I watched 79 films from 2003. I nominated 33 of them. And now - 11 winners. Here they are:
Best Sound
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Michael Hopkins, supervising sound editor
Ethan Van Der Ryn, supervising sound co-designer / supervising sound editor
Hammond Peek, production sound mixer
Beau Borders / Brent Burge / Tim Nielsen / Addison Teague / Craig Tomlinson / David Whitehead, sound effects editors
Christopher Boyes / Michael Hedges / Michael Semanick, re-recording mixers
David Farmer, sound designer
2. Seabiscuit; 3. The Triplets of Belleville; 4. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; 5. Kill Bill Vol. 1
What else could it be? A masterful creation of an entire other world of animals and weaponry, voices modulated by species or thousands of years of aging, fortified walls crumbling, ghosts attacking, sudden silence, all overwhelmed by the ominous whisper of The Ring. The creativity of the sounds and their execution within make this an obvious #1.
Best Visual Effects
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Jim Rygiel, production visual effects supervisor
Joe Letteri, visual effects supervisor for Weta Digital
Randall William Cook, animation designer and supervisor for Weta Digital
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World; 3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; 4. Peter Pan; 5. Elf
And just as obvious is the same film for its visual effects. The scale is impossible to wrap your head around, but the dimensions are always right and the tangible quality never fades. 20 years later, you still feel you can reach out and choke Gollum, ride the eagles, or feel the vibrations of those oliphaunts.
Best Supporting Actress
Holly Hunter as Melanie Freeland
Thirteen
2. Sarah Paulson in Down with Love; 3. Geraldine McEwan in The Magdalene Sisters; 4. Emma Thompson in Love Actually; 5. Lucy Liu in Kill Bill Vol. 1
I adore Sarah Paulson in Down with Love, but Hunter packs so much unspoken backstory into every interaction she has with her scene partners, you believe every dynamic they have: best friend, lover, children, friends of children, she lets you feel the history. She also lets you feel her confusion and self-blame as her kid spirals. Was she strict, not strict enough, did her daughter learn it from her, should she have been more at home instead of “helping others”, is it all her fault? She doesn’t play tragedy, just reality.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
House of 1000 Corpses
Wayne Toth, special makeup effects supervisor
Vicky Phillips, department head hair
Keith Sayer, makeup department head
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; 3. Monster; 4. The Missing; 5. X2
Sorry, this is just who I am, a man who’ll always vote for rotting teeth, greasy bleached thinning hair, dried and dirty clown makeup, and all manner of violent depravity, from lacerations to exit wounds to actual de-facing. It’s gritty, it’s effective, it’s why I go to horror movies with such titles. Hell yeah.
Best Score
1. Love Actually
Craig Armstrong
2. Willard
Shirley Walker
3. 28 Days Later
Johny Murphy
4. Girl with a Pearl Earring
Alexandre Desplat
5. Down with Love
Marc Shainan
Best Original Screenplay
Something's Gotta Give
Nancy Meyers
2. Down with Love; 3. The Magdalene Sisters; 4. Thirteen; 5. Monster
You watch the movie and the dialogue crackles, the story gives insurmountable conflicts that become believably surmountable, you love the characters. You read the script and there’s the same energy and knowingness just in the scene descriptions as there is in the dialogue. Expertly done.
Best Original Song
1. Down with Love - "Here's to Love"
music by Marc Shaiman
lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
2. Dirty Pretty Things - "Glass, Concrete & Stone"
music and lyrics by David Byrne
3. The Triplets of Belleville - "Belleville Rendezvous"
music by Benoît Charest
lyrics by Sylvain Chomet
4. Cold Mountain - "The Scarlet Tide"
music and lyrics by Elvis Costello and Henry "T Bone" Burnett
5. School of Rock - "School of Rock"
music and lyrics by Mike White and Sammy James, Jr.
Best Actor
Billy Bob Thornton as Willie
Bad Santa
2. Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later; 3. Jack Black in School of Rock; 4. Hayden Christensen in Shattered Glass; 5. Ewan McGregor in Down with Love
Redoing the entire roster was unexpected, true. Less unexpected was naming Thornton my Best Actor. He throws himself into the raunchiness, that devil-may-care smile put to good use in his scenes with Lauren Graham. He’s playing a loser and a user, a drunk who can’t help being his own worst enemy, and Thornton plays the transformation without sanding the edges. He knows that even Willie didn’t expect this from himself, and this warming up to people feels…alien. He plays this small, gradual change as beautifully as he plays being piss-drunk on Santa’s throne.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Shattered Glass
Billy Ray
from the article by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger
2. Big Fish; 3. Seabiscuit; 4. City of God; 5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
This is such an obvious pick for this category I cannot believe it wasn’t even nominated. The way it plays with the framing device of Stephen Glass going back to his old school, the gradual peeling back of his lies, the Damascus experience for his editor and the final confrontations that decide his fate. And just the way this character of Stephen is written, you know this guy, you’ve met this guy, this guy sucks…but gosh what a charmer.
Best Cinematography
1. Kill Bill Vol. 1
Robert Richardson
2. City of God
César Charlone
3. Elephant
Harris Savides
4. 28 Days Later
Anthony Dod Mantle
5. Cold Mountain
John Seale
Best Costume Design
Down with Love
Daniel Orlandi
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1; 3. The Last Samurai; 4. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; 5. Elf
Best Production Design
Down with Love
Andrew Laws, production design
Martin Whist, art direction
Don Diers, set decoration
2. House of 1000 Corpses; 3. Kill Bill Vol. 1; 4. In America; 5. Willard
The sets and costumes really drive home the Doris Day-Rock Hudson feel. Those movies knew that everyone should look glamorous and should live in glamorous places, every inch of space to be cooed at and adored. Daniel Orlando gives you an entire fashion show in the first third of the film with the two actresses, and tailoring becomes an important element - right down to the socks. Likewise, the apartments take on lives of their own, befitting a liberated woman, a male casanova, and a neurotic bachelor. I love Zellweger’s final white ‘fit with the turban, McGregor’s blue suits that bring out his eyes; I love the executive conference room of Banner House with its spotless, black, reflective table. Jobs well done.
Best Film Editing
City of God
Daniel Rezende
2. Kill Bill Vol. 1; 3. Phone Booth; 4. Down with Love; 5. Thirteen
Has hearing for two decades that it’s one of the best edited films of all time brainwashed me? Reputations exist for a reason, as it turns out. Matching the energy of its restless youths, keeping all these names, faces, and alliances follow-able even through time jumps, flashbacks, and new actors and characters, it does it all. Sometimes it’s cutting like a madman, sometimes it freezes the frame, sometimes it takes its time. Sometimes you see everything, sometimes all is confusion. That’s ok, you never feel any more lost than the characters. It’s editing that perfectly traps you in the physical and mental spaces of its subjects.
Best Director
Catherine Hardwicke
Thirteen
2. Quentin Tarantino for Kill Bill Vol. 1; 3. Joel Schumacher for Phone Booth; 4. Peyton Reed for Down with Love; 5. Patty Jenkins for Monster
She matches the high emotions and unpredictability of youth, treating the subject with the seriousness it deserves without getting into sanctimonious moralizing. The performances are raw and real, yes, but don’t look past how great it all looks, how Hardwicke uses her camera to get us into the headspace’s of the various characters. Empathy is her strong suit here, you feel it in every moment: it’s what allows her to handle things frankly but tastefully.
Best Ensemble
School of Rock
casting by Ilene Starger
2. Down with Love; 3. City of God; 4. Bad Santa; 5. The Magdalene Sisters
It’s a prize meant for a well-rounded cast of talents and, somehow, School of Rock assembles a dynamite roster of kids and adults that are all working at the same level of quality, from playing the emotional beats to the comedic to the musical. Even the worried parents are all just perfect in the way they flow from overbearing to vengeful to supportive. What a cast!
Best Actress
Uma Thurman as The Bride
Kill Bill Vol. 1
2. Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give; 3. Charlize Theron in Monster; 4. Renée Zellweger in Down with Love; 5. Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday
Thurman genuinely seems possessed, even in Pulp Fiction she didn’t sound or move like this. She simply is the Bride. When she “aw shucks” her way into Hattori Hanzo’s sake bar, you can see how she distinguished herself from the other Deadly Vipers, how no one would suspect this gal to have those skills - expert camouflage. But when she hardens, her voice is as steely as the blade she wields. The sardonic voiceovers, the way you spits out “bitch”, the violent look in her eyes: every moment is lived in, is perfect.
Best Supporting Actor
David Hyde Pierce as Peter MacMannus
Down with Love
2. Sid Haig in House of 1000 Corpses; 3. Bill Nighy in Love Actually; 4. Tony Cox in Bad Santa; 5. Kiefer Sutherland in Phone Booth
Well, duh. A hilarious blend of Niles and Tony Randall, he steals every scene with his line readings (“What’s the matter, Catch - looooose another?”), physicality (his drunken night on the town with Catcher is brief but memorable), and face (the eyebrow raise when he realizes he’s just like every other man). He’s half the reason I love this movie. (I've enlarged the photo because I love it so)
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Kill Bill Vol. 1
produced by Lawrence Bender
2. Down with Love; 3. Thirteen; 4. Monster; 5. Capturing the Friedmans
6. Something’s Gotta Give; 7. Love Actually; 8. Shattered Glass; 9. City of God; 10. Big Fish
Kill Bill Vol. 1 makes off with the top prize but, it's Down with Love that has the largest haul with four Hollmann Awards!
Later this week, we're getting right back into the thick of it: yes, I'll finally get into the best of 2024!
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