September 9, 2003
Freddy Vs Jason (2003) ***
Probably the best "Nightmare On Elm Street" film and definitely the best "Friday The 13th" movie. Not much was really expected from the pairing of Elm Street's blade-slashing baddie Freddy Krueger with hockey-masked Friday's maniac Jason Voorhees. Except for one thing - its Hong Kong director, Ronny Yu, who has directed one of the most beautiful Asian fantasy film of all times, ''The Bride With The White Hair'' (1993). And thanks to Yu's great visual flair, ''Freddy Vs Jason'' (2003) is indeed a superior example of the slasher genre. The plot is simple: trapped in Hell, Freddy seeks a way to return to Earth and terrify a new generation of Elm Street kids...and finds it by resurrecting Jason; but when Jason's killing spree makes Freddy jealous, the stage is set for a sinister showdown between the two villains.
Open Water (2003) ***
A yuppie couple (Blanchard Ryan and Daniel Travis) goes on vacation to the Caribbean. The two are overworked, and looking forward to some scuba diving. But due to a faulty head count, the couple is left behind in the middle of the open sea. They find themselves drifting endlessly for hours on end, facing dehydration, jellyfish stings, saltwater sickness, and hungry sharks. That’s the premise of ''Open Water'', a low-budget thriller directed by Chris Kentis, and based on a true story. As they gradually realize the seriousness of their predicament, the couple goes through a gamut of the various emotional reactions. They scream, despair, freak out, and even joke (usually sarcastically). The film is structured in such a way that the situation doesn’t seem tragic at first, but then slowly deteriorates. As the day passes, they see more and more splashing around them. Dorsal fins slice quickly through the water. They can only see what’s on the surface, so when a fish bumps against their legs, their panic seems real. It’s terrifying because we can only guess what’s going on near their feet. It's far more scary to imagine what could be happening underwater than actually seeing it.
Zero Day (2003) ***
Less known than "Elephant", but an equally impressive film inspired by the Colombine massacre.
August 8, 2003
July 7, 2003
June 6, 2003
Love Actually (2003) ***
This is the kind of film where a British looser can fly to Milwaukee, walk into a bar and find not one, not two, but three friendly American girls who think his British accent is so cute they all want to sleep with him. In other words, it's a realistic film. Written and directed by Richard Curtis, ''Love Actually'' is the ultimate romantic comedy, featuring about a dozen couples at various stages of romance. The main theme is the difficulty of saying ''I love you'' to another person. It might seem impossible to offer so many variation of that same theme in a single movie, but Curtis - who wrote such classics of British romantic comedy as ''Four Weddings and A Funeral'' and ''Bridget Jones's Diary" (and who also wrote ''Notting Hill'') - pulls it off splendidly. There are so many interconnected stories (arranged in a mosaic fashion like ''Short Cuts'', ''Magnolia'' or ''Crash''), it's difficult to pick the best one. One of the most amusing involves a new British Prime Minister (Hugh Grant imitating Tony Blair) who almost declares war on the United States after a boorish American President (Billy Bob Thornton brilliantly combining the worst vices of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) makes a pass at this secretary. There is also a surprising story involving a stand-in in a porno movie (Joanna Page) who falls in love with her partner. Their courtship ritual is all in reverse. They began completely naked in each other's arms (without knowing one another), and finally put on their clothes to go on a date. Another subplot involves a single girl (Laura Linney) whose love life is ruined by her brother, or is it ? Fast-paced, constantly surprising, sexy and very smart, ''Love Actually'' is strongly recommended.
Marion Bridge (2003) *
A typical Canadian "FUF Movie" ("Fucked-Up Family Movie"), about three sisters dealing with their mother's death. Frustratingly, the film's big secret - one of the sisters (Molly Parker) was impregnated by her father and had to give up her daughter (Ellen Page) for adoption - is never fully revealed, only hinted at.
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