Extended Readers’ Poll Results: The Best Movies of 2003
The numbers in parentheses refer to the films’ rankings in last issue’s critics’ poll. And congratulations to this year’s winners: Rebecca Finkel of Holliswood, NY (First Prize recipient of DVDs from the Criterion Collection), Jenny Rogers of San Francisco, CA (Second Prize), Afandi Gunawan of Reseda, CA, and John A. Smith of Philadelphia, PA (Third and Fourth prizes).
1. Lost In Translation (Sofia Coppola, U.S.) (1)
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, U.S./New Zealand) (7)
3. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood, U.S.) (2)
4. Kill Bill: Vol 1 (Quentin Tarantino, U.S.) (4)
5. American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, U.S.) (5)
6. Elephant (Gus Van Sant, U.S.) (3)
7. City of God (Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, Brazil) (-)
8. Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, U.S.) (16)
9. 21 Grams (Alejandro González Iñárritu, U.S.) (-)
10. Capturing the Friedmans (Andrew Jarecki, U.S.) (8)
11. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Peter Weir, U.S.) (17)
12. Spider (David Cronenberg, Canada/U.K.) (15)
13. The Fog of War (Errol Morris, U.S.) (6)
14. The Man Without a Past (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland) (10)
15. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green, U.S.) (-)
16. Spellbound (Jeffrey Blitz, U.S.) (-)
17. Big Fish (Tim Burton, U.S.) (-)
18. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle, U.K.) (-)
19. The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Gore Verbinski, U.S.) (-)
20. School of Rock (Richard Linklater, U.S./Germany) (14)
21. The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy, U.S.) (-)
22. Irreversible (Gaspar Noe, France) (25)
23. House of Sand and Fog (Vadim Perelman, U.S.) (-)
24. Cold Mountain (Anthony Minghella, U.S.) (39)
25. In America (Jim Sheridan, U.S.) (26)
26. The Triplets of Belleville (Sylvain Chomet, France) (30)
27. A Mighty Wind (Christopher Guest, U.S.) (43)
28. Dirty Pretty Things (Stephen Frears, UK) (23)
29. Whale Rider (Niki Caro, New Zealand) (50)
30. demonlover (Olivier Assayas, France) (11)
31. The Son (Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardenne, Belgium) (9)
32. Dogville (Lars von Trier, Denmark) (3, unreleased films list)
33. To Be and To Have (Nicolas Philibert, France) (19)
34. The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullen, Ireland/UK) (38)
35. Lilya 4-Ever (Lukas Moodysson, Sweden) (32)
36. Bad Santa (Terry Zwigoff, U.S.) (48)
37. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami, Iran) (13)
38. Monster (Patty Jenkins, U.S.) (-)
39. Swimming Pool (Francois Ozon, France/UK) (-)
40. Bus 174 (José Padilha, Brazil) (18)
41. Seabiscuit (Gary Ross, U.S.) (-)
42. Raising Victor Vargas (Peter Sollett, U.S.) (28)
43. The Last Samurai (Edward Zwick, U.S.) (-)
44. Gerry (Gus Van Sant, U.S.) (-)
45. X2: X-Men United (Bryan Singer, U.S.) (-)
46. Barbarian Invasions (Denys Arcand, Canada) (-)
47. The Secret Lives of Dentists (Alan Rudolph, U.S.) (40)
48. Friday Night (Claire Denis, France) (36)
49. Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhangke, China) (12)
50. Man on the Train (Patrice Leconte, France) (44)
