V  -  ALL FILMS  2003 - 6/2009

V FOR VENDETTA (d. James McTeigue) Involving rip-off of 1984. Some good effects; but Portman's English accent was terrible. ***

VACATION (d. Thomas Arslan) ** 3/4

VACATIONLAND (d. Todd Verow) Gay teens in Bangor, MN...el cheapo production, mediocre which is an improvement for Verow. **

VAGABOND (Hungary  d. Gyorgy Szomjas) Lousy photography & production design with virtually no story & incessant folk dancing which bored me.  *

VALENTIN (d. Alejandro Agresti) An extraordinarily sympathetic look at a crisis in the life of an 8 year old boy.  *** 1/2

VALENTÍN (d. Juan Luis Iborra) Boring, talky drama about a troup of male Shakespeare players undone when director falls for the new young actor.  **

VALET, THE (d. Francis Veber) French farce, better than director's recent stuff, at least I laughed.  ***

VALKYRIE (d. Bryan Singer)  Fine complex action flick with real tension despite knowing the plot.  ***

VANITY FAIR (d. Mira Nair) Much better than average Masterpiece Theater for large screen. Reese Witherspoon luminous; and the time flew by.  *** 1/4

VANTAGE POINT (d. Pete Travis) Script doesn't compute; but really exciting filmmaking wins the day. ***

VENTO DI TERRA (d. Vincenzio Marra) Quiet, slow, sad film about a young Napolese boy & his poor family ekeing out a proud existence.  ***

VENUS & FLEUR (d. Emmanuel Mouret) Female buddy flick French style...shy French girl meets vivante Russian girl & blossoms.  ** 3/4

VENUS  (d. Roger Michell) *** 1/4

VERA DRAKE (d. Mike Leigh) Superb, utterly right period drama about an ordinary abortionist.  Imelda Staunton perfect.  Mike Leigh's most assured film.  ****

VERONICA GUERIN (d. Joel Schumacher) I'm not a reflexive Schumacher hater; but this tiresome film was too earnest & obvious despite its "message". * 3/4

VERONIKA VOSS (d. W.R. Fassbinder) V. Like Sunset Blvd. story of former star: a morphine addict under spell of evil female doctor. Stunning B&W. ** 3/4

VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT, A (d. Jean-Pierre Jeunet) Remarkable film, over-the-top (of course), unabashedly in Jeunet's postmodern style. Superb filmmaking. *** 1/2

VERY SERIOUS PERSON, A (d. Charles Busch) ** 3/4

VERY YOUNG GIRLS (d. David Schisgall) Well meaning, ernest docu about 13-16 year old sexually exploited girls & an organization in N.Y. (GEMS) to help them.  ** 1/2

VICE (Tiski) (d. Valery Todorovsky) ***

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (d. Woody Allen) Talky, narration filled, often clever but (for me) uninvolving dramedy about relationships.  ** 3/4

VICTOIRE (d. Stéphanie Murat) Even with Silvie Testud as a serial killer, this silly black comedy is a waste of time.  * 1/4

VIDA MANCHA, LA (d. Enrique Urbizu) Nicely acted drama about two half-brothers involved with the same woman. Good chick flick.  *** 1/4

VIE D'ARTISTE, LA (d. Marc Fitoussi) *** 1/4

VIE DES MORTS, LA (d. Arnaud Desplechin) ***

VIE EN ROSE, LA (d. Olivier Dehan) *** 1/2

VIE PROMESSE, LA (d. Olivier Dahan) Isabelle Hupert once again is great, though the film, a lost souls road picture isn't.  ** 1/4

VIEW FROM THE TOP (d. Bruno Barreto) Fluffy & charmless comedy with almost no redeeming qualities except for a luminous Gwyneth Paltrow.  * 1/4

VILLAGE, THE (d. M. Night Shyamalan) Atmospheric thriller which got to me. Ron Howard's daughter is wonderfully charismatic.  ***

VIRGIN QUEEN, THE (d. Coky Giedroye) V.  ** 3/4

VISIONEERS (d. Jared Drake) 1/2*

VISITOR, THE (d. Tom McCarthy) Heartfelt, distressing film about another depressed prof. (cf. Smart People) ***

VITUS (d. Fredi M. Murer) + *** 1/2

VITUS (d. Fredi M. Murer; Switzerland) *** 3/4

VIVA CUBA (d. Juan Carlos Cremata) ** 1/4

VODKA LEMON (d. Hiner Saleem) A nicely shot but pointless dark comedy about a poor Armenian village and its benighted inhabitents.  ** 1/4

VOLVER (d. Pedro Almodóvar; Spain) ***

VOY A EXPLOTAR (I'm Going to Explode) (d. Gerardo Naranjo) ** 3/4