THE 3 BEST FILMS
1.
Lost In Translation
Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Genre: Drama; Comedy;
Starring: Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson
"Bob and Charlotte meet at the hotel bar and gradually find, to their mutual surprise, that they are soul mates of a sort. When she says she was a philosophy major, he replies "there's a good buck in that racket." When he says, as only he can, "I'm trying to organize a prison break, are you in or out?" a series of forays deeper into Tokyo result, including Bob's words-don't-do-it-justice karaoke rendition of Brian Ferry's "More Than This." It may or may not be romance these two are reaching for in this 21st century version of 1945's classic David Lean-directed "Brief Encounter," but they definitely yearn for something more essential: simple human connection. Coppola's formidable delicacy rules out any slam-bang emotionalism, but that doesn't lessen our involvement. What "Lost in Translation" demonstrates, among many other things, is how much weight and substance something slight can have in just the right hands."
by Kenneth Turan in Los Angeles Times
"Coppola has found her voice with this artfully evanescent original screenplay. When she brings Bob and Charlotte together, the tone seems exactly right. They meet in the hotel lounge. Later, they share confidences, go to a strip club, a video arcade and a karaoke bar (Murray's version of Roxy Music's "More Than This" is one for the time capsule). OK, maybe a few of the culture-clash jokes are facile. But suddenly Tokyo comes alive, and so do Bob and Charlotte. She is stung when Bob sleeps with a jazz singer, played by Catherine Lambert ("I guess you had a lot to talk about, like growing up in the Fifties"). But sexual jealousy is not the issue here. Bob and Charlotte's brief encounter is built to last, if only in their memories. Before saying goodbye, they whisper something to each other that the audience can't hear. Coppola keeps her film as hushed and intimate as that whisper. Lost in Translation is found gold. Funny how a wisp of a movie from a wisp of a girl can wipe you out."
by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone
2.
The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King
Directed by: Peter Jackson
Genre: Drama; Action/Adventure; Fantasy;
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Liv Tyler, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies and Christopher Lee
"''King,'' which opens round the country tomorrow, features more prognostication and exposition than its predecessors. Yet despite all of the setups required, Mr. Jackson maintains tension. In ''Towers,'' the director and his fellow screenwriters, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, secured a spiritual fidelity to the novel. In ''King'' they manage that and far more; the last third is especially condensed, and Aragon's role in the last battle is fleshed out. But the Tolkien search for purity is central to their ''King,'' too. And the movie isn't as exclusionary as the books' implicit Christian forcefulness, which made Middle Earth a re-creation of the Crusades. ''King'' is the product of impressive craft and energy. The ''sleepless malice'' is aligned with controlled chaos; the sizable exertion of concentration from Mr. Jackson is multiplied by his ''Rings'' team, including his cinematographer, Andrew Lesnie; composer, Howard Shore; production designer, Grant Major; and the battalion of other artisans responsible for the costumes, makeup and special effects. It is evident that the grip of ''The Return of the King'' on Mr. Jackson is not unlike the grasp the One Ring exerts over Frodo: it's tough for him to let go, which is why the picture feels as if it has an excess of endings. But he can be forgiven. Why not allow him one last extra bow?"
by Elvis Mitchell in New York Times
"Some have accused "Return" of ending several times too often. Granted, there's a "Wizard of Oz" ending, a "Star Wars" (first trilogy) ending, even an ending reminiscent of "The Searchers." But in this case, too many endings are not enough. Each has its own resonance, and Jackson is clearly as loath to let these characters go as we are. In the very last image, he honors Tolkien's vision, which always treasured home and family over great deeds and heart-stopping perils. The simple proclamation "Well, I'm back," and a closed yellow door, reminds us that we, the audience, have our own destiny. We are meant to be part of the adventure, not its aftermath. We share the journey, but not the journey's ultimate prize. Peter Jackson has taken us there and back again. And he's done it with a masterwork that truly is the one trilogy to rule them all."
by Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in Atlanta Journal-Constitution
3.
Cold Mountain
Directed by: Anthony Minghella
Genre: Drama; Action/Adventure; Romance;
Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Philip Seymour-Hoffman, Brendan Gleeson, Natalie Portman and Giovanni Ribisi
"There is so much to enjoy about "Cold Mountain" that I can praise it for its parts, even though it lacks a whole. I admire the characters played by Kidman and Law, even though each one is an island, entire to himself. I loved Zellweger's gumption, and the way she treats a dress like a dishrag. The battle scenes and the Civil War landscapes (shot in Romania) have beauty and majesty. But Winstone as the villain turns up so faithfully when required that he ought to be checking his clock like Capt. Hook, and although there is true poignancy in Inman's encounter with the desperate widow Sara (Natalie Portman), it is poignancy that belongs in another movie. Nothing takes the suspense out of Boy Meets Girl like your knowledge that Boy Has Already Met Star. By the end of the film, you admire the artistry and the care, you know that the actors worked hard and are grateful for their labors, but you wonder who in God's name thought this was a promising scenario for a movie. It's not a story, it's an idea. Consider even the letters that Ada and Inman write to each other. You can have a perfectly good love story based on correspondence, but only, I think, if the letters arrive, are read and are replied to. There are times when we feel less like the audience than like the post office."
by Roger Ebert in Chicago Sun-Times
"Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain, which he adapted from Charles Frazier’s novel, has the big, glossy feel of a Hollywood epic that’s been worked up by experts. The costumes from the Civil War era look authentic down to the inseams, the firearms are museum-quality, and fog rolls down off the mountains right on cue. It’s a movie that, like the novel, very much wants to be mythic—an American version of The Odyssey. But Minghella, as he demonstrated in The English Patient, is at his least interesting when he thinks big. Cold Mountain has some marvelous, intimate moments and a real feeling, at times, for the loss that war engenders, but it also has more than its share of hokum—which would be more entertaining if the hokum were juicier. But Minghella is a very serious sort: Everything in this movie, even the humor, is meant to serve a higher purpose."
by Peter Rainer in New York Magazine
BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Paul Giamatti for American Splendor
BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Charlize Theron for Monster
BEST ACTING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE CAST
Samantha Morton, Paddy Considine, Sarah Bolger, Emma Bolger and Djimon Hounsou
for In America
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Sarah Bolger for In America
