| H - ALL FILMS 2003-6/2009 |
| H (S. Korea d. Lee Jeong-hyuk) Serial killer melodrama with the creepiest villains since Hannibal Lector. Very much in the same vein as Cure. *** |
| HABITANTE INCIERTO, EL (The Uninvited Guest) (d. Guillem Morales) V. *** |
| HACHIKO: A DOG'S STORY (d. Lasse Hallstrom) ** 3/4 |
| HAIRSPRAY (d. Adam Shankman) *** 1/2 |
| HALF LIFE OF TIMOFEY BEREZIN, THE (d. Scott Z. Burns) *** 1/4 |
| HALF NELSON (d. Ron Fleck) *** 1/4 |
| HALF-LIFE (d. Jennifer Phang) ** |
| HANA & ALICE (d. Shunji Iwai) Intermittantly clever & interesting, quirky film about two teenage girls & their crush on a reserved boy. ** 1/2 |
| HANA (d. Hirokazu Kore-eda) ** 3/4 |
| HANCOCK (d. Peter Berg) Ridiculous premise, reasonably good f/x. Superhero with a human face; but I strongly disliked script. * 1/2 |
| HANGING OFFENSE (d. Guillame Nicloux) Atmospheric, puzzling thriller about possible murders and the woman Colombo-like detective on the case. *** |
| HANGOVER, THE (d. Todd Phillips) One of those great bad comedies: earned laughs, surprising plot development, fresh acting by 4 comic actors. *** 1/4 |
| HANNIBAL RISING (d. Peter Webber) Now just an ordinary slasher/revenge genre pic, though Gaspard Ulliel is a very interesting actor. ** |
| HANSEL AND GRETEL (d. Yim Phil-sung) W/O |
| HAPPENING, THE (d. M. Night Shyamalan) Good acting (Betty Buckley's classic camp), ridiculous script (plot holes to spare). ** |
| HAPPILY EVER AFTER (d. Yvan Attal) Ironically titled, interesting enough film about 2 married guy & single friend and their failing relationships. ** 3/4 |
| HAPPY AS ONE (d. Vanessa Jopp) *** |
| HAPPY ENDINGS (d. Don Roos) Somewhat sprawling, well observed black comedy of 21st century families with a brilliant perf by Maggie Gyllenhaal *** 1/2 |
| HAPPY FEET (d. George Miller) Simply wonderful 3-D animation combined with a timeless, appealing story. A triumph. *** 3/4 |
| HAPPY HOUR (d. Mike Bencivenga) Anthony LaPaglia doing a Leaving Las Vegas dramatic turn, well acted but ultimately derivative. ** 1/2 |
| HAPPY-GO-LUCKY (d. Mike Leigh) Formless, well acted character study centered around a happy-go-lucky young woman and her angst ridden driving teacher. ** 3/4 |
| HARD CANDY (d. David Slade) *** |
| HARD GOODBYES: MY FATHER (Greece/Germany d. Penny Panayotopoulou) Slight story about young boy in denial about his father's death. ** 1/4 |
| HARD PILL (d. John Baumgartner) *** |
| HARD WORD, THE (Australia/Great Britain d. Scott Roberts) Delightful caper film. *** |
| HARI OM (d. Bharatbala Ganapathy) Another travelog, this one better, though also contrived: French girl roving thru India with a rickshaw driver. ** 1/2 |
| HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE (d. Danny Leiner) Silly teen farce with too many stupid bathroom & fag bashing jokes...but fun anyway. ** 1/4 |
| HARRY AND MAX (d. Chris Munch) Brutally honest, well written story of 2 boy-band brothers with incest overtones. Bryce Johnson is a major find! *** 1/4 |
| HARRY AND MAX (d. Christopher Munch) + Still one of the most truthful & insightful films about boybands and gay life in general. Better the 2nd time. *** 1/2 |
| HARRY POTTER #3 (d. Alfonso Cuarón) Darker, better directed; but still relatively uninvolving. Maybe I should read the books. ** 1/2 |
| HARRY POTTER 5 (d. David Yates) *** 1/4 |
| HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (d. Mike Newell) *** |
| HARSH TIMES (d. David Ayer) Tough action film with scintillating acting and superreal dialog. Bale is a phenom. *** |
| HATE CRIME (d. Tommy Stovall) * |
| HAVEN (d. Frank E. Flowers) Good actors in a mess of a film about Cayman Island life and dire financial schemes. ** |
| HAWAII, OSLO (d. Erik Poppe) Norway AFF: slick, complex multi-strand drama of a group of Oslo residents as they play out one character's portentious dream. *** |
| HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT (d. Tom Vaughan) Psychologically modern Trollope novel of 4 Victorian relationships given average Masterpiece Theater treatment. ** 1/2 |
| HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT (d. Laetetia Columbani) Clever thriller about a woman literally crazy about a cardiologist. *** |
| HEAD IN THE CLOUDS (d. John Duigan) Old fashioned big WWII romance, a tear jerker that didn't jerk but never bored. Theron fine; but Townsend too callow for role. ** 3/4 |
| HEADLESS WOMAN, THE (d. Lucrecia Martel) ** 1/2 |
| HEAD-ON (d. Fatih Akin) Off center love story about troubled German Turkish couple. Good film, but not as good as rep. *** 1/4 |
| HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, THE (d. Asia Argento) Mind blowing adaptation from life of a young boy being raised by his disaster of a mother. *** 1/2 |
| HEART OF ME, THE (Great Britain/Germany d. Thaddeus O'Sullivan) Unabashed weepy romance about 2 sisters in love with the same man. *** |
| HEARTBEAT DETECTOR (d. Nicolas Klotz) ** 1/4 |
| HEAVENS BLUE (Tengri) (d. Marie Jaoul de Poncheville; Kyrgyzstan) *** 1/4 |
| HEAVEN'S BURNING (d. Craig Lahiff)V. Russell Crowe & Japanese chick in a corkingly over-the-top (a la Robert Rodriguez) violent road pic from Oz. *** |
| HEIGHTS (d. Chris Terrio) + Second time to watch this one. Superbly well done. Another great Glenn Close role. My kinda film! *** 1/2 |
| HEIGHTS (d. Chris Terrio) Multi-character 24 hours in the lives of N.Y. arty types. Superbly well done. My kinda film! *** 1/2 |
| HEIR TO AN EXECUTION (d. Ivy Meeropol)V. Doc. Rosenberg's grandaughter searches for the truths of family's past. Moving, well made, informative. ***1/2 |
| HELL (d. Danis Tanovic) *** 1/2 |
| HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (d. Guillermo del Toro) Bombastic fantasy with del Toro's nightmarish imagery, but a soporific, predictable plot. ** |
| HELLO GOODBYE (d. Graham Guit) ** 1/2 |
| HENRY POOLE IS HERE (d. Mark Pellington) Luke Wilson in a film totally without irony doesn't compute. * 1/4 |
| HENRY VIII (d. Pete Travis) V. Abridged PBS version of British series with an interesting Ray Winstone perf. Pop history, but too short to be meaningful. ** 1/4 |
| HER MINOR THING (d. Charles Matthau) Silly romantic comedy with a trite, predictable story but nice production values. * 1/2 |
| HERO (d. Zhang Yimou) China AFF. Huge marshall arts epic in Crouching Tiger vein. Gorgeous & well made; but cold. *** |
| HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU (d. Ken Kwapis) Attractive cast, but clichés abound in this all too clever rom-com about coupling. ** 1/2 |
| HIDALGO (d. Joe Johnston) Entertaining western variant, true (if transparently enhanced) story of a mustang competing with thoroughbred Arabians. ** 3/4 |
| HIDDEN (Caché) (d. Michael Haneke) *** 1/2 |
| HIDDEN BLADE, THE (d. Yoji Yamada) *** 1/2 |
| HIDDEN FACE (d. Bernard Campan) * 1/4 |
| HIDDEN LOVE (L'amour caché) (d. Alessandro Capone) * 3/4 |
| HIDING AND SEEKING (d. Menachem Daum) V. Enormously moving docu about a family of Holocaust survivors and their reconciliation with the past. *** 3/4 |
| HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL (d. Kenny Ortega) V. By far the best musical of the last year is a Disney TV film. Zac Ephron can move & even lip sync. *** |
| HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 (d. Kenny Ortega) Surprisingly good, fun and frothy. High energy, ok score, great choriography make for a diverting experience. *** |
| HIGH TENSION (d. Alexandre Aja) Vividly graphic and gory mass-murder horror thriller, well made, but based on a cheat which compromises it. *** |
| HIGHER FORCE, THE (d. Olaf de Fleur Johannesson) * 3/4 |
| HIGHER FORCE, THE (d. Olaf de Fleur Johannesson) Silly Iceland comedy which went nowhere for 45 minutes so I walked. W/O |
| HIGHWAY (d. James Cox) V. Messy, faintly homoerotic '02 road movie with stoned out Jake Gyllenhaal & Jared Leto looking fine. * 3/4 |
| HINDENBERG, THE (d. Robert Wise) V. Fairly good old fashioned disaster flick. F/x sort of lame. ** 1/4 |
| HISTORY BOYS, THE (d. Nicholas Hytner) Yorkshire Dead Poets Society with a fine, literate script. Totally absorbing. *** 3/4 |
| HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, A (d. David Cronenberg) *** 1/2 |
| HIT, THE (d. Stephen Frears) V. 1984 noir with superb performances. Wonderfully nihlistic & typical of later Frears. *** 1/4 |
| HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (d. Garth Jennings) Banal, arch as only the Brits can. I was incredibly bored, even with the great f/x. * 1/2 |
| HOAX, THE (d. Lasse Hallstrom) Competent, but predictable and not involving. ** 1/2 |
| HOLD MY HEART (d. Trygve Allister Diesen) Norway AFF. Drama about father who kidnaps estranged young daughter. *** 1/4 |
| HOLDING TREVOR (d. Rosser Goodman) *** 1/2 |
| HOLES (d. Andrew Davis) It's sort of churlish to complain about a bad script with such a feel-good movie. Shia LaBeouf is great. ** 3/4 |
| HOLIDAY, THE (d. Nancy Meyers) I loved every minute of this chick flick despite its flaws. *** 1/4 |
| HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE (d. Ron Shelton) Cop flick where quirky cops are more interesting than the case. Shelton better director here than writer. ** 1/2 |
| HOLLYWOODLAND (d. Allen Coulter) TV director's style more suited to noir. Fine cast (esp. Brody & Affleck) good script! *** |
| HOLY GIRL, THE (d. Lucrecia Martel) Turgid and pointless drama about the effect on a teen girl of an almost molestation by a married older man. * 1/2 |
| HOLY LOLA (d. Bertrand Tavernier) Just about the same movie as John Sayles' Casa de los babys except in Cambodia. Too protracted and long. ** 1/2 |
| HOME (d. Ursula Meier) *** |
| HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD, A (d. Michael Mayer) Extraordinarily well made, literate gay film which nails its '60s-'80s eras. Great acting. *** 3/4 |
| HOME OF DARK BUTTERFLYS, THE (d. Dome Karukoski; Finland) ** 3/4 |
| HOME OF THE BRAVE (d. Irwin Winkler) Powerful affects-of-war film about current Iraq soldiers. Too on point, but well acted. ** 3/4 |
| HOME OF THE BRAVE (d. Paola di Florio) V. Well made docu, informative & emotionally powerful about civil rights martyr Viola Liuzzo & her surviving family. *** 1/2 |
| HOME SONG STORIES, THE (d. Tony Ayres; Australia) *** 1/4 |
| HOMEGROWN (d. Stephen Gyllenhaal) V. Authentic '98 pot growing paranoia movie thriller/comedy with good cast (Ryan Phillippe is fine). ** 3/4 |
| HOMELESS TO HARVARD (d. Peter Levin) (V) Lifetime tv movie (Thora Birch) about girl who surmounts incredible odds to get an education. ** 3/4 |
| HOMESICK (Koti-ikävä) (d. Petri Kotwica) Superb, raw Finnish film about a teenage boy committed to a mental institution, similar plot to Manic. *** 1/4 |
| HOMME DE SA VIE, L' (d. Zabou Breitman) *** 3/4 |
| HONEY (d. Bille Woodruff) Is there a cookie-cutter factory for recycled plots like this? Ok music & dancing don't make up for terrible direction. * 1/4 |
| HONEYDRIPPER (d. John Sayles) Good music, but very predictable. ** 3/4 |
| HOOKED (d. Adrian Sitaru) ** 1/2 |
| HOOT (d. Wil Shriner) Ernest flick from teen book. Interesting young actors, but lacking directoral spark. * 3/4 |
| HOPE ETERNAL (d. Karl Francis; United Kingdom) ** 1/2 |
| HORAS DEL DIA, LAS (d. Jaime Rosales) Boring (cf. Bruno Dumont) film about the boring quotidien life of a boring shopowner with one little quirk. ** |
| HORIZON OF EVENTS, THE (d. Daniele Vicari) ** 3/4 |
| HORNBLOWER: DUTY (d. Andrew Grieve)V. #8, not quite up to #7. Still, this series is best thing ever to happen on high seas, despite Russell Crowe. *** |
| HORNBLOWER: LOYALTY (d. Andrew Grieve) V. #7 in the series, and one of the best. Ioan Gruffudd was born to play this role. *** 1/4 |
| HOST AND GUEST (d. Shin Dong-il) ** 3/4 |
| HOST, THE (Gue-Mool) (d. Bong Joon-ho) ** |
| HOSTAGE (d. Constantine Giannaris) Gripping based on true story variation of Bus 174. Stathis Papadopoulis wonderful as the bus hostage taker. *** 1/4 |
| HOSTAGE (d. Florent Siri) Visually dazzling thriller with multiple layers of jeopardy. Plot has several holes; but effective filmmaking nevertheless. ** 3/4\ |
| HOTEL RWANDA (d. Terry George) Epic, shocking and sad. Don Cheadle towers as a strong man in a crumbling society. Maybe too much on target. *** 1/4 |
| HOTTEST STATE, THE (d. Ethan Hawke) ** 3/4 |
| HOUNDS (d. Ann-Kristin Reyels) *** 1/4 |
| HOUSE OF ADAM, THE (d. Jorge Ameer) Gay ghost story. A film of towering badness in every aspect: acting, direction, script, all the technicals, yet somehow watchable. * |
| HOUSE OF D (d. David Duchovny) Sappy but watchable period piece ('70s N.Y) coming of age story. Anton Yelchin is quite good; but script has holes. * 3/4 |
| HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS (d. Zhang Yimou) Visually stunning, emotionally resonant, remarkable f/x; but too much of a good thing is too much. *** 1/4 |
| HOUSE OF FOOLS (d. Andrei Konchalovsky) Russia AFF. Off-center drama. Chechan war comes to insane asylum. ** 1/2 |
| HOUSE OF SAND (d. Andrucha Waddington) *** 1/4 |
| HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG (d. Vadim Perelman) Classic tragedy: good but flawed people who make fateful mistakes. Incredibly well acted & directed. *** 1/2 |
| HOUSE ON THE CLOUDS, THE (La casa sulle nuvole) (d. Claudio Giovannesi) *** |
| HOUSEBOY, THE (d. Spencer Schilly) Totally realistic & sexy portrayal of 20-ish gay boy's life & times. Watch for actor Nick May. *** 1/4 |
| HOUSEKEEPER, THE (France d. Claude Berri) Wry, romantic comedy about a May-November romance. *** |
| HOUSEWARMING (Travaux, on sait quand ça commence...) (d. Brigitte Roüen) Silly Paris apt. money pit/illegal alien worker comedy. ** 1/2 |
| HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY (Jin tian de yu zen me yang?) (d. Xiaolu Guo) ** 3/4 |
| HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE ME (Combien tu m'aimes?) (d. Bertrand Blier) Monica Bellucci as sexy prostitute; fun, not my cuppa. ** 3/4 |
| HOW THE WEST WAS WON (d. Henry Hathaway et al)+ Pristine print in 3-screen Cinerama of gorgeous overblown star-driven turkey. Great experience. ** 1/4 |
| HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE (d. Dorris Dörrie) *** 1/2 |
| HOW TO DEAL (d. Clare Kilner) Rather innocuous teen romantic comedy. Mandy Moore is OK, Trent Ford one to watch; but Nina Foch steals the film. ** 1/2 |
| HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS (d. Donald Petrie) Fairly clever high concept romantic farce: 2 people trying not to fall in love. Empty calories. ** |
| HOW TO ROB A BANK (d. Andrews Jenkins) Talky, pretentious caper thriller that doesn't work at all. Even Nick Stahl can't save. * 1/2 |
| HOWARD ZINN: YOU CAN'T BE NEUTRAL ON A MOVING TRAIN (d. Ellis & Mueller) V. Didactic docu about a lifetime activist against war & prejudice. ** 3/4 |
| HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (d. Hayao Miyazaki) Good story, well dubbed (especially Christian Bale as Howl), nice animation. I was surprised. *** 1/4 |
| HUDDERSFIELD (Hadersfild) (d. Ivan Zivkovic) ** 1/2 |
| HUDSON RIVER BLUES (d. Nell Cox)V. '95 film chick flick about a large family. Some good actors, and a script with possibilities; but mostly mediocre filmmaking. ** |
| HULA GIRLS (d. Lee Sang-il; Japan) ** |
| HULK (d. Ang Lee) Turgid, overlong King Kong vs. Crouching Tiger takeoff. Good effects, but constant barrage of novel transition device wearing. * 1/2 |
| HUMAN STAIN, THE (d. Robert Benton) Surprisingly effective melodrama with a star-making debut by Wentworth Miller and another Kiddman triumph. *** |
| HUMPDAY (d. Lynn Shelton) *** 1/4 |
| HUNTED, THE (d. William Friedkin) Well made, exciting chase film: army trained killer on a rampage hunted by his teacher. *** 1/4 |
| HUNTER, THE (d. Serik Aprymov) A youthful juvenile deliquent in rural Khazagstan is tought by a lone wolf hunger. Fabu scenery, not much of a plot. ** 3/4 |
| HUNTING AND GATHERING (Ensemble, c'est tout) (d. Claude Berri) *** 1/2 |
| HUNTING OF THE PRESIDENT, THE (d. Perry & Thomason) V. Docu which nails slimy Ken Starr and his corrupt attack dogs as they tried to get Clinton. *** 1/4 |
| HUNTING PARTY, THE (d. Richard Shepard) ** 1/2 |
| HURT LOCKER, THE (d. Kathryn Bigelow) **** |
| HUSTLE & FLOW (d. Craig Brewer) Effective filmmaking about Tenn. underclass dealer & pimp (amazing Terrence Howard) & his need to be a rap star. ** 3/4 |