Best of 2003

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2004)

I can't explain the extreme views that people hold on this film. I've seen thousands of films (over 2000 of them documented here on this website) and only a very small percentage of them- far less than 5%- ever earn a "10" from me. Seabiscuit gets a 10, and to those who are critical of editing, or the story winding down, or bad horse stand-ins, etc.: you must have seen a different film. Jeff Bridges rarely disappoints, and in Seabiscuit, he makes no exception.>
Seeing him in this film, there is little wonder he is my favorite actor. Chris Cooper is fabulous, too, and shows why his Oscar win for Adaptation was not a fluke. I am not a big horse fan, and rarely look forward to a movie about horses, but this film just spoke to me in a way I never would have expected. It's just simply excellent. It's Oscar worthy.
I know that LOTR ROTK will probably take it, but that just seems so easy. I think it's time the academy recognize great filmmaking that doesn't rely on 12 months of post-production so every cgi shot is perfect. It almost reminds me of what happened to music when the synthesizer came along.