A&E: Simply The Best

This last year had everything, some bad (corrupted civic officials) and some good (uncorrupted civic officials). It also had a lot of best, which we've assembled in handy list form below. We at the Weekly take no responsibility for any feelings of inadequacy due to your having missed any of this. Maybe your luck will be better in 2004! For even more lists, see Pages 29 and 38.

The Best Films of 2003

1. The Good Thief. Nick Nolte leads a great cast in Neil Jordan's ultra-cool heist caper that also works as a character study and a loving tribute to the French Riviera. A great film that's also a blast to watch.

2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Peter Jackson caps his astounding trilogy with this breathtaking epic, near-perfect filmmaking on every level.

3. Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola does her daddy proud with her smart, thoughtful rumination on loneliness, aging and regret. Knockout performances from Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson.

4. Holes. The best family film of the year (take that, Finding Nemo!) is clever, funny, surprising and downright weird. Treats kids like adults and adults like kids, proving that good moviemaking knows no age boundaries.

5. Spider. David Cronenberg's creepy masterpiece about the illusions we create for ourselves to help deal with everyday horror. Ralph Fiennes and Miranda Richardson bring their nasty characters to life with uncanny precision.

The Best Plays Of 2003

1. Tartuffe (February, Nevada Conservatory Theatre at UNLV). Moliere's venerable comedy of gullibility and con artistry was laser-guided lunacy in the hands of Director Michael Lugering and this top-notch troupe. Jonathan E. Shultz in the title role oozed deviousness as if he needed it to breathe, and Maggie Chapin as Dorine the maid delivered a crowd-pleasing performance that crackled with the impertinent pizzazz of a gum-snapping Brooklyn waitress transported to 17th-century Paris. But kudos to the entire cast, which executed the tiniest comic gestures to the broadest buffoonery with sharp timing and surgical precision, yet made it feel wildly spontaneous.

2. The Lion In Winter (April, Las Vegas Little Theatre). James Goodman's witty, soapy, semi-historical account of palace intrigue in the realm of King Henry II is essentially Days of Our Medieval Lives. But with Gary Lunn doing a roaring Peter O'Toole impression, Susan Lowe dripping acid as Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Katrina Larsen radiating fierce intelligence as Henry's sassy concubine, Alais, this Lion was king.

3. Dinner With Friends (May, Las Vegas Little Theatre). Deftly blending punch lines and poignancy, Director Paul Thornton guided a shimmering adaptation of Donald Marguiles' Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a friendship between couples dissolving when one of the marriages disintegrates. This was thoughtful theater about the nature of relationships, well-cast and smartly staged.

4. Oklahoma! (July, Nevada Theatre Co. at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park's Super Summer Theatre). As rip-roaring and leather-lunged as regional theater audiences could want, Nevada Theatre's Co.'s high-stepping interpretation of this classic, directed by Deanna Duplechain and staged in the ideal setting of the park's great outdoors, was a retro-delight. Oh, what a beautiful evenin'!

5. Smokey Joe's Cafe (August, P.S. Productions at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park's Super Summer Theatre). Perhaps Spring Mountain Ranch audiences couldn't want more, but they got it anyway with this elegant, upbeat and cheeky revue of the extensive catalogue of songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ("Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Stand By Me," "Yakety-Yak," "There Goes My Baby," "Charlie Brown" and tons more). A pure oxygen blast of irresistible pop, inventive staging and dazzling dance, Smokey Joe's sent waves of feel-good endorphins directly to the musical pleasure centers of the brain.

The Best DVDs of 2003

1. The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times, The Great Dictator, The Gold Rush, Limelight). The best somehow were made better, with several more classics to come.

2. Francois Truffaut's Adventures of Antoine Doinel (The 400 Blows, Antoine & Collette, Stolen Kisses, Bed & Board, Love on the Run). Watch one of the great characters in cinema history grow up before your eyes.

3. Once Upon a Time in the West. Sergio Leone's epic western is restored—splendidly—and the legend grows.

4. Casablanca. Everything you've ever wanted to know about the most romantic of all American movies, plus Bugs Bunny in Carrotblanca.

5. The Rolling Stones: Four Flicks. The ageless wonders refuse to go gently into that good night.

The Best Bars of 2003

1. The Freakin' Frog Beer and Wine Café. If I could only go to one bar for the rest of my life, I could be perfectly happy with this one. The beer and wine selection is awesome, and if you leave the suds selection to owner Adam Carmer, you'll leave happy (and with at least one favorite new drink). Try the kidney punch, a delicious mix of Guinness and framboise.

2. Fado Irish Pub. If I could only go to two bars for the rest of my life, this would be the other one. Good beer, good food, good atmosphere—I like everything about this place. The snakebite, a mix of Harp and cider, and the velveteen, a mix of Guinness and cider, are my favorites.

3. Fireside Lounge inside the Peppermill. There is no occasion too big nor too small to celebrate with a cocktail by the fireside. And when family and friends come to town to visit, you're not doing your duty if you don't bring them here at least once. Order the scorpion, a fishbowl-sized glass generously filled with six types of hard liquor blended with ice cream.

4. Crown & Anchor. One of those places that truly has its own personality, this is the best place in town for watching rugby, soccer and drunk Australians, among other things. The Boddington's Pub Ale and the Beamish Stout both go down easy.

5. Hookah Lounge. Three words: fig leaf martini. And the hookahs ain't bad, either.

The Best of the Club Scene of 2003

1. Best club: Studio 54 at the MGM. Studio 54 has a lot to live up to, but no other club in Vegas has seen such long-standing success. Tuesday night's E.D.E.N. is, hands down, the best weekly party in town, and the recent addition of Thursday's Dollhouse shows the club also is bursting with variety and creativity. Studio 54 is all about providing the ultimate club experience when it could easily just rest on the famous name.

2. Best lounge: Tabu the ultralounge at the MGM. No ordinary lounge, Tabu is the ultralounge that spawned a thousand imitators. Both old-school Vegas and sci-fi funk, it's the most aesthetically pleasing nightspot in town. And while Tabu is aimed more at the big-money client, it one of the few spots that everyone should visit at least once.

3. Best after-hours: Drai's inside the Barbary Coast. Drai's has been the hottest after-hours since its debut a few years ago, and 2004 should be no different. The service kicks ass, the staff is remarkably friendly, and they welcome locals with open arms. When I want to go out for some serious fun, Drai's always tops my list.

4. Best strip club: Cheetah's. I normally don't include nudie bar hijinks in my column, but a strip joint is still a nightclub. And Cheetah's is it. 2003 saw the arrival of the behemoths of Sapphire's, Pleasures and Treasures, but none of them can hold a candle to the simple perfection of Cheetah's—truly, the happiest place on Earth.

5. Best all-around party: The Palms. The Palms is the heart of the Vegas party. Rain is the biggest club in the country, with Vegas' best DJs, R.O.B. and Hollywood, and the venue plays host to music's biggest acts. The Ghostbar is a favorite hot spot for the celebrity set. Skin has the hottest summer parties in town. The Palms showcases live local rock musicians in its lounge. It has movie premieres in its theaters. The place is so happening that MTV made a show about it. The Palms has long surpassed the standard for hip entertainment in Vegas, and now sets the bar.

The Best CDs of 2003

1. Bob Dylan: Limited Edition Hybrid SACD set

2. White Stripes: Elephant

3. Shelby Lynne: Identity Crisis

4. Distillers: Coral Fang

5. Miles Davis: The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions

Best Art Exhibitions of 2003

1. Here and There, Contemporary Arts Collective, Brünz Rosowsky Gallery and Michael Wardle Gallery. This sprawling show of works by artists from Louisville, Kentucky, examined the notion of regionalism today, and had some damn fine work in it.

2. Andy Warhol: The Celebrity Portraits, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art. Warhol, celebrity, Vegas, Liz, Liza and Lennon. Say no more.

3. American Pop Icons, the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum. A fitting, overlapping counterpart to the Warhol show, with which it formed a period primer.

4. Airborne, Donna Beam Fine Arts Gallery, UNLV. This fine show united UNLV alums in an updating examination of abstraction.

5. Constructed Realities, Las Vegas Art Museum. This rigorous and rewarding look at contemporary photography was organized by former Guggenheim LV managing director Barbara Bloemink.