FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2003:  No. 9 thru No. 15 (listed alphabetically)
		American Splendor Funny-and-sad tale of a man who is both larger-than-life and mired in the mundane:  Harvey Pekar, the real-life creator of the “American Splendor” comics, is a scowling pessimist and all-around terrific grump.  Screenwriters and directors Sherri Berman and Robert Pulcini combine real-life interviews, animation inspired by the comics, and a dramatization featuring a wonderful performance by Paul Giamatti as Pekar.  R Bad Santa The year’s funniest movie succeeds because it isn’t just a cheap shot about a drunken mall Claus, but because Billy Bob Thornton’s Bad Santa is a three-dimensional character that we come to care about, no matter how disgusting he is.  Billy Bob is joined by Tony Cox as his motormouth partner in crime, Bernie Mac as the suspicious and chain-smoking mall detective, and the late John Ritter in a pitch-perfect embodiment of indignant and impotent propriety.  R Better Luck Tomorrow Director/co-writer Justin Lin’s searing examination of four A students whose lives have been so stifled by pressures to get into college that they turn to crime just to feel alive. Their focus on success has left them without a moral compass.  Lin tones down the sensationalism to show us what a blur the boys’ lives have become.  (2003 wide release)  R The Good Thief This super-glossy, super-cool heist caper for grown-ups stars Nick Nolte as Bob, a thief and gambler out to resurrect himself with a casino robbery in Monte Carlo.  Director and screenwriter Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”) pumps the style way up, but never loses sight of the human elements of Bob’s relationship with his ever-suffering police counterpart (Tcheky Karyo) and the flirty waif who wishes she could win his heart (Nutsa Kukhianidze).  (2003 wide release)  R
					The Man on the Train Patrice Leconte’s (“Girl on the Bridge”) mellow character study takes the two great personality types, makes them old men, and let’s them wonder what life would have been like if their places were reversed.  The man who sees life as concrete is a bank robber (European rock star Johnny Hallyday) and the man who always wonders about the meaning behind things is a small-town poetry teacher (Jean Rochefort, a mainstay of French cinema).  The movie is more charming than epic, thanks to the casual, subtle performances of the leads, and to Leconte’s light touch.  (2003 wide release)  R Northfork A small Montana town about to be flooded to make way for a reservoir is turned into a magical meditation on life, death, and progress by twin filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish. Big stars James Woods and Nick Nolte are quiet and restrained as a member of the evacuation committee and the parish priest, in a movie that freely mixes fact, fantasy, metaphor, and angels.  (2003 wide release)  PG13 Owning Mahowny A Canadian banker (Philip Seymour Hoffman of “The Talented Mr. Ripley”) is addicted to gambling – not to winning, but to playing with high stakes.  He eventually turns his whole life into a gamble by stealing from his own bank to cover his addiction.  PSH, so strong in supporting roles, is given the chance to carry a movie all on his own, and does not disappoint as a man who is almost a machine in his attempts to bring on his own destruction.  R
							Special Jury Prize:  Girls Gone Hollywood         Favorite Films of 2003:  Honorable Mention Favorite Films of 2003:  Nos. 1-8
			UNPAID!  UNPAID!  UNPAID! Secondhand Lions The kind of summer every boy should have:  spent on a farm with two crazy uncles (Michael Caine and Robert Duvall).  Haley Joel Osment plays the boy. The Shape of Things The latest film from writer-director-Mormon Neil LaBute (“In the Company of Men”) involves more manipulative man-woman stuff, this time with plastic surgery thrown in. Sinbad:  Legend of the Seven Seas More anachronistic pop culture references invade the past, this time in the days of scimitars and sailing ships.  An animated adventure featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michelle Pfieffer.
								The Son Little-seen French film about a carpenter, his apprentice, and the meaning of life.  And when there’s a carpenter, we ALWAYS know what he symbolizes. The Station Agent A little guy who likes trains (Peter Dinklage) flees from human contact, only to befriend a hapless woman (Patricia Clarkson) and a loudmouth hot-dog vendor. Winged Migration Visionary documentary about the lives of birds..