Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2003 & 2002

I am still tallying 2008's Critic Consensus and I'm waiting on 5 more critics.

If you, Mr/Mrs. LaSalle, Schickel, Puig, Hunter, and Thomson are reading this, HURRY UP! It's the second week of 2009 already!

Therefore, I had to delve into 2003 and 2002 in order to have a full understanding of the Critic Consensus (and I'll only go back to 2002 b/c the data isn't available on metacritic.com from 2001 down).

So, here is the...

...Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2003.

10. Spellbound (70)
9. The Fog of War (88)
8. In America (97)
7. Master and Commander (116)
6. Finding Nemo (129)
5. Capturing the Friedmans (132)
4. Mystic River (153)
3. American Splendor (172.5)
2. LOTR: The Return of the King (235.5)
1. Lost in Translation (284)

And the Academy Award Noms were...

-Winner: "LOTR: The Return of the King" (2, 235.5)
-"Lost in Translation" (1, 284)
-"Mystic River" (4, 153)
-"Master and Commander" (7, 116)
-"Seabiscuit" (21, 30)

2003 was a huge year for documentaries, with 3 in the Top Ten and "Capturing the Friedmans" garnering the most votes on record (132).

In terms of the Best Picture Noms, well, that's a tough one. I mean, I would leave the top four on there because they definitely deserved it. "Master and Commander" will go down as one of the best films of this decade (it is in my personal Top Ten All-Time) but...

..."Seabiscuit"??? C'mon, seriously? "Seabiscuit"? This is where the Academy screwed the pooch. They should've nominated Merielles' masterpiece "City of God" (another best film of this decade plus in my Top Ten). If not "City of God", why not "In America"?

"School of Rock" (17, 43) was better received than "Seabiscuit"!

Let's move onto 2002 while we still have time...

...Critic Consensus Top Ten Films of 2002.

10. Gangs of New York (46)
9. The Pianist (85)
8. Chicago (88)
7. Spirited Away (90)
6. About Schmidt (94)
5. Talk to Her (108)
4. LOTR: The Two Towers (115)
3. Y Tu Mama Tambien (125)
2. Adaptation (127)
1. Far From Heaven (146)

And the Academy Award noms were...

-Winner: "Chicago" (8, 88)
-"LOTR: The Two Towers" (4, 115)
-"The Pianist" (9, 85)
-"Gangs of New York" (10, 46)
-"The Hours" (16, 29)

This was a really bad year for Best Picture Noms. Who deserved to be there out of these five?

Honestly, "The Pianist", and that's it. In fact, "The Pianist" should've won that year.

Here is how I would've redone the Noms using the power of hindsight.

-W: "The Pianist" (9, 85)
-"Talk to Her" (5, 108)
-"Adaptation" (2, 127)
-"Bloody Sunday" (21, 19)
-"25th Hour" (96, 1)


"Adaptation" was a close second that year for me, more like a 1(a) to "The Pianist" (1) and Paul Greengrass's "Bloody Sunday" was gut-wrenchingly realistic and ahead of its time.

But the biggest snub of all-time?

Has to be Spike Lee's "25th Hour." That is one of his best movies, ranking right up there with "Summer of Sam", "Malcolm X", and "Do The Right Thing."

It is a shame, a shame that "Windtalkers" (82, 2) and "The Good Girl" (67, 4) had more votes than "25th Hour"!

As Ripley says in "Aliens"...

..."Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?"