For whatever reason, there's been a slow decline in the number of great movies since 1999.  Each year when I come up with a list of my favorite performances, it seems that the wealth is spread among fewer and fewer films.  There were still a few keepers this year, though, so with that in mind, here are my picks for 2003:

'lost in translation'

peter jackson, 'the return of the king'

bill murray, 'lost in translation'

charlize theron, 'monster'

peter sarsgaard, 'shattered glass'

patricia clarkson, 'pieces of april'

The mystery of "Swimming Pool" is mired in the mind of an uptight novelist.  As the object of affection (or at least affliction), Sagnier one-ups the always-commanding Charlotte Rampling with her lusty power-plays.

'lost in translation'

'master & commander'

Who my nominees and winners are in every major race.

'kill bill, vol. 1'

The best comedy (and suspense film) of the year features a group of kids trying to spell their way to the top.  Crafted with meticulous care and a great sense of story, it's almost too funny for words.

Clint Eastwood returned to master form in 2003 with this searing drama about the interconnectedness of childhood and adulthood -- and, by proxy, innocence and guilt.  It took one of the year's best acting ensembles to pull it off.

After three years and three films, Peter Jackson ended his monumental work on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy with the most action-filled and emotionally charged installment.  In the end the ring was eventually returned to Mount Doom -- and perhaps made cinema history in the process.

Sofia Coppola has created a mood piece of supreme depth and emotion with just her second film.  In this travelogue of loneliness in Japan, she also coaxed a career-best performance out of Bill Murray and a star-making turn by Scarlett Johansson.  And it all lingers with you long after it's over.

sofia coppola, 'lost in translation'

Though "Gerry" was an undernourished experiment, "Elephant" was a stark observation of teen angst in the most vibrant manner possible.

Peter Weir takes the timeworn seafaring genre and makes one of the most unconventional and rewarding action films of the year.  The lack of a standard story structure -- not to mention an envigorating trip to the Galapagos Islands -- is evidence of the director's uniquely authentic stamp.

Tarantino's decision to mix in a bloody good anime sequence with already thrilling sequences of swords, chains, knives, and Uma Thurman's big toe is proof that there are few working American directors who can perform at his manic level.

The scope of the project Jackson undertook is almost unthinkable.  With three classic novels that must have felt like unwieldy beasts to adapt, the director and his team have made what is perhaps the greatest cinema trilogy of all time.  Will "Godfather III" or "Matrix Revolutions" be remembered this way?

Follwing her schizophrenic performance in "Mulholland Drive," Naomi Watts made a complete about-face as a drug-addled widow coping with death and a volatile Sean Penn.   Her grief is as electric as it is harrowing.

The tricks of makeup should not be forgotten.  But what Theron achieves in her unflinching portait or serial killer Aileen Wuornos is a radical transformation of the soul.  The gesticulations, the vocal inflections, and the performance are all Wuornos.  Charlize who?

sean penn, 'mystic river'

It may be part Pepe Le Pew and part Keith Richards, but Depp's oddball turn as a lecherously fey swashbuckler is completely his own.  He's finally getting recognition as one of the best actors of his generation, but most of us knew that already from his pair of Edwards -- Wood and Scissorhands.

It's tough to make a firm impression when you're playing a real-life character who's sometimes in the same frame.   But Giamatti pulled it off grandly as cartoonist Harvey Pekar in this loopy docu-biography that bristles with invention.

In a mostly reactive role, Jude Law stands out during his Homeric odyssey back to the titular homestead with a mix of realistic empathy, determination, and strong will.  His performance endures the plot's sometime clumsiness.

Bill Murray wears two hats in his sublime performance.  He's first and foremost a funnyman -- witness his cool wit when faced with the non-English speaking photography team.  But when Murray reveals the joys and doubts of parenthood, it's the serious side that leaves a mark.

This performance is stronger than Russell Crowe's, mainly because Bettany gets to act and react with equal measure.  He's completely believable as the ship doctor with his sights set more on anthropology than on cannons and mortar, and evokes the period with determined realism.

He goes one-on-one with pathological liar/journalist Stephen Glass (Hayden Christiansen) and never bucks under the pressure.  In fact, he even makes the audience feel uneasy when calling on the writer to justify the house of cards he claims is truth -- an "All the President's Men" for Generation X.

From one scene to the next, Tarantino continues to amaze with lightning-quick humor and deft characterizations.  It isn't as talky as his prior works, but "Bill" still exhibits the same breath of fresh cinematic air.

Mike White -- who also took a small part in the film -- blends grade school innocence with high school music sensiblities and post-college blues.   Mixed together, he comes up with a family film that speaks to the adult in every kid and the kid in every music-lover.  It's a class act all the way.

Much of "Translation" seems improvised, but it's a tightly-scripted rumination on indescribable love and friendship that comes alive through Coppola's words.  The characters feel full-blooded, and none of the action is forced.  Quite a start for her first original screenplay.

"Lost in Translation" wouldn't be half as good as it is were it not for the touching performance by Johansson as a young newlywed already fearing she's made the wrong choices in life.  She's defiant, radiant, sensual...and you can never take your eyes off her.

Decent child actors are so rare to come upon.  Good ones.  Belivable ones.  Ones that inbue their performances with adult realism instead of getting force-fed lines with a flat delivery.  Keisha Castle-Hughes is such an actress; hopefully this tiny film is just the start.

She only makes a few brief performances, but each one is shocking in its intensity and in her brave devotion to a husband that's far from perfect.

What isn't she great in?  She was perfectly tormented in "The Station Agent," perfectly hostile in "The Safety of Objects," and perfectly clownish in "All the Real Girls."  Yet she really breaks your heart when looking at pictures of her nude body pre- and post-breat cancer in "April."  Brilliant,

Blending together the Patrick O'Brien novels "Master & Commander" and "The Far Side of the World," Peter Weir and his team have fashioned an Old Hollywood epic that doesn't play lip service to its stars, special effects, or fight scenes.  The interplay between the crew is especially wonderful.

My 2001 Picks