THE 3 BEST FILMS
1.
The Pianist
Directed by: Roman Polanski
Genre: Drama;
Starring: Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann
"Perhaps because of his own experiences, Mr. Polanski approaches this material with a calm, fierce authority. This is certainly the best work Mr. Polanski has done in many years (which, unfortunately, is not saying a lot), and it is also one of the very few nondocumentary movies about Jewish life and death under the Nazis that can be called definitive (which is saying a lot). And -- again paradoxically -- this is achieved by realizing the modest, deliberate intention to tell a single person's story, to recreate a specific and finite set of events. (Ronald Harwood's script does take some necessary liberties with Szpilman's account, but these seem justified by the demands of movie storytelling). The ambition to produce a comprehensive vision -- a single spectacle adequate to the Holocaust -- ultimately defeated Steven Spielberg's admirable and serious ''Schindler's List.'' Mr. Polanski, in staging a narrow, partial slice of history, has made a film that is both drier and more resonant than Mr. Spielberg's."
by A.O. Scott in The New York Times
"People have a tendency to adapt, make do and look on the bright side. One of the many terrible, unforgettable things about "The Pianist," the harrowing drama from Roman Polanski, is that it shows how that normally healthy impulse worked to seal the doom for hundreds of thousands of innocent people during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The Holocaust has been the subject of many films. "The Pianist" is one of the great ones. Polanski eschews the big canvas of Spielberg's "Schindler's List" and follows the true story of a single individual and his family from the day the Germans invade Warsaw to the day the Allies liberate it. We never see more than he sees or know more than he knows (except what we know from history). Polanski's subjective approach takes us gradually into the horror, and the effect is terrifying and also psychologically revealing. We get an idea -- just an idea, but an idea -- of what it must have been like."
by Mick LaSalle in San Francisco Chronicle
2.
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Genre: Drama; Action/Adventure; Fantasy;
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies and Christopher Lee
"In sheer action mechanics, Mr. Jackson's achievements in ''Towers'' are even more compelling than what he managed the first time around; he has given the martial scenes of this sequel a completely different thrust. His engrossing action style is exciting and dramatic; when the swells of Saruman's army crash into the walls of the king's castle, we could be watching Orson Welles's ''Chimes at Midnight'' as directed by George A. Romero -- Shakespearean-scale bloodshed and loss as an exploitation movie. The exultant creepiness of horror films is Mr. Jackson's instinctive filmmaking style. He exaggerates it here in epic terms, and the grandeur is astonishing -- one scene of Saruman's creatures flinging themselves at the castle is framed as an overhead shot, with their shields moving like the wings of a peculiarly lyric and fatal insect. Mr. Jackson's mastery of craft in some areas is so powerful that the flaws are more noticeable than in the first film. The little-boy allure of the storytelling in ''Towers'' is sure to evoke the same reaction that it did in ''Fellowship.'' ''Towers'' is like a family-oriented E-rated video game, with no emotional complications other than saving the day. Women have so little to do here that they serve almost as plot-device flight attendants, offering a trough of Diet Coke to refresh the geek-magnet story. (It is a lapse in Tolkien's work that Mr. Jackson has not figured out a way to correct, even with the token reappearances of Liv Tyler and Cate Blanchett from the first film.)"
by Elvis Mitchell in The New York Times
"The Two Towers starts out a little slowly, but the rousing second half, which gathers momentum like a boulder racing downhill, will leave audiences craving more when the end credits roll. Combined, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers represent one of the most engrossing and engaging six-hour segments of cinema I have ever enjoyed. If the final third of the puzzle is the equal of the first two, this will go down as one of the crowning achievements of cinema. Like its predecessor, The Two Towers is a great motion picture, and not to be missed by anyone who appreciates fantasy adventure."
by James Berardinelli in ReelViews
3.
Minority Report
Genre: Science-Fiction; Mystery/Suspense; Action/Adventure; Drama;
Starring: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton and Max von Sydow
"The plot I will avoid discussing in detail. It is as ingenious as any film noir screenplay, and plays fair better than some. It's told with such clarity that we're always sure what Spielberg wants us to think, suspect and know. And although there is a surprise at the end, there is no cheating: The crime story holds water. American movies are in the midst of a transition period. Some directors place their trust in technology. Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools. He makes "Minority Report" with the new technology; other directors seem to be trying to make their movies from it. This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill. "Minority Report" reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place."
by Roger Ebert in Chicago Sun-Times
"For better or worse, in temperament and in caution, the artist famous for producing images of an imaginary American present so powerful that they create instant nostalgia can't help himself from coming home to familiar yearning. What's exciting about ''Minority Report'' (and abrasive, too, in the way of a good scrubbing) is the movie's relentless demonstration of technological convenience inextricably entangled with a profound invasion of privacy. What simultaneously drags us back to the antirevolutionary present are the filmmaker's sentimental journeys (usually of a boy toward his lost parent, this time of a dad toward his lost boy), and his reiterated images of idealized everyday domestic life. Spielberg and his longtime cinematographer Janusz Kaminski make both the high-tech and low-tech future look exquisite as ever, using a lot of the same eerie filters that bleached and crystallized the mood of ''A.I.'' But they identify the ''best'' values with the least futuristic, most traditional, and most warmly lit landscapes of thriving green plants, warm wood architecture, and handsome furniture."
by Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly
BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis for Gangs of New York
BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Nicole Kidman for The Hours
BEST ACTING BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST
Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Ed Harris, Toni Colette, John C. Reilly, Claire Danes, Allison Janney and Jeff Daniels
for The Hours
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jake Gyllenhaal for Donnie Darko
