Tomato 4/5 |
Factotum (2006) |
"... a marvelous ode to Bukowski, as well as a brilliant examination of one sort of writing life." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato |
The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) |
"The real star of MGM's new DVD edition of The Fall of the House of Usher is Roger Corman, whose engaging commentary track is an 80-minute crash course on getting things right the first time." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) |
"Certainly some elements are dated now, and Price's fellow actors can't hold a candle to him, but Usher still holds up as an example of stately suspense that doesn't resort to gore, monsters, or overuse of shock effects." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Family Man (2000) |
"Without Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni in the lead roles, the film would most likely have lost whatever charm and entertainment value it has." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Fantastic Voyage (1966) |
"...our own human interior was revealed, like a Jacques Cousteau travelogue, in screen-filling vistas of surreal canals and chambers filled with floating psychedelia and the amorphous Jell-O colors of a Jimi Hendrix concert." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Fargo (1996) |
"... a crackerjack dark comedy about a kidnapping that goes horribly awry and the competent small-town cop who cracks the case." |
Dawn Taylor |
Splat 2/5 |
Fast Food Nation (2006) |
"Linklater's Fast Food movie covers all of Schlosser's bases, but is surprisingly anemic in its execution." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 4/4 |
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) |
"Unlike legwarmers and co., Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) is one icon that actually holds up a couple of decades down the line." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
A Few Good Men (1992) |
"Starts off strong and finishes with a bang -- and everything in the middle is sheer entertainment." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Fiend Without a Face (1958) |
"And honestly, how much animus should any percipient genre enthusiast ever direct at a movie bearing the tagline, 'Invisible monsters suck out your brains!'?" |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
The Fifth Element (1997) |
"... a colorful, exciting, visually sumptuous sci-fi comic book come to life." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato |
Fifth of July (1982) |
"Now grown up, these would-be reformers use humor, denial, and ultimately honesty to reconcile the world they got with the world they tried to make." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Fifth of July (1982) |
"This Broadway Theatre Archive DVD is one of the best and most accessible in the series. As usual, the original 1.33:1 transfer is better than one might expect for a 20-year-old TV print..." |
Mark Bourne |
Splat 2.5/4 |
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) |
"The often-confusing plot and shallow characters are all the more disappointing when contrasted to the film's sheer artistry." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Finding Forrester (2000) |
"Finding Forrester is a movie we've all seen before -- and not just when it was called Good Will Hunting." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Firefly - The Complete Series (2002) |
"... smart, beautifully shot, insanely entertaining ..." |
Dawn Taylor |
Splat |
First Man Into Space (1959) |
"Space Age hardware footage (including cockpit shots of Chuck Yeager) meets rampaging space-mutant theatrics." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
First Men in the Moon (1964) |
"Never mind how Cavorite works or whether jumping about on the moon (with wires visible) wearing only a diving suit and no gloves is really a good idea.... [It] remains a delightful B-movie charmer ... that's still endearing and entertaining." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
First Men in the Moon (1964) |
"Columbia TriStar gave First Men in the Moon, an addition to their 'Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection,' a respectful DVD treatment that's sure to impress fans old and new." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 4/4 |
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) |
"A Fish Called Wanda manages to turn its merry miscreants into sympathetic characters -- which, in turn, is what makes the film succeed." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
Flashdance (1983) |
"A fluffy, pop-scored '80s time capsule that's probably more famous for its title song than any of its performances." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 3/4 |
Fly Away Home (1996) |
"Fly Away Home is, quite simply, a beautiful movie. Not just because of its cinematography ... but because of the strong, subtle performances of Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 3/4 |
Footloose (1984) |
"Thanks to strong lead performances and unexpected dramatic depth, Footloose is the rare teen flick with staying power." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Forbidden Planet (1956) |
"For the film's golden anniversary, Warner has done such a good job ... that chucking out the 1997 DVD edition for this upgrade is a no-brainer, not to mention an essential acquisition for anyone who doesn't yet have this title on the Genre Classics shelf." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Forbidden Planet (1956) |
"...an enduring best-of-breed favorite, a CinemaScope spectacle that's terrifically entertaining, smartly written, memorably cast, briskly paced, and production-designed to the hilt." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Fortune Cookie (1966) |
"It's hard to go wrong with director Billy Wilder, and when you add Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau into the mix, it's darn near impossible." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Foul Play (1978) |
"... a charming, entertaining film that competently combines ... an albino dwarf, a scar-faced man, and disappearing corpses with good old-fashioned romantic comedy." |
Dawn Taylor |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) |
"Succeeds largely thanks to the fortuitous pairing of Richard Curtis's dryly cynical (yet sweet) script and Grant's iconic performance." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Freaks (1932) |
"Finally this cult touchstone is restored in a first-rate DVD edition from Warner.... The disc's extras offer everything you've always wanted to know about Freaks but were too weirded out to ask." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Freaks (1932) |
"...drills into our hindbrain and jolts our atavistic response to the not-normal, then forces us to confront our prejudices and feel something -- revulsion, compassion, or surprise at the realization that those aren't mutually exclusive responses." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
French Cancan (1954) |
"...the fin de siecle Paris of our imagination, or of Auguste Renoir's paintings. Renoir's finale blends exhilarating showmanship and a carriageload of characters reconciled, their intrigues and follies stepping aside for 'the show must go on.'" |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 3.5/4 |
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1982) |
"Meryl Streep was born to play roles like this. The much-awarded actress, adept at accents and costume dramas, is at her best playing Sarah Woodruff/Anna." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Splat |
Frenzy (1972) |
"Rather than classic Hitchcock, Frenzy feels more like a lesser director's cookie-cutter 'Hitchcockian' knock-off." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 3/4 |
Friends With Money (2006) |
"As slice-of-life indie dramedies go, Friends with Money is smart and engaging, if not wholly satisfying." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato 2.5/4 |
The Front (1976) |
"Any reminder of the tribulations undergone by the blacklistees serves a useful and eye-opening purpose, but good intentions and a sense of martyrdom don't by themselves fill the glass." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
The Front (1976) |
"Columbia TriStar Home Video's DVD delivers The Front in both full-frame and its original 1.85:1 (anamorphic). The 'film-like' print is clean and well defined, and the transfer is flawless." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato 4/4 |
The Fugitive (1993) |
"Action movies don't get much better than this ... the acting is top-notch, the story is solid, and the direction never lets up." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Funeral in Berlin (1966) |
"Paramount's DVD release of Funeral in Berlin delivers a startlingly clear and vivid print in 2.35:1 (anamorphic). The audio is an okay but disappontingly low-fi Dolby Digital 2.0 monaural." |
Mark Bourne |
Tomato |
Funeral in Berlin (1966) |
"Faithful hardcore genre fans will find much to like here among the cloaks and daggers.... On the other hand, the pacing is slow and the twisty, sometimes flabby script might be frustrating for a viewer not fully engaged with such skullduggery." |
Mark Bourne |
Splat 2/4 |
Funny Lady (1975) |
"Her superfans might disagree, but Barbra Streisand, some one-liners, and a few show tunes do not a great movie make." |
Betsy Bozdech |
Tomato |
Futurama - Volume 2 (2000) |
"... politically incorrect, and altogether hilarious." |
Dawn Taylor |
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