For further background on the year in film please refer to the Some Other Movies from 2003 entry.
The following things happened in 2003:
- NASA received the last signal from Pioneer 10, which now very, very far from Earth.
- Belgium became the second country to legalize same-sex marriage.
- The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas.
- The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was reconstituted as Serbia and Montenegro.
- U.S. forces seized control of Baghdad.
- The Human Genome Project was completed.
- Myspace and 4chan were launched.
- China launched its first manned spaceflight.
- The Concorde flew its last commercial flight.
Underlined entries were viewed on Netflix.
Linked entries can be viewed in their entirety on YouTube.
Excellent
1. Memories of Murder
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho's second movie, not counting earlier credits as script writer. Memories of Murder examines the toll that catching a killer takes on two policemen. It's a beautifully shot film which manages to avoid the cliches normally associated with the genre. It was based on South Korea's first recorded serial killings.
2. Monster
Still my favorite of Patty Jenkins' movies. Charlize Theron is captivating as a lonely woman turned serial killer, and Christina Ricci is equally good as her willfully ignorant lover. That scene were Theron is sitting in the car, thinking about whether to kill "Daddy?" One of the best scenes in any movie ever.
Fun Fact: That undercover cop who apprehends Aileen Wuornos (Theron) in the end is Kane Hodder, who played Jason Voorhees in several of the Friday the 13th movies.
3. Oldboy
The Korean orignal > the American reboot. In case you haven't seen either, in Oldboy a man is imprisoned for 15 years and then released under mysterious circumstances. His quest for vengeance is long, bloody, and well worth watching. The director, Park Chan-wook, would go on to direct Snowpiercer in 2013.
Some Good Ones
1. Honey
Jessica Alba does her achingly beautiful thing, this time as an aspiring music video dancer in New York. Compared to some other entries in Alba's filmography she hits this one out of the park, remaining convincing and engaging throughout.
Fun Fact: This movie was based on the life of choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson, who plays Alba's rival in the film.
2. The Core
I watched this as a double feature with the 2018 documentary Behind the Curve, about the flat Earth movement. The two movies compliment each other well. On the one hand you've got a highly implausible movie about a group of people traveling to the center of a round Earth to jump start the core, on the other hand you've got a documentary about people who'd probably deny that the Earth even has a core, or that an Earth vulnerable to solar winds is possible. In a sense The Core and the flat-Earthers are doing the same thing, starting from unorthodox conclusions and working backwards to a set of circumstances which justify those conclusions. Do the flat-Earthers succeed in this endeavor? In scientific (empirical) terms no, but if the goal of their belief is personal affirmation then yes, they do. Does The Core succeed in this endeavor? In terms of the suspension of disbelief no, but if the goal of this movie is entertainment then yes, it does so as well.
Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank star in The Core, with Stanley Tucci and Delroy Lindo in supporting roles. The acting is pretty good, even if the plot doesn't make much sense after a certain point. I liked the beginning, the tension builds throughout, and it checks off all the disaster movie boxes. World-ending threat? Check. Government conspiracy? Check. Disaster caused by government incompetence? Check. Death of red herring hero figure? Check. Romantic subplot? Check. Could checking off all these boxes mean that this movie is formulaic and uninspired? Check. But I do think it offers a few things new to the genre, and it's a fun ride regardless.
3. Frank Herbert's Children of Dune
TV miniseries based on Frank Herbert's book.
I'd read the novel years ago. I didn't like it. In my opinion it was one of the weakest, most ponderous books in that series. I enjoyed Dune, Dune Messiah, God Emperor of Dune and Heretics of Dune. But Children and Chapterhouse? Not so much.
I liked David Lynch's version of the first book. Very ambitious. I'm also looking forward to Denis Villeneuve's version of the same story. I still haven't seen the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune, but I suppose I'll get around to it one of these days.
This miniseries? It's okay. It's a deep dive into Herbert's world, and I admire the way it doesn't stoop to explaining everything. It's a medieval / futuristic world full of beautiful people, and for the most part it works. The budget was LOW, but they did a lot with what they had.
Sad Reflection: I would have watched the hell out of a God Emperor of Dune movie or miniseries. Sadly, given the studio drama surrounding Villeneuve's upcoming adaptation, it seems like Children of Dune is as close as we'll ever get to God Emperor.
4. The Dreamers
Well, if you want to see Eva Green completely nude there's that. But aside from a completely nude Eva Green I can't say that this is one of Bertolucci's better films. It's dramatically interesting, but it doesn't seem to say as much as it sets out to say. In the beginning there's a discussion of the French government's attempts to censor film, and in the end there's the specter of fascism, but between the beginning and the end there's only the suggestion of incest, and this isn't quite enough to sustain the viewer's interest for two hours. It reminded me a lot of 1981's Endless Love, another movie about passions carried too far.
Mortal Fact: Bertolucci directed one more film, Me and You, before his death in 2018.
Fun Fact 1: This was Eva Green's first movie. Talk about hitting the ground running!
Fun Fact 2: The "Minister Malraux" mentioned in the beginning of this movie is Andre Malraux, Minister of Cultural Affairs at the time and author of Man's Fate.
5. A Man Apart
Eh, why not just legalize it? Without a black market how are the cartels going to operate? I suppose they could just jump over to automatic weapons, prostitution, or something like that, but the War on Drugs always seemed somewhat pointless to me.
This Vin Diesel movie isn't Traffic, and it isn't Sicario, but it's alright. I'm just wondering - Vin Diesel wearing a mask or Vin Diesel not wearing a mask, would you have trouble recognizing him one way or the other?
Some Bad Ones
1. Shanghai Knights
Just couldn't do it. Chinese Communist Party apologist Jackie Chan tries to sustain the popularity generated by Rush Hour and fails, this time with Owen Wilson in tow. Anyone with a passing historical knowledge of the time period will be immediately irritated by this movie.
Of course if it was funny all would be forgiven. But it's not funny.
2. The Haunted Mansion
This movie ends as you'd expect: Eddie Murphy's son lives to see his sister decapitated in an automobile accident, his father burned alive, and his mother slowly beheaded with piano wire. He then learns that his body is inhabited by a demon king who will "bend others to his will." OH WAIT. That's the plot of Hereditary. Sorry. In The Haunted Mansion Eddie Murphy outwits a ghostly butler and rescues his partially reincarnated wife. Yawn.
3. Out of Time
Is this movie really bad or was I just not feeling it? Not sure. Denzel Washington does "morally compromised" better than anybody, but Out of Time seemed obvious from the start. The minute they start talking about insurance and visiting the doctor... yeah, I had it pretty much figured out from that point on.
4. Underworld
Boring, talky vampires with a collective leather fetish battle sweaty, bearded werewolves for reasons even they don't understand. Kate Beckinsale is of course easy to look at for two hours, but that fact alone doesn't make this movie good.
A... Fact: There are five movies in the Underworld series, with plans for a sixth.
5. Hawa
So... this woman gets raped by a ghost multiple times - once in front of her children - and she continues to stay in the house? Uh... okay.
If nothing else this Indian horror movie borrows from the best. The Shining, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Entity, it's all there. Oh, and the ending is memorably bad too. Is that guy in the end supposed to be God? Or her father? I have no idea.
Hey, it's Keith Carradine. Aside from him this movie features a precocious young girl doing tomboyish things and learning how to be a lady. AND HOW DARE Mr. Carradine force a gender identity upon his young daughter! Shame, I say! Shame! Then again, it was the early 1900s, so it was probably for the best.
So Bad It's Good
Where to start with this movie? The acting? The script? The countless continuity errors? Certainly the acting is the worst (i.e. the best) part of it, right down to the lead actor's monotone delivery of every. Single. Line.
How Deep Into the Rabbit Hole are You Willing to Go?: Check out director Fred Olen Ray's filmography. Then check out both star Brent Huff's Wikipedia page and his filmography. Most of those films don't even have Wikipedia entries.
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