ALPHABETICAL LIST OF ALL FILMS FROM January, 2003 THROUGH July, 2009

[500] DAYS OF SUMMER (d. Marc Webb) *** 1/2
[UNTITLED]  (d. Jonathan Parker) ***
06/05 THE SIXTH OF MAY (d. Theo Van Gogh) ** 3/4
1:1 (d. Annette K. Olesen) ***
10 (d. Abbas Kiarostami) Ten vignettes of lady cab driver & her passengers (including her son).  Static camera, droning voices. I snoozed.  * 1/2
10 ITEMS OR LESS  (d. Brad Silberling) ** 1/2
10.5 (d. John Lafia) V. The most epically ridiculous, scientifically absurd, horribly written & acted mini-series in tv history.  But the f/x were pretty awesome.  *
100 MILE RULE (d. Brent Huff) Caper film about a salesman at a conference who is entrapped into an illicit affair.  *** 1/4
10th DISTRICT COURT (d. Raymond Depardon) Docu of the quotidien goings on in a local Parisian court. Illuminating...better than Judge Judy.  ***
11'9''01  (France doc. d. various)  11 short films by various directors based on 9/11.  Mostly a waste of celluloid.  ** 1/2
12 (d. Nikita Mikhalkov; Russia) ***
12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST  (d. Camelia Porumboiu) **
13 GOING ON 30 (d. Gary Winick) Another ridiculous kid in a grownup's body fantasy, though Mark Ruffalo is always worth watching.  * 1/2
13 TZAMETI (d. Géla Babluani) V. Fr./Georgian variation on Intacto. Suspenseful +Giorgi Babluani is a find! *** 1/4
1408 (d. Mikael Hafström) ** 3/4
17 AGAIN (d. Burr Steers) Absurd wish fullfilment fantasy revisiting hi-school with hints of incest.  Strangely enjoyable since Zac Efron pulls it off; ** 3/4
2 DAYS IN PARIS (d. Julie Delpy) ***
2 FAST 2 FURIOUS  (d. John Stockman)  Great action & sound; but the longest 65 minutes of  repetitive testosterone tweaking ever.  * 3/4
2 MINUTES LATER (d. Robert Gaston) * 1/2
2:37  (d. Murali K. Thalluri) *** 1/2
20 CENTIMETERS (d. Ramón Salazar) ***
20 FINGERS (d. Mania Akbari) Tight close-ups of a couple in motion, arguing shrilly, incessantly, boringly. Like recent Kiarostami, only feminist. * 3/4
20:30:40 (d. Sylvia Chang) Interwoven, soapy comedy about 3 varied aged women neighbors in modern Taipei.  Somewhat superficial and overly long.  * 3/4
2046  (d. Wong Kar-Wei) Ravishingly beautiful romantic film, Tony Leung beds several women and androids, and as usual I lost the narrative thread.  ***
21 (d. Robert Luketic) A slam dunk for me both in subject & Jim Sturgess; but so logically flawed it's a shame. ** 3/4
21 GRAMS (d. Alejandro Gonzálas Iñárritu) Art film about love & dying with a choppy non-linear narrative & some great acting by all involved.  *** 1/2
23  (Germany  d.  Hans-Christian Schmid) True life story of youg German hackers who provide crucial passwords to the Russians.  ***
24TH DAY, THE (d. Tony Piccirillo) Excellent 2-person gay-themed drama with incredibly good acting by Scott Speedman & James Marsden.  *** 1/2
25 CENT PREVIEW (d. Cyrus Amini) **
25 DEGREES IN WINTER (d. Stéphane Vuillet) Fun comedy about a Spanish family who has an adventure helping a Ukranian illegal immigrée in Brussels. ** 3/4
27 CLUB, THE (d. Erica Dunton) ** 1/4
28 DAYS LATER (d. Danny Boyle) DV looked terrible, but story gripped and terrific visuals. Cillian Murphy, so great in Disco Pigs, is hot!  ***
28 WEEKS LATER (d. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo) Spare, horrifying, pessamistic...Michael Haneke would be proud.  ***
3 LITTLE PIGS, THE (Les 3 p'tits cochons) (d. Patrick Huard) Fr. Canadian sex comedy which somehow works.  ***
3 NEEDLES (d. Thom Fitzgerald) *** 1/4
3:30 TO YUMA (d. James Mangold) A perfect Western, until unmotivated ending spoiled it.  *** 1/4
300 (d. Zack Snyder) Spectacular design, coherent narrative, even good dialog well presented. Comic book gore, but wow.  *** 1/4
32A (d. Marian Quinn) ** 1/2
36 QUAI DES ORFÈVRES (d. Olivier Marchal) Auteuil & Depardieu in a French noir that could have been a Michael Mann film, dark & violent. ***
39 POUNDS OF LOVE (d. Dani Menkin)V.  ***
3-IRON (d. Kim Ki-Duk) Fascinating, but weird Korean thriller about a silent young guy who breaks into houses. Very filmic and mysterious. *** 1/4
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (d. Cristian Mungiu; Romania) *** 1/4
4  (d. Ilya Khzhanovsky) Allegorical Russian film, lots of symbolism of items of 4; but stupefyingly repetative, overlong and obscure.  *
4: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (d.  Tim May) **
40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, THE (d. Judd Apatow)  * 1/4
4400, THE (d. various)V. "Limited" tv sf series about returned alien abductees with strange powers. Compelling serial tv and I hope it continues.  ***
49 UP (d. Michael Apted) *** 1/2
50 FIRST DATES (d. Peter Segal) V. Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore bring out the best of each other. This film mines gold out of a weird concept. ***
54 (d. Mark Christopher) V. Finally caught this interesting film. Ryan Phillippe never hotter; Mike Myers never better.  ***
5x2 (d. François Ozon) Unsparing, fascinating film about a dissolving marriage told in 5 reverse vignettes.  Ozon's best in years.  *** 3/4
7 VIRGINS (d. Alberto Rodríguez) *** 1/4
7 YEARS  (d. Jean-Pascal Hattu) *** 1/4
800 BULLETS (d. Alex de la Iglesia)  Comedy moden day homage to spaghetti Westerns & their genre.  Funny, poignant.  *** 1/2
881 (d. Royston Tan; Singapore) W/O
9 SONGS (d. Michael Winterbottom) Video verité about a couple, she American, he English, into Sex, Antarctica, and Rock & Roll.  *** 1/4
9 SOULS (d.Toshiaki Toyota) A comedy about escaped convicts rampaging. I was bored and unamused and walked after an hour.  W/O
9  (d. Umit Unal)  Turkey AFF.  Docudrama. Videotaped interrogation of 6 suspects in murder rape.  ** 1/2
99 FRANCS (d. Jan Kounen) ***
9TH COMPANY (d. Fyodor Bondarchuk; Russia)  *** 1/2
A DIOS MOMO (d. Leonardo Ricagni) W/O
A SIDE, B SIDE, SEA SIDE (d. Wing-Chiu Chan) ** 1/4
À TOUT DE SUITE (d. Benoît Jacquot) V. Jacquot doing 60's Godard pretty darn well.  ***
AACHI & SSIPAK (d. Joe Bum-jin) 1/2*
ABBUFFATA L' (d. Mimmo Colopresti) ***
ABOUNA  (d. Mahamet Saleh Haroun) Chad AFF.  Two young brothers and their trials finding their father.  ** 
ABOUT ELLY (d. Asghar Farhadi) ***
ABSOLUT  (d. Romed Wyder) Fascinating, complex thriller about 2 computer hacker political terrorists & memory restoration. *** 1/4
ACCEPTED (d. Steve Pink) V. ** 1/2
ACNÉ (d. Federico Veiroj) ***
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (d. Julie Taymor) The '60s film I've been waiting 40 years for.  ****
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (d. Julie Taymore) + Even on 2nd view, this is my fave film of decade so far. ****
ADAM & STEVE (d. Craig Chester) Silly at times, but also funny & touching romantic comedy about 2 quirky, mature gay men.  ** 3/4
ADAM (d. Max Mayer) *** 1/4
ADAM'S APPLES (d. Anders Thomas Jensen) ***
ADDICTION (d. Minna Virtanen) ** 3/4
ADMIRAL, THE (d. Andrei Kravchuck) *** 1/2
ADORATION (d. Atom Egoyan) *** 1/2
ADORATION (d. Atom Egoyan) + Not quite as stunning the 2nd time around...but worse: 2nd time this week I went to a film I didn't realize I'd seen before! *** 1/4
ADVENTURELAND (d. Greg Mottola) Jesse Eisenberg, like Michael Cera is the ideal pomo hero.  Pleasant, if subdued, rom-com.  ** 3/4
ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE, THE  (d. Tod Williams) V. Coming of age/disfunctional family story nicely, if eliptically realized. Adrian Grenier! ** 3/4
AE FOND KISS (d. Ken Loach) Ill fated love of a young 2nd generation Paki for a white woman in today's Scotland. Subtle & affecting.  ***
AFGHAN STAR (d. Havana Marking) ***
AFTER INNOCENCE (d. Jessica Sanders; docu)  V. *** 1/4
AFTER MIDNIGHT (d. Davide Ferrario) Whimsical paean to film à la Amélie without the irony, a charmingly cockeyed love triangle.  *** 1/4
AFTER THE WEDDING (d. Susanne Bier; Denmark) *** 1/2
AFTERLIFE (d. Alison Peebles) Affecting drama: ambitious man forced to care for Down's Syndrome sister. Tear jerker, never goes over the top.  *** 1/4
AFTERMATH (d. Paprika Steen) Emotionally shattering, beautifully acted chamber drama about the affects of grief on a couple & the people around them.  *** 1/2
AFTERSCHOOL (d. Antonio Campos) *** 1/4
AFTERWARDS (d. Gilles Bourdos) ** 1/4
AGAINST THE CURRENT (d. Peter Callahan) *** 1/2
AGENT CODY BANKS 2 (d. Kevin Allen) Silly, but coherent kids film.  At least miles better than Inspector Gadget, which is saying something.  ** 1/4
AGRONOMIST, THE (d. Jonathan Demme) V. Doc. about Haitian radio radical good guy Jean Dominique. Interesting, but slow mid-section disappoints. ** 3/4
AGUA (d. Verónica Chen) ***
AHEAD OF TIME (d. Ágúst Güdmundsson; Iceland)  * 3/4
AHIMSA STOP TO RUN (d. Leo Kittikorn; Thailand) *
AIME TON PERE (d. Jacob Berger) Swiss AFF. High gloss road picture about Literature Nobelist and his estranged son.  *** 1/4
AIMÉE, L' (d. Arnaud Desplechin) ** 1/4
AIN'T SCARED (d. Audrey Estrougo) **
AIRES DIFICILES, LOS (d. Gerardo Herrera) ** 3/4
AKA (d. Duncan Roy)V.+ Complete re-edit from multi-screen festival version 2 years ago. Well done British lower class gay imposter story.  ** 3/4
AKEELAH AND THE BEE (d. Doug Acheson) Predictable, manipulative, moving film about an 11 yr. old black girl spelling genius. ** 1/2
AL FRANKEN: GOD SPOKE (d. Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus) *** 1/4
ALAMO, THE (d. John Lee Hancock) Mediocre script with too many levels of flashbacks; but otherwise fairly well made historical pic.  ** 1/2
ALATRISTE (d. Augustin Diaz Yanes) ** 3/4
ALBINO ALLEGATOR (d. Kevin Spacey)V. Hostage film in a bar with some good perfs, but pretty average script and direction. ** 1/2
ALEGRE MA NON TROPPO (d. Fernando Colomo) Slick, high gloss '94 Spanish sex farce on confused sexuality with clever plot and some fine acting.  ***
ALEX & EMMA  (d. Rob Reiner) Romantic comedy. A novelist & a steno who are writing and acting out a novel. A real turkey, both novel and script.  *
ALEXANDER (d. Oliver Stone) Epic with a confusingly constructed script but some great battle scenes. Jolie's accent inexplicable; but Farrell is pretty good.  ** 3/4
ALEXANDRA (d. Alexander Sokurov) ***
ALFIE (d. Charles Shyer) Jude Law is an attractive star playing a cad in this somewhat boring, mediocre comedy. Shyer is a hack director; but his casting works.  ** 1/4
ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (d. W.R. Fassbinder) V. Indictment of conformest, xenophobic German character; old woman marries nice young Moroccan.  ***
ALICE (d. Marco Martins; Portugal) ** 3/4
ALICE UPSIDE DOWN (d. Sandy Tung) ** 3/4
ALIVE (Zhivoy) (d. Alexander Veledinsky) ** 3/4
ALL HAT (d. Leonard Farlinger) ** 3/4
ALL IN (d. Nick Vallelonga) V. I usually like poker movies; but this barely watchable drama was terrible.  *
ALL OR NOTHING (d. Mike Leigh)V. Finally caught Leigh's miserabilist version of  Life is Sour. As usual, fine filmmaking; but depressing.  ***
ALL OVER THE GUY (d. Julie Davis)+ V. One of the better gay films...bittersweet romantic comedy which has the ring of truth and originality.  *** 1/4
ALL THE KING'S MEN (d. Steven Zaillian) Why was this film critically savaged? Maybe a little over-ripe; but fantastic drama. *** 1/2
ALL THE REAL GIRLS (d. David Gordon Green) Appalachian love story; poetry of the ordinary. Schneider & Deschanel are great.  *** 1/2
ALL WILL BE WELL (Wszystko Bedzie Dobrze) (d. Tomasz Wiszniewski) *** 1/2
ALLEGRO (d. Christoffer Boe) **
ALMOST ADULT (d. Yousaf Ali Khan) ** 1/2
ALMOST BROTHERS (d. Lúcia Murat) Confusingly structured Brazilian story mixing City of God with Carandiru and inferior to both. **
ALMOST PEACEFUL (d. Michael Deville) Post WWII Jews trying to return to normal life in Paris dressmaking atelier.  Gentle, pastoral, slow.  ** 3/4
ALONE (d. Thomas Durschschlag) 2nd film in a row about a wounded girl: this one a German who cuts herself from psychotic low self esteem.  ** 3/4
ALONE IN FOUR WALLS (Allein in vier wanden) (d. Alexandra Westmeier) *** 1/4
ALONG CAME POLLY (d. John Hamburg) Big stars, but a terribly tasteless script...even Philip Hoffman overdid his slob schtick.  * 1/2
ALONG THE RIDGE (d. Kim Rossi Stuart) *** 1/2
ALPHA DOG (d. Nick Cassavetes) Better than expected. Timberlake & especially a game Ben Foster outstanding.  ***
ALZHEIMER CASE, THE (d. Erik Van Looy) Polished thriller about a French mafia assassin whose Alzheimers is affecting his contract hit in Antwerp.  ***
AMATEURS, THE (d. Michael Traegar) A silly comedy with a fine cast, mostly wasted.  * 3/4
AMAZING GRACE (d. Michael Apted) Earnest, but sort of boring film with great perf by Ioan Gruffuid.  ** 3/4
AMAZING MRS. PRITCHARD, THE (d. var.) V. Involving, realistic British political what-if fantasy miniseries.  ***
AMEN (d. Costa-Gavras) Shattering Holocaust drama from pov of conscientious SS Lt. and an Italian priest with the ear of the pope.  *** 1/2
AMERICAN COUSINS (d. Don Coutts) The mob (Ukraine and New Jersey versions) come to Glasgow.  **
AMERICAN FORK (d. Chris Bowman) **
AMERICAN GANGSTER (d. Ridley Scott) A classic gangster flick, reminiscent of Heat.   *** 1/2
AMERICAN HAUNTING, AN (d. Courtney Solomon)  * 3/4
AMERICAN JOBS (d. Greg Spotts) V. Informative, reasoned docu about the effect of NAFTA etc. on the American worker. Good polemics and filmmaking.  ***
AMERICAN PRIMITIVE (d. Gwen Wynne) ** 1/2
AMERICAN RULING CLASS, THE (d. John Kirby)V. *** 1/2
AMERICAN SHOPPER (d. Tamas Bojtor & Sybil Dessau) *** 3/4
AMERICAN SON (d. Neil Abramson) *** 1/2
AMERICAN SPLENDOR  (US  d. Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini) Clever biopic/documentary about Harvey Pekar, comix writer.  *** 3/4
AMERICAN TEEN (d. Nanette Burstein) *** 1/4
AMERICAN VIOLET (d. Tim Disney) Prdictable "based on true" story of ACLU victory over Texas racial injustices.  Good intentions & acting; but so so. ** 3/4
AMERICAN VISA (d. Juan Carlos Valdivia; Bolivia) ** 3/4
AMERICAN WEDDING (d. Jesse Dylan) V. A new scatological nadir for this series; but I have to admit that I laughed at some situations despite myself.  * 1/4
AMERICANESE (d. Eric Byler) ** 3/4
AMERICANO (d. Kevin Nolan) Contrived travelog with little plot (young Americans in Spain finding themselves) and some poor acting.  * 1/2
AMNESIA - THE JAMES BRIGHTON ENIGMA (d. Denis Langlois) Dusan Dukic shines, based on true story.  ** 3/4
AMNESIA (d. Nicholas Laughland) V. BBC mystery-thriller about an amnesiac cop on the trail of a possible wife murderer. Nice script, but too pat.  ** 3/4
AMREEKA (d. Cherien Dabis) *** 1/2
AN ALMOST ORDINARY STORY  (d. Milos Petricic) Romantic comedy about a couple who may or may not be fated to marry.  ** 3/4
AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY  (d. Éva Gárdos) V. Maladjustment of child of Hungarian emigres. Well acted, subtle, true to '50s & a little stolid.  ** 3/4
ANARCHIST'S WIFE, THE (d. Marie Noelle, Peter Sehr) ***
ANATOMY OF HELL  (d. Catherine Breillat) Opaque narrative about a girl who hires a "gay" man to ravage her. Squickily sexually explicit. **
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY (d. Adam McKay) Totally unfunny (for me) silly, even stupid comedy take on '70s newscasters.  *
AND ALONG CAME TOURISTS (Am Ende Kommen Touristen) (d. Robert Thalheim) ***
AND NOW...LADIES AND GENTLEMEN  (France  d. Claude Lelouch)  Fine, lush melodrama about a jewel thief & a chanteuse each with memory blackouts.  ***
ANDER (d. Roberto Caston) Closeted Basque farmer tenderly falls for Peruvian immigrant. Slow, but well observed & touching.  *** 1/4
ANGELA (Italy  d. Roberta Torre) Slow, impressionistic drama based on the true story of a drug running family in Sicily-a torrid love triangle.  ** 3/4
ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENIUM APPROACHES (d. Mike Nichols) V. Superb adaptation, utterly absorbing, fabulous acting.  Great tv.  ****
ANGELS IN AMERICA:  PARESTROIKA V. Uneven...some parts superlative, some long political speeches I phased out. I'm in lust with Patrick Wilson. *** 1/2
ANGER MANAGEMENT (d. Peter Segal) Star power. Nicholson mugs & Sandler is quite fine. Embarrassingly bad script & even worse direction!  * 1/4
ANGST (d. Oskar Roehler) Drama about a failing marriage, he has sex problems, she's an hysteric.  Well acted, if over-the-top, hard to watch.  ** 1/2
ANIMATRIX  (US/JAPAN  d.  Various)  9 animated shorts from the Matrix universe.  Some better than others.  ** 3/4
ANNAPOLIS (d. Justin Lin) An average, predictable film with another charismatic perf by James Franco as a boxer-plebe. A guilty pleasure.  ** 1/4
ANNIVERSARY PARTY, THE (d. Leigh & Cumming) V. An almost perfect video film of today's Hollywood creative types & their screwed-up fabulous lives.  *** 1/2
ANONYMOUS (d. Todd Verow) Verow tries arty French porn (a la Porn Theater). He's not up to it as director or actor. Degrading, despicable disaster.  1/2*
ANOTHER GAY MOVIE (d. Todd Stephens) * 1/2
ANOTHER LIFE (d. Michele Placido) Stephano Accorsi's makes it worth sitting through this strange, eerie romantic film. ** 3/4
ANOTHER LIFE (Ovunque Sei) (d. Michele Placido) ***
ANSWER MAN, THE (d. John Hindman) ***
ANTARCTICA (d. Yair Hochner) Multi-character Israeli gay story of hot men & their sex lives. Well acted, somewhat involving.  ***
ANTARES (d. Götz Spielmann) Circularly constructed, sexually explicit slice of life drama about denizens of a Vienna housing development.  ***
ANTIBODIES (d. Christian Alvart) *** 1/2
ANYTHING ELSE (d. Woody Allen) A failure. Occasionally funny romantic comedy; but Allen's dialog seems false coming from 20-somethings.  ** 1/4
ANYTOWN (d. Dave Rodriguez) ** 3/4
APARTMENT, THE (d. Billy Wilder) + Holds up remarkably, still Lemmon's and MacLaine's triumph; but also a fine original script. *** 1/4
APOCALYPTO (d. Mel Gibson) Gotta hand it to him, an art film with stretches of boredom; but overall it worked as an action film.  ** 3/4
APPALOOSA (d. Ed Harris) I like westerns; but despite a fine cast this one seems derivative (e.g. 3:10 to Yuma) & lacking convincing motivations. ** 1/4
APRÈS VOUS (d. Pierre Salvadore) Annoying and contrived French farce.  * 3/4
ARCHANGEL (d.  Jon Jones) V. TV thriller from Robert Harris book with a dead fish Daniel Craig perf. pre-Bond, but quite authentic Soviet feeling.  ***
ARCHANGEL'S FEATHER, THE (d. Louis Manzo) Venezuela AFF.  Allegory, maybe about Archangel Gabriel vs. Big Brother..  ** 3/4
ARISTOCRATS, THE (d.  Paul Provenza) 100 great standup comedians do history's worst dirty in-joke.  90 minutes of constant wracking laughter.  *** 3/4
ARMIN (d. Ognjen Svilicic) ** 3/4
ARO TOLBUKHIN, EN LA MENTE DEL ASESINO (d. Agusti Villaronga etc.) Faux documentary about mass murderer in Guatemala.  **
AROUND THE BEND (d. Jordan Roberts) 4 generation of a family's secrets made into a road picture, similar to Last Orders, but rather pedestrian.  ** 1/4
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (d. Frank Coraci) A ridiculously overblown remake of a movie which didn't need to be remade.  * 1/4
ARSÈNE LUPIN (d. Jean-Paul Salomé) Big film, bigger mess. Anachronistic narrative, a lead actor without enough gravitas, but gorgeous production design. * 1/2
ART AND COPY (d. Doug Pray) ***
ART OF CRYING, THE (Kunsten at Graede I Kor) (d. Peter Fog) *** 1/4
ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING, THE (Kunsten A Tenke Negativt) (d. Bard Breien) ***
ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (d. Terry Zwigoff) Amusing black comedy satire. Broadbent is great; but this is no Ghost World. *** 
ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES (d. Luc Besson) Luc should stick to live action; predictable, badly acted & animated.  * 1/2
ARYAN COUPLE, THE (d. John Daly) Sometimes cheesy melodramas just work, as this well-cast, politically incorrect Holocaust story does for me. Judy Parfitt is wonderful.  ***
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN (d. Kay Pollack)+ Watched again; some of the plot manipulations more obvious a 2nd time; but still fine, affecting film. *** 1/4
AS IT IS IN HEAVEN  (d. Kay Pollak) Uplifting & emotionally satisfying drama about an artist who brings enlightenment to his backwater Swedish home town.  *** 1/2
ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES (d. Andrew Dominik) Great looking; but the narrator on downers annoyed. ** 3/4
ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON, THE (d. Niels Mueller) Sean Penn is remarkable as a '70s loser who becomes a plane hi-jacker.  ***
ASSASSINATION TANGO (d. Robert Duvall) Thriller on valium.  Duvall is a fine actor; but lousy writer/director from this film.  * 3/4
ASTRONAUT FARMER, THE (d. Michael Polish)V. Subdued Thornton in gentle mode; pretty, feel-good fantasy not typical of Polish Bros. ** 1/2
ASTRONAUTS (d. Santi Amodeo) Slight, wry romantic comedy about an ex-junky and a 16 yr girl.  Not as cute as it tries to be.  **
ASYLUM (d. David Mackenzie) ** 3/4
AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR (d. Gilbert & James)  Low key docu about former Texas death row chaplin, esp. his remorse over past injustices & the penalty itself. ** 3/4
AT WEST OF PLUTO (d. Myriam Verreault & Henry Bernadet) ***
ATONEMENT (d. Joe Wright) Wright's direction & McAvoy's acting make this a special tearjerker.   Oscar?  Maybe.  *** 1/2
AUGUST (d. Austin Chick) *** 1/4
AUGUST RUSH (d. Kirsten Sheridan) As delirious & affecting as Sheridan's Disco Pigs, but too many plot holes. ***
AURORA (d. Oxana Bayrak; Ukraine) ** 1/2
AUSTRALIA (d. Bazz Luhrmann) Reminiscent of Giant, a gigantic, yet intimate epic focusing on ranching & a country's ethos. Ambitions almost fulfilled.  ***
AUTISM: THE MUSICAL (d. Tricia Regan) Moving, heart-rending docu...nice editing & photog.  *** 3/4
AUTUMN BALL (d. Veiko Ounpuu ) * 1/2
AUTUMN SPRING  (d. Vladimir Michátek) Czech comedy/drama about an old couple.  Academy bait...so why did Czechoslavakia nominate another film?  ***
AVELLANEDA'S MOON (d. Juan José Campanella) Long, high-gloss social comedy about an Argentine social club & its member's struggles to survive. ** 1/2
AVENUE MONTAIGNE (Fauteuils d'orchestra)  (d. Daniele Thompson; France) + *** 1/2
AVIATOR, THE (d. Martin Scorsese) Powerful biopic, visually splendid with great perfs by Di Caprio and Blanchett. Too sprawling, but it worked magic for me.  *** 1/2
AWAY FROM HER (d. Sarah Polley) Julie Christie is aging gorgeously. And her Alzheimer's is totally convincing.  *** 1/2
AWAY WE GO (d. Sam Mendes) Wildly variable road flick, social satire. John Krasinski is becoming a major star. ** 3/4
BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, THE (d. Uli Edel; Germany) *** 1/4
BABEL (d. Alejandro González Iñárritu) Circular script like Before the Rain. Fabulous direction. Gut wrenching tension. Great film. *** 1/2
BABY LOVE (d. Vincent Garenq) ***
BACK SOON (d. Rob Williams) ** 3/4
BACKSTAGE (d. Emmanuelle Bercot) ** 3/4
BAD BOYS II (d. Michael Bay) A new morally reprehensible low for the Hollywood mega-violent film.  Only Jordi Molla, a kick-ass baddy is worth it.  0*
BAD EDUCATION (d. Pedro Almodovar) Pedro's gayest film since Law of Desire. Silly noirish plot; but total fun with an extraordinary Gaël Bernal.  ***
BAD FAITH (Mauvaise foi) (d. Roschdy Zem) ***
BAD GUY (S. Korea d. Kim Ki-duk) Circular, confusing story: ruthless pimp subjugates a college girl & makes her into a cooperative prostitute.  ** 3/4
BAD SANTA  (d. Terry Zwigoff) Funny, profane, wonderfully perverse comedy about group of innately bad losers. Kid who could see no evil was great!  ***
BAD SPELLING (d. Jean-Jacques Zilbermann) Fun, homoerotic black comedy, a French boys school where students rebel led by the weird son of the headmasters. ***
BADLAND (d. Francesco Lucente) Except for the overamped score a fine film with a searing perf by Jamie Draven.  *** 1/4
BAGHDAD, TX (d. David H. Hickey) * 1/2
BAJARSE AL MORO (d. Fernando Colomo) A low-budget '88 comedy about Madrid druggies. Even a young Antonio Bandares couldn't elevate it.  **
BALL IN THE HOUSE (d. Tanya Wexler) V.  ***
BALLAST (d. Lance Hammer) ** 1/2
BALSEROS (d. Bosch and Doménech) V. Absorbing doc. which explores the lives of several Cuban raft people who eventually come to the U.S. over 9 years. *** 1/4
BANDE À PART (d. Jean-Luc Goddard) V.  A '60s version of the gang who couldn't shoot straight, a cockeyed noir which holds up well.  ***
BAND'S VISIT, THE (d. Eran Kolirin) ** 3/4
BANISHMENT (Izgnamie) (d. Andrey Zvyagintsev)   *** 1/4                        
BANK JOB, THE (d. Roger Donaldson) Surprisingly predictable, I've seen this heist film several times before. ** 1/4
BANLIEU 13 (d. Pierre Morel) Fast paced, superior martial arts action film set in a lawless 2010 Paris. Vivid, realistic characters.  *** 1/4
BANQUET, THE (d. Feng Xiaogang; Hong Kong) ** 1/4
BARBARIAN INVASIONS, THE (d. Denys Arcand) Art film about love and dying, literate script, excellent ensemble acting, enormously moving  *** 1/2
BARBARIAN INVASIONS, THE  (d. Denys Arcand) + Worth a 2nd viewing, just for the philosophy.  *** 3/4
BARS IN THE MEMORY (d. Manuel Palacios) Dry Spanish docu about the concentration camps and privations during the Franco years.  ** 1/2
BASAIN (d. Subash Prasad Gajural; Nepal)  W/O
BASED ON A TRUE STORY (d. Walter Stokman) Partially successful doc about the "real" story behind Dog Day Afternoon. ** 1/2
BATMAN BEGINNINGS (d. Christopher Nolan) Noisy comic entertainment with a narratively cohesive plot & great design.  ***
BATTLE FOR TERRA (d. Aristomenis Tsirbas) Excellent 3D animation plus superior SF script with subtle issues of loyalties & humanity.  *** 1/4
BATTLE IN SEATTLE (d. Stuart Townsend) ** 1/2
BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS (d. Potelle & Rankin) Indispensible companion to Proj Greenlight. Shia Lebeuf incredible, movie better than expected.  ** 3/4
BATTLE OF WITS (d. Jacob Cheung) ***
BE CALM AND COUNT TO SEVEN (d. Ramtin Lavafipour) ** 1/2
BE COOL (d. F. Gary Gray) Hipper than thou spoof of gangsta music biz and Hollywood. Enjoyed the settings (around the corner from my apartment).   ** 1/4
BE KIND REWIND (d. Michel Gondrey) Gondrey's silly creativity works here. Mos Def surprised me.  ***
BE LIKE OTHERS (d. Tanaz Eshaghian) *** 1/4
BE WITH ME (d. Eric Khoo; Singapore)  ** 3/4
BEAR CUB (d. Luis Miguel Albaladejo) An honest, moving, straightforward Spanish film about a gay man thrust into caring for his 9 yr old nephew.  ***
BEAST STALKER, THE (d. Dante Lam) ***
BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, THE  (d. Jacques Audiard) Frenetic drama based on Fingers with a magnetic perf by Romain Duris. ***
BEAUFORT (d. Joseph Cedar; Isreal)  *** 1/2
BEAUTIES AT WAR (La Guerre des miss) (d. Patrice Leconte) **
BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY, THE  (d. Hans Petter Moland) Involving, well acted adventure of a half-American Vietnamese boy's emigration to the US.  ***
BEAUTIFUL MEMORIES (Se souvenir des belles choses) (d. Zabou Breitman) *** 1/2
BEAUTIFUL OHIO  (d. Chad Lowe) ** 3/4
BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (Kraska V Nesnazich) (d. Jan Hrebejk) *** 1/4
BEAUTY REMAINS (d. Ann Hu) ** 1/2
BECOMING JANE (d. Julian Jarrold) ** 3/4
BEE SEASON (d. McGehee and Siegel) V. Involving, well acted family drama with not well defined spiritual mysteries.  ***
BEFORE FLYING BACK TO EARTH (d. Arunas Matelis; Lithuania) ***
BEFORE I FORGET (Avant que j'oublie) (d. Jacques Nolot) ** 3/4
BEFORE SUNSET (d.Richard Linklater) Talky sequel to one of my all-time fave films. Satisfying in context; but not as good a film.  ***
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD (d. Sidney Lumet) Tight thriller- 2 brothers and the "perfect" robbery.  *** 1/2
BEFORE THE RAINS (d. Santosh Sivan) ** 3/4
BEHIND THE RED DOOR (d. Matia Karrell) (V)  Showtime Aids drama.  Kyra and Kiefer are 2 of my least favorite actors.  * 1/2
BEING JULIA (d. Istvan Szabo) Overwrought, entertaining period melodrama about a monster actress in 1938 London. Benning's performance: Oscar bait tour de force. ***
BELIEVER, THE (d. Henry Bean) V.+ I appreciated the quality of the filmmaking more the 2nd time around. One hell of a script, well executed.  *** 1/2
BELLA (d. Alejandro Monteverde) **
BELLE PERSONNE, LA  (d. Chrisophe Honoré) *** 1/4
BELLE TOUJOURS (d. Manoel de Oliveira; Portugal) **
BEN X (d. Nic Balthazar; Belgium) *** 1/2
BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (d. Gurinder Chadha) Feel good Indian girl's soccer story set in Britain. Predictable script saved by fine direction.  ***
BENEATH HER WINDOW (d. Metod Pevec) Screwball Slovenian comedy about a 30ish woman's romantic entanglements whose evident charms escaped me.  ** 1/4
BENEDICT ARNOLD: QUESTION OF HONOR  (d. Mikael Salomon)  (V)  A&E historical movie.  Unwatchably bad.   WO
BEOWULF & GRENDEL(d. Sturla Gunnarsson) ** 1/4                       
BEREFT (d. Tim Daly, Clark Mathis) Overwrought drama about a young woman driven crazy with grief by the auto accident death of her husband. ** 1/2
BEREFT (d. Tim Daly, Clark Mathis)+ Oops! I forgot I'd seen this grief drama at SIFF and was unimpressed. Here the beauty of the images made up somewhat.   ** 3/4
BERGA:  SOLDIERS OF ANOTHER WAR (d. Charles Guggenheim) (V) docu. on valium about American WWII  POWs.  ** 1/4
BERNARD AND DORIS (d. Bob Balaban) V. Exquisitely acted (Finnes & Sarandon) but sorta boring biopic.  ** 3/4
BERTIE AND ELIZABETH (d. Giles Foster) Masterpiece Theater schlock.  Fine acting, good script. ** 3/4
BEST DAY OF MY LIFE (d. Cristina Comencini) Splendid and moving, complex Italian disfunctional family saga, 2 sisters and gay son & their lives and loves.  *** 1/4
BEST MAN, WORST FRIEND (d. Stefan Schwartz) V. Guilty pleasure romantic comedy; Stuart Townsend & Seth Green fine.  ** 3/4
BEST OF TIMES, THE (d. Chang Tso-Chi) Taiwan AFF.  Family drama, kitchen sink style.  *** 1/2
BEST OF YOUTH #1  (Marco Giordana) Part one of this sprawling family saga propulsively sets up the drama & characters.  ***
BEST OF YOUTH #2  (Marco Giordana) In part two the emotional rewards so carefully plotted are huge.  A totally satisfying 6 hour epic of  late 20th Century Italy. ****
BEST OF YOUTH, THE (d. Marco Giordano) V.+++ Still the most emotionally resonant film I've ever watched. ****
BEST OF YOUTH, THE 1 & 2 (d. Marco Tullio Giordana) Liked part 1 better than originally, and part 2 dragged a little.  Still, overall fabulous film.  ****
BET COLLECTOR, THE (d. Jeffrey Jeturian) **
BETRAYAL, THE (d. Philippe Faucon) ** 1/2
BETRAYAL, THE (Nerakhoon) (d. Kuras & Phrasavath) Docu of Laotian family uprooted to U.S. after "secret" war. Moving, but confusingly cut with overdone music. ** 1/2
BETTER LUCK TOMORROW (d. Justin Lin) Well directed, but confusing, Asian-American teenage gang film...only the actors looked too old.  ** 1/2
BETTER THINGS (d. Duane Hopkins) ** 1/2
BETWEEN LAND AND SKY (d. Guiseppe Feruto ) Italian political satire about media overkill.  ** 1/2
BETWEEN LOVE AND GOODBYE (d.  Casper Andreas) Gay relationship drama; mediocre direction & acting...but vital, sexy & powerfully realistic. ** 1/2
BEYOND HATRED (d. Olivier Meyrou)  ** 1/4
BEYOND OUR KEN (d. Pang Ho-Cheung) Frothy, insubstantial girl buddy and revenge (against common boyfriend) comedy from Hong Kong.  * 3/4
BEYOND THE SEA (d. Kevin Spacey) The most off the wall musical biopic since Delovely. Spacey makes a better lounge singer than director!  ** 1/4
BHAJI ON THE BEACH (d. Gurinder Chadha) V. Chadha handles ensembles well; but this Indian woman's lib story was clichéd and obvious.  **
B-HAPPY (d. Gonzalo Justiniano) Another periled latina teen girl film, this time a poor girl whose father is in prison. Simple, effective filmmaking.  ***
BICKFORD SHMECKLER'S COOL IDEAS (d. Scott Lew) ** 1/2
BIG BANG LOVE, JUVENILE A (d. Takashi Miike) ***
BIG DREAMS, LITTLE TOKYO  (d. David Boyle) ***
BIG EMPTY, THE  (d. Steve Anderson) Mixed genre.  Is it a noir? Alien abduction flick? Black comedy? An honorable failure at all three.  **
BIG FISH (d. Tim Burton) Story of fabulist (convincingly played by Ewan McGregor & Albert Finney). Burton's most appealing and "normal" film.  ***
BIG RIG (d. Doug Pray) ** 1/2
BILINGUAL LOVER, THE (El Amante Bilingue) (d. Vicente Aranda) **
BILL (d. Melisa Wallack, Bernie Goldmann) **
BIRTH (d. Jonathan Glazer) Heavy duty, eerie psychological drama. Nicole Kiddman fine here, script has a nicely satisfying ambiguity & interesting direction.  *** 1/4
BIRTHDAY, THE (d. Diane Kurys) *** 1/4
BLACK BALLOON, THE (d. Elissa Down) Australian family with autistic son from pov of younger brother. Well observed, tough, truthful. *** 1/4
BLACK BOOK (d. Paul Verhoeven; Netherlands) ***
BLACK DAHLIA, THE (d. Brian de Palma)  Fine cast, terrible script, fake noir. How can such a promising film go so wrong. **
BLACK DOG BARKING (d. Mehmet Bahadir Er & Maryna Gorbach) * 1/2
BLACK ICE  (d. Mikhail Brashinsky) Incoherent film about something or other.  Jittery camera and unengaging plot were too much to stick around.  W/O
BLACK IRISH (d. Brad Gann) *** 1/4
BLACK IRISH (d. Brad Gunn) + *** 1/2
BLACK ROBE (d. Bruce Beresford) V. Gut-wrenching '91 film with Lothar Bluteau playing a jesuit priest in New France pre-revolution.  ***
BLACK SNAKE MOAN (d. Craig Brewer)V. Ricci's perf is brave, Jackson is fine, Timberlake less so.  Film:  clichéd mishmash.  ** 3/4
BLACK SUN (d. Gary Tarn) V. Expressionistic docu about a man (writer & narrator) blinded in the '70s.  ***
BLACK WHITE + GRAY (d. James Crump) *** 1/4
BLACKMAIL BOY (Oxygono) (d. Papathanasiou & Rappas) Over-the-top melodrama about money corrupting a family with a beautiful bisexual scion. * 3/4
BLACKWATER LIGHTSHIP (d. John Erman) V. An Early Frost, updated...but still a little out of date. I'm too emotionally fragile for AIDS stories like this.  *** 1/2
BLADERUNNER (Final Cut) (d. Ridley Scott) I had forgotten how fabu the production design was! New ending:  eh!? *** 1/4
BLADES OF GLORY (d. Gordon & Speck)V. Heder is fine, Ferrell barely ok in this surprisingly funny comedy. Dumb but trenchant. ** 3/4
BLEAK HOUSE (d. various; w. Andrew Davis) Superb adaptation of complex Victorian novel. The Brits do it again. *** 1/2
BLESSED BY FIRE (d. Tristan Bauer) *** 3/4
BLESSED IS THE MATCH: The Life & Death of Hannah Senesh (d. Roberta Grossman) Enormously moving docu re: Hungarian/Palistinian WWII heroine. *** 3/4
BLESSING BELL, THE  (Japan  d. Sabu)  A formally beautiful, but boring, slow paced day in the life.  ***
BLIND (d.  Tamar van den Dop)  *** 1/4                   
BLIND LOVES (d. Juraj Lehotsky; Slovakia) *** 1/4
BLIND MOUNTAIN (d. Li Yang) ***
BLIND SUNFLOWERS, THE (Los girasoles ciegos)  (d. Joeé Luis Cuerda; Spain) ***
BLINDNESS (d. Fernando Meirelles) Unrealistic, but strong catastrophe film (like 28 Days Later) about mystery blindness illness & society throwing victims away. ** 1/2
BLINDSIGHT (d. Lucy Walker) V. Blind children overcoming peril, gorgeous mountain photography, uplift...admirable docu.  *** 1/2
BLISS (d. Abdullah Oguz)  *** 1/4
BLOOD AND BONES (d. Yoichi Sai) ** 1/2
BLOOD APPEARS (La Sangre Brota) (d. Pablo Fendik) ** 1/2
BLOOD BROTHERS (Tiantang Kou) (d. Alexi Tan) * 1/2
BLOOD DIAMOND (d. Edward Zwick) Despite overlength, this is a winner.  Prediction:  multiple Oscars.  *** 1/2
BLOOD OF THE LOSERS (Il sangue de vinti) (d. Michele Soavi) *** 1/2
BLOOD RAIN (d.  Kim Dae-seung, LeeWon-jae) ** 1/2
BLOOM (d. Sean Walsh) Earnest adaptation of the unadaptable Ulysses, using lots of voiceovers for interior monologue. Well made; but not my cuppa.  ** 1/2
BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS, THE (d. Aureas Solito) ** 1/4
BLOW DRY (d. Paddy Breathnach) V. Funny slice of life (e.g. Full Monty) British comedy about hair contest. Note Bill Nighy & Josh Hartnett as cockney.  ** 3/4
BLUE CAR (d. Karen Moncrieff) Viscerally disturbing story-troubled teenage girl and troubled broken family. Understated, with subtle acting.  *** 1/2
BLUE CHA CHA (d. Cheng Wen- tang) *** 1/4
BLUE MOON  (Austria   d. Andrea Maria Dusi)  Road picture about a man on a quest to re-find a woman he meets by chance.  ** 1/4
BLUE TOOTH VIRGIN, THE  (d. Russell Brown) + *** 1/2
BLUEBERRY (d. Jan Kounen ) A psychedelic westen which, though overlong and undiciplined, delivers the goods with fabulous f/x & a superb Vincent Cassell.  ***
BLUEBIRD (d. Mijke de Jong) Emotionally shattering, excellent drama about a 12 year old girl who is the brunt of bullies in her jr. high class.  *** 1/2
BLUES, THE  (d. various) PBS series edited down to 5 ahortened sequences about the blues music.  Some sequences worked, some didn't.  ** 3/4
BLUETOOTH VIRGIN, THE (d. Russell Brown) *** 1/2
BOATS OUT OF WATERMELON RINDS (d. Ahmet Uluçay) A Turkish Cinema Paradiso, terrible digital photography, but the 2 boys were charming.  ** 1/4
BOBBY (d. Emelio Estevez) ***
BODY OF LIES (d. Ridley Scott) Entertaining star driven CIA vs. terrorist contempo thriller.  Scott is a director in control of the medium.  *** 1/4
BODY OF WAR (d. Ellen Spiro & Phil Donahue) Another successful docu: Robert Byrd, such a hero.  *** 1/2
BODYSONG (d. Simon Pummell) V. Hypno-docu, sort of a Family of Man of found film clips to music (cf Koyaanisqatsi). Fascinating and a little boring.  ** 1/2
BOLT (d. Howard & Williams) OK if predictable script.  Good vocal acting.  But ultimately mediocre.  Lousy year for Academy animated features. ** 1/2
BOMB THE SYSTEM (d. Adam Lough) Mark Webber is outstanding in this arty, nicely made indy about radical grafitti artists in NYC.  ***
BOMBÓN, EL PERO (d. Carlos Sorin) Like director's Historias Minimas, a fun film without irony about a poor man who is given a show dog. ***
BON VOYAGE  (d. Jean-Paul Rappeneau) Big French WWII melodrama, hugely entertaining & wellmade throwback to old-fashioned classic French cinema. *** 1/4
BONJOUR M. SHLOMI (d. Shemi Zarhin) A superbly observed film about a 16 year old boy whose specialness has been hidden in his disfunctional family. *** 3/4
BOOK OF LOVE (d. Alan Brown) V. Younger man (Gregory Smith). Older married woman.  Clichés; but very nicely acted.  ** 3/4
BOOK OF REVELATION, THE (d. Ana Kokkinos) ***
BOOKIES (d. Mark Illsley)V. ** 3/4
BORAT (d. Larry Charles) Cohen is impressive in creating consistent character; funny in a wildly tasteless way.  ***
BORDER WAR: THE BATTLE OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION (d. Kevin Knoblock) V.  Docu looks great, too polemic. ** 3/4
BORED IN BRNO (d. Vladimir Moravek) An earthy Czech multi-character sex comedy which got better as it went along. Too bread for my tastes.  ** 1/4
BORN AND BRED (d. Pablo Trapero) ** 1/2
BORN IN 68 (d. Olivier Duscastel, Jacques Martineau) *** 1/2
BORN INTO BROTHELS (d. Kaufmann & Briski) Kids born in Calcutta brothels get a chance for a life through photography. Interesting & well edited. ***
BORN RICH (d. Jamie Johnson) V. Doc by millionaire heir about his wealthy contemporaries. Mostly talk; but inherently interesting & well made.  *** 1/4
BOSS OF IT ALL, THE (d. Lars von Trier) ***
BOSTA (d. Philippe Aractingi; Lebanon) * 1/2
BOTHERSOME MAN, THE (Den Brysomme Mannen) (d. Per Schreiner) *** 1/4
BOTTLE SHOCK (d. Randall Miller) Napa vintage 1976 & wine growing. Looks good; but terrible on the palate. Terrible script.  * 1/2
BOURNE SUPREMACY, THE (d. Paul Greengrass) Superior thriller, greatest auto chase scene since Ronin. Some plot holes; but editing pace hides them.  *** 1/4
BOURNE ULTIMATUM, THE (d. Paul Greengrass) *** 1/2
BOW, THE (d. Kim Ki-duk) ***
BOY (d. Aureaus Solito) ***
BOY A (d. John Crowley) *** 3/4
BOY A (d. John Crowley) *** 3/4
BOY CULTURE (d. Q. Allen Brocka) ** 3/4
BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS, THE (d. Mark Herman) Emotionally affecting, well acted (Farmiga and the two boys especially). Too pat.  ***
BOYFRIEND FOR MY WIFE, A (Un novio para mi mujer) (d. Juan Taratuto) ** 3/4
BOYNTON BEACH BEREAVEMENT CLUB (d. Susan Seidelman) ** 3/4           
BOYS (d. Stacy Cochran)V. A TiVo loser. Mysterious Winona Ryder ends up in a boys boarding school dorm tempting rebellious Lucas Haas. No chemistry.  * 1/2
BOYS FROM COUNTY CLARE (d. John Irvin) Predictable, clichéd Irish trifle about dueling traditional Irish bands.  * 3/4
BOYS OF BARAKA, THE (d. Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady; docu) V.  *** 3/4
BOYSTOWN (d. Juan Flahn) ** 3/4
BRASHER DOUBLOON, THE (d. John Brahm) 40's noir with George Montgomery playing Chandler's Philip Marlowl, stylish, great B&W photog. ***
BRAVE ONE, THE  (d. Neil Jordan) *** 1/4
BREACH (d. Billy Ray) Well acted (esp. Chris Cooper) true story of bringing down a spy. Also Ryan Phillippe's best work in ages. ***
BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (d. Neil Jordan)  ***
BREAKFAST WITH SCOT (d. Laurie Lynd) ** 3/4
BREAKING AND ENTERING (d. Anthony Minghella) I loved this film despite flaws, became emotionally involved with characters.  ***
BREAK-UP, THE (d. Peyton Reed) Fairly clever by-the-numbers romantic dramady.  No chemistry between leads. ** 1/2
BREATHLESS (d. Yang Ik-june) ** 1/4
BRICK (d. Rian Johnson) Overly complex, familiar noirish plot; but topflight young cast and zingy script really work.  ***
BRICK LANE (d. Sarah Gavron) ***
BRIDE AND PREJUDICE (d. Gurinder Chadha) Hollywood meets Bollywood, and I suspect becomes a surprising hit. It works after a fashion.  ***
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED (d. Julian Jarrold) Over-amped but curiously passionless & unnecessary redo of a definitive miniseries. ** 1/4
BRIDGE TO TARABITHIA  (d. Gabor Csupo) Xtian propaganda in a totally wonderful disguise. Moving, grounded fantasy. Hurrah!  *** 1/2  
BRIDGET JONES: EDGE OF REASON (d. Beeban Kidron) Dreadful film. Poor Renée Zellweger wasted all that weighty effort. Horrendous script, no romantic chemistry.  **
BRIGHT FUTURE (d. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) A straightforward (for this director) slacker story about disaffected youths in Japan.  ** 1/4
BRIGHT LEAVES (d. Ross McElwee) V. Personal docu about McElwee's family connection to tobacco. Slowly paced, but interesting & beautifully shot.  ***
BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS (d. Stephen Fry) Fast paced story of the mad upperclass in England just pre-WWII.  Gorgeous period stuff, well played.  ***
BRITZ (d. Peter Kominsky) V. Shattering, scary story of Pakistani/Brit brother & sister caught up in modern terrorism on opposite sides.  *** 1/2
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (d. Ang Lee)  *** 1/2
BROKEN (d. Alan White) ** 1/4
BROKEN ENGLISH (d. Zoe Cassavetes) *** 1/2
BROKEN FLOWERS (d. Jim Jarmusch) *** 1/2
BROKEN SKY (El Cielo Dividido) (d. Julián Hernández) Gorgeously photographed and scored gay art film of gestures.  *** 1/4
BROKEN WINGS  (d. Nir Bergman) Israel AFF.  Drama about family riven by grief after father's death.  *** 1/4
BRONSON (d. Nicolas Winding Refn) ***
BROTHER BEAR  (d. Blaise, Walker) Traditional Disney animation with overly simplistic amerind legend theme. Still, I was move. Good kid film.  ** 3/4
BROTHERS (d. Susanne Bier) Shattering drama about a good man who commits an act beyond redemption.  Incredible acting and fine direction.  *** 3/4
BROTHERS BLOOM, THE (d. Rian Johnson) Silly, slapsticky, anachronistic fantasy which wastes a good cast.  A strange comedown for the director of Brick.  * 1/4
BROTHERS GRIMM, THE (d. Terry Gilliam) * 3/4
BROTHERS OF THE HEAD (d. Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe) ***1/4
BRÜNO (d. Larry Charles) Über confrontationalist Cohen manages ütter tastelessness.  Funny in a transgressive way, but sort of a mess.  * 3/4
BRUNO (d. Shirley MacLaine) V.  Limp, soppy comedy - 8 year old spelling genius boy (phenom kid actor Alex Linz) who needs to compete in a dress. * 3/4
BUBBA HO-TEP (d. Don Coscarelli) Horror comedy in an old-folks home:  Elvis & JFK take on an Egyptian mummy.  Silly fun.  ** 3/4
BUBBLE, THE  (d. Eytan Fox) *** 1/4
BUCKET LIST, THE (d. Rob Reiner)V.  Only for old folks; but a great travelogue.  ** 3/4
BUDDENBROOKS (d. Heinrich Breloer) *** 1/4
BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME (d. Hana Makmalbaf) *** 1/4
BUDDY (d. Marten Tyldum) Young guy turns his & 2 eccentric roommates liver into a commercially successful video journal.  Touching, fun comedy.  ***
BUFFALO BOY (d. Minh Nguyen-Vo; Vietnam)  ***
BUFFALO SOLDIERS (US d. Gregor Jordan) Glossy, high-budget, somewhat over-the-top satire about army corruption in German occupation in '89.  *** 1/2
BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS (d. John Dullighan) V. I've never much been into Bukowski; but this compelling docu presents him well.  ** 3/4
BULGARIAN LOVERS (d. Eloy de la Iglesia) Tongue in cheek drama about a straight Bulgarian expat in Madrid taking advantage of a gay Spaniard. ** 1/4
BUM'S NAME, THE (Civico 0) (d. Citto Maselli) ***
BURN AFTER READING (d. Joel & Ethan Coen) Silly, but quite entertaining farce about CIA snafu involving a computer disk & some greedy Washingtonians.  ***
BURNING IN THE WIND  (d. Silvio Soldini)  Bleak but well acted story of East Euro life transported into France along with ill-fated love  ***.
BURNING PLAIN, THE (d. Guillermo Arriaga) *** 1/4
BURNT OUT (d. Fabienne Godet) ***
BUS 174 (d. José Padilha) V. Brazilian doc which examines thoroughly the background of a publically televised bus hijacking and relives the tragic events.  ***
BUT FOREVER ON MY MIND (d. Gabriele Muccino)V. Finally this 1999 coming of age masterpiece about youthful exhuberance is out on DVD!  *** 3/4
BUTTERFLY, THE  (France  d. Philippe Muyl)  Sappy, Kolya type drama about old butterfly collector & the little girl who runs away with him.  ** 1/2
BYRON (d. Julian Farino) V.  ** 3/4
C.R.A.Z.Y. (d. Jean-Marc Vallée) V. 2nd time around this time on video.  Why is this masterpiece not getting released in the U.S.? *** 3/4
C.R.A.Z.Y. (d. Jean-Marc Vallée) V.+++ Still one of the best coming-of-age gay films ever made. *** 3/4
C.R.A.Z.Y. (d. Jean-Marc Vallée; Canada)  *** 3/4
CA-BAU-KAN (d. Nia Dinata) Indonesia AFF.  Historical drama about a beautiful pleasure girl who marries a shady businessman.  * 1/2
CADILLAC RECORDS (d. Darnell Martin) Interesting biopic of Chess recording artists. Nice musical numbers, esp. Beyoncé's Etta James. ** 3/4
CAESAR (d. Uli Edel)V. ** 3/4
CAKE EATERS, THE (d. Mary Stuart Masterson) Quirky, realistic contemporary heart tugger with some really wonderful perfs & assured direction.  *** 1/4
CALENDAR GIRLS (d. Nigel Cole) Mediocre female version of The Full Monty.  **
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (ENDLESS) (d. Cristian Nemescu) *** 1/4
CALL ME TROY (d. Scott Bloom) ***
CAMILLE (d. Gregory Mackenzie)  * 3/4
CAMP (d. Todd Graff) V.++ Still more entertaining than American Idol!  Guilty pleasure; but very much a pleasure.  ***
CAMP HOLLYWOOD (d. Steve Markle)V. Superb personal DV docu about a nearby hotel & its denizens, many trying to make it in Hollywood.  *** 1/2
CAMP  (d. Todd Graff) + Just hits me squarely in my wheelhouse. 2nd viewing confirms its cleverness & skills of the cast despite inherent clichés.  ***
CAMP  (US  d. Todd Graff)  Aimiable, but predictable (we've seen it before), musical comedy about a summer camp for budding entertainers.  ** 1/2
CAMPFIRE (d. Joseph Cedar) Involving family drama about a woman with 2 daughters coping with social and relational problems. Nicely acted.  ***
CAN GO THROUGH SKIN (d. Esther Rots) ** 1/2
CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANY MORE? (d. Frank Popper) V. Absorbing docu of empassioned run for Congress. *** 1/2
CAPE NO. 7 (d. Te-Sheng Wei; Taiwan) **
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE  (d. Mark Bamford) Harmless S.African ecuminical romantic comedy, sort of predictable.  ** 1/2
CAPITOL CRIMES (p. Bill Moyers) V. Surgical dissection of the Jack Abramoff/Tom de Lay scandals.  Great tv journalism.  *** 1/4
CAPONE (d. Jean Marc Brandolo) Buddy road trip film...two lost souls taking a race horse from Paris to Finland. Good film, but I dozed.  ** 3/4
CAPOTE (d. Bennett Miller) *** 1/4
CAPTAIN ABU RAED (d. Amin Matalqa) ***
CAPTAIN AHAB (Captaine Achab) (d. Philippe Ramos) ** 1/4
CAPTIVE (d. Gastón Biraben) Moving & beautifully acted film about an Argentine teenage girl who discovers her parents are not her real parents.  *** 1/4
CAPTIVE  (d. Aleksei Uchitel) ** 3/4
CAPTURE OF THE GREEN RIVER KILLER, THE (d. Norma Bailey) V. Zodiac lite. Very well made & acted.  ***
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS  (US doc.  d. Andrew Jarecki)  A great documentary which peels the layers off of a family's secrets & justice mislaid.  ****
CARAMEL (d. Nadine Labaki; Lebanon) ** 1/2
CARANDIRU (d. Hector Babenco) A Brazilian prison worse than Oz, from doctor's pov. Involving, occasionally wrenching, well acted, nicely put together.  *** 1/4
CARD PLAYER, THE (d. Dario Argento) Ludicrous, but well directed Italian policier about a maniac serial woman killer using the internet to play games with police. * 1/2
CARMEN IN KHAYELITSHA (d. Mark Dornford-May) ** 1/2
CARMO HIT THE ROAD (d. Murillo Pasta) ** 1/4
CARNAGE (d. Delphine Gleize) V. Visually stunning film about, well, bull.  And how all is connected in the world.  Or something.  ***
CARS (d. John Lassiter) Inventive animation, got better as it went along, but just not up to its rep.  ** 3/4
CASA DE LOS BABYS  (d. John Sayles) Intermittently interesting Mexican baby mill story, unexpectedly flawed by a poorly structured script.  **
CASANOVA (d. Lasse Hallström) ***
CASH TRUCK  (d. Nicolas Boukhrief) Effective, beautifully shot film noir, violent and unpredictable.  ***
CASHBACK  (d. Sean Ellis) ***
CASINO ROYALE (d. Martin Campbell) Nice new Bond; nice physical action stunts.  But the film is as ridiculous as ever.  ** 1/4
CASSANDRA'S DREAM (d. Woody Allen) Hitchcockian film with a little Purple Noon thrown in.  ** 3/4
CATCH A FIRE (d. Phillip Noyce) Excellent "making of a terrorist/freedom fighter" film from So. Africa. Derek Luke fine.  *** 1/4
CATCH AND RELEASE (d. Susannah Grant) Predictable but well acted chick flick which involved me.  ** 3/4
CAUCASIA (d. Farid Gumbatov; Azerbaijan) * 1/4
CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG, THE (d. Byambasuren Davaa; Mongolia)
CAVEDWELLER (d. Lisa Cholodenko) Sometimes annoying but satisfying drama about woman who ran away with a rock band returning home to Georgia.  ** 3/4
CAYO (d. Vincente Juarbe; Puerto Rico) * 3/4  
CECILIE (d. Hans Fabian Wullenweber) ** 3/4
CELESTE IN THE CITY (d.  Larry Shaw) V. Queer Eye for Straight Girl makeover ABC Family film abounding with simplistic stereotypes. Another great Ethan Embry role. **
CELLULAR (d. David Ellis) More plot holes than Swiss cheese in this silly variant on Phone Booth; but Chris Evans is going to be a star.  * 3/4
CHACUN SA NUIT  (d. Jean-Marc Barr, Pascal Arnold) *** 1/4
CHAMPAGNE SPY, THE (d. Nadav Schirman) ***
CHANGE OF ADDRESS (Changement d'adresse) (d. Emmanuel Mouret) ** 1/2
CHANGELING, THE  (d. Clint Eastwood) Schocking true story resonates emotionally. Jolie's over-the-top perf. is Oscar bait; but Eastwood's clear vision holds.  ***
CHANGING DESTINY (d. Daniele Gaglianone) Jagged, cutty, edgy story of 3 teenage northern Italian boys who drop out and get into various kinds of trouble. ***
CHANGING TIMES (Les Temps qui changent)  (d. André Téchiné) *** 1/4
CHAOTIC ANA (Caótica Ana) (d. Julio Medem)   *** 3/4         
CHARITON'S CHOIR (d. Grigoris Karantinakis; Greece) * 3/4
CHARLEY AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (d. Tim Burton) V. Amusing with impressive effects. ***
CHARLIE BARTLETT (d. Jon Poll) Anton Yelchin great as a preppy Ferris Bueller type undermining public school authority.  ***
CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR (d. Mike Nichols) Simplistic demonizing of enemy turned me off.  ** 3/4
CHARLIE: THE LIFE & ART OF CHARLES CHAPLIN (d. Richard Schickel) V. Fascinating, if facile doc about the great film artist.  *** 1/4
CHARLIE'S ANGELS FULL THROTTLE (d. McG)  Some inventive stuff, though the CGI was cheesy; but ultimately tedius and familiar action thriller.  ** 1/4
CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES (d. Eric Byler) 4 Asian-American characters and their tangled relationships.  Haunting, eliptical, subtle, well played.  *** 1/4
CHARLOTTE'S WEB (d. Gary Winick) Nice voice acting, good f/x and a moving story make for a pleasant film.  ***
CHASER, THE (d. Na Hong-jin) *** 1/2
CHE Part 1 (d. Steven Soderbergh) Light on exposition, too many characters to keep straight, still interesting as docudrama.  ** 3/4
CHE Part 2 (d. Steven Soderbergh) Same problesm; but it just works better as futility and defeat is just more interesting than victory. ***
CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN (d. Shawn Levy) I expected to hate it; but instead I was enchanted by the story & actors. Funny and emotionally satisfying.  ***
CHEF'S SPECIAL  (d. Nacho Velilla) ** 1/4
CHÉRI (d. Stephen Frears) Outstanding, lavish evocation of Belle Epoque; Pfeiffer is radient, Rupert Friend fabulously epicene. Literate script.  *** 1/2
CHERRY BLOSSOMS - HANAMI (d. Dorris Dorrie) *** 1/4
CHIAVI DI CASA, LE (d. Gianni Amelio) V.+ Wonderful, moving film with sublime performances by Rampling, Stuart & Rossi. *** 1/2
CHILD, THE (L'enfant) (d. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) *** 1/4
CHILDHOOD OF MAXIM GORKY  (d. Mark Donskoy) Classic Russian film from the writer's memoire of his peasant Volga family.  ***
CHILDREN (d. Ragnar Bragason; Iceland) *** 1/2
CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI, THE (d. Roger Spottswoode) ** 3/4
CHILDREN OF MEN (d. Alfonso Cuaron) Masterpiece of Gazaian dystopia, Nativity allegory & Time of the Wolf rolled into one. *** 1/2
CHILDREN OF WAR (d. Alexandre Fuchs) ** 1/4
CHILDSTAR  (d. Don McKellar) Funny, trenchant and occasionally silly satire about a 12 yr. old movie star & his kooky mom.  ***
CHINAMAN (Kinamand) (d. Henruk Ruben Genz) Wry Danish comedy. Plumber divorced by wife marries younger Chinese woman. ***
CHINESE ODYSSEY: 2002  (Hong Kong  d. Jeff Lau)  Funny and assured satire of a martial arts, Chinese Emperor's court film.  *** 1/4
CHOK-DEE (d. Xavier Durrenger) The French Rocky, a French street criminal becomes a world champ Thai boxer...written & acted by the guy himself. ** 1/2
CHOKE (d. Clark Gregg) * 1/2
CHOP SHOP (d. Ramin Bahrani) ***
CHORISTES, LES (d. Christophe Barratier) Franch AFF: moving drama of a teacher who tames the boys in a reform school through music.  *** 1/2
CHRIS & DON:  A LOVE STORY (d. Guido Sante) *** 1/2
CHRISTMAS TALE, A (Un conte de Noël) (d. Arnaud Desplechin) *** 1/4
CHRISTMAS TREE UPSIDE DOWN (d. Ivan Cherkelov and Vassil Jivkov) ***
CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS (d. Joe Roth) Horrendous, embarrassing, utterly offensive (to this Jewish observer), silly, unfunny.  Did I love it?   1/2*
CHRONICAL OF AN ESCAPE  (d. Israel Adrián Cactano) ** 3/4
CHRONICALS (d. Sebastian Cordero) Equador's Acad. entry is a superb psychological thriller about a child serial killer's manipulation of tv pop news.  *** 1/4
CHRONICALS OF NARNIA (d. Andrew Adamson)  **
CHRYSALIS (d. Julien Leclercq) ** 1/2
CHRYSTAL (d. Ray McKinnon) Southern gothic story of the effects of an auto accident on a couple after 20 years of the husband in prison.  ** 3/4
CHUMSCRUBBER, THE (d. Arie Posin) Wonderful suburban satire cult-type film in Donnie Darko mode. Jamie Bell: #1 actor of his generation.  *** 1/2
CIAO (d. Yen Tan) Touching, arty (in a good way) American indie gay film...Italian man meets friend on net.  ***
CINDERELLA MAN (d. Ron Howard) Moving story of James Braddock with a searingly honest portrayal by Russell Crowe.  *** 1/2
CINEMA, ASPIRIN & VULTURES (Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus) (d. Marcelo Gomes) ** 1/4
CITIZEN DUANE (d. Michael Mabbott) ** 3/4
CITY OF BORDERS (d. Yun Suh) ***
CITY OF EMBER (d. Gil Kenan) Superb dystopian heroic fantasy, a live action Wall*E with the visual panache of Brazil.  *** 1/2
CITY OF GHOSTS (d. Matt Dillon) Pseudo Graham Greene. Stifling atmosphere well done, as were characterizations. Story falls down.  Good try.  ** 1/4
CITY OF MEN (d. Paolo Morelli) Much better than City of God, imho.  Emotionally affecting, driving narrative. *** 1/4
CITY OF THE SUN, THE (Slunecný Stát) (d. Martin Sulík; Slovak Republic)  **
CLAPHAM JUNCTION (d. Adrian Shergold) Terrific British TV movie about contrasts in modern society (marriage & bashing).  *** 1/2
CLASS, THE (d. Ilmar Raag; Estonia) *** 1/2
CLASS, THE (Entre les murs) (d. Laurent Cantet; France) *** 3/4
CLASSE TOUS RISQUE (d. Claude Sautet) A terrific classic noir with a star-making Belmondo perf (if Breathless hadn't hit first).  *** 1/2
CLAY BIRD, THE (d. Tareque Masud) Bangladesh AFF.  A family uprooted by political upheaval in '68.  ** 3/4
CLEAN (d. Olivier Assayas) Maggie Chung is superb as a junkie trying to go clean to reclaim her son from her inlaws in this wonderful drama.  *** 1/2
CLEARING, THE (d. Pieter Jan Brugge) Hi-gloss kidnap film, Redford victim, Mirren the suffering wife. "Without a Trace" does it better.  **
CLICK (d. Frank Coraci) Good F/X, lousy script, sort of an It Might Have Been a Wonderful Life. Not Sandler's finest.  * 3/4
CLOSER (d. Mike Nichols) Four loathsome characters well acted and beautifully photographed (cf similar Carnal Knowledge!)  Portman & Owen never better.  ** 3/4
CLOUD, THE (d. Gregor Schnitzler) ** 3/4
COAST GUARD, THE  (d. Kim Ki-duk) Overwrought drama about the soldiers who guard the Korean coastline from spy incursions.  Way over the top.  * 3/4
COAST TO COAST (d. Paul Mazursky) V. Judy Davis & Richard Dreyfuss are excellent in this moving, adult drama about a couple devastated by their son's death. *** 1/2
COCHOCHI (d. Israel Cárdenas & Laura Amelia Guzmán) *** 1/4
COCK COLLEGE (short films) (d. various)
CODE 46 (d. Michael Winterbottom) One,   of the greatest examples of cyberpunk ever put on film. Winterbottom's future imagery is amazing.  *** 3/4
COFFEE DATE (d. Stewart Wade) Amusing comedy about sexual confusions, really well written script.  ***
COLD LIGHT (d. Hilmar Oddsson) Iceland's AFF is a dour tragedy about a 40ish man finally facing a tragedy of his youth.   ***
COLD MOUNTAIN (d. Anthony Minghella) Fine production, good acting, but the "well made" story was too predictable. Jude Law is a bonafide star. ***
COLD SHOWERS (Douches froides) (d. Antony Cordier) ***
COLD SOULS (d. Sophie Barthes) ** 1/2
COLDEST DAY, THE (d. Xie Dong) A somewhat boring film about mutual infidelity in a modern Chinese marriage.  **
COLLATERAL (d. Michael Mann) L.A. is the star here; and Mann doesn't cheat the geography. Mann's best film in a while.  ***
COLLECTOR, THE (Komornik) (d. Feliks Falk; Poland)  ** 1/4
COLMA: THE MUSICAL (d. Richard Wong) Strictly amateurville musical, but charming, simple story.  ** 1/2
COLOR OF FAME, THE (d.Alesandro Bellame Palacios; Venezuela) ***
COMANCHE MOON (d. Simon Wincer) V.  Nicely played, if choppy, miniseries. Val Kilmer? weird.  ** 3/4
COMBAT (d. Patrick Carpentier) *
COME EARLY MORNING (d. Joey Lauren Adams) ***
COME INTO THE LIGHT (Alla Luce Del Sol) (d. Roberto Faenza) ** 1/2
COMEDY OF POWER, A (d. Claud Chabrol)  ** 3/4
COMIC EVANGELISTS (d. Daniel Jones, Dann Sytsma) ***
COMPANY, THE (d. Mikael Salomon) V. *** 1/2
COMPANY, THE  (d. Robert Altman) Little narrative, lots of good dancing. Neve impresses, and James Franco underplays to splendid effect.  *** 1/4
CONDOR: AXIS OF EVIL (d. Rodrigo Vasquez) A doc linking the U.S. to South American dictators and disappearances of the '70s.  Too unstructured.  ** 1/4
CONFESSIONS OF PAIN (d. Andrew Lau & Alan Mak) *** 1/4
CONFIDENCE (d. James Foley) Foley has style to burn.  Too bad he didn't burn this derivative script. Why I like Ed Burns is the question.  ** 1/2
CONGORAMA  (d. Philippe Falardeau) ** 3/4
CONNIE AND CARLA (d. Michael Lembeck) Silly, if intermittantly funny, script. I liked the music; but the film is excessivly clichéd.  * 3/4
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE (d. John Deery) Ernest, polemic drama: celebacy and the Catholic church. Nice production, but too on-point for good drama.  **
CONSTANT GARDNER, THE (d. Fernando Meirelles)  ***
CONSTANTINE (d. Francis Lawrence) V. Looks good with graphic novel feel, nice f/x, absurd plot.  ** 1/4
CONTAINER (d. Lukas Moodysson) * 3/4
CONTINENTAL, A FILM WITHOUT GUNS (d. Stéphane Lafleur) ** 1/2
CONTROL (d. Anton Corbijn) ***
CONTROL ALT DELETE (d. Cameron Labine) ** 3/4
CONTROL ROOM (d. Jehane Noujaim) Doc. about Al-Jezeera's coverage of the current Iraq War. Good footage, though repetitive.  ** 3/4
CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN (d. Hans Canosa)  *** 1/4
COOL MONEY (d. Gary Burns ) V. Modestly involving TV caper film about some losers knocking off N.Y. hotels.  ** 1/2
COOLER, THE  (d. Wayne Kramer) The acting's pretty good, especially Alec Baldwin; but the plot, direction & cinematography pretty well suck.  **
COPYING BEETHOVEN (d. Agnieszka Holland) Overwrought, overacted. Sublime music (though weirdly edited).  **
CORE, THE (d. Jon Amiel) F/x end-of-world flick fun enough to overcome implausibilities.  First hour great & then film degrades to clichés.  ** 3/4
CORPORATION, THE (d. Achbar & Abbott) Overlong but fascinating Canadian documentary about "corporations" as psychotic people.  *** 1/2
CORRECTION (Diorthosi) (d. Thanos Anastopoulos, Greece) ** 1/4
CORTEX (d. Nicolas Boukhrief) ***
COST OF LIVING  (d. Phillippe Le Guay) Vivid, beautifully realized multi-character story connected by the theme money for love.  *** 1/4
COTE D'AZURE (d. Ducastel & Martineau) Entertaining French farce about an family on vacation whose sexuality is mutable & evolving.  ** 3/4
COUNTER INVESTIGATION (Contre-enquête) (d. Franck Mancusco) *** 1/2
COUNTERFEITERS, THE (Die Falscher) (d. Stefan Ruzowitzky; Austria) *** 1/2
COUNTRY TEACHER, THE (d. Bohdan Sláma) *** 3/4
COUNTRY WEDDING (d. Vladis Öskarsdóttir) ***
COUPERET, LE (d. Costa-Gavras) More black comedy than the usual Costa-Gavras, entertaining film which takes Time Out to a higher level.  ***
COVE, THE (d. Louie Psihoyos) ** 3/4
COVERBOY (d. Carmine Amoroso) ***
COWBOYS AND ANGELS (d. David Gleeson) Beautifully written & acted Irish coming-of-age gay/straight romantic comedy. Michael Legge is wonderful.  *** 1/4
COWBOYS AND ANGELS (d. David Gleeson)V.+ ***
CRACKER:  A NEW TERROR (d. Antonia Bird) V.  Excellent tv film about a killer British cop driven crazy in the "troubles".  ***
CRANE WORLD (d. Pablo Trapero) Slow, Argentine neo-realist B&W film about a 49 yr. old construction worker ex-rock guitarist.  ** 1/2
CRANFORD (d. Simon Curtis) V. Superb British early Victorian mini-series which just got better & better. The final part blew me away. *** 1/2
CRASH (d. Paul Haggis) Superb Short Cuts type multi-character, roundabout drama...modern day L.A. as racial dystopia. I need to leave L.A.!  *** 1/2
CRAZY LOVE (d. Dan Klores & Fisher Stevens) *** 1/4
CREATIVE NATURE (d. John Andres) ** 1/4
CRIME NOVEL (d. Michele Placido) *** 1/4
CRIMINAL (d. Gregory Jacobs) A faithful remake of Nine Queens, which means a good, if familiar script. A sympathetic cast, still this one doesn't quite jell.  ** 1/2
CROOKED E, THE (d. Penelope Spheeris) V.  CBS film docudrama about fall of Enron.  Predictable script, Christian Kane actor to watch.  **
CROSSING A SHADOW (d. Augusto Tamayo; Peru) ** 1/2
CROSSING BORDERS (d. Arnd Wächter) Hopeful, moving docu feels like "Real World Morocco", 4 American & 4 Moroccan students live together for a week and keep it real.  *** 1/4
CROSSING OVER (d. Wayne Kramer) Like Crash, only better, this is an involving ensemble drama about distressed immigrants in L.A. *** 1/4
CROSSING THE BORDER (Un Franco 14 Pesetas) (d. Carlos Iglesias) ***
CROSSING THE BRIDGE: THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL (d. Fatih Aiken) V. Music docu, sporadically good music, nice photog. ** 1/2
CROSSING  (d. Kim Tae-kyun; Republic of Korea) ** 3/4
CRUDE  (Turkey  d. Paxton Winters)  Road film about 2 young American guys and their travels through Turkey looking for fame & fortune.  ** 3/4
CRUEL BUT NECESSARY (d. Saul Rubinek) Innovative video about a woman secretly recording her life for 2 years on a hidden camera. ** 3/4
CRUEL JOYS  (d. Juraj Nvota) Slovakia AFF.  Relationship drama in pre-war small Slovak town.  ** 3/4
CRYING LADIES (d. Mark Meily) Three Philippine women hired as cryers for a Chinese funeral. I was uninvolved; but the film wasn't that bad.  W/O
CSI:  GRAVE DANGER 1 & 2 (d. Quentin Tarantino)V. ** 3/4
CUBA LIBRA (d. Juan Gerard) Nostalgic, but too pat, reminiscence of an 11 yr. old boy coming of age in '58 small town Cuba prior to revolution.  **
CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE (d. David Fincher) + Even more moving 2nd time around. Epic, emotional, great film. *** 3/4
CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE (d. David Fincher) Moving, epic filmmaking which works at all levels. Nearly a masterpiece. *** 1/2
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER (d. Zhang Yimou; China) ***
CURSED (d. Wes Craven) V. Campy parody of werewolf stories with a great cast (Jesse Eisenberg & Milo Ventimiglia are wonderful). Ridiculous; but clever & fun. ***
CUT SLEEVE BOYS (d. Ray Yeung) ** 3/4
CUTTING EDGE 3, THE (d. Stuart Gillard) V.  Surprisingly not bad, although predictable. Matt Lanter is good! ** 1/2
CUTTING EDGE, THE (d. Paul Michael Glaser) V. Moira Kelly & D.B. Sweeney have good chemistry. Otherwise clichéd. ** 1/2
CYCLES (d. Cyril Gelblat) *** 1/2
DA VINCI CODE, THE (d. Ron Howard) The con of film.  Turgid, overlong...nice historical f/x, though. ** 1/4
DALECARLIANS, THE  (d. Maria Blom) Involving family drama about 3 sisters and the small Swedish town that the youngest returns to.  ***
DAN IN REAL LIFE (d. Peter Hedges) Emotionally satisfying, breakthru film for Hedges (and for me, Carell).  *** 1/4
DANCERS (d. Pemille Fischer Christensen) ** 1/2
DANCING ACROSS BORDERS (d. Anne H. Bass) ***
DANDELION (d. Mark Milgard) Well acted, somewhat pointless coming of age story of boy who sacrifices much for his dysfunctional family.  ** 3/4
DANIKA (d. Ariel Vromen) * 1/2
DANS PARIS (d. Christophe Honoré) ** 1/2
DAREDEVIL (d.Mark Steven Johnson) Better stunts than Spiderman; but rather wan story.  I enjoyed it, especially Affleck.  ** 3/4
DARJEELING LIMITED, THE (d. Wes Anderson) Better than his last one; but I need more than a train & exotica. ** 3/4
DARK AGES, THE (d. Chris Cassel) V. Standard issue History channel docu.  Lots of info well presented.  ** 3/4
DARK HARBOR (d. Naito Takasugu) ***
DARK HORSE (Voksne Mennesker) (d. Dagur Kári) **
DARK KNIGHT, THE (d. Christopher Nolan) Surprisingly dark and dense, some narrative glitches, but Ledger is as good as the hype. *** 1/4
DARK STREETS (d. Rachel Samuels) Rarely has so much stylishness been put in aid of such a lame story. Only singers & prod. designers come out ok. **
DARKBLUEALMOSTBLACK  (d. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo) *** 1/2
DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE (d. Hubert Sauper; docu) V. ***
DASEPO NAUGHTY GIRLS (Dasepo Sonyo) (d. E J-yong) *
DAUGHTER FROM DANANG (d. Dolgen and Franco) (V)  docu. Mixed race Viet Nam war child sent to US at 7 meets her mom.  *** 1/4
DAVID COPPERFIELD (d. Simon Curtis) V. The first half, Daniel Radcliffe as young Copperfield, is fine. Then it all turns to treacle and sentiment.  ** 1/2
DAY A PIG FELL INTO THE WELL, THE (S. Korea  d. Hong Sang-soo) Muddled story of multiple affairs going nowhere.  Film does too.  1/2*
DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE (d. Roland Emmerich) Cliché story (though involving & well done), fantastically realistic special f/x.  ** 3/4
DAY AT THE MUSEUM, A (Musée haut, musée bas)  (d. Jean-Michel Ribes) ** 1/4
DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (d. Scott Derrickson) Good f/x; but sappy, incredulous script a million times inferior to original.* 1/2
DAY WATCH (d. Timur Bekmambetov) ***
DAYBREAK (d. Bjorn Runge) Three cleverly interwoven stories of strange relationship angst in Sweden. I couldn't relate to the stories.  ** 3/4
DAYS AND CLOUDS (d. Silvio Soldini) ***
DAYS AND HOURS (d. Ademir Kenovic) Talky, slow paced slice of life story about family coping with consequences of Bosnian war 7 years earlier. * 3/4
DAYS OF BEING WILD (d. Wong Kar-wei) I was carried away by the plot, actors & especially the cinematography. Now I must reassess In The Mood For Love. *** 1/2
DAYS OF DARKNESS (d. Denys Arcand; Canada) ***
DAYS OF GLORY (d. Rachid Bouchareb; Algeria) ***
DEAD GIRL, THE (d. Karen Moncrieff) *** 1/4
DEAD MAN'S HAND (d. Boon & Brandenbourger) Luxembourg AFF.  High gloss consumerist satire.  ** 3/4
DEAD MAN'S SHOES (d. Shane Meadows) Paddy Considine is the nemesis of group of guys who tortured his brother. Violent and bloody.  ** 1/2
DEAD SILENCE (d. James Wan)V. Stylish horror flick with ridiculous seen-before "dummy" plot. Looks great, less filling.  ** 1/4
DEADGIRL (d. Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel) ** 1/2
DEAL (d. Gil Cates, Jr.) Predictable, but the poker was realistic & Bret Harrison is a winning actor. ** 3/4
DEAL, THE (d. Harvey Kahn) Wall Street shenanigans in the oil patch in the near future. Slickly made, good cast, but probably straight to video.  ** 1/2
DEAL, THE (d. Stephen Frears) V. British political true story, Labour deal to share power. Too parochial for U.S.  ** 1/2
DEAR FRANKIE (d. Shona Aurbach) Tender and moving drama of deaf boy's bonding with a surrogate father.  *** 1/4
DEAR WENDY (d. Thomas Vinterberg) ***
DEATH AND TEXAS (d. Kevin DiNovis) Satiric, pointed but understated mockumentary about a famed football player on death row in Texas. *** 1/4
DEATH AT A FUNERAL (d. Frank Oz) ***
DEATH DEFYING ACTS (d. Gillian Armstrong) Excellent period piece; strong acting by Guy Pierce & Zeta-Jones!  *** 1/4
DEATH IN LOVE (d. Boaz Yakin) Good cast mostly wasted on incoherent effects-of-Holocaust-on-2nd-generation-family sexually explicit melodrama. ** 1/4
DEATH IN VENICE (d. Luchino Visconti) ** 3/4
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT  (d. Gabriel Range) *** 1/2
DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU, THE (Moartea domului Lazarescu)  (d. Cristi Puiu; Romania) *** 1/2
DEATH SENTENCE (d. James Wan) **
DEBUTANTES, LOS (d. Andres Waissbluth) Strong, multi-POV, sexy drama about 2 naive brothers who become involved with a porn boss and his mistress. ***
DECEMBER BOYS (d. Rod Hardy) Good performances, but a predictable clichéd script.  ** 1/2
DEEP BREATH (d. Parviz Shahbazi) Iran's AFF is a road picture about disaffected college students, amazingly secular for an official submission.  ** 1/2
DEEP WATER (d. Osmond & Rothwell) Disquieting, excellent docu: 1969 around world boat race.  *** 1/2
DEEPWATER (d. David Marfield) A superior psychological thriller disguised as a gothic noir.  Great performance by Lucas Black.  *** 1/4
DEFENDERS OF RIGA (Rigas Sargi) (d. Algars Grauba; Latvia) ** 1/2
DEFIANCE (d. Edward Zwick) Involving, well directed...but somewhat clichéd and old fashioned.  ***
DÉFICIT (d. Gael García Bernal) *** 1/4
DÉJÀ VU (d. Tony Scott) A superior, timebending thriller which, while totally absurd, amazingly almost holds together! *** 1/4
DEKADA '70 (d. Chito Rono) Melodramatic saga of 15 years of a Philippine family, 5 boys & Ozzie & Harriet parents.  Too long and overamped.  **
DELIRIOUS (d. Tom Dicillo) ***
DELIVER US FROM EVIL (d. Amy Berg) V. Gripping docu about Catholic church coverup of pederast priest.  *** 1/2
DE-LOVELY (d. Irwin Winkler) Massively over-written Cole Porter biopic. Good music and singer cameos; but otherwise bloated and pretentious. ** 1/4
DEMONLOVER  (France  d. Olivier Assayas)  Stylish, mysterious business scullduggery among the rich and successful international cyber-crowd.  *** 1/4
DENIAS, SINGING ON THE CLOUD (d. John de Rantau; Indonesia) ** 1/2
DEPARTED, THE (d. Martin Scorsese) Fabulously cast, but script too eliptical...Infernal Affaires made more sense. *** 1/4
DEPARTURES (Okuribito) (d. Yojiro Takita; Japan) *** 3/4
DEPENDENCIA SEXUAL (d. Rodrigo Bellott)  Sexual adventures of youths in Bolivia & U.S. done in split screen. Wildlly uneven, but also a turn-on.  ***
DEVDAS (d. Sanjay Leela Bhansali) India AFF.  Bollywood musical:  overblown tragic love story.   * 3/4
DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON, THE (d. Jeff Feuerzeig)V.  ***
DEVIL WEARS PRADA, THE (d. David Frankel) Well acted (Hathaway finally grows up, Streep perfect), funny.  ***
DEVOTEE (d. Rémi Lange) French drama about a thalidomide 40-ish gay man (no limbs) used as a fetish object. ** 1/2
DEXTER:  Season 1 (d. various) V. Sympathetic serial killer sociopath...stylish, Michael C. Hall is simply amazing.  *** 3/4
DHAMMA BROTHERS, THE (d. Jenny Phillips) Hopeful, thoughtful docu of Alabaman prisoners who find peace thru Buddhist meditation.  ***
DIAS DE SANTIAGO (d. Josué Méndez; Peru)  ** 1/4
DICKIE ROBERTS:  FORMER CHILD STAR (d. Sam Weisman)  Infantile, arrested-development story, occasionally funny, very meta, embarrassing to watch.  *
DIE, MOMMIE, DIE (d. Mark Rucker) Camp take-off on Mommy Dearest, a showcase for tranny Charles Busch, which just didn't cut it.   ** 1/4
DIG!  (d. Ondi Timoner) Extraordinary video documentary about two current retro 60's underground bands. Fabulous footage well edited.  *** 1/4
DIGGERS (d. Katherine Dieckmann) ** 1/2
DIRT  (US  d. Nancy Savoca)  Entertaining humanist drama about an undocumented Salvadorian family...mother a cleaning woman.  *** 1/4
DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS (d. Guy Ferland) Pretty much cookie cutter plot, but fun.  Diego Luna: Latin lover for the 2000's.  ** 1/4
DIRTY DEEDS (d. David Kendall) V. Stupid high school caper film. Watched for Milo Ventimiglia, who is worth watching.  *
DIRTY PRETTY THINGS  (Great Britain  d. Stephen Frears)  Excellent romantic drama about refugees living and being exploited in London.  *** 1/4
DIRTY SHAME, A (d. John Waters) Utterly transgressive sex farce which takes Waters' anarchic style to its untoppable culmination. Still, never boring.  ** 3/4
DIRTY WAR (d. Daniel Percival) V. Dirty bomb terrorist attack on central London. BBC film, a good suspenser and scary as hell, though nothing special filmwise. ** 3/4.
DISAPPEARANCES  (d. Jay Craven) ** 1/4
DISTANT (d. Nuri Bilge Ceylan) Arty Turkish film about alienating effects of big city on two men, one older & established, other new to town. *** 1/4
DISTANT LIGHTS  (Germany  d. Hans-Christian Schmidt) Hand held, documentary feel: about refugees trying to get to Germany.  *** 1/4
DISTURBIA (d. D.J. Caruso) Despite a star making turn by Shia LaBeouf this Rear Window update is ridiculously over the top. ** 1/4
DISTURBING BEHAVIOR (d. David Nutter) V. Mind control '98 horror flick, a teenage Stepford High, good cast, well directed, but way over the top. **
DIVINE INTERVENTION (d. Elia Suleiman) Palestine's AFF nomination is an unfunny absurdist comedy which didn't work for me. **
DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, THE (d. Julian Schnabel) Most expressive eye in film history. Amalric amazing!  *** 3/4
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (d. Giacomo Campiotti) V. Why the David Lean film needed a remake is questionable; but this one is well made, intimate & emotional.  ** 3/4
DODGEBALL (d. Rawson M. Thurber) Silly, amiable entertainment.  I didn't find it funny; but it sure tries hard enough. Stiller still has "it".  ** 1/2
DOG EAT DOG (d. Carlos Moreno; Columbia) * 3/4
DOG POUND  (d. Manuel Nieto Zas) W/O
DOGHEAD (d. Santi Amodeo) *** 1/4
DOGHEAD (d. Santi Amodeo) +  *** 1/4
DOGVILLE (d. Lars von Trier) A malevolent Our Town, more tv throwback than film, Kidman and Bettany are really good.  ***
DOING TIME ON MAPLE DR. (d. Ken Olen)V.  *** 1/4
DOING TIME  (Japan  d.  Sai Yoichi) Intelligent comedy about regimented life in a modern Japanese prison. ***
DOL (d. Hiner Saleem) ** 3/4
DOLLS  (d. Takeshi Kitano) Gorgeously photographed, metaphorically opaque.  Three stories of regret that I regret that went over my head.  **
DONAU, DUNA, DUNAJ, DUNAV, DUNAREA (d. Goren Rebic) Beautiful;y done story of a "ship of fools" and romantics heading down the Danube.  ***
DONKEY SKIN  (d. Jacques Demy) A gentle fairy tale. Demy has style to spare; but other than the costumes I wasn't blown away.  ** 1/2
DONNIE DARKO: DIRECTOR'S CUT (d. Richard Kelly) Improved comprehensibility; but I really missed some scenes. Still a fantastic film.  *** 1/2
DON'S PLUM (d. R.D. Robb) V. B&W indie near masterpiece, a 20-something My Dinner With André with a hard edge. Why is it banned?  *** 1/2
DONSOL (d. Adolfo Alix, Jr.; Philippines) ** 1/2
DON'T LET ME DOWN (d. Cruz Angeles) ***
DON'T MOVE (d. Sergio Castellitto) Obsessive adultry-romance with a superb perf by Penelope Cruz. Involving and interestingly structured. ***
DON'T TELL (La bestia nel cuore) (d. Cristina Comencini; Italy) *** 1/2
DOOR IN THE FLOOR, THE (d. Tod Williams) Superbly acted drama of a family's corrosive grief & a boy's (the promising Jon Foster) coming of age.  *** 1/2
DOPAMINE (d. Mark Decina) Indie romantic comedy; 3geeky programmers in S.F. Genuine characters, well written, actors have real chemistry.  *** 1/4
DORIAN BLUES (d. Tennyson Bardwell) A genuinely funny coming out comedy, a crowd pleaser with a brilliant script and assured acting & direction.  *** 1/4
DOS TIPOS DUROS (d. Juan Moreno) A Guy Richie type bloody, gang-who-couldn't-shoot-straight comedy, only totally diverting. Jordi Vilches wonderful. ***
DOT THE I (d. Matthew Parkhill) Clever script with double & triple crosses galore a la Nine Queens. Bernal is a star in English, too.  *** 1/4
DOUBT (d. John Patrick Shanley) Major acting kudos (esp. Viola Davis), but film's ambiguity and murky central thesis a problem for me.  ** 3/4
DOWN BY LOVE (d. Tomás Sas) Weird, annoying one-actor monologue of effects of child sexual abuse. Ultimately pays off. Patricia Kovács amazing.  ** 3/4
DOWN IN THE VALLEY (d. David Jacobson) Weird, wonderful; Ed Norton his usual amazing. E.R.Wood more beautiful than ever. *** 1/4
DOWN TO THE BONE (d. Debra Granik) Bare bones video verité of a woman drug addict that spares nothing. Some incredible acting here.  ***
DOWN WITH LOVE (d. Peyton Reed)  Retro, ironic '60s sex comedy, gorgeous production design, often ridiculous script but fun and truly hip.  *** 1/4
DOWNFALL (d. Oliver Herschbiegel) Well made drama of last days of 3rd Reich in Hitler's bunker. Bruno Ganz is amazing. Authentic, gripping.  *** 1/4
DR. BRONNER'S MAGIC SOAPBOX (d. Sara Lamm) V. ** 1/4
DRAMA/MEX (d. Gerardo Naranjo) *** 1/2
DREAM BOY (d. James Bolton) ** 1/2
DREAM WEAVERS (d. Jun Gu; China) ** 1/2
DREAMCATCHER (d. Lawrence Kasdan) Absurd Stephen King story, 4 boys/men against familiar movie aliens.  Scary, funny, overwrought.  ** 1/4
DREAMERS, THE (d. Bernardo Bertolucci) I just about lived this movie 5 years earlier...and this excellent film couldn't be more true to life.  *** 3/4
DREAMGIRLS (d. Bill Condon) Better than average musical with fantastic casting. ***
DREAMING OF SPACE (d. Alexei Uchitel) ** 3/4
DREAMLAND (d. Jason Matzner) ***
DRIFTERS (d. Wang Xiaoshuai) Slow drama about a Chinese guy who had a kid as an illegal in the U.S. and then is kept from his son when he's deported. **
DRIVING LESSONS (d. Jeremy Brock) Bad coming-of-age film with over-the-top Julie Walters & a pretty good Rupert Grint. * 3/4
DRUMMER, THE (d. Kenneth Bi) *** 1/4
DUCHESS OF LANGEAIS, THE (Ne toucher pas la hache) (d. Jacques Rivette)   ** 1/2
DUCHESS, THE (d. Saul Dibb) Excellently made, authentic seeming, gorgeous and even moving historical epic with great perfs by Keira and Ralph. *** 1/2
DUCK SEASON (d. Fernando Eimbcke) Two 14 year old boys left alone in an apartment on a Sunday get into trouble. Wonderfully observent and affecting.  *** 1/4
DUMA (d. Carroll Ballard) V. Predictably beautiful but predictable. ** 3/4
DUMMY  (U.S.  d. Greg Pritikin 90 min.)  Adrien Brody is incredible as a shy ventriloquist in this touching, truly funny romantic comedy.  *** 1/2
DUNYA & DESIE (d.Dana Nechushtan; Netherlands) ** 3/4
DUPLICITY (d. Tony Gilroy) Script double crosses itself once too many times, but stars have chemistry & it's slick.  ** 3/4
DUSKA (d. Jos Stelling) The Netherlands foreign film submission.  * 3/4
DUST TO GLORY (d. Dana Brown)V.  ** 1/2
DYING GAUL, THE (d. Craig Lucas) Until a very unsatisfying ending this was an extraordinary noir with fabulous acting (Sarsgaard! Scott! Clarkson!) *** 1/4
EAGER BODIES  (d. Xavier Giannoli) Love Story with a particularly French twist.  Great acting. *** 1/2
EAGLE EYE (d. D.J. Caruso) Absurd script well executed.  Raises paranoia quotient and chase sequence destruction derby games to new, ridiculous high.  Shia is fine. ** 1/2
EAGLE VS. SHARK (d. Taika Waititi) ** 3/4
EARLY IN THE MORNING (d. Gahité Fofana) * 3/4
EARTH AND ASHES (d. Atiq Rahimi) Wide screen Afghanistan AFF plays like a despairing Irani film: old man & young boy war victims wandering desert.  ***
EARTHLING  (d. Tristan & Wolfgang Bayer) Stunning, fascinating docu about family of nature photogs on a 7 year adventure journey.  *** 3/4
EARTHLINGS (d. Shaun Monson) V. Hard to watch docu about human speciesism: abuse of animals for food, clothing, science etc..  *** 3/4
EARTHSEA (d. Robert Lieberman) V. Surprisingly together, if hokey, sf miniseries, mediocre acting...but the f/x are fine and the project works.  ** 1/2
EASTERN PROMISES (d. David Cronenberg)  Stylized violence...best Mortensen tattoos since Indian Runner. *** 1/4
EASY VIRTUE (d. Stephan Elliott) ***
EAT THIS NEW YORK (d. Novack and Rossi) V. Pre-The Restaurant docu about building a neighborhood bistro in Brooklyn & the viscissitudes of the big NYC chefs. ***
EATING OUT (d. Q. Allan Brocka) Sparkling, well cast lo-budget gay/straight sex farce. Emily Stiles' clever faghag steals the movie from some good looking guys. ** 3/4
EATING OUT 2: SLOPPY SECONDS (d. Phillip Bartell) Funny gay farce, well acted with a fairly novel script.  ** 3/4
EDEN (d. Declan Recks) Intimate, disturbing, well played drama of a marriage troubled by the 10 year itch.  ***
EDEN IS WEST (Eden à l'ouest) (d. Costa-Gavras) ** 3/4
EDEN'S CURVE (d. Anne Misawa)V. 1/2*
EDGE OF HEAVEN, THE (d. Fatih Akin; Germany) *** 3/4
EDGE OF LOVE, THE (d. John Maybury)  Fine cast, nice evocation of blitz England and arty circle doings; but turgid drama doesn't spark.  ** 1/2
EDI (d. Piotr Trzaskalski)  Poland AFF  Drama about a down and outer in present day Poland.  ***
EDUART (d. Angeliki Antoniou; Greece) *** 1/4
EDUCATION OF CHARLIE BANKS, THE (d. Fred Durst) Fascinating character study of nerd vs. charismatic sociopath (and Jason Ritter is amazing.) *** 1/4
EDUCATION OF GORE VIDAL, THE  (US doc.  d. Deborah Dickson)  Fine, intelligent documentary about Vidal through his words & work.  *** 1/2
EDUKATORS, THE (d. Hans Weingartner) Gripping drama of 3 foolish young German revolutionaries & their caper gone wrong. *** 1/2
EDY (d. Stephan Guérin-Tillié) Cool, noirish film about killer insurance scammers. ** 3/4
EFECTO IGUAZÚ, EL (d. Pere Joan Ventura) Doc. about 1800 striking Spaniards who camped out in a Madrid shanty town for 6 months in 2001. *** 1/4
EGOISTE: LOTTI LATROUS (d. Stephan Anspichler) Harrowing docu: Swiss nurse's AIDS hospice in Ivory Coast.  ** 3/4
EIGHT BELOW (d. Frank Marshall) Deserted dogs in the Antarctic winter do their thing. Pretty (Paul Walker especially), but vapid. ** 1/4
EKLAVYA (d. Vidhu Vinod Chopra; India) ***
EL ALAMEIN  (d. Enzo Monteleone) Spare and powerful story of Italian platoon on the losing side at the battle of El Alamein. ***
EL ALQUIMISTA IMPACIENTE (d. Patricia Ferreira)  Thriller/policier...lurid murder of a nuclear plant worker.  ** 3/4
EL AURA (d. Fabián Bielinsky; Argentina) *** 1/4
EL BENNY (d. Jorge Luis Sanchez) ** 3/4
EL BONAERENSE  (Argentina/Chile  d.  Pablo Trapero) Naive country bumpkin makes good in the big city police department.  ** 3/4
EL CABALLERO DON QUIXOTE  (d. Manuel Gutierrez Aragon) Boring sequel to Don Quixote.  * 3/4
EL CANTANTE (d. Leon Ichaso) ** 3/4
EL CRIMEN DEL PADRE AMARO  (d. Carlos Carrera)  Mexico AFF.  Anti-clerical satiric melodrama in small Mexican parish.  *** 1/4
EL EMBRUJO DE SHANGHAI (d. Fernando Trueba) Drama of post-WWII in Barcelona from a teenage boy's pov. Pretty but confusing.  **
EL LUGAR DONDE ESTUVO EL PARAISO (d. Gerardo Herrero) Diverting melodrama of intrigue in the Peruvian Amazon.  ** 3/4
EL OTRO LADO DE LA CAMA (d. Emilio Martinez-Lazaro) Spanish sex comedy with music & dance, about couples playing musical beds..  ***
EL PERRO DEL HORTELANO  (d. Pilar Miro 1996) Historical Lope de Vega comedy about a fickle countess.  ** 1/2
EL REY (d. Antonio Dorado) Involving history of a '60s Columbian drug lord, Scarface revisited.  ** 3/4
EL SOL DEL MEMBRILLO (d. Victor Erice 1992) Arty semi-documentary about an artist sloooowly painting a quince tree.  **
EL VIAJE DE CAROL (d. Imanol Uribe) Touching story of a girl whose life is shattered by the Spanish civil war.  *** 1/4
ELDORADO (d. Bouli Lanners; Belgium) ** 3/4
ELDRA (d. Tim Lyn) UK AFF.  Charming story about a young gypsy girl's coming of age.  ***
ELECTION (d. Johnny To) ***
ELECTION 2 (d. Johnny To) ***
ELEGY (d. Isabel Coixet) Superb acting by entire company, lovely, moving adult plot. Cruz should win actress Oscar. *** 3/4
ELEPHANT (d. Gus Van Sant) I'm still reeling from the cumulative effect of this ephebiphile's dream. Shot amazingly like Le Fils, stomach churning ***
ELEPHANT AND THE SEA, THE (d. Woo Ming Jin) * 1/2
ELEVEN MEN OUT (d. Róbert Douglas) Predictable troubles for Iceland gay soccer team.  ** 1/4
ELINA (d. Klaus Haro) Like Evil, a story of schooling in Sweden in the '50's, only this time a stubborn little girl vs. a stubborn teacher. Academy bait left me cold. ** 3/4
ELITE SQUAD (d. José Padhila) *** 3/4
ELIZABETH I (d. Tom Hooper) V. Historical epic, good but histrionic perf by Helen Mirren. Drama over historicity. ***
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE (d. Shekhar Kapur) Bombastic, overdone, disappointing bodice ripper.  ** 1/4
ELIZABETHTOWN (d. Cameron Crowe)  ** 3/4
ELLE S'APPELLE SABINE (d. Sandrine Bonnaire) ***
ELLIE PARKER (d. Scott Coffey) Home movie quality video with a stupendous performance by Naomi Watts which lifts the film to watchability.  ***
ELSA & FRED (d. Marcos Carnevale) *** 3/4
EM (d. Tony Barbieri) ** 3/4
EMMA (d. Diamuid Lawrence, 1996) V. The Kate Beckinsale/BBC version.  Not my favorite Austin story, but Andrew Davies' scenario quite good.  ***
EMMANUEL JAL:  WAR CHILD (d. C. Karim Chrobog) ***
EMMA'S BLISS (d. Sven Taddicken) *** 1/4
EMPEROR'S WIFE, THE (d. Julian Vrebos) Stylized modern dress story of court intrigue. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers charismatic as chancellor to Max Beesley's emperor. ** 1/2
EMPIRE FALLS (d. Fred Schepisi)V. HBO family saga of small town New England doings. Fine cast, sprawling, unfocused script. ** 3/4
EMPTIES (d. Jan Sverak) ***
EMPTY NEST (El Nido Vacio) (d. Daniel Burman) *** 
EN LA CAMA (d. Matías Bize; Chile) *** 1/4
ENCARNATION (d. Anahi Berneri)  ** 1/4
ENCHANTED (d. Kevin Lima) Fun script, flaccid direction.  Too bad Julie Taymore didn't get a chance with this script.  ** 3/4
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (d. Werner Herzog) + Fascinating docu footage of Antarctica & modern scientific explorers.  *** 1/2
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD (d. Werner Herzog) Fascinating footage of Antarctica & modern scientific explorers.  *** 1/2
END OF LOVE, THE (d. Simon Chung; Hong Kong) Mediocre digital film: story of young gay hustler/druggie involved with Christian sect. Nicely acted. ** 1/2
END OF THE CENTURY (d. Fields & Gramaglia) V. The Ramone's were never my cuppa musicwise; but this informative, of uninspired docu about group digs deep.  ***
ENDURING LOVE (d. Roger Michell) Dynamite, kinetic opening leads to a story of divinely inspired romantic obsession. Daniel Craig is wonderful. *** 1/4
ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM (d. Alex Gibney) V.Well made docu about complexity, maybe not as informative as it might have been.*** 1/4
ENVY (d. Barry Levinson) It started ok, clever with some good yuks. Black & Stiller are a great comedy team & Walken rules; but the film totally falls apart in 3rd act. **
EPITAFIOS (d. Alberto Lecchi & Jorge Nisco) V. HBO miniseries à la SE7EN from Argentina. Literally the best tv series I've ever seen.  ****
ERAGON (d. Stefen Fangmeier) It's supposed to be bad; but try as I might I couldn't fail to enjoy it...nicely paced, good f/x.  ***
ERES MI HEROE (d. Antonio Cuadri) Excellent coming of age story of 13 year old boy during the death of Franco era.  Manuel Lozano is great as the kid.  *** 1/2
ESCAPE, THE (d. Kathrine Windfeld) ***
ÉTÉ SANS POINT NI COUP SUR, UN (A No-hit, No-run Summer) (d. Francis Leclerc)  ** 3/4
ETERNAL SUMMER (d. Leste Chen and Patrick Mao Huang) * 3/4
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (d. Michel Gondry) Writing, acting, directing, f/x tour de force; also an affecting love story.  ****
ETHAN MAO (d. Quentin Lee) Involving drama in the Araki mode of a Gay Asian boy kicked out of home into life of street hustler.  ** 3/4
EUGENE (d.Jake Barsha) * 3/4
EULOGY (d. Michael Clancy) A screwball family comedy with an outstanding cast, entertaining, but a ridiculous script and only intermittently funny.  ** 1/4
EUPHORIA (Ejfroija) (d. Ivan Vyrypaev) ** 1/2
EVAN ALMIGHTY (d. Tom Shadyac) Good f/x money shot; but that's about it for this bloated, unfunny "comedy".  **
EVENING (d. Lajos Koltai) *** 1/2
EVENT, THE   (Canada  d. Thom Fitzgerald) Emotionally shattering AIDS drama about a sick man whose friends throw an assisted suicide party  *** 1/4
EVERGREEN (d. Edid Zentelis) A low-budget Seattle HD video/film about a lower class girl who is ahamed of her family. Good acting. ** 1/4
EVERLASTING MOMENTS (d. Jan Troell; Sweden) ***
EVERY LITTLE STEP (d. James Stern & Adam Del Deo) Superb meta-docu (film about trying out for a musical about trying out). Riveting & emotional. *** 3/4
EVERY OTHER WEEK (d. various) ** 3/4
EVERYDAY PEOPLE  (d. Jim McKay) Pleasant enought HBO tv movie about a Brooklyn deli and the consequences of its closing.  ** 3/4
EVERYONE ELSE (d. Maren Ade) *** 1/4
EVERYTHING IS FINE (d. Yves Fournier) ***
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (d. Liev Schreiber)  ** 1/2
EVERYTHING STRANGE AND NEW (d. Frazer Bradshaw) ***
EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN (d. Paul Fox) ** 3/4
EVIL (d. Maiael Hafström) A 50's Swedish boarding school's sadistic system and its affect on a rebellious kid. A cross of If and Rebel Without a Cause. *** 1/2
EVIL (Ondskan) (d. Mikael Håfström) V. + One of the best depictions of boarding school sadism ever filmed. *** 1/2
EX DRUMMER (d. Koen Mortier)  * 1/4                 
EX, THE (Jesse Peretz) Unfunny comedy. Braff and Bateman are worth admission; but the plot has holes & doesn't hold together.  **
EXILED (d. Johnny To) ** 1/4
EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, THE (d. Scott Derrickson)  ** 3/4
EXPIRATION DATE (d. Rick Stevenson) ***
EXPIRED (d. Cecilia Miniucchi) ** 1/2
EXPLICIT ILLS (d. Mark Webber) Somewhat muddled continuity, but a quite moving anti-poverty drama with some memorable perfs.  ***
EXPLODING GIRL, THE (d. Bradley Rust Gray) *** 1/4
EXTREME OPS (d. Christian Duguay)V. Silly, unlikely action film: extreme sports vs.Serbian terrorists. Good cast (Devon Sawa, Rupert Graves, Rufus Sewell) wasted.  ** 1/4
EYE, THE  (Thailand  d. Danny & Oxide Pang) Horror film, not especially scary, blind woman cured with a corneal transplant who sees dead people. ** 1/2
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.  ***
FATHER, A SON, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, A  (d. Lee Grant) V. Insider docu about Kirk and Michael Douglas, interesting but not great.  ** 3/4
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
FLOWER OF EVIL, THE  (d. Claude Chabrol) Skewering the haut bourgeoisie, a winner. Magimel is sexiest actor alive and Suzanne Flon magnificent! *** 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) ***
FUNNY PEOPLE (Judd Apatow) Well written & acted dramedy; could have benefited from tightening, but much genius is on display here.  *** 1/2
FUSE (d. Pjer Zalica) A confusing, but effective satire about post-war reconciliation in Bosnia.  ** 3/4
GABRIELLE (d. Patrice Chéreau) Edwardian film of manners; pretty, talky and boring with good perfs by Isabelle Huppert & Pascal Greggory. **
GAGARIN'S GRANDSON (d. Andrey Panin) ** 1/2
GAMBLER (d. Phie Ambo) ** 1/2
GAMES OF LOVE & CHANCE  (d. Abdellatalfi Kechiche) Teenagers in the projects in Paris, variation of Romeo & Juliet...talkiy but fun.  ** 3/4
GARAGE (d. Lenny Abrahamson) ***
GARAGE DAYS (d. Alex Proyas) Familiar rock film about a garage band trying to get established in Australia. Sometimes clever direction, clichéd. ** 1/4
GARBAGE DREAMS (d. Mai Iskander) ** 3/4
GARÇON STUPIDE (d. Lionel Baier) ** 1/2
GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS, THE  (d. Vittorio De Sica) V. Gorgeous, subtle, inscrutable. Jews in facist Italy, more thwarted love than political.  ***
GARDEN PARTY (d. Jason Freeland) ***
GARDEN STATE (d. Zach Braff) Likable young man comes home to N.J. when his mother dies and finds himself. Inventive details, I just like this film.  ***
GARDEN, THE (d. Scott Hamilton Kennedy) Infuriating docu about a disputed S. Central L.A. parcel of land which is political dynamite. *** 1/2
GARPASTUM (d. Alexey Guerman) ***
GAY HOLLYWOOD  (d. Jeremy Simmons) V. Doc. notable since I'm acquainted with 2 of the subjects. Dustin Lance Black is a personal fave.  ** 3/4
GAY LIVES (short program, various directors) (average:  ** 1/2)
GAY SHORTS (d. various) 6 quite ordinary to poor gay short films.  Only "Postmortem" and "Just Pray" were worth watching.   **
GEBIRTIG (d. Lukas Stepanik, Robert Schindel) Austria AFF.  Drama about present day Holocaust participants.  ** 1/2
GEMINIS (d. Albertina Carri) ** 3/4
GENERAL, EL (d. Natalia Almada) * 3/4
GENOVA (d. Michael Winterbottom) ***
GEORGE MICHAEL - A DIFFERENT STORY (d. Southan Morris) *** 1/4
GERRY (d. Gus Van Sant) Boring existential drama about 2 dumb guys metaphysically lost in the desert.  Great steady-cam.  **
GETTING HOME (Luo ye gui gen) (d. Zhang Yang) *** 1/4
GHOSTS OF CITÉ SOLEIL (d. Leth & Loncarivic) V. Scattered docu; a Haitian City of God. Rappers in the slums get screwed. ***
GIE (d. Rira Riza) ** 3/4
GIFT TO STALIN, THE  (d. Rustem Abdrashev) *** 1/2
GIFT, THE  (US doc. d. Louise Hogarth)  Important documentary about some gays, especially the young, who purposely contract HIV.  *** 1/2
GIGLI  (d. Martin Brest) An embarrassing film for all, especially Affleck and Brest. Tacky, squicky, homophobic; but Justin Bartha a find.  1/2*
GIGOLOS, THE (d. Richard Bracewell) ** 1/2
GIRL BY THE LAKE, THE (La Ragazza del Lago) (d. Andrea Molaioli) ** 1/2
GIRL CUT IN TWO, A (La fille coupée en deux) (d. Claude Chabrol) ***
GIRL FROM MONACO, THE  (La fille de Monaco) (d. Anne Fontaine) ** 1/4
GIRL FROM PARIS, THE (France d. Christian Carion) +  Lovely movie about a woman who forsakes the city and buys and runs a mountain farm.  *** 1/2
GIRL IN THE CAFÉ, THE (d. David Yates)V. Bill Nighy is great as a financial dweeb. But simplistic politics sink this Richard Curtis written romance. ** 1/4
GIRL IN THE PARK, THE (d. David Auburn) *** 1/4
GIRL IS MINE, THE (d. Virginie Wagon) ***
GIRL NEXT DOOR, THE (d. Luke Greenfield) I expect to like it; but instead I was offended by the ridiculous plot, though Olyphant and Hirsch were good. * 3/4
GIRL ON THE TRAIN, THE (La fille du RER) (d. André Téchiné) *** 1/4
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (d. Peter Webber) Cinematography worthy of Vermeer; but the film's story was like watching paint dry. **
GITS, THE (d. Kerri O'Kane) Compelling counterpoint to Malfunkshun, a docu about a Seattle punker lead singer who was raped & murdered. ***
GIVE ME YOUR HAND (d. Pascal-Alex Vincent) ***
GIVING IT UP (d. Frank Ruy) ***
GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (d. Scott Hicks) Inherently intersting if overlong docu about composer. ***
GLI INDESIDERABILI (d. Pasquale Scimeca) Confusing gangster film. Desires to be Once Upon a Time in America and fails utterly. Vincent Gallo OK * 1/4
GLORY ROAD (d. James Gartner) Solid, typical sport docudrama with great Josh Lucas perf, raised 1/4 star by the real-life end credit interviews.  *** 1/4
GLUE  (d. Alexis Dos Santos) ** 1/2
GO FURTHER (d. Ron Mann) Entertaining doc. about Woody Harrelson emulating Kesey's Prankster bus in a trip & bike ride for the environment.  ** 3/4
GO WEST (d. Ahmed Imamovic) ***
GOAL II:  LIVING THE DREAM (d. Jaume Collet-Serra) I'm not into soccer; but this is one sports film which satisfies. Kuno Becker!, Nivola, Hauer, Dillane, great f/x. ***
GOAL! THE DREAM BEGINS (d. Danny Cannon) Totally clichéd, predictable script; but damn, this film rocked my world. Kuno Becker!  ** 3/4
GODS AND GENERALS (d. Ronald Maxwell) Civil War epic, centered on Stonewall Jackson.  Well made; but not as good as Gettysburg..  ** 3/4
GODSEND (d. Nick Hamm) Almost a good film, sort of a secular Omen, effectively and darkly shot, directed & acted.  But can't surmount its ridiculous premise. **
GO-GETTER, THE (d. Martin Hynes) V.  Typical indie road flick, but a good vehicle for Lou Taylor Pucci.  ** 1/2
GOING THRU SPLAT: STEWART STERN (d. Jon Ward) Conventional docu about embittered ex-film screenwriter, only occasionally interesting.  ** 1/4
GOLDEN COMPASS, THE (d. Chris Weitz) Great f/x, muddled script.  **
GOLDEN DOOR, THE (d. Emanuele Crialese; Italy) ***
GOMORRA (d. Matteo Garrone; Italy) ** 3/4
GONE BABY GONE (d. Ben Affleck) Nicely directed.  Story too  far-fetched; but Casey Affleck especially fine. *** 1/4
GONE WITH THE WOMAN (d. Peter Naess) Norway Academy foreign film submission ***
GONZO:  THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON (d. Alex Gibney) *** 1/2
GOOD (d. Vicente Amorim) A misguided but fairly involving Holocaust film about a "good" German SS man & his Jewish buddy. ** 1/2
GOOD BOY! (d. John Robert Hoffman) A sweet and inoccuous kids film, with some tacky effects, but mostly successful on the level it was intended.  ***
GOOD BOYS (d. Yair Hochner)  * 3/4
GOOD BYE, LENIN! (d. Wolfgang Becker) A political satire about the Wall and German unification which is amusing and affecting. *** 1/4
GOOD FOOD (d. Melissa Young & Mark Dworkin) **
GOOD GERMAN, THE (d. Steven Soderbergh) Glorious B&W cinematography doesn't disguise ambiguous plot & lack of involvement. ** 1/2
GOOD LAWYER’S WIFE, A (Im Sang-soo) Very sexy drama about the corrosive effects of marital infidelity by a lawyer & his wife.  ***
GOOD MORNING, NIGHT (d. Marco Bellocchio) Impressionist docudrama of Aldo Moro kidnapping. Talky & political.  ** 3/4\
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (d. George Clooney)  *** 1/2
GOOD NIGHT TO DIE, A  (d. Craig Singer) Arty,  ironic thriller about 2 hit men and their destiny.  Good cast, but pretentious.  * 3/4
GOOD NIGHT, THE (d. Jake Paltrow) Totally forgettable story about a shlub who lives a vivid dream life.  **
GOOD SHEPHERD, THE (d. Robert De Niro) Absorbing, well achieved CIA story, but Matt Damon seems too young & callow for role.  ***
GOOD SON, THE (d. Joseph Rubin)V. Elija Wood, great kid actor...Culkin ok.  Convincing film, except for unlikely ending.  ** 3/4
GOOD THIEF, THE  (d. Neil Jordan) Based on Bob le flambeur which was infinitely better.  Atmospheric caper film with large holes.  * 3/4
GOOD YEAR, A (d. Ridley Scott) The French do this sort of romantic comedy of terroir much better (e.g. Rohmer's Autumn Tale).  ** 1/2
GOOD YEAR, A (d. Ridley Scott) V.+ Minor Scott film; but Provence and Russell Crowe are lovely.  ** 3/4
GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (d. Sergio Leone) 195 min. extended version is *long*, but visual feast; Eli Wallach steals the film. *** 1/2
GOODBYE DRAGON INN (d. Tsai Ming-Liang) Weirdly paced allegory? ghost story? shaggy dog story? Tsai's most formal exercise in boredom as style.  ***
GOODBYE MOTHERS (d. Mohammed Ismail; Morocco) ** 3/4
GOOSE FEATHER (d. Ljubisa Samardzic; Serbia) Psychologically iffy, soapy melodrama about a peasant who loves one woman but marries another rich one. ** 1/4
GOTHIKA (d. Mathieu Kassovitz) Kassovitz stories tend towards supernatural claptrap. Excellent acting & direction overcome ridiculous plot.  ***
GOYA'S GHOST (d. Milos Forman) ***
GRACE IS GONE (d. James Strause) Subtle, well crafted & acted (especially the girls): mom killed in war.  *** 1/4
GRAFFITI ARTIST, THE (d. James Bolton)  Slow, hypnotic digital video about a young, gay graffiti artist who befriends another boy & tags the NW. ***
GRAN GATO, EL (d. Ventura Pons) Doc. about songwriter in vein of Shadow of Motown & Buena Vista Club.  Good music.  ***
GRAN TORINO (d. Clint Eastwood) The gran curmudgeon as sassy as ever.  Neatly plotted if a tad obvious.  ***
GRAND VOYAGE, LE (d. Ismael Ferroukhi) Involving, picturesque road pic of father & son driving Paris to Mecca. ***
GRANDE ÉCOLE (d. Robert Salis)V. Empassioned film about young people's sexual obsessions. Arty bi-sexual frontal nudity a plus. ** 3/4
GRAVE DECISIONS (d. Marcus H. Rosenmüller) ** 1/2
GRAVEHOPPING (d. Jan Cvitkovic) **
GRBAVICA (d. Jasmila Zbanic; Bosnia & Herzegovina) *** 1/4
GREAT BUCK HOWARD, THE (d. Sean McGinly) ** 3/4
GREAT DEBATERS, THE (d. Denzel Washington) Better than I expected. Predictable, but moving.  ***
GREAT NEW WONDERFUL, THE (d. Danny Leiner) 5 post-9/11 NY stories of ordinary people in search of meaning.  ** 1/2
GREAT RAID, THE (d. John Dahl) ***
GREAT WATER (d. Ivo Trajkov) Nicely directed and acted drama about a dying Macedonian politician recalling his youth. ***
GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED, THE (d. Bill Paxton)  ***
GREEN BUTCHERS, THE (d. Anders Jensen)  Dutch black comedy about a couple of losers who make a macabre go of a new butcher shop.  ** 3/4
GREEN HAT (d. Liu Fendou) Quirky dramedy about 3 inep bankrobbers & a cuckolded cop with marital impotence. Amusing, but confusing, script.  * 3/4
GRID, THE (d. Mikael Salomon)V. Mini-series about a multi-national war on terrorism involving the CIA, NSC, FBI, MI-5 & MI-6. Gripping, with some fine performances. ***
GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX  (d. Ed Stone) **
GRIMM LOVE (d. Martin Weisz) ** 1/2
GRIZZLY MAN (d. Warner Herzog) *** 1/2
GROCER'S SON, THE (Le Fils de l'épicier) (d. Eric Guirado) *** 1/4
GRÖNHOLM METHOD, THE (El Metodo Grönholm) (d. Marcelo Piñero) ***
GROOMSMAN, THE (d. Edward Burns) *** 1/4
GROUND TRUTH, THE (d. Patricia Foulkrod) V. Docu of plight of returning Iraq vets. More than I wanted to know, but vital.  *** 1/4
GROWN UPS (Les grandes personnes) (d. Anna Novion) ** 1/4
GUARDIAN, THE (d. Andrew Davis) Nicely scripted action flick; both Costner & Kutcher are fine. Storm f/x top of line. ***
GUARDIAN'S SON (d. Dimitis Koutsiabassakos) ** 3/4
GUESS WHO (d. Kevin Sullivan) Unfunny, borderline offensive...but Ashton Kucher actually desplays some talent for timing & star quality.  ** 1/2
GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS, A (d. Dito Monteil) V.+ Great cast, life as art.  *** 1/4
GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS, A (d. Dito Montiel) Truish life Mean Streets.  Great cast, indie at its best.  *** 1/2
GUILTY, THE (d. Anthony Waller)V. Totally contrived murder mystery thriller with a good cast, Bill Pullman and Devon Sawa especially.  ** 1/2
GUYS, THE (d. Jim Simpson) An emotional, talky film about FDNY coping with 9/11. Anthony LaPaglia great, Sigorney Weaver also pretty good.  ** 1/2
GYPSY CARAVAN (d. Jasmine Dellal) ***
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 AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN #3 (d. Alfonso Cuarón) Darker, better directed; but still relatively uninvolving. Maybe I should read the books.  ** 1/2
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX #5 (d. David Yates) *** 1/4
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE #4 (d. Mike Newell) ***
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE  #6 (d. David Yates) Series marking time; but excellent script and f/x make it worthwhile.  *** 1/4
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
I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A SAINT (d. Geneviève Mersch) Luxembourg AFF (though Belgian), about disfunctional family from the pov of the daughter. ***
I AM (d. Dorota Kedzierzawska) *** 1/4
I AM DAVID (d. Paul Feig) V. Moving, if fairly pat, story of boy who escapes from Bulgarian camp in '52.  ***
I AM LEGEND (d. Francis Lawrence) Too similar to 28 Days Later; but effective filmmaking, fine f/x.  ***
I CAPTURE THE CASTLE  (United Kingdom  d. Tim Fywell) Three hankey weeper, British upper class period romance better than most.  *** 1/4
I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE (d. Tsai Ming-liang) ** 1/2
I IMAGINE A DREAM LIKE THAT (Pense che un sogno cosi) (d. Marco De Luca) ** 1/2
I JUST DIDN'T DO IT (d. Masayuki Suo) Japan Academy foreign film submission *** 1/2
I KNOW YOU KNOW (d. Justin Kerrigan) ***
I LOVE CINEMA (d. Osamma Fawzy) Egypt AFF. Annoying comedy about a kid raised in a raucus Coptic Christian family in 1966.  * 3/4
I LOVE YOU BETH COOPER (d. Chris Columbus) Horrible teen nerd+cheerleader comedy. Jack Carpenter as gay best friend can't redeem it. *
I LOVE YOU, MAN (d. John Hamburg) Great to see an endearing, straight male bonding flick not based on homo panic!  Rudd & Segal are wonderful.  *** 1/4
I MURDER SERIOUSLY  (Mex.  d. Antonio Urrutia)  Off kilter serial killer film, midnight movie fare.  W/O
I NOT STUPID  (Singapore d. Jack Neo) Raucus, amusing comedy about 3 educationally challenged kids in a Singapore school & their zany parents.  ** 1/2
I REALLY HATE MY JOB (d. Oliver Parker) * 3/4
I REMEMBER (d. Edgard Nevarro) **
I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND (d. Jiri Menzel; Czech Republic) *** 1/4
I WAS HERE (d. René Vilbre; Estonia) ***
I  ♥  HUCKABEES (d. David O. Russell) Who green lighted this script? Russell's style and his fine cast can't overcome the silly, pseudo profound script.  **
I, ROBOT (d. Alex Proyas) Surprisingly good adaptation of Asimov, though also filled with cheesy movie clichés and some ragged CGI f/x.  ** 1/2
I.O.U.S.A. (d. Patrick Creadon) Very well made pov docu about the crushing future economic deficits facing the U.S.  Nobody wants to hear this, but everybody should.  *** 1/2
ICE AGE THE MELTDOWN (d. Carlos Saldanha) Funny, silly, watchable 3-D animated Road-Runnerish film. ** 3/4
ICE AGE  (d. Chris Wedge)  DVD. Animated film, road trip with Mammoth, Sabre Tooth, Sloth & Neanderthal baby  ** 1/2
ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (d. Carlos Saldanha) Nice 3-D animation...but boring, clichéd and not up to previous.  * 3/4
ICE CREAM, I SCREAM (d. Yüksel Aksu; Turkey)  * 1/4
ICE HARVEST, THE (d. Harold Ramis)  * 3/4
ICE PRINCESS (d. Tim Fywell) Another tired teen flick about a girl's struggle against her good mother & bad mother. Nice skating.  **
ICEBERG (d. Abel, Gordon & Romy) ** 1/2
IDENTITY (d. James Mangold) Stifling psycho thriller which holds together pretty well, considering it's pure claptrap. Figured it out too early. ** 1/2
IDIOCRACY (d. Mike Judge) Intriguing, clever set-up, well written; ok f/x; just sort of boring and disappointing.  ** 1/4
IDIOT LOVE (Amor Idiota) (d. Ventura Pons) *** 1/4
IDLEWILD (d. Bryan Barber) Annoying, overly stylish film with lousy songs by Outkast...but Big Boi can act.  **
IF I HAD YOU (d. John Deery) V.  Underplayed English murder mystery with triple whammy.  Nice script.  ***
IL DIVO  (d. Paolo Sorrentino) ** 3/4
I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD (d. Mike Hodges) Atmospheric Brit revenge thriller. Works despite disappointingly abrupt ending.  ***
ILLUSION OF FEAR, THE (d. Aleksandr Kirienko; Ukraine) * 3/4
ILLUSIONIST, THE (d. Neil Burger) ***
I'M FROM TITOV VELES (d. Teona Mitevska; Macedonia) **
I'M NOT SCARED (d. Gabriele Salvatores) 10 year Sicilian boy makes friends with victim of his village's kidnapping plot. Beautiful & well acted.  ***
I'M NOT THERE (d. Todd Haynes) Fascinating, but completely inscrutable, just like most of Dylan's songs for me. ***
I'M TARANEH, 15 (d. Rassul Sadr-Ameli) Iran AFF.  "Good" young girl gets in  trouble in modern Iran.  ***
I'M THE FATHER  (Germany  d. Dani Levi)  A German Kramer vs. Kramer, which ultimately worked for me, though it sometimes flagged.  ***
I'M THE KING OF THE CASTLE (d. Régis Wargnier) Gothic thriller cum Lord of the Flies with some remarkably naturalistic acting by 2 French kids. *** 1/2
IMAGINARY HEROES (d. Dan Harris) Fabulous script, an enthralling & moving disfunctional family black comedy with an awesome ensemble cast.   *** 3/4
IMAGINARY HEROES (d. Dan Harris) V.+ 2nd time around some of the acting & direction came off stilted. Still, great script and a moving very realistic drama. *** 1/2
IMPULSOS (d. Miguel Alcantud) Thriller about a Ted Bundy type of serial killer who meet his match with a suicidal woman.  ** 3/4
IN A DREAM (d. Jeremiah Zagar) Raw nerve of a docu about Phila mosaic artist Isiah Zagar & his wife by the 2nd son. Fascinating but difficult. ***
IN AMERICA (d. Jim Sheridan) Tender weeper which earns tears honestly with flawless performances & heartfelt script. A near perfect little gem. *** 1/2
IN BRUGES (d. Martin Mcdonagh) Witty, terrific black comedy thriller with Colin Farrell's best perf.  *** 1/2
IN GOOD COMPANY (d. Paul Weitz) Clever office comedy with Dennis Quaid's best performance in years & a charming Topher Grace.  It really worked for me.  *** 1/4
IN GOOD COMPANY (d. Paul Weitz) V.+ Watched this well written & acted comedy again, and appreciated Scarlett Johanson more this time. Good ensemble. *** 1/4
IN HER SHOES (d. Curtis Hanson) ** 3/4
IN HIS HANDS(d. Anne Fontaine) ** 1/2                                         
IN JULY  (Germany  d.  Fairth Akin)  Delightful road film.  ***
IN MEMORY OF MYSELF (d. Saverio Costanzo) ** 3/4
IN MY COUNTRY (d. John Boorman) Earnest, but sporadically affecting film about reporting on the S. African reconciliation trials.  ** 1/2
IN MY FATHER'S DEN (d. Brad McGann) Involving, complex New Zealand drama with a superb Matthew MacFadyen performance.  *** 1/4
IN SEACH OF KENNEDY (d. Chuck Workman) * 1/2
IN THE ARMS OF MY ENEMY (d. Micha Wald) ***
IN THE CITY (d. Cesc Gay) 3 couples explore variations of marital infidelity in modern Barcelona. Mostly boring, til it clicked after an hour. ** 3/4
IN THE CUT (d. Jane Campion) Stylish, creepy, sexy, edge of seat thriller.  Meg Ryan is Oscar-worthy, Ruffalo miscast, but fine.  *** 1/4
IN THE HELIOPOLIS FLAT (d. Mohamed Khan; Egypt) ** 1/4
IN THE LAND OF WOMEN (d. Jon Kasdan) Brody is legitimate leading man. Ryan impressive. Fine debut by young Kasdan. *** 1/4
IN THE LOOP (d. Armando Iannucci) ***
IN THE REALM OF THE UNREAL (d. Jessica Yu) Docu with weird, unsavory subject matter but interesting art and fine animation. I just didn't enjoy the experience.  **
IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (d. David Sington) ***1/4
IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (d. Paul Haggis) Strong perfs, especially Tommy Lee Jones. Resonant script. *** 1/4
IN THIS WORLD  (d. Michael Winterbottom) Quasi-documentary style film about 2 refugees trip from Pakistan to England. I wasn't engaged enough.  ** 3/4
IN YOUR ABSENCE  (d. Iván Noel) ***
INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS (d. Zak Penn) Amusing, slick mockumentary in the Charlie Kaufmanesque mode. ***
INCONVENIENT TRUTH, AN (d. Davis Guggenheim) V. More than a slide show, America's fall happened in Nov. 2000.  *** 3/4
INCREDIBLE HULK, THE (d. Louis Leterrier) King Kong meets Godzilla except they're people.  Good f/x, Norton fine, film flawed.  ** 1/4
INCREDIBLES, THE (d. Brad Bird) V. I guess I'm just not into Bird's genre of animated film. Well made, but overly obvious.  ** 1/2
INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (d. Steven Spielberg) Great f/x can't mask stupid escapist fantasy story. ** 1/4
INFAMOUS (d. Douglas McGrath) V. Better in every particular than Capote. Stunning acting by Jones & Craig. *** 1/2
INFERNAL AFFAIRS #1  (d. Andrew Lau) + Thriller that is only slightly clearer watching it a 2nd time.  Still rivitingly fascinating. *** 1/4
INFERNAL AFFAIRS #2  (d. Andrew Lau) A prequel to the initial film which does explain some of the backstory.  Still confusing, but entertaining. ** 3/4
INFERNAL AFFAIRS #3  (d. Andrew Lau) An expansion of the first film, fleshing out some of the events and going a little haywire psychologically.  ** 1/2
INFERNAL AFFAIRS  (Hong Kong  d. Andrew Lau, Alan Mak) High production value policier about long-term moles infiltrating an evil gang.  *** 1/4
INFORMERS, THE (d. Gregor Jordan) Glossy, trashy film based on Bret Easton Ellis depraved L.A. novel. More meandering than Crash. Nobody wins.  * 1/2
INHERITANCE  (d. Per Fly) Heavy, well made drama about scion of a steel factory owning family and his choice between business and happiness.  *** 1/4
INHERITANCE: A FISHERMAN'S STORY (d. Peter Hegedus) V. Australian doc about an ecologic disaster in Hungary. Well put together, somewhat slight. ** 3/4
INJU, LA BÊTE DANS L'OMBRES (Inju, the Beast in the Shadow) (d. Barbet Schroeder) ** 3/4
INNOCENT VOICES (d. Luis Mandoki) El Salvador guerilla war from pov of 11 year old boy in a small village. Shattering, powerful, excellent film.  *** 1/2
INSIDE MAN (d. Spike Lee) Close to perfect bank heist film: original, unpredictable, involving. Clive Owens...wow!  *** 1/2
INTERMISSION (d. John Crowley) Unsparing Irish film which might be called Hate Actually. Good acting, inventive script.  ***
INTERNATIONAL, THE (d. Tom Tykwer) Competent,  disappointingly concluded thriller with 1 great shoot-out at the Guggenheim Museum, NY. ** 3/4
INTERPRETER, THE (d. Sidney Pollack) Disappointing thriller pastiche (Man Who Knew Too Much + 3 Days of Condor). Star power aint enough. **
INTERVIEW (d. Steve Buscemi) ***
INTIMATE ENEMIES (L'ennemi intime) (d. Florent-Emilio Siri) *** 1/4
INTIMATE STRANGERS (d. Patrice Leconte) Talky, if nicely written 2-character unconventional love story. Too one-note and buttoned-up for my taste. ** 3.4
INTO THE WILD (d. Sean Penn) I've been haunted by this story of a young man's spiritual journey. *** 1/2
INTOLERABLE CRUELTY (d. Joel Coen)  The usual Coen Bros. hipster triumph of style over substance, only much too cynical for my tastes.  ** 1/2
INTOUCHABLE, L'  (d. Benôit Jacquot) ***
INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS (Cherie Nowlan) ***
INVESTIGATION (d. Iglika Trifonova) ***
INVINCIBLE (d. Ericson Core) Fun football true story.  Mark Wahlberg is fine as Vince Papale. Well made, moving.  *** 1/4
INVISIBLE CHILDREN, THE (d. Lisandro Duque Naranjo) Columbia AFF.  Nostalgic comedy about boys & black magic.  ** 1/2
INVISIBLE WAVES (d. Pen-ek Ratanaruang) ** 1/2
INVISIBLE, THE (d. David Goyer) Ridiculous plot, guilty pleasure...I like Justin Chatwin, so sue me.  ** 1/4
INVOLUNTARY (d. Ruben östlund) ***
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS (d. James Langley) V. 3 part docu about today's Iraq. Beautifully shot, difficult to follow.  ** 1/2
IRINA PALM (d. Sam Garbarski) ***
IRISH EYES (d. Daniel McCarthy) Daniel Baldwin vehicle...he's a Boston Irish gangster. But it wasn't holding my interest, though it wasn't all that bad.  W/O
IRON JAWED ANGELS (d. Katja von Garnier) V. Sufferagette biopic about fight for 19th Amendment. Good cast, clichéd filmmaking.  ** 1/4
IRON MAN (d. Jon Favreau) Smart, with good script & a great perf by Downey's mature & sarcastic superhero. *** 1/4
IRREVERSIBLE (d. Gaspar Noe)  Assault by celluloid?  Or masterpiece of modern cinema.  I'm firmly in the latter camp.  ****
IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? (d. John Crowley)  *** 1/4
ISKA'S JOURNEY (Iszka Utazása) (d. Csaba Bollók) ** 1/2
ISLAND ETUDE (d. Huai-en Chen; Taiwan) W/O
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, THE (De Fortabte Sjaeles O) (d. Nikolaj Arcel) ** 3/4
ISLAND, THE (d. Michael Bay) More plot holes than swiss cheese, shameful stealing from past films; but still a diverting mishmosh.  **
ISLAND, THE (d. Pavil Lounguine) ***
ISLAND, THE  (d. Sherif Arafa; Egypt) ** 3/4
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY (d. Robert Hamer, 1947) ** 1/2
IT DOESN'T HURT (Mne ne bolno) (d. Alexey Balabanov) **
IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY (d. Fred Schepisi) Unaccountably entertained by this schlocky piece of emotionally manipulative crap. Family star power.  **
ITALIAN JOB, THE  (d. F. Gary Gray) Caper thriller which works like gangbusters until it runs out of steam at the end.  ***
ITALIAN, THE (d. Andrey Kravchuk; Russia) *** 1/2
ITINÉRARIES (d. Christophe Otzenberger) *** 1/4
IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE (d. Thomas Vinterberg) Pretentious, opaque melodrama about a near future world catastrophy. Nobody comes out a winner here.  *
IT'S ALL GONE PETE TONG (d. Michael Dowse) Funny satirical mocumentary about a deaf disco DJ with a splendid central performance (Paul Kaye) ***
IT'S HARD TO BE NICE (d. Srdan Vuletic; Bosnia/Herzogovina) ***
IT'S NOT ME, I SWEAR! (d. Philippe Falardeau) ** 3/4
IT'S WINTER (d. Rafi Pitts (86 min.) **
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (d. Philippe Claudel) Superb, original & unpredictable family drama with towering perfs from Kristin Thomas & Elsa Zylberstein. *** 1/2
JACK (d. Lee Rose)V. Beautifully written coming of age story of 15 year old boy coming to terms with his father's gayness in 1982. Anton Yelchin is perfect.  *** 1/4
JACK SMITH & THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS (d. Mary Jordan) ** 1/4
JACKET, THE (d. John Maybury) Stylish timebending thriller which overcomes its unlikely premise with some fine acting.  Brody is wonderful. ***
JAGGED HARMONIES  (d. Dominique de Rivaz) Nicely done historical drama: J.S. Bach meets Frederick II.  ***
JAIL BREAKERS  (S. Korea d.  Kim Sang-jin)  Well made slapstick comedy about two jailbreakers who have to break back into prison.  ***
JAMES DEAN (d. Mark Rydell) V. + Superior 2001 TV movie biopic with spectacular perf. by James Franco. *** 3/4
JAMES DEAN: FOREVER YOUNG (d. Michael Sheridan) V. ** 1/2
JANE AUSTIN BOOK CLUB, THE (d. Robin Swicord) ** 3/4
JANI GAL (d. Jamil Rostami; Iraq) **
JANIS (d. Howard Ilk) V. + Filled with great footage of Janis Joplin, otherwise ordinary docu bio.  ** 3/4
JAPANESE STORY (d. Sue Brooks) Road movie which shifts from romance to some other place in the blink of an eye. Enjoyed ; but not much happens. ** 3/4
JAR CITY (Mýrin)(d. Baltasar Kormákur) *** 1/4                            
JARHEAD (d. Sam Mendes) *** 1/2
JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK (d. Kevin Smith) (V) Why? I knew it was crap; but I've seen everything else on tv tonight.  1/2*
JE PRÉFÈRE Q'ON RESTE AMIS (d. Tolidano & Nakache) Painful to watch buddy comedy about a shy guy & a heel looking for love in today's Paris.  ** 1/4
JEALOUSY IS MY MIDDLE NAME  (Korea  d.  Park Chan-Ok) Weird relationship drama about older man and younger man involved with the same women. ** 1/2
JELLYFISH (d. Etgar Keret, Shira Gefen) ** 3/4
JERICHOW (d. Christian Petzold) A German riff on The Postman Always Rings Twice, with a different twist.  Good atmosphere & acting.  ***
JERSEY GIRL (d. Kevin Smith) So kill me, I loved this film.  Sure it's sappy & Affleck is supposed to be washed up.  But it worked for me.  ***
JERUSALEMA (d. Ralph Ziman; South Africa) *** 1/4
JESUS CAMP (d. Ewing & Grady) V. Viscerally disturbing docu of kids that religious right are indoctrinating with Jesus. *** 1/4
JET LAG  (France  d. Daniele Thompson) Overblown romantic comedy about two people meeting frenetically at a closed De Gaulle airport.  **
JIMMY OF THE HILL (d. Enrico Pau) ** 1/2
JINDABYNE (d. Ray Lawrence) Intolerance Aussie style. Well directed & acted (esp. Laura Linney per usual).  *** 1/4
JOE LOUIS: AMERICA'S HERO BETRAYED (d. Joe Lavine) Excellent & moving docu with a point of view. *** 1/2
JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN (d. Julian Temple) Fabu music docu. I had no idea.  *** 1/2
JOHNNY BE GOOD (d. Bud Smith) V. Horrendous '88 teener Anthony Hall football movie. Watched to see early Robert Downey Jr. & Uma Thurman. Ugh.  1/2*
JOLENE (d. Dan Ireland) ***
JONESTOWN: THE LIFE & DEATH OF THE PEOPLE'S TEMPLE (d. Stanley Nelson) V. Horrendous footage; but I didn't end up with more understanding.  ** 3/4
JOSHUA (d. George Ratliff) *** 1/2
JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM (d. Ivan Nichev) Bulgaria AFF. Strong narrative about a gypsy troupe which adopts 2 Jewish refugee kids in 1940. ** 3/4
JOURNEY, THE (Yatra) (d. Goutam Ghosh) * 3/4
JOYEUX NOËL (d. Christian Carion;  France)  ***
JULIE WALKING HOME  (Canada/Germany/Poland  d. Agnieszka Holland) Riviting & involving film about a housewife & a Russian faith healer.  *** 14
JUMPER (d. Doug Liman) Curiously inert and truncated action thriller.  Only Jamie Bell has any life.  **
JUNEBUG  (d. Phil Morrison) Idiosyncratic No. Carolina family & the new in-law wife that visits. Suprisingly good script & great acting.  *** 1/4
JUNO (d. Jason Reitman) ** 1/4
JUST A FATHER (Solo un padre) (d. Luca Lucini) *** 1/4
JUST A QUESTION OF LOVE (d. Christian Fauré)V. ***
JUST BURIED (d. Chaz Thorne) ** 3/4
JUST LIKE HEAVEN (d. Mark Waters) ** 3/4
JUST LIKE HOME (Hjemve) (d. Lone Scherfig) ** 1/2
JUST MARRIED (d. Shawn Levy) V. Cookiecutter, predictable plot. Kutcher is an amiable comedian/romantic lead.  **
JUSTINE (d. George Cukor) V. Nicely mounted large-scale adaptation of the Alexandria Quartet, good cast but a mishmash of a script. ** 3/4
KABEI (d. Yôji Yamada) *** 3/4
KABLUEY (d. Scott Prendergast)  Amusing Woody Allenish comedy. Prendergast is an actor/writer/filmmaker to watch. ***
KAIFECK MURDER (d. Esther Gronenborn) ** 1/2
KAMATAKI (d. Claude Gagnon, Takako Miyahira) *** 1/4
KAMCHATKA (d. Marcelo Piñeyro) Argentina AFF.  Superb family drama about "The Disappeared" from the pov of a 10 year old. *** 3/4
KANCHIVARAM (d. Priyadarshan) ** 3/4
KARAMAZOVS, THE (d. Petr Zelenka; Czech Republic) ** 1/2
KARL ROVE I LOVE YOU (d. Butler & Leirness) Trenchant mocumentary, fun and just real enough to fool me for a while. ***
KATYN (d. Andrzej Wajda;  Poland) *** 1/2
KEKEXILI: MOUNTAIN PATROL (d. Lu Chuan) Vigilante group patrols Tibetian plains to catch antelope pelt poachers. Disturbing, gorgeous.  ***
KEN PARK (d. Larry Clark)V. The king of transgressive pedo-cinema is in fine form in this pornographic film of skater youths in extremis.  *** 1/4
KEPT AND DREAMLESS (d. Fogwill & Desalvo) 9 yr. old girl comes of age among poor Argentine extended family. Good characters but uninspired.  **
KEYS TO THE HOUSE, THE (d. Gianni Amelio) Quietly moving, beautifully made film of a father getting to know his 15 yr. old disabled son for the first time.  *** 1/2
KHAMSA (d. Karim Dridi) ** 3/4
KICKING IT (d. Susan Koch) Uplifting, if predictable docu about contestants at the 2006 Homeless World Cup soccer tournament in Capetown. ***
KID & I, THE  (d. Penelope Spheeris)  ** 3/4
KIKI & TIGER (d. Alan Gsponer) Boring, ugly DV about a straight Albanian illegally in Germany and the Serb closet case who loves him. * 1/2
KILL BILL - VOL. 2 (d. Quentin Tarantino) Unlike Vol. 1, this one has a real story to go with Terantino's obvious filmmaking genius.  ***
KILL BILL VOL. 1 (d. Quentin Tarantino) Stylized violence to no purpose. Looks great, but empty and boring...but then I'm no fan of the genre.  **
KILL ME TENDER  (d. Ramon de España) Another Spanish winner, a sexy, romantic black comedy, a gentle farce, well acted with a good script.  ***
KILL THEM ALL (d. Esteban Schroeder; Uruguay) ***
KILLER, THE (Le Tueur) (d. Cédric Anger) ** 3/4
KING AND CLOWN (d. Lee Jun-ik) *** 1/4
KING ARTHUR (d. Antoine Fuqua) Stirring mideval action film which takes the legend and gives reality to it. Great sequence on ice; but the rest is ordinary.  ** 3/4
KING KONG (d. Peter Jackson) ****
KING OF ANTS  (U.S.  d. Stuart Gordon)  Weird midnight movie type noir about young guy turned hired killer who wrecks revenge. Gruesome fun.  ***
KING OF FIRE (d. Chatrichalerm Yukol; Thailand) ***
KING OF KONG (d. Seth Gordon) ***
KING OF PING PONG (Ping Pong Kingen) (d. Jens Jonsson) ** 1/2
KING OF THE HILL (El Rey de la Montaña) (d. Gonzalo López-Gallego) *** 1/4
KING OF THIEVES (d. Ivan Fila) Energetic, splendid drama-2 Ukranian kids sold by father to Berlin circus & into life of thievery & prostitution. ***1/4
KING, THE (d. James Marsh) *** 1/4
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (d. Ridley Scott) Bloom is charismatic, if a trifle lightweight in this spectacular period epic which transports.  ***
KINGDOM, THE (d. Peter Berg) Berg's docudrama style works; but the film's script is problematical.  ** 3/4
KINGS & QUEEN (d. Arnaud Desplechin) Well acted drama with farcial overtones & plot holes: an extended family facing death, taxes & insanity.  *** 1/4
KINGS (d. Tom Collins) Ireland Academy foreign film submission ** 3/4
KING'S GAME (d. Nicolai Arcel) Beautifully constructed political thriller about high level Danish politics and a reporter caught in the middle.  *** 1/4
KINKY BOOTS (d. Julian Jerrold) Predictable, Full Montyish film about making boots for drag queens. Chiwetel Ejiofor fabu! ** 3/4
KINSEY (d. Bill Condon) Another groundbreaking biopic, this time about the polarizing sex researcher. Fine script, acting & direction (I love Peter Sarsgaard here).  *** 1/4
KISS KISS BANG BANG (d. Shane Black) **
KISS THE BRIDE (d. C. Jay Cox) **
KISSED BY WINTER (Vinterkyss)  (d. Sara Johnsen; Norway)  ***
KISSES (d. Lance Daly) *** 1/2
KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL (d. Patricia Rozema) Fine depiction of '30s Depression, kid's film with adult resonance.  ** 3/4
KITCHEN STORIES  (d. Bent Hamer) Minimalist, wry comedy about a '70s Swedish "scientific" study of single men's activities in the kitchen.  ** 3/4
KITE RUNNER, THE (d. Marc Forster) No big name stars; but boy what an emotional wallop.   *** 1/2
KITE, THE (d. Randa Chahal Sabbag) Lebanese AFF, bettersweet comedy about girl coming of age on Israel-Lebanon border.  ** 3/4
KNOCKED UP (d. Judd Apatow) *** 1/4
KNOT, THE (d. Li Yin) China Academy foreign film submission ***
KNOWING (d. Alex Proyas) Good f/x, great sound; but Proyas is no Spielberg.  Distubing plot which only fitfully holds water.  ** 1/2
KONTAKT (d. Sergej Stanojkovski; Macedonia) ** 3/4
KONTROLL (d. Nimród Antal) Hungarian AFF. Well shot but overly bleak and obscure allegory of hell in the Budapest subway. ** 1/2
KOPS (d. Josef Fares) Genuinely funny farce about a small town police force trying to avoid getting shut down for lack of crime. A big step up from Jalla Jalla.  ***
KRABAT (d. Marco Kreuzpaintner) *** 1/2
KRABAT (d. Marco Kreuzpaintner) + *** 1/2
KREUTZER SONATA, THE - WHAT IS LOVE? (Quale amore) (d. Maurizio Sciarra) *** 1/2
KUNG FU HUSTLE (d. Stephen Chow) People enjoy this?  Not me.  Of course I rooted for Willie Coyote against Roadrunner.  **
KUNG FU PANDA (d. Osborne & Stevenson) Fine opening dream animation; but rest of film is quite ordinary 3-D with silly story.  ** 1/2
KYLE (d. John Bradburn) 1/2*
L.A. PLAYS ITSELF (d. Thom Anderson) V. Fascinating docu of clips from movies about L.A. Anderson's droning, but brilliant narration is key.  *** 1/2
LA ARDILLA ROJA (d. Julio Medem 1993)  Romantic thriller about a man's fascination with an amnesiac woman.  ***
LA CAJA 507 (d. Enrique Urbizu)  Thriller about a meek bank director who gets involved in a huge Mafia inspired international conspiracy.  ** 3/4
LA FRANCE (d. Serge Bozon) ** 1/2
LA LEÓN (d. Santiago Otheguy) * 1/2
LA NOVIA DE LAZARO (d. Fernando Merinero)  Life and loves among the Cuban immegrants in Madrid.  ** 3/4
LA VIRGEN DE LA LUJURIA (d. Arturo Ripstein) Arty snoozefest centered about a waiter in a '30s Mexican cafe and his sexual obsessions.  *
LABYRINTH  (d. Miroslav Lekic)  Yugoslavia AFF.  Enigmatic political allegory mystery.  ** 1/2
LADDER 49 (d. Jay Russell) Straightforward feelgood drama about firefighters with a fine perf by Joaquim Phoenix and some great fire f/x.  ***
LADIES IN LAVENDER (d. Charles Dance) Well acted (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Brüel!) film about 2 old maids & the boy who drops in. ** 3/4
LADY CHATTERLEY (d. Pascale Ferran) A very French take of smoldering love in upper class Britain, a heterosexual Maurice. *** 1/4
LADY EVE, THE (d. Preston Sturges)V. Romantic comedy old style. The abrupt ending breaks the spell of a good Stanwyck-Fonda pairing.  ** 3/4
LADY IN THE WATER (d. M. Night Shyamalan) Boring, simplistic "bedtime story".  Giamatti excellent.  **
LADY JANE (d. Robert Guédiguian) ***
LAILA'S BIRTHDAY (d. Rashid Masharawi) ** 1/2
LAKAWANNA BLUES (d. George Wolfe) Epatha Merkerson should win an Emmy for this marvellous HBO tv movie of life among blacks in a small NY town. *** 1/4
LAKE HOUSE, THE (d. Alejandro Agresti) Unabashed timebinding romance with too many paradoxes. Keanu Reeves surprises.  ***
LAKE OF FIRE (d. Tony Kaye) Long, fascinating, apparently neutral docu re abortion. Some hard to take shots! *** 1/4
LAKE TAHOE (d. Fernando Eimbcke) ** 3/4
LAKEVIEW TERRACE (d. Neil LaBute) Crash like dystopian view of L.A., Overwrought & unsettling, if effective filmmaking. Hit too close to home.  ** 3/4
LAKSHMI AND ME (d. Nishtha Jain) ** 1/4
LAND HAS EYES, THE (d. Vilsoni Hereniko; Fiji)  ** 1/2
LAND OF PLENTY (d. Wim Wenders) John Diehl is outstanding as a Viet vet obsessed by a mission to save the U.S. from terrorists.  ***
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (d. Craig Gillespie) *** 1/4
LAST CHANCE HARVEY (Joel Hopkins) Predictable, adult romantic comedy with fine acting. London has rarely looked better. ** 3/4
LAST DANCE  (d. Mirra Bank) (V)  Docu.  Pilobolus dance troupe collaborates with Maurice Sendak on Holocaust ballet.  ***
LAST DAY, THE (d. Rodolphe Marconi) Very French, very dreamlike film about a teenage boy's coming to understand the mystery of his family.  *** 1/2
LAST DAYS (d. Gus Van Sant) Slow meditative film about Kurt Cobain wandering to his death. Michael Pitt is fine; film is pretty.  ***
LAST GREAT WILDERNESS, THE (Great Britain  d. David Mackenzie)  Weird combo of road movie & horror show house.  ** 1/4
LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, THE (d. Kevin Macdonald)  Whitaker is superbly over the top; McAvoy is my boy. Strong film.  *** 1/4
LAST KING, THE (d. Joe Wright) Excellent tv mini-series about Charles II and his court.  Rufus Sewel was splendid, as was the production.  ***
LAST KISS, THE (d. Tony Goldwyn) Dispite iffy casting of leads, great adapted script - better than original Italian film!  *** 1/2
LAST LEGION, THE (d. Doug Lefler) ** 1/2
LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (d. Pen-ek Ratanaruang) Superb, absurdist film about suicidal, obsessive Japanese Yukasa who meets messy Thai B-girl. *** 1/2
LAST MIMZY, THE (d. Robert Shaye)V. Pleasant enough fantasy/sf, fine kid actors; not very meaty stuff.  ** 3/4
LAST MINUTE MOROCCO (d. Francesco Falaschi) ** 3/4
LAST MISTRESS, THE (Une vieille maîtress) (d. Catherine Breillat) *** 1/2
LAST MOGUL, THE  (d. Barry Avrich) Interesting docu about Lou Wasserman with great interviews but fatally marred by the worst mix I've ever heard.  **
LAST PULCINELLA, THE (L'ultimo Pulcinella) (d. Maurizio Scaparro) ** 1/2
LAST SAMURAI, THE (d. Edward Zwick) Zwick does it again, imbue an action flick with veracity & emotional truth.  Maybe Cruise's best role ever.  *** 1/4
LAST SCENE (d. Hideo Nakata)  Nostalgic, slow drama about an old man, once a successful leading man, returning to his last film acting job.  ** 1/2
LAST SHOT, THE (d. Jeff Nathanson) Occasionally funny comedy about FBI mob sting creating a fake movie. Alec Baldwin especially good.  ** 3/4
LAST STOP 174 (d. Bruno Barreto; Brazil) *** 3/4
LAST TRAIN, THE (d. Alexei A German) B&W bleak, brutal, boring Russian WWII film about a German doctor stuck in the winter retreat.  **
LAST TRAIN, THE (d. Diego Arsuaga) Uruguay AFF. Old codgers steal a steam locomotive to keep it in Uruaguay.  ** 3/4
LATE BLOOMERS (d. Bettina Oberli;  Switzerland) ** 1/4
LATTER DAYS (d. C.J. Cox) The perfect festival gay film, sexy, sweet, sentimental and realistic with some star-making performances.  *** 1/4
L'AUBERGE ESPAGNOLE  (France-Spain  d. Cedfric Klapisch) Crowd pleasing comedy about a young Frenchman's defining school year in Barcelona.  ***
LAUREL CANYON (d. Lisa Cholodenko) Hi-jinx up the block from me.  Dialog so real, acting so spot on, I loved it more than it deserved.  *** 1/4
LAW OF DESIRE (Pedro Almodóvar) V. +7 The romantic gay melodrama that first defined the genre.  *** 1/2
LAWS OF ATTRACTION (d. Peter Howitt) Hideously bad, predictable screwball romantic comedy. Cast chemistry can't save flat direction. Ugh. * 1/4
LAYER CAKE (d. Matthew Vaughn) Stylish Brit noir à la Guy Richie, only better. Daniel Craig wonderful as a smart drug dealer. *** 1/4
LE CIRCLE ROUGE  (d. Jean-Pierre Melville) 1970 noir, typical Melville which means lean and taut.  Montand & Delon great.  *** 1/4
LE DIVORCE  (d. James Ivory) Something between glowing romantic comedy and lame farce re: culture clash between France & America. Guilty pleasure.  ***
LEARNING TO LIE (d. Hendrik Handloegten) Well constructed romantic comedy about a guy who is unable to forget his first love or commit to any others.  *** 1/4
LEATHERHEADS (d. George Clooney) Clichéd failure proves screwball comedy is harder than it looks.  * 1/4
LEAVING BARSTOW (d. Peter Paige) ** 1/2
LEAVING METROPOLIS (d. Brad Fraser) Ludicrously pretentious straight melodrama masquerading as a gay film.  Beware films from Winnepeg!  1/2*
LEGALLY BLONDE 2 (d. Charles Herman-Wurmfeld)V. A script of such colossal stupidity that even Reese Witherspoon can't save the film.  * 1/4
LEGEND OF 1900, THE (d. Giuseppi Tornatore) V. Sumptuous, sentimental 1998 film about a musical progedy who never left the ship he was born in. ** 3/4
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (d. Brad Silberling) I was *not* charmed by Carrey's overacting; but the film worked anyway.  ** 3/4
LEÓN AND OLVIDO (d. Xavier Bermúdez) Downer but well-made drama about Downs Syndrome brother & his normal twin sister. ***
LEONARD COHEN - I'M YOUR MAN (d. Lian Lunson) ** 3/4
LEROY (d. Armin Volckers) ** 1/2
LES DIABLES  (d. Christophe Ruggia) Harrowing story of 2 abandoned children, incredible acting.  Hard to do this one justice in a line.  *** 1/2
LES VOLEURS  (d. André Téchiné) V.+ Better the 2nd time. Téchiné is a superb director and this family drama is complex and nicely done.  *** 1/4
LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN (d. David Petersen) V. Boring docu about a neighborhood church in D.C. and its troubled, but positive, parishoners.  * 3/4
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (d. Tomas Alfredson) ***
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN  (d. Xu Jinglei) Gorgeously shot kind of trivial "woman's pic" about a lifetime of unrequited love. ** 1/4
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (d. Clint Eastwood) ****
LETTING GO OF GOD (d. Julia Sweeney) *** 3/4
LEVITY (d. Ed Solomon) Film about redemption with no redeeming qualities. Manipulative, predictable, dreary. Great cast directed on downers.  * 3/4
L'HEURE D'ÉTÉ (Summer Hours) (d. Olivier Assayas) *** 3/4
LIBERTAS (d. Veljko Bulajic; Croatia) ** 1/4
LIBERTINE, THE (d. Laurence Dunmore) ** 1/2
LICENSE TO WED (d. Ken Kwapis) *
LIFE & DEATH OF PETER SELLERS, THE (d. Stephen Hopkins) V. PoMo and meta biopic. Rush is amazing; but Sellers was an asshole, if this to be believed.  ***
LIFE AFTER WAR  (U.S.  doc.  d. Brian Knappenberger)  Re-building a village destroyed in the Afghani war against the Taliban.  Propaganda.  W/O
LIFE AND TIMES OF YVA LAS VEGAS, THE (d. Wiley Underdown) **
LIFE AQUATIC, THE (d. Wes Anderson) As his budgets go up his films become more hipster, ironic & detached. Cousteau deserves a better satire.  **
LIFE BEFORE HER EYES, THE (d. Vadim Perelman) Difficult.  I wanted to escape the theater throughout. ** 1/4
LIFE HITS (d. Christian Christiansen) ***
LIFE IN LOOPS (A MEGACITIES RMX) (d. Tina Novotny) * 1/2
LIFE OF DAVID GALE, THE (d. Alan Parker)  Drama about Texas anti-death penalty group and their condemned member.  ** 1/2
LIFE ON LIBERTY STREET (d. David Cass) V. Well acted if predictable Hallmark tv movie. Ethan Embry is having a great 2004 and nobody's watching.  ** 1/2
LIFE ON THE EDGE (d. Ventura Pons) ** 3/4
LIFE THAT I WANT, THE (La Vita Che Vorrei) (d. Giuseppe Piccioni) *** 1/2
LIFE WITH MY FATHER (d. Sébastien Rose) W/O
LIKE A BROTHER (Comme un frére) (d. Alapetite & Legann) Shortish, disappointment: gay boy in love with straight boy.  **
LIKE MINDS (d. Gregory J. Read) *** 1/4
LILJA 4-EVER (d.Lukas Moodysson) Sweden AFF.  Drama of child abuse in modern Russia.  Downer; but great film.  *** 3/4
LIMELIGHT  (U.S.  d. Terry Lukemire)  Mocumentary about karaoke competitors gone horribly wrong.  *
LINE OF BEAUTY, THE (d. Saul Dibb) *** 1/2   
LINHA DE PASSE (d. Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas) *** 1/2
LION FOR LAMBS (d. Robert Redford) Overly talky & schematic; but brilliant, important and utterly topical!  *** 1/2
LION'S DEN, THE (d. Pablo Trapero; Argentina) *** 1/2
LITTLE ASHES (d. Paul Morrison) Overwrought but fascinating hodge-podge,drama of famed true-life gay artists in '30s Spain. Javier Beltran is true find. ** 3/4
LITTLE BIT OF FREEDOM, A  (d. Yueksel Yavuz) Stunningly real drama: life of illegal Kurd boy in Hamburg. Exciting, relevant filmmaking.  *** 3/4
LITTLE BLACK BOOK (d. Nick Hurran) Good acting can't save this stupid film, though it briefly works during the climactic live tv show.  * 3/4
LITTLE BOOK OF REVENGE (d. Jean-François Pouliot) ** 3/4
LITTLE CHILDREN (d. Todd Field) "Golden Boy" Patrick Wilson & Kate Winslet plus remarkable script!  Great film.  *** 3/4
LITTLE CITY (d. Roberto Benabib) V. Sympathetic '97 romantic rondelay comedy re young S.F. couples. Worthy Josh Charles & ensemble.  ** 3/4
LITTLE FUGITIVE (d. Joanna Lipper) ** 3/4
LITTLE GIRL BLUE (d. Anna Luif) Unexceptional, though well acted drama about teenage love thwarted by an affair by the kid's parents.  ** 1/2
LITTLE JOE (d.Nichole Haeusser) ** 3/4
LITTLE MEN (d. Nariman Turebayev) Interesting & likable character study of two salesmen in Kazakhstan, one aggressive, one passive. ***
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (d. Dayton & Faris) Good script, acting.  Enormously entertaining depressed family comedy.  *** 1/4
LITTLE MONK, A   (S. Korea  d. Joo Kyung-jun)  Story of an 8 year old kid in a Buddhist monestary yearning for his mother.  ** 1/2
LITTLE RED FLOWERS (d. Zhang Yuan)  ** 1/2
LITTLE SECRETS (d. Pol Cruchten; Luxembourg) ** 1/2
LITTLE SOLDIER (d. Annette K. Olesen) ** 3/4
LITTLE THING CALLED MURDER, A (d. Richard Benjamin) V. Fun, campy retelling of Kimes family of grifters. Judy Davis remarkable as usual. ***
LITTLE TRAITOR, THE  (d. Lynn Roth) *** 1/4
LIUBI (d. Layia Yiourgou) ***
LIVE AND BECOME (d. Radu Mihaileanu) Epic story of Ethopian non-Jew kid living  & growing up in Israel. Quite moving.  *** 1/2
LIVE AND REMEMBER (d. Alexander Proshkin) *** 1/4
LIVE FREE OR DIE (d. Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin) ***
LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (d. Len Wiseman) Non-stop action, overly convoluted plot. Better than expected.  ** 3/4
LIVE FROM BAGHDAD  (V) (d. Mick Jackson)  HBO film docudrama about CNN crew in Baghdad during Gulf War I.  ***
LIVES OF OTHERS, THE (d. Florian Henckel von Donnersmark; Germany) *** 3/4
LIVING WAKE, THE (d. Sol Tyson) * 1/2
LOGGERHEADS (d. Tim Kirkman)  *** 1/2
LONESOME JIM (d. Steve Buscemi) Depression & despair has never been more amusing.  Casey Affleck finally lives up to his promise. ***
LONG DARK NIGHT (d. Anton Vrdoljak) Croatia AFF. Moving and well made WWII epic of the fight between pro-Germans and pro-Communists.  ***
LONG EMBRACE, A (d. Daniel Burman) Warm, franetic Argentine comedy about a Jewish family and their shopping mall denizen friends.  *** 1/4
LONGEST YARD, THE (d. Peter Segal) V. Surprisingly entertaining con vs. guards prison football. Sandler actually convincing.  ** 3/4
LONGFORD (d. Tom Hooper) V. HBO biopic about dotty, saintly lord (fabulous Jim Broadbent) who visits hopless prisoners. *** 1/4
LONGTIME COMPANION (d. Norman René) V.+++ Remarkable document of '80s, not dated, still rings true.  The first & one of the best AIDS films. *** 1/2
LOOK AT ME (d. Agnès Jaoui) Slice of life, bittersweet romantic about a disfunctional French arty family & friends. Quite enjoyable, if minor.  ***
LOOK, THE (d. David Sigel)  Mockumentary about a NY contest for models.  Some good bits; but overall pretty average. I've seen worse.  ** 1/4
LOOKOUT, THE (d. Scott Frank) Nicely written & directed psych. thriller, with 3 super perfs.  espec. Joseph Gorden-Levitt *** 1/4
LORD OF WAR (d. Andrew Niccol) ***
LORDS OF DOGTOWN (d. Catherine Hardwicke) Fictionalized story of original Venice, CA skateboard punks. Good acting & action. ** 3/4
LORNA'S SILENCE (Le silance de Lorna) (d. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) *** 1/2
LOS OLVIDADOS (d. Luis Buñuel) 1950 B&W drama about disaffected teens in Mexico City. Dali's influence felt in dream sequences. Very affecting.  *** 1/4
LOSS (d. Maris Martinsons; Lithuania) **
LOST BOYS OF SUDAN, THE (d. Megan Mylan & Jon Shenk) V. Documentary about two Sudanese refugees in U.S. Interesting, if somewhat uninvolving.  ** 3/4
LOST CHILDREN (d. Ahadi and Stoltz)V.  ** 1/4
LOST COAST, THE (d. Gabriel Fleming) Antoniesque, arty drama of 2 20ish guys reliving hi-school affair in Castro Halloween night.  ** 3/4
LOST IN TRANSLATION  (d. Sofia Coppola) Minimalist wry comedy; 2 people adrift in Tokyo who fleetingly connect. Beautifully performed & directed. ***1/4
LOST MAN, A (Un homme perdu)  (d. Danielle Artid) ** 1/2
LOST ROOM, THE (d. Baxley & Watkins) V. Fairly original s/f premise until unsatisfactory ending.  ** 1/2
LOT LIKE LOVE, A (d. Nigel Cole) Kutcher is turning into a major star...love his line readings. Nicely made, predictable romantic comedy.  ** 3/4
LotR: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (d. Peter Jackson)++ (ext. edition) Stunningly re-edited with quiet scenes added. Brand new experience on big screen. ****
LotR: THE RETURN OF THE KING (d. Peter Jackson) Quibble about too many endings; but exceded expectations. Whole is greatest film of all time. ****
LotR: THE TWO TOWERS (d. Peter Jackson)+ (ext. version) Making it longer didn't help the sagging middle. Helm's Deep still a great set piece.  *** 1/2
LOUISE-MICHEL (d. Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern) *
LOVE & DANCE (Sipur Hatzi Russi) (d. Eitan Anner) ** 3/4
LOVE ACTUALLY (d. Richard Curtis) Pleasant enough multi-story romantic comedy.  About 1/3 of the stories misfired, the others really worked.   ** 3/4
LOVE AND HONOR (Bushi No Ichibun) (d. Yôji Yamada)  ****
LOVE AND OTHER CRIMES (Liebe und Andere Verbrechen) (d. Stefan Arsenijevic) ** 3/4
LOVE AND OTHER DISASTERS (d. Alek Keshishian) *** 1/2
LOVE AT 7-11  (Taiwan  d. Teng Yung-shing)  Languid, moody, arty, boring story of two couples who fail to connect.  ** 1/4
LOVE DON'T COST A THING (d. Troy Beyer) Nick Cannon, worthy star; but this paean to mindless consumerism and teen conformity is horrendous film.  1/2*
LOVE FOR SHARE (d. Nia Dinata; Indonesia) ** 3/4
LOVE FORBIDDEN (France d. Rodolphe Marconi)  Dark drama about a sexually confused young filmmaker who gets hung up on an Italian man.  ***
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (d. Mike Newell) Bardem is really fine, a moving "elderly" love story, but... ** 3/4
LOVE ME IF YOU DARE (d. Yann Samuell) A wildly inventive, super-romantic trip of a film about 2 kids growing up playing an obnoxious game full tilt.  ***
LOVE OF SIAM, THE (d. Chukiat Sakveerakul) Thai film about gay boy band singer & his first love.  Affecting, but inscrutable. ** 1/2
LOVE SONG FOR BOBBIE LONG, A (d. Shainee Gabel) Gentle, amiable, N.O. peculiar family drama. Fine acting ensemble (Johansson, Macht & Travolta). ***
LOVE SONGS (d. Chtrisophe Honoré) +1; I stand by my TIFF review, only 2nd time around liked it even more. *** 1/4
LOVE SONGS (Les chansons d'amours) (d. Christophe Honoré) ***
LOVE TO HIDE, A (d. Christian Fauré) Remarkably effective WWII French Jewish/gay Holocaust tv movie.  *** 1/4
LOVELORN (d. Yavuz Turgul) W/O
LOVELORN (d. Yavuz Turgul; Turkey)  ***   
LOVELY LONELINESS (d. Victoria Galardi & Martin Carranza) ** 3/4
LOVER, THE  (Russia d. Valery Todorovsky) Involving drama about a man who discovers is recently deceased wife had had a secret long time lover.  *** 1/4
LOVER'S PRAYER (d. Reverge Anselmo)V. Boringly made pastiche of Turganev & Chekhov. Nick Stahl was good, Kirsten Dunst beautiful, but film sucked.  * 3/4
LOVESICKNESS (Maldeamores) (d. Carlitos Ruíz Ruíz & Mariem Pérez) ** 3/4
LOW PROFILE (Falscher Bekenner) (d. Christoph Hochäusler)  ***
LOWER CITY (d. Sergio Machado) ***
LUCIE AUBRAC (d. Claude Berri) V. Gripping trueish French Resistance film, like Black Book or Sophie Scholl, only better.  *** 1/4
LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN (d. Paul McGuigan) Peculiar, atmospheric gangster revenge film. Josh Hartnett good; but after 5 min. I figured it all out. ** 1/4
LUCKY YOU (d. Curtis Hanson) Predictable romantic drama; but at least they got the poker right.  ** 1/2
LUNACY (d. Jan Svankmajer; Czech Republic) * 3/4
LUNATICS, LOVERS & POETS (d. John Scoular) * 3/4
LUST, CAUTION (d. Ang Lee) Gorgeous, perverse love and revolt story with a phenominal perf by Wei Tang.  *** 1/2
LUSTER (d. Everett Lewis) + Forgot I'd seen this primative, sexy, minor gay film effort before. Justin Herwick memorable, not much else. ** 1/2
LYMELIFE (d. Derick Martini) Culkin brothers are quite fine; but unremitting miserablism overwhelms slender plot.  ** 1/2
M FOR MOTHER (d. Rasool Mollagholi Poor; Iran) * 3/4
MA VRAIE VIE À ROUEN (d. Ducastel and Martineau) Coming of age video diary by a proto-gay ice skater, wonderfully observent, my cuppa!  *** 1/2
MACHINIST, THE (d. Brad Anderson) This director makes creepy films, and this is one of the most. Christian Bale is phenomenal, but viscerally hard to watch.  ***
MACHUCA (d. Andrés Wood) Chilean AFF:  an 11 year old privileged boy's pov of society at the end of Allende's regime. Politically slanted left, but powerful stuff.  ***
MAD DETECTIVE (Shentan) (d. Johnnie To & Wai Ka-Fai) ***
MAD HOT BALLROOM (d. Marilyn Agrelo) The kids and their dreams raise this docu out of the ordinary. Wilson is a star.  *** 1/2
MADAME SATA  (Brazil/France  d. Karim Ainouz) Period biopic of famous drag queen in Rio in the '30s.  Steamy sex, well made film.  *** 1/4
MADE IN AMERICA (d. Stacy Peralta) Flashy docu of history of gangs in L.A., affecting, frightening & ultimately uplifting.  *** 1/4
MADE OF HONOR (d. Paul Weiland) V. Horribly clichéed and predictable if slick romantic comedy. Even McDreamy couldn't save this one. * 3/4
MADE OF HONOR (d. Paul Weiland) V. Horribly clichéed and predictable if slick romantic comedy. Even McDreamy couldn't save this one. * 3/4
MADE UP (d.Tony Shalhoub) Clever, well made mockumentary about making a documentary about women aging.  *** 1/4
MADEINUSA (d. Claudia Llosa) ** 3/4
MADELEINE (d. Park Kwang-Chung) Korean story of kooky, modern young romance.  Simple story, fun and touching.  ***
MADISON (d. William Bindley) Slick, banal, feel-good period (early 70s) film about speed boats in Madison, IN. Nothing original. * 3/4
MAGDALENE SISTERS  (UK  d. Peter Mullan) Disturbing drama about the abuses of the Catholic "fallen women" nunneries in Ireland.  Fine acting.  *** 1/4
MAGIC BOX, THE  (d. Ridha Behi) Tunisia AFF.  Drama about film director writing a script about his childhood.  *** 1/4
MAGIC FLUTE, THE  (d. Kenneth Branagh) ** 3/4
MAGIC OF ORDINARY DAYS, THE (d. Brent Shields) V. Hallmark romantic feel-good tv pic with an excellent Skeet Ulrich & Keri Russell looking '40's pretty.  ** 1/2
MAGNUS (d. Kadri Köusaar) ** 3/4
MAID, THE (d. Sebastian Silva) ***
MAISON DE NIÑA, LA (d. Richard Dembo) *** 1/2
MALAS TEMPORADAS (Hard Times) (d. Manuel Martín Cuenca) ** 3/4
MALFUNKSHUN:  THE ANDREW WOOD STORY (d. Scot Barbour) Interesting docu about Seattle grunge rocker Wood, who died at 24.  ** 3/4
MAMAY (d. Oles Sanin) Gorgeous to look at; but fatally pretentious and opaque Cossack legend, or something like that.  * 1/4
MAMBO ITALIANO (d. Émile Gaudreault) Gay family comedy, nice performance by Luke Kerby which almost makes up for clichéd ethnic coming out plot. ** 1/2
MAMBO ITALIANO (d. Émile Gaudreault) V.+ Enjoyable gay family dramedy with a nice, sympathetic perf by Luke Kerby. ** 3/4
MAMMA MIA! (d. Phyllida Lloyd) Silly plot, ABBA music which doesn't add to story...the cast gives all; but the direction is so lame.  **
MAN ABOUT DOG (d. Paddy Breathnach) Irish film greatly in need of subtitles. An occasionally funny comedy about dog racing betters.  **
MAN EXPOSED, THE (d. Aku Louhimies) ** 3/4
MAN FROM LONDON, THE (d. Bela Tarr) ***
MAN IN THE CHAIR (d. Michael Schroeder) ***
MAN OF MY LIFE, THE (d. Zabou Breitman)+  *** 3/4
MAN OF THE HOUSE (d. Stephen Kerek) Utterly stupid and exploitive film about a cop tending cheerleader witnesses.  1/2*
MAN OF THE YEAR (d. José Henrique Fonseca) Fine Brazilian film about a guy who bleaches his hair and turns into a cold killer anti-hero. *** 1/4
MAN ON FIRE (d. Tony Scott) Another rage/revenge story, stylishly made with another great Denzel performance, though ending a cop out.  ** 3/4
MAN ON WIRE (d. James Marsh) *** 3/4
MAN WHO LOVED YNGVE, THE (d. Stian Kristiansen; Norway) Confused punk rocker straight boy falls for new boy in class. Beautiful & involving despite.  ***
MAN WHO LOVES, THE (L'uomo che ama) (d. Marie Sole Tognazzi) ***
MAN WITHOUT A FACE, THE (d. Mel Gibson) V. Well intended film about a troubled boy & the troubled tutor who helps him. Nick Stahl was wonderful at 13.  ***
MAN WITHOUT A PAST, THE  (d. Aki Kaurismäki)  Finland AFF.  Amnesiac man builds a new life.  ** 3/4
MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (d. Jonathan Demme) OK thriller, except for the incoherent narrative lapses and utter inferiority to the original.   **
MANCORA (d. Recardo de Montreuil) ** 3/4
MANDERLAY (d. Lars Von Trier) ***
MANOS VACIAS, LAS (d. Marc Recha) Silly "lost dead body" farce (in French) with a plot I found impossible to follow. * 1/4
MAN'S BEST FRIEND (d. Rob Lundsgaard) Fun, screwball romantic comedy about straight guy who is supposedly gay. .  ***
MAN'S JOB, A (d. Aleksi Salmenperä) Finland's foreign film submission ***
MANSFIELD PARK (d. Iain MacDonald) V. Short & sweet. But Blake Ritson made a remarkably good Edmond. ***
MANSFIELD PARK (d. Patricia Rozema)V.  Not Austen's best story; but a fine "film of quality".  Jonny Lee Miller especially noteworth. *** 1/4
MANSION BY THE SEA (d. Lester James Peries) Sloooooow, well shot but overdrawn Sri Lankan AFF about the economic upheavals in that country.  * 1/2
MANSLAUGHTER (Drabet) (d. Per Fly) Another Danish mid-life crisis film...teacher falls for eco-terrorist former student. Stark, fine drama.  *** 1/4
MANUELA AND MANUEL (d. Paul Marchand Sanchez) ***
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES (d. Jennifer Baichwal) ***
MARCELLO MARCELLO (d. Denis Rabaglia) ***  3/4
MARCELLO MARCELLO + *** 1/2
MARCH OF THE PENGUINS (d. Luc Jacquet) Involving nature docu done beautifully in extraordinarily difficult shooting conditions.  *** 1/4
MARGOT AT THE WEDDING (d. Noah Baumbach) Dysfunctional sisters squared. Fabu acting, ugly story.  ***
MARIA FULL OF GRACE (d. Joshua Marston) Straightforward audience pleaser about a Columbian girl who becoms a drug mule. ***
MARIE ANTOINETTE (d. Sofia Coppola) Sort of boring, sort of frivolous, sort of anachronistic.  But fun.  ** 3/4
MARION BRIDGE (d. Wiebke Von Carolsfeld) 3 sisters play out their neuroses as mother lay dying in bleak Nova Scotia. Molly Parker was fine.  ***
MARIO'S WAR ( La