Best Picture, 2003

It may be the only time a Best Picture winner was correctly predicted by all two years in advance. When The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released to critical hosannas but A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture, we all looked at each other and said, "They're saving it for the third one." Sure enough, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept the season (I believe LAFCA was the only holdout, giving its Best Picture prize to American Splendor). When Oscar Night came, we all saw it coming:

Not a nailbiter, though that's a shame because all five nominees are pretty damn great. The nominees for Best Picture, ranked from 5th to 1st:

Best Director, 2003

What do you look for when it comes to “best” directing? I confess, for me it’s about consistency: all the performers, all the “crafts”, even the rhythm of the edit (not always under the aegis of the director, by the way), are on the same page, delivering the same tone. If it’s slow and meditative, you’re not bored, because everyone is doing their job to make that purposeful instead of plodding. If it’s broad and loud, no one is over-the-top but everyone is Stylized, Theatrical. You believe in the world of the film because the director has worked on every element to make it real.

I think that's what everyone was responding to in 2003 when Peter Jackson made his inevitable ascent to the Dolby stage, a consistency that spanned 438 days of shooting, three years of release (and reshoots), a cast and crew of thousands, and beaucoup box office. Everyone knew they were waiting for the third movie to give him his reward:

As you see, he wasn't the only nominee, and nobody turned in a bad movie. Ranking them is more a matter of who you love most than who you like least. Here they are, ranked from 5th to 1st. 

Christmas in November: 2003, Day Five

New to me this round: 21 Grams, Bad Santa, The Barbarian Invasions, Brother Bear, The Cooler, In America, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and The Missing. Everything else I was seeing for only my second time, except Love Actually, which I’ve seen many many many many times.