MOVIE REVIEW

Mister Foe (Unrated) ***½ | Just call him Mr. Strangelove

''I like creepy guys,'' says Kate Breck (Sophia Myles) in a bar, after one too many drinks, to the young lad named Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell). In Mister Foe -- a pervy and poignant tale of a boy on the brink of manhood, still reeling from the death of his mother -- the late-20s Kate and the just-18 Hallam tumble into a strange romance.

MOVIE REVIEW

Bolt (PG) **½ | Not much depth unless you see the 3-D version

There are two sorts of modern-day Disney cartoons: The ones made by Pixar and everything else. Bolt, the studio's newest release, has traces of Pixar-ish humor and characterizations: The cast of talking animals includes a hamster named Rhino (voiced by Mark Walton) personable enough to have landed a job in Ratatouille's kitchen.

MOVIE REVIEW

I've Loved You So Long (PG-13) *** | Closing in on intimacy

There are certain times in life when hearing the words ''You can tell me everything; you can talk to me'' is the greatest gift a person can receive. Juliette, the protagonist of I've Loved You So Long, is in the midst of a period of withdrawal, silence and great, unnamed inner torment. In a way, the entire movie is one long, expectant wait until Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) reaches the point at which she can build the courage to stop wielding her unspoken pain as a shield against the world...

MOVIE REVIEW

Quantum of Solace (PG-13) ** | Take solace in knowing 007 will come back another day

Quantum of Solace is the first James Bond picture that technically can be labeled a sequel -- and it feels like one, too. The plot of the 22nd 007 adventure picks up directly where the previous one left off, with Bond (Daniel Craig) looking to avenge the death of his beloved Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who was killed at the end of Casino Royale.

MOVIE REVIEW

Battle in Seattle (R) *½ | The issue of fairness never really comes up

Issues drama at its patchiest, Battle in Seattle takes the 1999 street siege protesting the World Trade Organization conference as the jumping off point for a simplistic diatribe. The minnows vs. whales setup gives us idealistic march organizers in conflict with avaricious corporate henchmen and their governmental stooges whose policies, according to the marchers, are a raw deal for workers, the environment and Third World countries.

MOVIE REVIEW

Momma's Man (Unrated) *** | Coming-of-age story for the grown-up set

Mikey (Matt Boren), a sad sack visiting the Lower Manhattan loft of his parents, is immobilized by . . . what exactly? Lethargy? Fear? The fact that he is a parent (to a daughter in Los Angeles) but wants to himself remain a child? Momma's Man, insightful and involving, is a shaggy-dog story about Mikey's quarterlife crisis.

MOVIE REVIEW

Synecdoche, New York (R) *** | If you see it once, you're going to have to see it again

For its first 20 or so minutes, Synecdoche, New York, the directorial debut of the Oscar-winning, mind-bending screenwriter Charlie Kaufman appears to be a meditation on death. We first meet its protagonist, theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), while he's lying in bed listening to a radio talk show host prattle on about how the arrival of fall announces the beginning of the death of everything that bloomed in the spring.

What's on at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

At this weekend's 2008 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, practically every movie being screened between Friday and Tuesday's closing night festivities will be accompanied by a famous face. Jane Lynch, who also stars in the Hollywood comedy Role Models, will attend Friday's screening of I Do & I Don't, followed by Superman Returns' Brandon Routh, who is coming to support his film Fling.

DINNER & A MOVIE

Far away and close to home

EAT: If you put in a 40-hour-plus workweek, the granola bar and quickie tuna sandwich that saw you through the day don't cut it come quitting time. Now it's time for real sustenance -- but a home-cooked dinner is so not on the agenda.

MOVIES

'Tru Loved'

Najarra Townsend stars with Matthew Thompson in the story of the teenage daughter of two lesbian mothers struggling to fit into conservative suburbia. It's playing at Sunrise Cinemas Gateway in Fort Lauderdale.

MOVIES

Holiday movie season sparkles with best and brightest

As if turkey recipes, Black Friday bargain hunting and year-end vacations weren't enough, here's something else to work into your busy schedule: The holiday film avalanche is upon us.

MOVIES

Making 'Marley & Me' with director David Frankel

When filmmaker David Frankel showed a rough cut of his film The Devil Wears Prada to his boss, Fox 2000 Pictures president Elizabeth Gabler, she was so pleased that she handed him a copy of another best-selling book to adapt into a movie: Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog.

DVD SCANS

He's just a love machine -- and he'll break your heart

Can a robot garbage compactor without a mouth in a movie without dialogue for its first 20 minutes -- except for the tinny background strains of a song from the old Hello, Dolly! movie -- break your bleepin' heart?