September 9, 2001
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (2001) ***
The first Harry Potter film is an appetizing hint of the glories to come ("Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" and especially "Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban").
Storytelling (2001) ***
Swordfish (2001) ***
''Swordfish'' is a very entertaining movie, fast-paced, and full of great action scenes and amusing dialogues. To quote Roger Ebert, the film ''looks like the result of a nasty explosion down at the Plot Works. It's skillfully mounted and fitfully intriguing, but weaves such a tangled web that at the end I defy anyone in the audience to explain the exact loyalties and motives of the leading characters. The movie has great action scenes. One involves a horrific explosion that seems frozen in time while the camera circles it. It's a great visual moment.
Lovely And Amazing (2001) ***
Directed by Nicole Holofcener, ''Lovely And Amazing'' is an insightful comedy about the relationship between a mother and her three confused daughters. It might sound like yet another annoying and predictable chick flick, but it is so more than that. There are surprising twists and turns in the plot at every point. The film’s highlight is a great (and uncomfortable) scene when one of the daughters, Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer) stands naked in front of her lover, and asks him to subject her body to an honest and brutal criticism. When he forgets about her flabby underarms, she points them out. Roger Ebert, while viewing the film at Telluride, noticed a curious thing about the audience: ''during most nude scenes involving women, men are silent and intent. During this scene, which was not focused on sexuality but on an actual female body, attractive but imperfect, it was the women who leaned forward in rapt attention''. Another sister, Michelle (Catherine Keener) finds a job at a one-hour photo stand, where a fellow employee, a teenage boy (Jake Gyllenhaal), falls in love with her. She also likes him and eventually finds herself in his bedroom. Curiously, the film holds an adult woman to the same standard as an adult man. The teenage boy’s mother calls the police and accuses Michelle of statutory rape. As Ebert writes, ''there is some doubt about what exactly has taken place, but at least "Lovely And Amazing" doesn't repeat the hypocrisy that it's all right for adult women to seduce boys but wrong for adult men to seduce girls''.
Bully (2001) ***
Directed by Larry Clark (who also made ''Kids'' and ''Another Day In Paradise''), ''Bully'' (2001) is a disturbing and powerful drama about sex, abuse and murder. The lead actresses are Rachel Miner and Bijou Phillips, while Nick Stahl plays the bully of the title. All his victims ultimately gang up on him and murder him in a very vicious way. This is how Roger Ebert describes the film in his review: ''Larry Clark's Bully calls the bluff of movies that pretend to be about murder but are really about entertainment. His film has all the sadness and shabbiness, all the mess and cruelty and thoughtless stupidity of the real thing''.
Monsters Inc (2001) ***
Hilarious animated film about monsters coming out of closets and scaring little children.
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) ***
Stylish film noir (in black & white), directed by the Coen Brothers.
Ginger Snaps (2001) ***
Bloody and gory horror film from Canada. An allegory about menstrual cycles.
Eloge de l'amour (2001) ***
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