I haven't seen "Mystic River" yet. I really want to but just have not got to it. I do think Mr. Penn is a great actor and I'm a big fan of the films he's directed as well.

I don't really have a "best of" list for 2003 because I saw very few films, heard very few albums, etc...but there was of course stuff I really liked.

"Lost In Translation" was the most fun I had going to the movies last year. I thought it was a great film. Outstanding at every level. "Mystic River" would be a different sort of experience and that's why I don't really like picking the "best" film or record or whatever because there's no reasonable way to judge that or really compare a "Mystic River" to a "Lost In Translation." Plus how can you pick a "best film" unless you've seen them all...not really fair if you haven't. Just more of our obsession with lists and statistics.

I also laughed pretty hard at "Intolerable Cruelty", the Coen brothers film, having seen it in the summer after spending lots of May, June, and July dealing with lawyers...and the bills that sort of thing generates.

I'm sort of a movie nerd in that, I don't really care who's in a film but who directed it makes a big difference to me. So, I went to see Tarantino's "Kill Bill" and found it to be a visually stunning if otherwise vacant experience.

Documentaries are also big favorites for me and there always seems to be some damn good ones. After reading a review in the newspaper for "The Stone Reader" I had to see that. Writers and Jazz musicians always fascinate me so documentaries about them always hook me. 

 J.D. Salinger has lived right up in New Hampshire for years but what the hell has he been up to? Hell, Peter may have run into him shopping for groceries and not even known it. Wouldn't you like to see a documentary on Salinger? It may even include an interview with Kent to inquire why he tapes a copy of "Catcher In The Rye" to his forehead whenever he leaves the house...