‘The Return of the King’: In the dazzling, impassioned finale of the Middle-earth trilogy, the reluctant leader Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) rises to confront a final assault by Sauron’s evil army, while a pair of hobbits, Frodo and Sam (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin), continue their quest to destroy an all-powerful ring. New Zealand’s Peter Jackson launched his career with ultragory horror flicks such as 1992’s “Dead Alive.” His critical breakthrough came in 1994 with the mesmerizing drama “Heavenly Creatures,” starring newcomer Kate Winslet. Next up for Jackson: fulfilling a childhood dream by remaking “King Kong.”
‘Lost in Translation’: A warm whisper of a movie set in a Tokyo hotel, Sofia Coppola’s unforgettable comedy is a snapshot of two people crossing paths at crossroads in their lives: a bewildered young woman stuck in a shallow marriage (Scarlett Johansson) and a middle-aged movie star (Bill Murray). Coppola’s debut film, an adaptation of Jeffrey Eugenides’s atmospheric novel “The Virgin Suicides,” turned heads; now, with her second, she has blossomed as one of America’s finest young directors.
‘Mystic River’: In this powerfully acted drama based on Dennis Lehane’s novel, three boyhood friends are changed forever when one of them is kidnapped and molested. As adults, the trio is reunited when one of them (Sean Penn) loses his daughter in a brutal murder, another (Kevin Bacon) is the investigating detective–and the last (Tim Robbins), the victimized child, is the prime suspect. For his 24th movie as a director, Clint Eastwood earned his second Oscar nod for best director and his second for best picture. He took home both trophies in 1993 for the great revisionist Western “Unforgiven.”
‘Seabiscuit’: Based on Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling book, this underdog tale is the true story of three men–a hobbled jockey (Tobey Maguire), a stubborn trainer (Chris Cooper) and a humbled tycoon (Jeff Bridges)–who get a second chance at glory thanks to a horse that no one else wanted. Sophomore director Gary Ross made his name in Hollywood as the screenwriter of the hit comedies “Big,” starring Tom Hanks, and “Dave,” with Kevin Kline, before making his directorial debut in 1998 with “Pleasantville.”
‘Cold Mountain’: This adaptation of Charles Frazier’s Civil War novel, which was itself a loose update of Homer’s “The Odyssey,” tells the story of a wounded Confederate soldier (Jude Law) who deserts and walks home across a battle-ravaged South to be reunited with the love of his life (Nicole Kidman), a woman he barely knew when the war began. Writer-director Anthony Minghella’s 1996 film “The English Patient” earned a raft of Oscar nominations. It won best picture, and Minghella took home the award that year for best director.
