| F Films January, 2003-June, 2009 |
| FACING WINDOWS (d. Ferzan Ozpetek) Resonant, multilevel story of a modern day couple who become involved with a Holocaust survivor. *** 1/4 |
| FACTOTUM (d. Bent Hamer) ** 3/4 |
| FAHRENHEIT 9/11 (d. Michael Moore) Slam dunk politically; but doc could be structured better for my taste. *** 1/4 |
| FAILURE TO LAUNCH (d. Tom Dey) Reasonably original romantic comedy...Justin Bartha should be given a leading role! ** 3/4 |
| FAIR PLAY (d. Lionel Bailliu) *** 1/4 |
| FAIRY TALE OF KATHMANDU (d. Neasa Ni Chianain) ** |
| FALKENBERG FAREWELL (d. Jesper Ganslandt; Sweden) ** |
| FALL, THE (d. Tarsem Singh) ** 3/4 |
| FALLEN (d. Mikael Salomon) V. Good TV movie with series possibilities. ** 3/4 |
| FAMILY FRIEND (L'Amico di Famiglia) (d. Paolo Sorrentino) W/O |
| FAMILY HERO (Le héros de la famille) (d. Thierry Klifa) ** 3/4 |
| FAMILY LAW (d. Daniel Burman; Argentina) *** 1/2 |
| FAMILY STONE, THE (d. Thomas Bezucha) ** 1/2 |
| FAMILY TIES (d. Kim Tae-yang) ** 1/2 |
| FANTASTIC FOUR (d. Tim Story) Fun, if silly super-character comic story. Chris Evans is a star. ** 3/4 |
| FANTASTIC PARASUICIDES (Fantastic Ja-sal-so-dong) (d. Kim, Park & Jo) ** 3/4 |
| FAQS (d. Everett Lewis) Militantly gay romance. Fine performance by perky newcomer Joe Lia. Oddly, I enjoyed this terribly written & shot digital film. * 3/4 |
| FAR SIDE OF THE MOON (d. Robert Lepage) Quirky comedy based on 1-man play. Lepage plays 2 leading roles & he must be an acquired taste that I don't share. ** |
| FASHION VICTIMS (d. Ingo Rasper) Intermittently funny & clever German farce: two dress salesmen battle. ** 3/4 |
| FAST AND FURIOUS (d. Justin Lin) Testosterone soaked film with some nicely edited & conceived auto stunts; but ridiculous and predictable script. ** 1/2 |
| FAST FOOD NATION (d. Richard Linklater) Exploited Mexicans, slaughtered cattle, great cast, tough sell! *** |
| FAT GIRLS (d. Ash Christian) Inventive if juvenile gay comedy by a talented writer/director. ** 1/2 |
| FATELESS (Sorstalanság) (d. Lajos Koltai; Hugary) *** 3/4 |
| FATHER & SONS (d. Michael Boujenah) A feel good, amusing French comedy road picture about a father and his squabbling sons. Beautifully acted. *** |
| FATHERS AND SONS (d. various)V. ** 3/4 |
| FAUBOURG 36 (d. Christophe Barratier) ** 3/4 |
| FAVELA RISING (d. Mattt Mochary, Jeff Zimbalest; docu) V. *** |
| FAVOR, THE (d. Eva Eridjis) Fine lost indie film with interesting perfs by Frank Woods & Ryan Donowho *** |
| FAY GRIM (d. Hal Hartley) Wildly uneven comedy/thriller. Posey is fine, but writing not up to former Hartley films. ** 3/4 |
| FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (d. Terry Gilliam) V. Like watching a lurid train wreck & almost needing to turn away. Depp & del Toro are amazing. ** |
| FEAR AND TREMBLING (d. Alain Corneau) A fascinating French office film set in a Japanese office. Sylvie Testud is wonderful. *** 1/4 |
| FEAR ME NOT (d. Kristian Levring) ** 3/4 |
| FEAST OF LOVE (d. Robert Benton) Emotionally affecting; but I need to read the book, which is obviously richer. *** |
| FEATHERS IN MY HEAD (d. Thomas de Thier) Compelling, beautifully shot film about a family torn by the consequences of a missing child. *** |
| FEELING FACTORY, THE (La Fabrique des sentiments) (d. Jean-Marc Moutout) V. ** 1/2 |
| FEELING MINNESOTA (d. Steven Baigelman)V. '96 Keanu Reeves/Cameron Diaz screwball dumb guy/bad girl comedy. Watchable, but ridiculous plot. ** |
| FEMALE AGENTS (Les Femmes de l'ombre) (d. Jean-Paul Salomé) ** 1/2 |
| FEMME DE GILLES, LA (d. Frédéric Fonteyne) Formally terrific, if slow, drama about a laborer obsessed by his plain wife's beautiful sister. Emmanuel Devos rules. *** |
| FERPECT CRIME (d. Alex de la Iglesia) Another zany film by Iglesia, high gloss comedy about a Lothario salesman's comeuppence. Good fun, but a trifle obvious. ** 3/4 |
| FESTIVAL EXPRESS (d. Bob Smeaton) Wonderful footage of 1970 rock festival train across Canada. Great The Band & Janis performances. *** 1/2 |
| FEVER OF '57 (d. David Hoffman) *** 1/4 |
| FEVER PITCH (d. Farrelli Bros.) Gets everything right in a delightful romantic comedy. Fallon is a star in the Hanks mode. *** 1/4 |
| FEVER, THE (La Febbre) (d. Alessandro d'Alatri) *** 1/4 |
| FIDEL (d. David Attwood)V. TV mini-series biopic of the Cuban revolution...diffuse script, but good performances by Victor Martin and, of course, Gael Bernal as Che. ** 1/4 |
| FIELDS OF FUEL (d. Josh Tickell) *** 3/4 |
| FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING (d. Kari Skogland) *** |
| FIFTY PILLS (d. Theo Avgerinos) V. Monumentally stupid film; but Lou Pucci is my type of leading man. * 1/4 |
| FIG TREES (d. John Greyson) ** 3/4 |
| FIGHTER PILOT: OPERATION RED FLAG (d. Stephen Low)V. ** 3/4 |
| FIGHTING (d. Dito Montiel) Clichés abound & Montiel's mis-en-scène just seems confused. Tatum isn't a convincing actor; but he sure looks the part. ** 1/4 |
| FINAL ARRANGEMENTS (Bouquet final) (d. Michel Delgado) ** 3/4 |
| FINAL CUT, THE (d. Omar Nïam) Unsatisfying, psychological sci-fi melodrama about saving memories. Poor Robin Williams comes a cropper again. ** |
| FINAL DESTINATION 3 (d. James Wong) V. Surprisingly stylish horror thriller; but when Jesse Moss was killed off I bailed. W/O |
| FINDING AMANDA (d. Peter Tolan) Faintly amusing dramady...witty about the tv game, but the rest not so good. ** 1/4 |
| FINDING BLISS (d. Julia Davis) ** 1/2 |
| FINDING NEMO (d. Andrew Stanton) Another engaging Pixar/Disney film with superb 3-D animation but a fairly simplistic plot. ** 3/4 (REV. *** 1/4) |
| FINDING NEVERLAND (d. Marc Forster) Emotionally powerful, unlikely romantic film based on J.M. Barrie's life. Depp is outstanding in a muted perf. *** |
| FIRM LAND, THE (d. Chapour Haghighat) * 1/4 |
| FIRST DAUGHTER (d. Forest Whitaker) Utterly predictable, slick romantic comedy. I like Marc Blucas; but Katie Holms is awfully plastic. * 1/2 |
| FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (Le premier jour du reste de ta vie) (d. Rémi Bezançon) *** 3/4 |
| FIRST NIGHT, THE (d. Luis Restrepo) Columbian AFF about the uprooting effects of a local rebellion on a rural family. Somewhat overamped, but moving. ** 1/2 |
| FIRST SNOW (d. Mark Fergus) Pedestrian, twisty Amer. Indy with a great Guy Pearce perf.** 3/4 |
| FIRST TIME I WAS TWENTY, THE (d. Lorraine Lévy) Enormously entertaining coming of age in mid '60s of a portly girl jazz musician. *** 1/2 |
| FISH DREAMS (d. Kiril Mikhanovsky) ** 1/2 |
| FIVE DAYS IN SEPTEMBER (d. Barbara Sweete) **** |
| FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS, THE (d. Lars von Trier, Jorgen Leth) Von Trier as tyrant making Leth redo his seminal short 5 times. Both boring & interesting. ** 1/2 |
| FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (d. Clint Eastwood) Overly complex; but moving despite. Spectacular action direction. *** 1/4 |
| FLAME & CITRON (Flammen & Citronen) (d. Ole Christian Madsen) *** |
| FLAQUEZA DEL BOLCHEVIQUE, LA (d. Manuel Cuenca) Luis Tosar shines again as conflicted man who gets involved with teenage girl. ** 3/4 |
| FLEUR DU MAL, LA (d. Claude Chabrol)V.+ Incestuous hijinx among the French bourgeoisie. Cool & intriguing. *** |
| FLICKERING LIGHTS (d. Anders T. Jensen) Clever Danish caper film about gang who can't shoot straight trying to go straight. *** |
| FLIGHT TO FREEDOM (Fuga per la libertà) (d. Carlo Carlei) ** 1/2 |
| FLIGHTPLAN (d. Robert Schwentke) ** 3/4 |
| FLOOD (d. Tony Mitchell) V. Tacky, convincing British disaster drama about 1,000 year flood of London. ** 1/4 |
| FLYBOYS (d. Tony Bill) Astoundingly good aerial f/x. Utterly predictable, lame script. James Franco fine, as usual. ** 1/2 |
| FLYING SCOTSMAN, THE (d. Douglas Mackinnon) Jonny Lee Miller & Billy Boyd are good; but film predictable sports bio. ** 1/4 |
| FOG OF WAR, THE (d. Errol Moris) More than a talking head doc, the film is a valuable primer on the responsibilities of leadership and frailty of human nature. *** 1/2 |
| FOOD INC (d. Robert Kenner) ** 1/2 |
| FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO (d. Daniel Karslake) *** 3/4 |
| FORASTERS (d. Ventura Pons) ** 3/4 |
| FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, THE (d. Rob Minkoff) Angarino is good, action direction ok; but too predictible. ** 1/2 |
| FOREST (d. Benedek Fliegauf) Boring, pretentious ordeal of a film...7 droning vignettes vaguely connected by people's proximity in a shopping mall. * |
| FOREVER ENTHRALLED (d. Chen Kaige) ** 1/2 |
| FOREVER FLOWS (d. Abu Sayeed; Bangladesh) ** |
| FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (d. Nicholas Stollar) Sweet & surprisingly smart comedy . *** 1/4 |
| FORGIVEN (d. Paul Fitzgerald) *** |
| FORGOTTEN WOMAN, THE (d. Dilip Mehta) Docu based on plight of widows in India (non-fiction version of Water). Intrinsically horrifying; but film meanders. *** |
| FORGOTTEN, THE (d. Joseph Rubin) Eerie, scary psychological sci-fi melodrama about losing memories, very effectively filmmaking. Julianne Morre simply great. *** 1/4 |
| FORMULA 17 (d. D.J. & Yin-Jung Cheng) V. Silly gay Taiwanese comedy with lavish photography, but dreadful acting and line readings. * 3/4 |
| FORSYTE SAGA, THE: TO LET (d. Andy Wilson) V. Incredibly involving 5 hour followup to original. Glorious production, superb acting. **** |
| FORTRESS (d.Shamil Nacafzada; Azerbaijan) * 1/2 |
| FORTRESS, THE (d. Fernand Melgar) ** 1/2 |
| FORTY SHADE OF BLUE (d. Ira Sachs) *** |
| FOSTER CHILD (d. Brilliante Mendoza) ** 3/4 |
| FOUNTAIN, THE (d. Darren Aronofsky) Pretentious & arty. Jackman & Weisz and f/x are great, but script annoyingly obscure. ** 1/4 |
| FOUR BOXES (d. Wyatt McDill) *** |
| FOUR BROTHERS (d. John Singleton) * 1/2 |
| FOUR MINUTES (d. Chris Kraus) *** 1/4 |
| FOUR STARS (d. Christian Vincent) ** 1/4 |
| FRACTURE (d. Gregory Hoblit) Clever story, acting tour de force. Gosling is a star. *** 1/4 |
| FRAMED (d. Daniel Petrie, Jr.) (V.) TNT tv movie about NYC cop (Rob Lowe) vs. classy mob squealer (Sam Neill). Predictable. * 1/2 |
| FRANCE BOUTIQUE (d. Tonie Marshall) Fast paced but empty comedy about the people doing a French cable tv shopping channel. ** |
| FRANK MILLER'S SIN CITY (d. Robert Rodriguez) Super stylish pop-art graphic novel the way it should be filmed. But I was bored. ** 1/2 |
| FRANK THE RAT (d. Jim Cozza) *** 1/4 |
| FREAKY FRIDAY (d. Mark Waters) Enjoyable, but empty change-of-identity comedy with some nice acting by Jamie Lee Curtis & Lindsay Lohan. ** 1/2 |
| FREE RADICALS (d. Barbara Albert) Interconneced year-in-the-life story of capricious fate. Confusingly written and edited, but nicely directed. ** 3/4 |
| FREEDOM WRITERS (d. Richard LaGravenese)V. Surprisingly moving true story of teacher vs. gangs. *** 1/4 |
| FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS (Französisch für Anfänger) (d. Christian Ditter) *** |
| FRENCH GIGOLO, A (Cliente) (d. Josiane Balasko) *** 1/4 |
| FRESH AIR (Friss levegö) (d. Agnes Kocis and Andrea Roberti) *** |
| FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (d. Peter Berg) One of the all-time great sports films, wonderfully directed and edited (great music, too). Thornton & Lucas Black shine. *** 1/2 |
| FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS (d. Peter Berg) V.+ Even more impressive on video, certainly the best sports film I've ever seen and the best edited film of the year. *** 3/4 |
| FRIEND OF MINE, A (d. Sebastian Schipper) *** 1/4 |
| FRIEND, THE (Der Freund) (d. Micha Lewinsky, Switzerland) *** 1/4 |
| FRIENDS WITH MONEY (d. Nicole Holofcener) Ensemble film, well observed, nicely acted...ending left me wanting more. *** |
| FROST/NIXON (d. Ron Howard) Surprisingly fascinating middlebrow film, with a career perf. by Longella. *** 1/2 |
| FROZEN CITY (d. Aku Louhimies) ** 1/4 |
| FROZEN DAYS (Yamin Kfuim) (d. Danny Lerner) ** 3/4 |
| FROZEN RIVER (d. Courtney Hunt) *** 1/2 |
| FROZEN (d. Juliet McKoen) Mysterious, sort of pointless English film with Shirley Henderson as a woman mourning her lost, presumed dead sister. ** 1/2 |
| FUGITIVE PIECES (d. Jeremy Podeswa) *** |
| FUSE (d. Pjer Zalica) A confusing, but effective satire about post-war reconciliation in Bosnia. ** 3/4 |