AT THE MOVIES

When was the last time you went to the movies? Mine was Tuesday December 3, 2002... I saw "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with my dad. Fuck!!! A year without going to the movies... that's really painful for someone like me who used to go to the movies at least once every week... and whose goal is to be able to watch 365 movies in a year: one per day... I came very close in 1997 by the way... 325 movies...

I want the next time that I set foot on a movie theatre to be special, though... I think that after a year long drought, I deserve it. It's like the first time you have sex after many months of inactivity or when you return to the soccer field after recovering from a serious injury.

In 2003, I watched 184 movies (videos, DVDs, TV)... my worst year in 10 years. I had always at least crossed the 200 mark. Many reasons immediately prop to mind... the baby, of course, at the top of the list... a couple of video stores I was a member of disappeared leaving me with just 2 affiliations... love -- for some reason, a man in love watches less movies...

Here are my top 10 films for 2003:

01. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” was the best movie I saw in 2002. In fact, it was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. "The Two Towers" is just as good if not better: a skillful marriage of special effects and computer animation in scenes of sequences of breathtaking beauty. And then, of course… there’s Gollum! I’m dying to see “The Return of the King”, which is supposed to be the best of the trilogy.

02. Finding Nemo

Albert Brooks and Ellen Degeneres make dynamite chemistry… The writing is just comedic genius – who will ever forget the “mine” scene? And it adds an unexpected beauty: a use of color and form that makes it one of those rare movies where you just want to let the images wash out to the edges of your field of vision.

03. Chicago

Even if you hate musicals, I’ll guarantee you will love Chicago… and all that jazz! A magical, razzle dazzle tap dancing extravaganza that really deserved the Best Picture Oscar it won. After I finished watching this movie for the first time, the only thing I wanted to do was watch it again and again and again…

04. Bowling for Columbine

This one shocked me so much I could not sleep for days. One of the best and most painful documentaries I have ever seen… I would put it in the horror section, but that would be too sad.

05. Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York is something better than perfect: It's thrillingly alive. Martin Scorsese never lets me down.

06. The Pianist

Roman Polanski's most personal and powerful film in years. Its rigorous lack of sentimentality shocks you, but the fact that this portrait of hell is so shattering is what makes this movie great.

07. 28 Days Later…

A tough, smart, ingenious horror movie that demands a great understanding of human nature from the viewers.

08. Hable con Ella

Almodovar is one of the great directors and screenwriters of our time. The Oscar-winning script is just fascinating and the hallucination sequence is one of the most breathtaking and kinkiest scenes ever filmed.

09. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

This movie was a lot better than I expected… Johnny Depp has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Leading Actor in a Comedy (and he will probably get it) and I wouldn’t be surprised if he snatched an Oscar nomination. Yo ho ho! A Pirate’s life’s for me!

10. The Ring

Another movie that scares the shit out of you. Granted, the original Japanese “Ringu” is scarier, but this one really holds its own. Any movie that is powerful enough to give me nightmares, should be on this list.

2003 Movies that I'm dying to see in 2004: Mystic River, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Master & Commander, Cold Mountain, Kill Bill Vol. 1, American Splendor, The Big Fish, Monster.

Durante una hora y media pude ser feliz comiendo chocolate y palomitas de maíz sintiendo que era yo el que besaba a aquella actriz.... que era feliz - Mecano (El Cine)