F.X. Feeney
Tomatometer-approved critic
| Publications: | L.A. Weekly, Mr. Showbiz, Variety, Village Voice, Movieline |
| Critics' Group: | Los Angeles Film Critics Association |
Movie Reviews Only
| Rating | T-Meter | Title | Year | Review |
|---|---|---|---|
| 97% | Chicken Run (2000) |
What gives this movie its oddly strong grip on a viewer's heart is a physical tenderness inseparable from the nature of claymation.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Aug 24, 2014
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| 96% | The Iron Giant (1999) |
The Iron Giant's theme of fear of the unknown is craftily balanced against the power of innocent imagination.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Aug 12, 2014
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| 94% | The Trouble with the Truth (2012) |
There isn't a false note in either the dialogue or the performances.‐ Village Voice
Read More | Posted Sep 11, 2012
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| 98% | The Godfather (1972) |
Traces the arc of this doomed idealism with a beauty that is still fresh. ‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Feb 23, 2011
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| 60% | Centurion (2010) |
[A] highly enjoyable action-adventure.‐ Village Voice
Read More | Posted Aug 24, 2010
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| 6.5/10 | 69% | The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan som lekte med elden) (2010) |
Because the movie is long, colorless, uncompromising and, well, Swedish, it's got to be better than any future American version, right?‐ Movieline
Posted Jul 8, 2010
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| 82% | Casino Jack And The United States Of Money (2010) |
Casino Jack and the United States of Money is indispensable viewing.‐ Village Voice
Read More | Posted May 4, 2010
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| No Score Yet | Punctured Hope: A Story About Trokosi and the Young Girls' Slavery in Today's West Africa (2009) |
Despite near-fatal drawbacks, Punctured Hope fulfills the stated ambitions of Pischiutta and producer Daria Trifu to teach and inspire discussion.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Dec 17, 2009
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| No Score Yet | Under the Eightball (2009) |
Angry passion and visual energy define this extraordinary muckraking documentary.‐ Village Voice
Read More | Posted Dec 16, 2009
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| No Score Yet | Mr. Sadman (2009) |
The film is impeccably cast; it's shot and cut well. Unfortunately, the secret of comedy is that it's the highest form of suspense, and Mr. Sadman is just too bleakly episodic.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Nov 19, 2009
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| No Score Yet | Victory Day (2009) |
Nearly ever word out of the characters' mouths is either an arch piece of exposition or a clanging, nail-on-the-head expulsion of emotion.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Nov 5, 2009
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| No Score Yet | From Mexico with Love (2009) |
Whatever its surface predictabilities, From Mexico With Love has the virtue of coaxing you to care about its people.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2009
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| No Score Yet | Janky Promoters (2009) |
Everything builds to a fairly careless climax.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Oct 22, 2009
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| 35% | Adam Resurrected (2008) |
One cannot recommend this film strongly enough.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Dec 18, 2008
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| 72% | Eden (2008) |
This portrait of an imploding marriage is remarkable for every reason that counts in a good film.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Nov 20, 2008
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| 76% | Captain Abu Raed (2007) |
Such a subtle yet global view of human struggle -- the whole world viewed through the prism of a single poor neighborhood -- is a mark of extraordinary promise from this remarkable new filmmaker.‐ Village Voice
Read More | Posted Nov 6, 2008
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| 29% | Vice (2008) |
Writer-director Raul Sanchez Inglis tries to do several ambitious, honorable things with Vice, but for much of the action, they cancel each other out.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted May 8, 2008
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| 69% | Last Stop for Paul (2006) |
Mandt directs and acts with great zest and contagious, unpretentious good cheer.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Mar 6, 2008
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| 39% | Full Grown Men (2008) |
Lyrical and funny, Full Grown Men is a tough-minded film about the need to grow up.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Nov 7, 2007
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| 36% | Park (2006) |
[Makes] the most of thrifty means to highly entertaining effect.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Nov 1, 2007
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| 33% | Berkeley (2007) |
Roth's gift for unlocking the best in each of his actors does bring those long-ago times to life.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Oct 11, 2007
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| 50% | G.I. Jesús (2007) |
... Colpaert has so vividly seized the contemporary moment, and explored it with his own eyes and conscience.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jan 25, 2007
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| 2% | Baby Geniuses (1999) |
There are ticklish moments, but no real laughs.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Jan 5, 2007
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| 95% | Commune (2006) |
It's good to hear people talking about openheartedness without irony.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Nov 9, 2006
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| 40% | Color of the Cross (2006) |
A too-specific tale of historic injustice rather than one of divinely benevolent sacrifice on everybody's behalf.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Nov 9, 2006
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| 73% | The Great New Wonderful (2006) |
Writer Sam Catlin and director Danny Leiner have fashioned an alert, shrewdly observed portrait of a moment in time.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jul 20, 2006
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| No Score Yet |
A feel-good movie about failure.‐ Variety
Posted May 19, 2006
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| 52% | Down in the Valley (2006) |
Jacobson has an excitingly clear-eyed, unsentimental feel for the intensity of adolescent passion.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted May 11, 2006
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| 86% | The Proposition (2005) |
The Proposition is a very hard and harsh movie, but it also has a hypnotic, lyrical velocity.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted May 4, 2006
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| 31% | The Promise (Master of Crimson Armor) (Wu ji) (2005) |
The story it tells, measured strictly in terms of emotional power and overall fun, is as moving and pleasurable as any matinee item by Ford, Hawks or Raoul Walsh.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jan 3, 2006
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| 77% | Little Manhattan (2005) |
[It's] as if the filmmakers (maybe without even realizing it) are mocking his emotions, implying that kids are just kids, and only think they feel what they're feeling.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Dec 1, 2005
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| 90% | New York Doll (2005) |
Whitely, to his great credit, unfolds this tale simply, just as it was lived.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Oct 27, 2005
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| 71% | Innocent Voices (Voces inocentes) (2005) |
A howl of grief and outrage that all middle paths were torched in this tragic war.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Oct 13, 2005
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| 6% | A Sound of Thunder (2005) |
The barometer of the film's undoing is Burns's super low-key performance, which starts out as a poker-faced spoof on heroic cool, but takes a misstep more fatal than mere time-travel can undo.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Sep 8, 2005
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| 88% | Touch The Sound (2004) |
We're led to experience her life as she does -- as an adventure in which setbacks are not challenges, but illuminations of untracked paths.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Sep 8, 2005
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| 3.5/5 | 31% | November (2005) |
A one-woman Rashomon that plays and replays the same traumatic incident, with shifts in nuance.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jul 21, 2005
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| 72% | Crónicas (2005) |
Leguizamo's strengths and limitations fit snug with the reporter's own -- the comedic sizzle the actor brings to his best work translates smoothly into hardhearted aggression.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jul 7, 2005
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| No Score Yet | The Unwanted Woman (2005) |
The film does disintegrate into big speeches as it rounds to its climax - but through these characters, Milani hauntingly maps the souls of men and women at odds in a theocracy.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jun 24, 2005
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| 21% | The Deal (2005) |
A riveting thriller full of good scares and learned, muckraking insight into the global labyrinth of oil and politics.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jun 16, 2005
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| 65% | We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004) |
Originally written in the 1970s. That figures, in the best sense: It is worthy of comparison to the lifelike, character-rich films we cherish from that era, and is certainly one of the finest films to come out this year.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Aug 12, 2004
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| 60% | The Dreamers (2004) |
A wise, high-energy conjuring of 1968.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Feb 5, 2004
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| 91% | Dinner Rush (2001) |
Fiery energy, swift, character-driven chitchat and a tough, upbeat sense of how the world works.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jan 20, 2003
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| 81% | Innocence (2001) |
Cox's own directorial style is innocent, in the sense of being original without ever straining for effect.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Dec 9, 2002
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| 86% | Faithless (2001) |
Bergman has reached for a woman's insight his whole career. Ullmann completes this for him.‐ L.A. Weekly
Read More | Posted Oct 21, 2002
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| 94% | Amadeus (1984) |
This dark, exuberant epic is nearly 18 years old, yet remains the most popularly successful film ever to render the inner life of an artist.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Oct 3, 2002
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| 87% | Aberdeen (2001) |
Moland ... has a fine eye for landscapes, but an even surer touch with actors.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Oct 1, 2002
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| 89% | 101 Reykjavik (2001) |
Kormakur ... balances tones with a smooth, mature confidence.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Sep 30, 2002
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| 52% | Scarlet Diva (2000) |
This is such a dazzlingly self-assured directorial debut that it's hard to know what to praise first.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Sep 19, 2002
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| 95% | Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001) |
It works its magic with such exuberance and passion that the film's length becomes a part of its fun.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jul 19, 2002
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| 44% | Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) |
Khouri manages, with terrific flair, to keep the extremes of screwball farce and blood-curdling family intensity on one continuum.‐ L.A. Weekly
Posted Jun 10, 2002
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