STAR SEASON.(Movie Review)

In many ways, 2003, with its extensive dead zones, was a terrible year for big Hollywood movies. But it will also be remembered as a year in which a group of remarkable large-scale productions hit the theatres in its last couple of months like brilliant guests arriving late at a party. Among them are Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River," Peter Weir's "Master and Commander," and, now, Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain," which is not only a stunning popular entertainment but also, if you're keeping score, a much better movie about the South during the Civil War than "Gone with the Wind"--visionary, erotic, and tragic where the older movie is flossy, merely ambitious and ...