Intacto

Intacto (Spain): What makes some people especially lucky—Holocaust survivors, the people who walk away from plane or car crashes while everyone else dies? Can you control your luck? Can you take away someone else’s good fortune? Is there a difference between luck and fearlessness? Intacto asks these questions and answers them in a thrilling series of competitions where lucky men and women test their fortune. Spanish cinema at its best—and that's really saying something. (Seen Jan. 5, 2003.)

Gangs of New York

Gangs of New York: I blame myself for not liking it—all that knife-play made me nervous—but in the end it struck me as a "an epic that had been shrunk into a tiny capsule, but there was nothing to soak it in to allow it to balloon up to an impressive size."

My Movies of 2002

A ten-best list that goes to 11, some honorable mentions, my movie events of the year, and the worst film I saw in 2002.

Nicholas Nickleby

Nicholas Nickleby: A decent costume drama sabotaged by one bad hire. Charlie Hunnam, who plays the eponymous hero, may be a handsome devil, but he can't handle the lines.