W - ALL FILMS 2003 - 6/2009

W. (d. Oliver Stone) Well made, if creepy biopic. Drags in the 2nd act. Brolin is fine; but I'd rather forget that Bush ever existed if I could. ** 3/4

WAITRESS (d. Adrienne Shelly) Pleasant, well acted & directed romantic dramedy. Fillion & Russell have true chemistry. ***

WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY (d. Jake Kasdan) Silly fun, but quite creative, funny pseudo biopic. ***

WALK INTO THE SEA, A: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY (d. Esther B. Robinson) ***

WALK ON WATER (d. Eytan Fox) A truly exceptional film from Israel about a Mossad assassin. Great script and fine job all around. *** 3/4

WALK THE LINE (d. James Margold) ** 3/4

WALK THE TALK (d. Matthew Allen) ** 3/4

WALK TO REMEMBER, A (d. Adam Shankman) V. X-tian teenage version of Love Story. Shane West & Mandy Moore quite good; I ate melodrama up. ***

WALKER, THE (d. Paul Schrader) Stylish, fine perfs by Harrelson and Bleibtreu & several aged actresses; but eliptical, senseless plot. **

WALKING & TALKING (d. Nicole Holofcener 1996) (V) Winning yupster girl comedy with Keener & Heche. Better than Lovely & Amazing *** 1/4

WALKING ON WATER (d. Tony Ayres)+ I forgot I'd already seen this film. Fine! It's a wonderfully observant, beautifully written & drama. *** 1/2

WALL*E (d. Andrew Stanton) Technically fine, complex 3-D animation. But for me lacked entertainment value. ** 3/4

WALLACE & GROMMET: CURSE OF THE WERE RABBIT (d. Nick Park) V. ***

WALT & EL GRUPO (d. Theodore Thomas) ** 1/2

WALTZ WITH BASHIR (d. Ari Folman; Israel) *** 1/2

WANDERING SHADOWS (d. Ciro Guerra) Unconventional buddy flick amidst the squalor of Bagota, Columbia. B&W looked digitized. ** 3/4

WANTED (d. Timur Bekmambetov) + A kinetic thriller even better 2nd time around. Ridiculous plot; but amazing acting & f/x plus a great cast. *** 1/2

WANTED (d. Timur Bekmambetov) Totally amazing kick ass film, MATRIX². McAvoy & Bekmambetov fulfill their destinies. *** 3/4

WAR DANCE (d. Sean & Andrea Nix Fine) Moving, if somewhat contrived docu of Ugandan children in camp. ***

WAR GAMES (d. Dariusz Jablonski) Polish docu about the tragic life of cold war Pole who spied for U.S. Quite creative filmmaking, fascinating but scattered. ***

WAR OF THE WORLDS (d. Steven Spielberg) Until the mushy, unlikely ending, one of the great scary thriller SF films ever. Remarkable f/x. *** 1/4

WAR TAPES, THE (d. Deborah Scranton) V. Iraq war from pov of 3 New Hampshire Nat. Guardsmen with cameras. Most real yet. *** 3/4

WAR THAT MADE AMERICA, THE (d. Loeterman & Strange) V. PBS docudrama of the French & Indian War with fine recreations. ***

WAR ZONE, THE (d. Tim Roth) V. Miserabilist film about a troubled family in Devon. Superb acting, though tough to take. ***

WAR (Russia d. Aleksei Balabanov) Drama of rescue and revenge in Russo-Chechan war. A testosterone drenched delight. ***

WARDEN OF THE DEAD (Pazachyt na myrtvite) (d. Ilian Simeonov; Bulgaria) **

WARLORDS (d. Peter Chen, Wai Man Yip) *** 1/4

WARM SPRINGS (d. Joseph Sergeant) Emotionally satisfying well acted HBO tv movie about Roosevelt's early years of polio recouperation. ***

WARMING UP YESTERDAY'S LUNCH (d. Kostadin Bonev) Bulgaria AFF. Old lady's memoire of 60 yrs. of Balkan politics. **

WARRIOR (d. Asif Kapadia) Slow, meditative, almost silent period piece about a warrior in Kashmir who wants to quit killing. ** 3/4

WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH (d. He Ping) Gorgeous and gripping, if somewhat confusing, wide screen Chinese epic historical battle film. ***

WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH (d. He Ping)+ I had forgotten I'd seen it before...not worth another view, though visually it's a treat. ** 3/4

WARSAW (d. Dariusz Gajewski) Slightly amusing story of several assorted characters wandering around Warsaw & sort of connecting one snowy day. ** 1/2

WASSUP ROCKERS (d. Larry Clark) Unlikely story; but Clark's latest "it boy", Jonathan Valasquez, is worth it. Good bad film. ** 1/2

WATCHMEN (d. Zack Snyder) Fabulous f/x and a script to match. Brilliantly evocative '80s depiction and superhero deconstruction just thrilled. *** 3/4

WATER (d. Deepa Mehta) Gorgeous wide screen intimate epic of plight of a 7 yr. old widow & 34 mil other Indian widows. *** 1/2

WATER LILIES (d. Céline Sciamma) **

WATERCOLORS (d. David Oliveras) Touching, beautiful, evocative drama of gay teenage love. One of the best ever. *** 1/2

WATERLOO (d. Sergei Bondarchuk) 1970 epic with some incredibly great battle footage & Steiger's wonderful portrayal of Napoleon. *** 1/4

WATERMARKS (d. Yaron Zilberman) V. Interesting docu about a Vienna Jewish swimming club in the '30s & the far-flung survivors' reunion in today's Vienna. ***

WATER'S EDGE (d. Harvey Kahn) Thriller melodrama about corrupt rural town. Laughably bad straight to video. 1/2*

WATTSTAX: 2003 SPECIAL EDITION (d. Mel Stuart) Newly remixed print of '71 rockumentary...too little music, boring in parts. Rufus rocked. **

WAVE, THE (Die Welle) (d. Dennis Gansel) *** 1/2

WAY I SEE THINGS, THE (d. Brian Pera) New Agey, pretentious, arty gay film of about recovering from depression. ** 1/4

WAY I SPENT THE END OF THE WORLD, THE (d. Catalin Mitulescu; Romania) ** 3/4

WAYWARD CLOUD, THE (d. Tsai Ming-liang) *** 1/2

WE ARE MARSHALL (d. McG) Story of real-life football team resurrected. Well directed and emotionally true. ***

WE ARE TOGETHER (THINA SIMUNYE) (d. Paul Taylor) Moving docu: So. African orphanage saved by singing. *** 1/4

WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (d. John Curran) Well acted but relentlessly downbeat story of 2 couples and their mutual adulteries. ***

WE GO WAY BACK (d. Lynn Shelton) * 1/2

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC (d. Ondi Timoner) *** 1/2

WE SHALL OVERCOME (d. Niels Arden Oplev) *** 1/2

WEATHER MAN, THE (d. Gore Verbinski) ** 3/4

WEATHER UNDERGROUND, THE (d. Sam Green) Documentary about '70s American terrorist group. Good footage & well written. *** 1/4

WEDDING CHEST, THE (d. Nurbek Egen; Kyrgyzstan) ***

WEDDING CRASHERS, THE (d. David Dobkin) ** 3/4

WEDDING SONG, THE (Le Chant des Mariées) (d. Karen Albou) ** 1/4

WEDDING WARS (d. Jim Fall) V. Very well done issue tv flick (gay marriage) with a game perf. by John Stamos. ***

WEIRDSVILLE (d. Allan Moyle) *

WELCOME (d. Philippe Lioret) *** 3/4

WELCOME HOME (Bienvenido A Casa) (d. David Trueba) *** 1/4

WELCOME TO DONGMAKGOL (d. Park Kwang-hyun; Republic of Korea) ** 3/4

WELCOME TO MOOSEWOOD (d. Dan Petrie) Silly, utterly predictable Hollywood fare. Hackman good, as always; but Ray Romano should stict to TV. * 3/4

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF CH'TIS (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis) (d. Dany Boone) ** 1/2

WELL, THE (d. Kristian Petri) Extremely well written documentary tone poem about Orson Welles' relationship to Spain. *** 3/4

WELLNESS (d. Jake Mahaffy) ** 1/2

WELTS, THE (d. Magdalena Piekorz) Polish AFF. Dour, involving story of a boy whose path to manhood was fixed by his physically abusing, but well-meaning, father. *** 1/4

WENDY AND LUCY (d. Kelly Reichardt) Quietly effective character study which mirrors bad economic times. Michelle Williams very fine here. *** 1/4

WERE THE WORLD MINE (d. Tom Gustafson) Good try at a gay Midsummernight's Dream prep school fantasy. But no cigar. **

WESTENDER (U.S. d. Bruce Morse) Overblown, tacky, unironic mideval quest film. * 3/4

WHALE RIDER (New Zealand/Germany d. Niki Caro) Wide screen crowd pleaser about dying Maori traditions & the little girl who changed things. ***

WHAT A WONDERFUL PLACE (d. Eyal Halfon) **

WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU (d. Brian Goodman) ***

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LOLA (Lo que se de Lola) (d. Javier Rebollo) W/O

WHAT IF...? (Notre univers impitoyable) (d. Léa Fazer) ** 1/4

WHAT JUST HAPPENED (d. Barry Levinson) Funny, truthful look at Hollywood from pov of a fading power-broker producer (DeNiro's best role in years.) *** 1/4

WHAT THE SUN HAS SEEN (d. Michal Rosa) 3 interwoven stories of impoverishment in modern day Poland. Long & just ok. ** 3/4

WHATEVER IT TAKES (d. David Ranyr)V. Horny teenage comedy variant on Cyrano. Trivial stuff; but Shane West and James Franco raise its level a tad. * 3/4

WHATEVER WORKS (d. Woody Allen) Pure comedy, sunny & funny throwback to earlier Allen works. Evan Rachel Wood & Larry David perfect. ***

WHEN A MAN COMES HOME (d. Thomas Vinterberg) ** 3/4

WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER (d. Anand Tucker) *** 1/4

WHEN MARYAM SPOKE OUT (d. Assad Fouladkar) Lebanon AFF. Travails of barren wife. ***

WHEN WILL I BE LOVED (d. James Tobak) V. ** 3/4

WHERE THE TRUTH LIES (d. Atom Egoyan) ***

WHIRLWIND (d. Richard LeMay) Multi-character NY gay friends story, mostly poorly acted and only intermittently involving. **

WHISKY (d. Rebella & Stoll) Observent, touching slice-of-life film about two competitive brothers & their pretenses. ***

WHISKY ROMEO ZULU (d. Enrique Piñeyro) Fascinating aircrash drama based on fact. The whistleblower pilot (also acted & directed) is amazing. *** 1/4

WHITE COUNTESS, THE (d. James Ivory) *** 1/4

WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN (d. Steven Okazaki) Comprehensive, clinical docu about Hiroshima & Nakasaki. ***

WHITE NIGHT WEDDING (Brúdguminn) (d. Baltasar Kormákur) ** 3/4

WHITE PALM (d. Szabolcs Hajdu; Hungary) + *** 1/4

WHITE PALMS (d. Szabolcs Hajdu) ***

WHITE SILK DRESS, THE (d. Huynh Luu; Vietnam) **

WHO IS HARRY NILSSON (d. John Scheinfeld) *** 1/4

WHO KILLED BAMBI (d. Gilles Marchand) Creepy, atmospheric French thriller about a craftily crazy surgeon and an intern nurse. ***

WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR (d. Chris Paine) *** 3/4

WHO LOVES THE SUN (d. Matt Bissonnette) *** 1/2

WHOLE NEW THING(d. Amnon Buchbinder) *** 1/4

WHOLE TRUTH, THE (d. Coleen Patrick) 0*

WHORE & THE WHALE, THE (d. Luis Puenzo) V. Gorgeous Patagonian photography, naked women & sexy Leo Sbaraglia. *** 1/4

WICKER MAN, THE (d. Neil La Bute) V. Hokey, cult-as-bee-colony metaphor film. Great northwest island homes! **

WICKER PARK (d. Paul McGuigan) And Now My Love for Gen-Y. Loopy structure and overall good acting and direction. Absurd; but it kept getting better as it went along. ***

WILBY WONDERFUL (d. Daniel MacIvor) Slice of life film on the Canadian island of Wilby. Pleasant trifle with nifty perfs from Paul Gross & Sandra Oh. ** 3/4

WILD DOGS, THE (Canade d. Thom Fitzgerald) Drama about a pornographer in Rumania to find women & instead finds wild dogs & Gypsy slaves. ***

WILD FIELD (d. Mikhail Kalatozishvili) *** 3/4

WILD SIDE (d. Sébastien Lifshitz) Affecting drama about an unconventional three-way relationship between 2 guys and a pre-op transexual ***

WILD THORNBERRYS MOVIE, THE (d. McGrath and Malkasian) Nickelodian cartoon. * 1/2

WILD TIGERS I HAVE KNOWN (d. Cam Archer) ** 1/4

WILLIAM KUNSTLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE (d. Sarah Kunstler & Emily Kunstler) ***

WIMBLEDON (d. Richard Loncraine) Genuine chemistry between Bettany and Dunst makes for a good romance; but the tennis isn't very realistic. ***

WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON (d. Robert Lukatik) Fun, if predictable, romantic comedy which brings stardom to Topher Grace. ** 3/4

WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, THE (d. Ken Loach) *** 1/2

WINDOW, THE (d. Ted Tetzlaff) *** 1/4

WINDS OF SEPTEMBER (Jiu Jiang Feng) (d. Tom Shu-Yu Lin) **

WINE AND KISSES (Come le Formiche) (d. Ilaria Borrelli) * 1/2

WINGED MIGRATION (d. Jacques Cluzaud) (V) Docu feature on birds. Visual tour de force; but poorly constructed. ** 3/4

WINNING SEASON, THE (d. John Kent Harrison) V. Sappy nostalgia baseball flick about a 1985 boy thrown back to 1909 to relate to Honus Wagner. * 3/4

WINTER SOLSTICE (d. Josh Sternfeld) Quintessential Sundance indie film, quiet, revelatory, fine acting (Mark Webber & Aaron Stanford rule!) *** 1/4

WINTER SOLSTICE (d. Josh Sternfeld) V.+ Quintessential Sundance indie film, quiet, revelatory, fine acting (Webber & Stanford rule!) *** 1/4

WINTERLAND (d. Hisham Zaman) ** 3/4

WIRE, THE - season 4 (d. various) V. The best season of the best series on TV. How the world really works. ****

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MYSELF (Aide-toi, et le Ciel t'aidera) (François Dupeyron) *** 1/4

WITH YOUR PERMISSION (Til Doden Os Skiller) (d. Paprika Steen) ** 1/2

WITNESSES (d. Vinko Bresan) Croatia's Academy sub: Intimate, complex, big-screen enigma/horrors of war drama. Slow accretion of detail adds up. ***

WITNESSES, THE (d. André Téchiné) *** 1/2

WOLFSBURG (d. Christian Petzold) Heavy drama - a weak man who makes a fatal mistake & seeks redemption. Good acting and script; but a downer. ***

WOMAN IN BERLIN, A (Anonyma - Eine Frau in Berlin) (d. Max Färberböck) ***

WOMAN'S WAY, A (Strella) (d. Panos H. Koutras) *** 1/2

WOMEN, THE (d. George Cukor)V. ***

WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT, A (d. Arsen Anton Ostojic) Gorgeous, noir B&W film about a two hour period from 3 different points of view. *** 1/4

WONDERFUL WORLD (d. Joshua Goldin) ** 1/4

WONDERLAND (d. James Cox) Bravura filmmaking in aid of tawdry true story. Kilmer & especially Josh Logan are fine. Effectively stomach-turning. ***

WONDROUS OBLIVION (d. Paul Morrison) Heartwarming English film about a post-War Jewish immigrant family whose son loves cricket. ***

WOODSMAN, THE (d. Nicole Kassell) Excellent, if dour drama about a man fighting his pederast proclivity with a great perf by Kevin Bacon. *** 1/4

WORD OF HONOR (d. Robert Markowitz) A favorite novel makes pretty fair transition to tv thanks to fine acting, albeit too compressed a script. ** 3/4

WORDPLAY (d. Patrick Creadon) *** 3/4

WORK HARD PLAY HARD (Violence des échanges en milieu tempéré) (d. Jean-Marc Moutou) V. Jérémie Renier fine! ***

WORLD TRADE CENTER (d. Oliver Stone) Seamless f/x, affecting, surprisingly powerful. *** 1/4

WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES, A (d. Xiaogang Feng) Clever variant on martial arts film about thieves on a train going after an innocent patsy. ***

WORLDS APART (To verdener) (d. Niels Arden Oplev; Denmark) ***

WORLD'S FASTEST INDIAN, THE (d. Roger Donaldson) V. Hopkins is fine, as usual. The film is pretty predictable. ** 3/4

WORLD'S GREATEST DAD (d. Bobcat Goldthwait) ** 1/4

WRECKING CREW, THE (d. Denny Tedesco) *** 1/4

WRESTLER, THE (d. Darren Aronofsky) Despite cringeworthy wrestling action, humanistic Aronofsky shines. Rourk is phenomenal, as are the women. *** 1/4

WRESTLING WITH ANGELS: PLAYWRITE TONY KUSHNER (d. Freida Lee Mock) *** 1/2

WRIST CUTTERS: A LOVE STORY (d. Goran Dukic) * 3/4

WRONG SIDE UP (Pribehy Obycejneho Silenstvi) (d. Petr Zelenka) **

WTC VIEW (d. Brian Sloan) Emotionally shattering, brilliantly written & acted (watch for Michael Urie) story of 9/11's effects on some gay NYers. *** 1/2