2003 Best Reviewed Movies (Page #9)

Arnold Schwarzenegger returns in this third installment of the popular sci-fi action saga as a cyborg from the future once again becoming involved in the affairs of twentysomething John Connor and his first battles with the SkyNet machine network.

Following in the long tradition of heist films, "Confidence" tells the story of con man Jake Vig (Ed Burns), who gets a few thousand dollars from a victim who is actually a powerful crime mogul's accountant with the help of his friends. When the mob boss, appropriately named "Boss" (Dustin Hoffman), finds out, Jake and his pals have to cut a deal to pay him back.

When Travis (Seann William Scott), the son of an underworld kingpin, disappears in the Amazon in search of a priceless artifact, Beck (The Rock), the kingpin's retrieval expert, is sent to get him. Despite their hostility - and their love for the same woman (Rosario Dawson) - the two must eventually join forces to fight the evil head (Christopher Walken) of a gold-mining corporation who is after the same treasure.

Sandy, a geologist, finds herself stuck on a field trip to the Pilbara desert with a Japanese man she finds inscrutable, annoying and decidedly arrogant. Hiromitsu?s view of her is not much better. Things go from bad to worse when they become stranded in one of the remotest regions on earth. Japanese Story is a journey of change and discovery for its two lead characters.

Newly commissioned SS Lieutenant and respected civilian chemist, Kurt Gerstein, discovers that the Zyklon B pellets he has developed to disinfect soldiers' drinking water are being used to gas interred Jews by the thousands. Recruited to help streamline the death camp process by a team of SS officers, Gerstein secretly approaches the Swedish Consulate, the German Protestant community and finally Vatican representatives in the hopes of exposing this unspeakable crime. The only one who listens is Father Ricardo, a young Jesuit priest with deep family connections at the Vatican. Ricardo promises Gerstein he will alert the Pope to the Jewish genocide in hopes that the pontiff will reveal and denounce the Final Solution to the Christian world...

Set in the late 1870s, this epic film depicts the beginnings of the modernization of Japan, as the island nation evolved past a feudal society, as symbolized by the eradication of the samurai way of life. We see all this happen from the point of view of an alcoholic Civil War veteran turned Winchester guns spokesman, Captain Woodrow Algren (Tom Cruise), who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the emperor, Meiji, as part of a break away from the long-held tradition of relying on employed samurai warriors to protect territories, as the emperor's new army prepares to wipe out the remaining samurai warriors. When Algren is injured in combat and captured by the samurai, he learns about their warrior honor code from their leader, Katsumoto, which forces him to decide which side of the conflict he actually wants to be on.

The third installment in Robert Rodriguez's trilogy that began with 1992's "El Mariachi" and continued with 1995's "Desperado", the latter of which also starred Antonio Banderas. El Mariachi makes his way across a rugged landscape on the blood trail of Barrillo (Willem Dafoe), a cartel kingpin with one last score to settle who is planning a coup d'etat against the president of Mexico. Enlisted by Sands (Johnny Depp), a corrupt CIA agent, El Mariachi demands retribution, and the adventure begins against a backdrop of revolution, greed, and revenge.

After taming the wild west in the comedy "Shanghai Noon", Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) are back in the saddle, but off the range - this time, they're out to settle a score in civilized London in the sequel, "Shanghai Knights". When a Chinese rebel murders Chon's estranged father and escapes to England, Chon and Roy make their way to London with revenge on their minds. Chon's sister, Lin, has the same idea, and uncovers a worldwide conspiracy to murder the royal family - but almost no one will believe her. With the help of a kindly Scotland Yard Inspector and a 10-year-old street urchin, the acro- batic Chon (Chan) gives Victorian Britain a kick in the pants as he attempts to avenge his father's death - and keep the romance-minded Roy away from his sister. Hilarious escapades and hair-raising adventure await our heroes as they do for Big Ben, Madame Toussaud's, and the Convent Gardens what they did for the Old West.

Set on Mars in the year 2071, "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" is based on the much-loved animated television series by Japanese director Shinichiro Watanabe. As the film begins, Spike (David Lucas) and his gang of gypsy vigilantes are roaming the city, looking for trouble when Faye (Wendee Lee) witnesses a bioterrorist attack. Hovering above the city in her spaceship, she sees a man fleeing the scene. Over 500 people die in the attack, and the city offers a monetary reward for any information. The gang jumps at the opportunity. They decide to branch out, each using their own tactics to research the tragedy. Spike slinks through Chinatown, being led by shady underground characters. Faye traces the image of the man she saw back to military files. And the young Ed (Mellisa Fahn) and her dog Ein do some handy computer research. Meanwhile Jet (Beau Billinglsea), holds down the fort, worried about the gang. When the criminal Vincent (Daran Norris), is identified, with a connection to Spike's love interest Elektra (Jennifer Hale), the real action begins.

"Cowboy Bebop" is a visually dramatic film that combines several styles of illustration into one beautiful, cohesive animated environment. The Mars of this film is a combination of cities: New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris, and many more. Viewers are compelled to identify monuments and familiar structures, while the terrorist thematic hits fearfully close to home.

Set in contemporary London in the weeks before Christmas, "Love Actually" tells one story which weaves together a spectacular number of love stories-sometimes romantic, sometimes sad, sometimes stupid-all funny in their own way. Everywhere you look, love is causing chaos. From the new bachelor Prime Minister who falls in love 30 seconds after entering Downing Street to a loser sandwich delivery guy who doesn't have a hope with the girls in the UK, so heads for Wisconsin; from a jilted writer who escapes to the south of France to nurse his broken heart to an aging rock star trying to make a comeback at any price; from a bride having problems with her husband's best man to a married woman having trouble with her husband; from a schoolboy with a crush on the prettiest girl in the school to his architect step-father with a crush on Claudia Schiffer. These London lives and loves collide, mingle and finally climax on Christmas Eve-again and again and again-with romantic, poignant and funny consequences for all.

A social misfit, Willard (Crispin Glover) is constantly humiliated in front of his co-workers and squeezed out of the family business by his boss (R. Lee Ermey). His only friends are Cathryn (Laura Elena Haring), a new temp in the office, and a couple of rats he raises at home, Ben and Socrates (and their increasing number of friends). But when one of the rats is killed at work, Willard unleashes his rage - and his army of rats - on his tormentors.

Investigator Augustin Rejas is attempting to find the mysterious Ezequiel, the leader of a revolution being fermented largely by the indigenous people of an unnamed Latin American nation, a scene that Rejas left behind to pursue worldly ambitions. But now he is a man caught in a war and his choice to become policeman wears on him. So when he meets and is drawn to the teacher of his daughter's ballet class, Yolanda, it's a solace to the emptiness of his marriage and his frustration in the search for Ezequiel.