List #1: “Rings,” “Rock” and Pekar

This list was not hard to make. Truth be told, 2003 was no 2002. Narrowing all the good… This list was not hard to make. Truth be told, 2003 was no 2002. Narrowing all the good films of 2002 down to the 10 best was nearly impossible. 2003, on the other hand, just didn’t offer many to consider. Still, there were a couple of great films and a handful of very good ones. Here are my faves:

10. “Capturing the Friedmans”

This film is downright hard to watch. But it is important. It needs to be watched. Director Andrew Jarecki creates an enormously compelling documentary about a family torn apart by the revelation of a dark secret and a Salem-esque community in the grips of hysteria. We watch up close as the Friedmans come unglued in footage of an uncomfortable home video. The best documentary of the year.

9. “Elephant”

Pivoting his school-violence drama on leisurely, mundane character exchanges, Gus Van Sant finds beauty when he doesn’t seem to be looking for it. When a character walks from one location to another, the director doesn’t cut out the trek between, he shows every step in long tracking shots. We come across the same moments again and again, with a looming nightmare taking shape a little more each time. When it comes, it is shattering.

8. “School of Rock”

I can’t figure out why Jack Black didn’t rise to megastar status after the release of this film. He makes the film work, and the film makes him work — hard. He goes full-tilt, pulling laughs out of the air every other half second, using his every skill, minus swearing. This is a family film, but it doesn’t wimp out and turn Black into Patch Adams, thank God. And thank indie-fave director Richard Linklater.

7. “28 Days Later”

Horror, the most consistently disappointing genre there is, did me proud this year. “28 Days Later” is the most effective scare fest this side of “Blair Witch,” thanks to sharp direction by Danny Boyle. He manages to make the whole of England look and feel deserted. And thanks to a brilliant script by Alex Garland, whose ‘rage virus’ angle allows for what is essentially a zombie film to have fast and ferocious killers. That’s called having your cake and eating it too.

6. “American Splendor”

Newcomers Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman have pulled off something special: a funny and touching biopic with the credibility of a documentary. They accomplish it with multiple incarnations of underground comic writer and career grump Harvey Pekar: the always-interesting Paul Giamatti’s Harvey, the artists’ renderings of Harvey that jump right out of the “American Splendor” comic book and the real Harvey, who narrates and does his best to give the impression that he doesn’t want to be there.

5. “City of God”

A new Scorsese has arrived from Brazil. Director Fernando Meirelles has created a crime film of staggering grit and scope. “City of God” is both potently realistic and grandly cinematic. Think “Goodfellas” made in the style of “Mean Streets.” Kudos to the Academy for giving the film directing and screenplay nominations; it’s the least they could do.

4. “Kill Bill vol. 1”

Even with generally favorable reviews, this film has been underrated. People seem to be afraid to admit that it’s more than the sum of its parts, since Tarantino stole them all, right? Well, you can point to everything he lifted, but you can’t say that “Kill Bill vol. 1” isn’t utterly distinct. I suspect that when “vol. 2” arrives, people will start to realize just how well-crafted this thing is. Can’t wait.

3. “Mystic River”

Who knew Clint Eastwood had another “Unforgiven” in him? “Mystic River” is powerful, painful, poetic and damn near perfect. It is simultaneously an intriguing mystery and an effective portrait of the way people live with sins — those they’ve committed and those committed against them. It is unequivocally the acting showcase of the year — a fact the Academy will hopefully acknowledge — and it is worthy of the term “masterpiece.”

2. “Lost in Translation”

I can’t think of any praise that hasn’t already been heaped on Sofia Coppola’s prodigious sophomore effort. I will say that in this, the awards season, people seem to be confusing what it actually is. They forget how small, delicate and melancholy it is — how not “hilarious” it is. Not to say the film doesn’t have laughs. But more than anything, the film is a downbeat little poem. And it breaks my heart every time.

1. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”

No need to play it cool. “The Lord of the Rings,” the assembling of all three films, will go down in history as one of the most astounding cinematic feats of all time. Jackson, working from Tolkien, the richest of source material, maintained the interest of the masses — not just the geeks — for over nine hours. How? With super filmmaking. “The Return of the King” is as spectacular a film as we’ve yet seen. But it never loses sight of what’s important: the characters. Practically an evolution in the medium.

Otherwise notable: There were two more respectable horror entries, “May” and “Cabin Fever” and one that sunk the genre to a new low, “House of the Dead.” There were two very good animated films, “Finding Nemo” and “The Triplets of Belleville.” Two cult directors did what they do best: John Sayles with “Casa de los Babys” and David Cronenberg with “Spider.” There were two very good comedies, “Bad Santa” and “Pieces of April.” And the masses actually flocked to a great film, “The Return of the King.” They also flocked to junk like “Pirates of the Caribbean,” but at least they celebrated one good one. I’ll take it.