Being a film student, I feel a gripping need to write up my ten favorite movie theater moments of 2003. Rather than staying within 2003 releases, I’d rather talk about my favorite theatrical experiences (this includes older re-releases and old prints shown at my campus theater).
1. Lost in Translation – Passé now before it knew it had a chance; Coppola’s film sucker punched me, especially with “Sometimes.” This movie angers me in a way simply that I know it must be a no-brainer for my tastes.
2. Blue Velvet – Shown on campus to a full crowd, perhaps giving David Lynch the sense of humor that we all knew was there, but only a packed theater can really achieve.
3. Martin Arnold shorts – A couple shorts of Arnold’s visual scrubbing to scenes in classical Hollywood. Don’t miss the chance to see these, as they get screened quite infrequently and are amazingly entertaining.
Link to Martin Arnold web-site: http://www.r12.at/arnold/
4. Blood Simple – Sucking you in with the windshield wipers at the opening, Blood Simple never lets go. The scene with Dan Hedaya and the ceiling fan bring back wonderful glimpses of Barton Fink.
5. Chungking Express – Reissued by Tarantino on DVD a couple years ago, this is Art-House in all the fractured glory.
6. Repo Man – Perhaps the Reagan satire still hits closer to home than we think. Harry Dean Stanton steals the movie as Emilio Estavez’s mentor.
7. Spellbound – The documentary which blurred the line of mockumentary into straight-lined narrative. The parent-child relationships are captivating, taking a strange cross-section of America.
8. Alien – A film that makes the theatrical experience necessary, Alien was captivating when re-released. My experience with Alien happened earlier in the year at the Music Box in Chicago. With an appropriately dirty print, the Nostromo (spaceship) never looked so scary. Once again, Harry Dean Stanton steals the show (or at least a couple key scenes).
9. Bad Santa – Although many probably were shocked by Kill Bill’s gleeful violence, Bad Santa was the stinker I needed from a Weinstein brother, the Coen Brothers and Terry Zwigoff, which gave my holiday season a nice tinge.
10. Matrix Reloaded – And, to speak of stinker (in the bad sense of the word), Reloaded provided the greatest ending of my theater experiences. Walking out of the theater, I’d never seen so many stunned faces at the Wachowski Brothers mayhem (yes, the joke was on you and me).
Favorite movie experiences of everyone else?