Cinema and Popcorn

THE 3 BEST FILMS 1. El laberinto del fauno Directed by: Guillermo del Toro Genre: Drama; Horror; Fantasy; Starring: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdu and Doug Jones " After "Pan's Labyrinth", Guillermo del Toro will never again be dismissed as a director of horror movies. The artistry evident even in "Mimic'' and "Hellboy'' is confirmed in spades in his new work, a lock for an Oscar nomination as best foreign language film. Visually stunning, it meshes haunting images with a complex multilevel story about the enchantment of youth -- a time when fairy tales take on a reality that can shield children from painful truths -- and the unadulterated evil of fascism. Whether intentional or not, "Labyrinth'' bears a resemblance to Picasso's "Guernica.'' Del Toro uses a similar palette -- the color is so faded that some scenes appear to be black and white with shades of gray -- and his eerie mythi

THE 3 BEST FILMS 1. Crash Directed by: Paul Haggis Genre: Drama Starring: Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Peña, Brendan Fraser, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Terrence Howard, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate and Thandie Newton " Not happier, not calmer, not even wiser, but better. Then there are those few who kill or get killed; racism has tragedy built in. Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect "Crash" to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The movie contains hurt, coldness and cruelty, but is it without hope? Not at all. Stand back and consider. All of these people, superficially so different, share the city and learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn't look like them. Th

THE 3 BEST FILMS 1. The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind Directed by: Michel Gondry Genre: Drama; Comedy; Romance; Science-Fiction; Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson " The idea of blanking out every last thought of a failed romance, even if it means losing pleasure to get rid of pain, has a blithe topical spookiness; it's like an Orwellian satire of a world moderated -- neutered -- by psychiatric drugs. Kaufman and Gondry, though, aren't out to score didactic points but to dramatize how even our closest relationships are, in effect, stories that unfold in the ways we tell them to ourselves. The ''flaws'' of Joel and Clementine's edgy bond create the very electricity that holds it together. Joel, embracing his memories, comes to appreciate the fragile glory of each and every moment simply for being that moment. Watching ''Eternal Sunshine,'' you don't just watch a lov

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 &q

THE 3 BEST FILMS 1. The Pianist Directed by: Roman Polanski Genre: Drama; Starring: Adrien Brody and Thomas Kretschmann " Perhaps because of his own experiences, Mr. Polanski approaches this material with a calm, fierce authority. This is certainly the best work Mr. Polanski has done in many years (which, unfortunately, is not saying a lot), and it is also one of the very few nondocumentary movies about Jewish life and death under the Nazis that can be called definitive (which is saying a lot). And -- again paradoxically -- this is achieved by realizing the modest, deliberate intention to tell a single person's story, to recreate a specific and finite set of events. (Ronald Harwood's script does take some necessary liberties with Szpilman's account, but these seem justified by the demands of movie storytelling). The ambition to produce a comprehensive vision -- a single spectacle adequate to the Holocaust -- ultimately defeated Steven Spielberg's admirable and

Christian Bale isn't the kind of actor who releases four movies in a year, so he may be one of those smart actors who are really selective when it comes the time to choose what to do next and it seems that Bale has a lot of proposals after Christopher Nolan 's The Dark Knight Rises shooting ends: Darren Aronofsky 's ( Black Swan )  Noah (a retelling of the Noah's Ark story), Scott Cooper 's ( Crazy Heart )  Out of the Furnace (based on Brad Ingelsby's story The Low Dweller that follows an ex-con bent on avenging the death of his brother as soon as he's released from prison), Clint Eastwood 's ( Million Dollar Baby ) remake of the musical A Star Is Born starring Beyoncé Knowles (replacing Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading male role), Spike Lee 's ( 25th Hour ) Oldboy (an adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name about a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned on his daughter's birthday and he is held captive for fifteen years, and, upo