago, probably about 6 years ago, I wrote how this, along with the movie Driven, were teh worst movies ever. Obviously, that's just my personal opinion and there are plenty of other candidates, but seriously, those two movies are the worst ever. Based on a comic book, it takes the admittedly cool premise of ganging up some famous literary characters together (Allan Quartermain, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray among others) into a spy ring. Had the movie been more about that, it could have been cool. Unfortunately we needed implausible (and often impossible) action sets, evil overlords, backstabbing characters and every other action adventure movie cliche.

Oldboy
Ok, I don't consider this movie to be one of the bad ones. Far from it. Oldboy takes an interesting concept (man imprisoned for 15 years not having any idea why, before suddenly being let go) and dials it up to eleven. And once it gets there, multiplies it by 60. Oldboy is an installment in the Vengeance Trilogy by director Park Chan-wook, which dealt with themes of revenge.

Having never watched the other two installments, I hesitate to say that Oldboy was the most severe, but if you want a shocking movie that plumbs the depths of the human psyche, this is the movie for you. It certainly is not a movie where you'll see the ending coming.

So, let's see what we got for 2003...

Lost in Translation
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Ok, what did I miss? Please leave your suggestions in the comments section!

Up next, 2004.