| O - ALL FILMS 2003 - 6/2009 |
| O DELFIM (d. Fernando Lopes) Portugal AFF. Insufferably pretentious drama about poor suffering rich people. * |
| OBABA (d. Montxo Armendariz; Spain) ** 3/4 |
| OBSERVE AND REPORT (d. Jody Hill) Very black, obscene, mostly unfunny comedy...however surprisingly entertaining with Rogan & Anna Faris standouts. *** |
| OCCUPATION DREAMLAND (d. Olds and Scott; docu) V. *** |
| OCEANS 12 (d. Steven Soderbergh) A ridiculous plot, off-hand acting and sloppy direction made for an overblown disaster, IMHO * 1/4 |
| OCULTO (d. Antonio Hernández) V. Woman's revenge thriller. Leonardo Sbaraglia & Angie Cepeda have real chemistry. *** |
| ODE, THE (d. Nilanjan Neil Lahiri) Overwrought, heavy handed So. Asian/American gay drama. Guilt, screwed up childhood. Ugh. * 1/4 |
| OFF SCREEN (d. Pieter Kuijpers) ** 1/4 |
| OFF THE MAP (d. Campbell Scott) Wonderfully atmospheric coming of age story of young girl in a close rural New Mexico family. *** 1/2 |
| OFFSCREEN (d. Christopher Boe) ** 1/4 |
| OGU & MAMPATO ON EASTER ISLAND (d. Alejandro Teilez) Chile AFF. Children's cartoon. WO |
| OH HAPPY DAY (d. Ian Poitier) * 3/4 |
| OH IN OHIO, THE (d. Billy Kent) Ograsmic hi-jinx in Cleveland. OK script, good acting, end sort of peters out. ** 3/4 |
| O'HORTEN (d. Bent Hamer; Norway) *** |
| OLD JOY (d. Kelly Reichardt) *** |
| OLGA (d. Jayme Monjardim) Interesting, if overblown production based on true events about a Jewish Communist woman revolutionary caught in a Nazi net. ** 1/2 |
| OLIVE HARVEST, THE (d. Hanna Elias) Overwrought triangle romantic drama about 2 Palestinian brothers & the woman they both covet. * 3/4 |
| OLIVER TWIST (d. Roman Polanski) *** 1/4 |
| OMAGH (d. Pete Travis) Muted dramatic re-enactment of '98 N. Ireland bombing & aftermath with quietly great performance by Gerard McSorley. *** |
| ON NATIVE SOIL: THE DOCUMENTARY OF THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT (d. Linda Ellman; docu) *** 1/2 |
| ON THE DOWNLOW (d. Tadeo Garcia) Latino gangs do an ugly gay West Side Story. Utterly talentless cast & crew. Why are we subjected to these terrible films? 1/2* |
| ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (d. JJ Lask) *** |
| ON THE WATERFRONT (d. Elia Kazan) Missed this when I was 13. For my tastes overly melodramatic with an annoyingly heavy Bernstein score. I do get Brando, tho. ** 1/2 |
| ON THE WINGS OF DREAMS (d. Golem Rabbany Biplop; Bangladesh) ** |
| ON_LINE (d. Jed Weintrob) Digitally shot indie drama about relationships made and broken on a net sex line. Clever, innovative and involving. *** |
| ONCE (d. John Carney) *** |
| ONCE IN A LIFETIME: STORY OF NEW YORK COSMOS (d. Crowder & Dower) V. Fast moving, involving docu about pro soccer. *** 1/4 |
| ONCE UPON A TIME IN HIGH SCHOOL: SPIRIT OF JEET KUNE DO (d. Ha Yu) Sang woo Kwong great as shy high school student beset by bullies. *** 1/4 |
| ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO (d. Robert Rodriguez) Some good set-pieces and interesting acting; but ultra-violent and shrill. ** 1/2 |
| ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS (Great Britain d. Shane Meadows) Predictable British family drama with inaudible dialog. ** 1/4 |
| ONCE YOU'RE BORN YOU CAN NO LONGER HIDE (d. Marco Tullio Giordana) *** 1/4 |
| ONE DAY LIKE RAIN (d. Paul Todisco) 1/2* |
| ONE HUNDRED NAILS (Centochiodi) (d. Ermanno Olmi) ** 1/4 |
| ONE WEEK (d. Michael McGowan) *** |
| ONE-HANDED TRICK, THE (d. Santiago Zannou) ** |
| ONLY GOD KNOWS (d. Carlos Bolado) *** 1/4 |
| ONLY HUMAN (d. Dominic Harari and Terisa Pelagri) Occasionally silly Spanish family farce...Jewish girl/Palestinian man. ** 3/4 |
| ONLY JOURNEY OF HIS LIFE, THE (d. Lakis Papasththis) Greece AFF. Magical realism with no coherent plot. * 1/2 |
| OPEN HEARTS (d. Susanne Bier) Denmark AFF. Dogma drama about fear of loss and love. *** |
| OPEN RANGE (d. Kevin Costner) Gorgeously photographed western - almost overcomes cliché plot with some superb acting esp. by Robert Duval. ** 1/2 |
| OPEN WATER (d. Chris Kentis) Viscerally disturbing, small film about a scuba diving couple lost at sea. ** 3/4 |
| OPERATION HOMECOMING (d. Richard Robbins) Out of the tragedy of war, true art in the best of this years docus. **** |
| OPIUM - DIARY OF A MADWOMAN (d. János Szász) *** |
| OPIUM WAR (d. Siddiq Barmak; Afghanistan) * 3/4 |
| ORA DI PUNTA, L' (d. Vincenzo Marra) ** 3/4 |
| ORA O MAI PIÚ (d. Lucio Pellegrini) Energetic & well made coming of age story-leftist group during Genoa 8 fracas. Jacopo Bonvicini actor to watch. *** |
| ORCHESTRA SEATS (Fauteuils d'Orchestre) (d. Danièle Thompson) Nicely edited, involving Parisian mult-character romantic comedy. *** 1/4 |
| ORDER, THE (d. Brian Helgeland) Dark parable of black popes and sin eaters. Surprisingly not bad filmically, though ludicrously overwrought & cheesy. * |
| ORPHANAGE, THE (d. J.A. Bayona) Spain's foreign film submission ** 1/2 |
| OSAMA (d. Siddiq Barmak) Highly politicized, simplistic indictment of Taliban as anti-women to extreme. Involving story of girl masquerading as boy. ** 1/4 |
| OSS 117: NEST OF SPIES (d. Michel Hazanavicius) * 1/4 |
| OSSESSIONE (d. Luchino Visconti)V. Fine, neo-realist B&W noir based on Postman Always Rings Twice. Massimo Girotti is revelatory. *** 1/4 |
| OT: OUR TOWN (V) (d. Scott Hamilton Kennedy) Docu feature about 1st high school play in Compton in 20 years. *** 1/4 |
| OTHER BANK, THE (d. George Ovashvili) *** 1/2 |
| OTHER BOLEYN GIRL, THE (d. Justin Chadwick) Bad history, great jewelry. ** 1/4 |
| OTHER END OF THE LINE, THE (d. James Dodson) Every romantic cliché in the book; but Jesse Metcalfe isn't half bad. ** |
| OTHER MAN, THE (d. Richard Eyre) *** |
| OTHER SIDE OF HEAVEN, THE (d. Mitch Davis)V. *** |
| OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET, THE (d. Marcos Bernstein) Fine film romance about an elderly lady who gets involved in witnessing a possible crime. *** 1/4 |
| OTHER SIDE, THE (Al Otro Lado) (d. Gustavo Loza) ** 1/2 |
| OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST (d. Miguel Gomes; Portugal) W/O |
| OUR LAND (La Terra) (d. Sergio Rubini) *** 1/4 |
| OUR OWN (d. Dmitry Meskhiyev) Interesting, involving variant on the Russian WWII film, about escaped soldiers behind German lines. *** |
| OUT (d. Hideyuki Hirayama) Japan AFF. Black comedy reminiscent of Weekend at Bernie's only emontionally resonant. *** |
| OUT AT THE WEDDING (d. Lee Friedlander) * |
| OUT OF ORDER (Pilot d. Wayne Powers) V. This works as a standalone feature. Realistic family drama of a pair of screenwriters. Outstanding acting. *** |
| OUT OF TIME (d. Carl Franklin) A policier/sting film with more plot holes than a pound of swiss cheese. Diverting at times, but predictable. * 3/4 |
| OUT OF TIME (d. Harald Friedl) ** 3/4 |
| OUTBREAK (d. Wolfgang Peterson) V. Catching up (yes, just got TiVo, which explains the videos). Viral thriller. Good suspense, lousy science. ** 1/2 |
| OUTING RILEY (d. Pete Jones) *** |
| OUTRAGE AT GLEN RIDGE (d. Guy Ferland)V. Earnest, effective TV message movie with outstanding Heather Matarazzo as retarded girl raped by footall team. ** 3/4 |
| OUTSOURCED (d. John Jeffcoat) ** |
| OVERBROOK BROTHERS (d. John Bryant) *** |
| OVERLORD (d. Stuart Cooper) 1975 B&W docudrama about a Brit soldier preparing and participating in D-Day. No Private Ryan, sort of blah. ** 1/4 |
| OVERNIGHT (U.S. doc. d.Mark Brian Smith) Excellent documentary about a megalomanic filmmaker/rock singer who tangles with Harvey Weinstein. *** 1/2 |
| OVERTURE, THE (d. I Vichailak) Well made, if overwrought, Thai film about a traditional musician's life from child prodigy to regime threatening elder master. ** 3/4 |
| OWNING MAHOWNY (d. Richard Kwietniowski) Hoffman is great as banker-gambler. The film struck close to home to this gambling addict. Good job. *** |