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Friday, Jul 4, 2008
The Movie Page
For independent films covered in Beyond the Multiplex, visit the Beyond the Multiplex directory page.
Factory Girl- Sienna Miller plays Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick in this impressionistic biopic.
Fahrenheit 9/11": Nay!- Moore's latest has some powerful images that are invariably overwhelmed by his jokey, faux-populist self-righteousness.
Fahrenheit 9/11": Yea!- Moore is not just a traditional muckracker, but a crusading artist -- like Dickens, Solzhenitsyn and Springsteen -- and has become a signal artist of our time.
Failure to Launch- Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey remain woefully earthbound in this listless romantic comedy.
Family viewing- Bob Crane's son Scotty is proud of his dad's reputation as a video horndog -- in fact, he retails Pop's home porn on the Web. But Paul Schrader's "Auto Focus," he insists, gets it all wrong.
Fantastic Four- This peppy comic-book tale is the lightest and fluffiest of summer blockbuster fare -- and is that really such a bad thing?
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer- Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing return in this ambitious second film in the "Fantastic Four" franchise.
Far From Heaven- A ravishing Julianne Moore tastes forbidden romance in Todd Haynes' luscious tribute to 1950s melodrama.
Fast Food Nation- Richard Linklater packs the horrible truths revealed in Eric Schlosser's book into a solid, dramatic McNugget.
Fat Girl- Two teen sisters seek lovers in Catherine Breillat's sexual -- but not sexy -- shocker.
Female trouble- Spike Lee talks about porn, sperm donors, baby-hungry lesbians, and how male sex fantasies can become nightmares.
Femme Fatale- Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Antonio Banderas are hot and cool in Brian De Palma's sexy, tricky and sinfully glamorous Parisian confection.
Fever Pitch- Jimmy Fallon and the ever-luminous Drew Barrymore bunt their way through this Farrelly brothers ode to baseball.
- Fight Club
- The late-'90s crisis of masculinity has arrived in pop culture with a vengeance.
Film's not dead, damn it!- Interviews with some of today's leading cinematographers -- the real magic-makers of the movies -- suggest that George Lucas' overhyped "digital revolution" is mostly marketing buzz.
Final Destination 2- You can't outrun death, but you can still hide from this teeny-bop horror flick.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within- An eerily human new generation of computer-generated actors populates this earnest sci-fi fantasy.
Finding Forrester- A young prodigy teams up with a Salingeresque recluse in a "Good Will Hunting" retread from Gus Van Sant.
Finding Nemo- Pixar's latest animation wonder -- a shimmery, velvety undersea coming-of-age story -- sure is beautiful. But why should we spend two hours looking at it?
Finding Neverland- Johnny Depp soars high as "Peter Pan" playwright J.M. Barrie, but this movie doesn't ever quite take off.
Firewall- Harrison Ford is outshone by his costars in this crisp, conventional thriller.
- First he takes Manhattan
- John Simon, Part 2, and other tales from the New York Film Festival.
First Sunday- Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan aim to uplift in this slapdash comedy about a couple of small-time crooks.
Flags of Our Fathers- Clint Eastwood exposes some brutal truths about war and how we treat our soldiers in this blunt yet effective movie.
Flight of the Red Balloon- This quietly astonishing picture has the power to carry you outside of yourself and float you away.
Flightplan- Watching this airplane thriller is like being stuck on a transatlantic flight.
- Flower in the junkyard
- From New York's infamous auto-repair wasteland grows a defiant and beautiful new American film.
Fog of war- "Black Hawk Down's" gripping images of the U.S. military's missteps in Somalia grope about in a context-free void.
Fool's Gold- Forget Matthew McConaughey's bare, bronzed pecs. The real sex symbol in this tepid romantic comedy/adventure is an ascot-wearing Donald Sutherland.
Forget the Force -- "The Lord" rules!- I, too, once loved "Star Wars." Then I grew up and learned to appreciate "The Lord of the Rings."
Forgetting Sarah Marshall- Remember: Just because a movie has been produced by Judd Apatow doesn't mean it's good.
Formula 51- Samuel L. Jackson looks great in cornrows and a kilt, but that's all this feeble Anglo-actioner has to offer.
Forty movies every film fan should see- Are you cinematically literate? Salon's A&E editor picks the best and most influential movies of all time.
For Your Consideration- Christopher Guest and his pals bring moments of inspired lunacy as a group of actors with Oscar dreams.
Four Brothers- The man also known as Andre 3000 plays the brother of the former Marky Mark, and it's an action-packed family affair.
Fracture- Ryan Gosling runs rings around Anthony Hopkins in this clever, somber thriller.
Frailty- In Bill Paxton's directorial debut, ax murdering for God isn't as morally nebulous as he thinks it is -- but it sure is grisly.
Fred Claus- Vince Vaughn stars as Santa's morally questionable big brother. Ho ho! Ha ha! At least the reindeer are charming.
Freddy Got Fingered- Tom Green is subtle, like a giant elephant dick.
Freedomland- Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson manage as best they can in this patchy thriller about a child who goes missing and the racial tensions that ensue.
- Freeway
- Director Matthew Bright admits his weakness for white cotton panties in the commentary for this brash "artsploitation" flick.
- French cinema's prickly stepmom
- A new DVD box set captures the puzzling genius of Agnès Varda, maybe the least-appreciated great filmmaker of Europe's golden age.
Frida- Salma Hayek rescues Frida Kahlo from the realms of myth with this romance about glamorous communists, cheating muralists and lesbian affairs.
Friday Night- A nearly wordless symphony capturing an anonymous sexual encounter in the Parisian night, Claire Denis' latest film is a rare and tender delight.
Friday Night Lights- Billy Bob Thornton, as the coach of a small-town high school football team, scores a few points, but this smug little film drops the ball at every turn.
From Hell- The Hughes brothers' portrait of Jack the Ripper and Victorian England misses the intricate and disturbing nature of the graphic novel on which their film is based.
From Justin to Kelly- This criminally misguided musical for last year's processed-cheese American idols might be the worst movie you ever see -- but it's still not worth seeing.
- From Middle-earth to Mulholland Drive
- The best in movies, 2001: The world turned to the tune of sexy beasts and even darker dreams.
- From "Sicko" to Iraq-o
- Oscar-nominated documentaries as a hotbed of anti-Bush, antiwar ideology? Heaven forfend!
- From the Riviera to Abu Ghraib
- This week: Cannes announces its selections (almost), Tribeca kicks off, and Errol Morris plumbs the dark secrets behind those torture photos.
Full Frontal- Julia Roberts and David Duchovny can't save this funny mess about the split between the movies and the real world -- or something like that.
Funny Girl- Barbra Streisand is a balletic ostrich with an art deco face in this much-beloved, crisply restored William Wyler musical.
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus- As Arbus, Nicole Kidman radiates warmth and empathy that are nowhere to be seen in the photographer's work.
DVD Releases
- Vantage Point (7/1)
- Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns (7/1)
- Drillbit Taylor (7/1)
- My Blueberry Nights (7/1)
- City of Men (7/1)
- Rent DVDs with Netflix
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Bedtime for "Gonzo"
By Andrew O'Hehir -
"Hancock"
By Stephanie Zacharek -
On the dopeness of "The Wackness"
By Andrew O'Hehir -
"WALL-E"
By Stephanie Zacharek -
Moliere and Sesame Street go to Iraq
By Andrew O'Hehir
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