All articles by Jean Oppenheimer
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Reviews
Charlotte's Web
Dir: Gary Winick. 2006.97mins.While no live-action/CGI-hybrid about talking animalsis ever likely to match or surpass Chris Noonan's Babe (1995), the film adaptation of Charlotte's Web proves itself a pleasant and engaging addition tothe genre.Since its publication in1952, EB White's classic tale of friendship has been translated into 23languages and has ...
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Reviews
Man Of The Year
Dir/scr: Barry Levinson. US. 2006. 114minsWith Man Of The Year, Barry Levinson returns to the Americanpolitical scene that he satirised so ably in Wag The Dog, this time forgoing unregenerate cynicism for satireslathered between layers of disarming sweetness and optimism.But despite boasting RobinWilliam's most restrained and winning performance for some ...
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Reviews
Everyone's Hero
Dir: Christopher Reeve, Daniel St. Pierre, ColinBrady. US. 2006. 85mins.It's easy to see why Christopher Reeve,who died during the making of animated children's film Everyone's Hero (directing duties were assumed by Daniel St Pierreand Colin Brady), was attracted to the material. The story of a young boy whofinds the strength ...
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Reviews
Everybody's Hero
Dir: Christopher Reeve, Daniel St. Pierre, ColinBrady. US. 2006. 85mins.It's easy to see why Christopher Reeve,who died during the making of animated children's film Everybody's Hero (directing duties were assumed by Daniel St Pierreand Colin Brady), was attracted to the material. The story of a young boy whofinds the strength ...
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Reviews
Material Girls
Dir: Martha Coolidge. US.2006. 110mins.US teen icon Hilary Duff may never have exhibited theacting chops of, say, Lindsay Lohan, but she does atleast usually project some sort of likeable presence on screen. The problem' Duff is the same presence in every film that she'sever been in - and it's never ...
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Reviews
Something New
Dir: Sanaa Hamri. US. 2006. 100mins.Enjoyable, without being especially deepor involving, the romantic comedy SomethingNew should appeal to fans of Waiting To Exhale and HowStella Got Her Groove Back. Like them, this latest picture features astrong, black female protagonist who finds it difficult to find a suitablepartner and, as such, ...
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Reviews
Rumour Has It...
Dir: Rob Reiner.US. 138mins.Invoking the spirit of a classic featurecan be a precarious business for a new movie, inviting inevitable comparisons.It's something that Rumour Has It' -whose plotline was inspired by The Graduate, Mike Nichols' far more spirited, witty anddaring film - does at its peril, falling flat not only ...
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Reviews
Prime
Dir/scr: Ben Younger. US. 2005. 105mins.It's doubtful that Prime, Ben Younger's bittersweet comedyabout the age-gap love affair between an older woman and a younger man, willgenerate as much interest as the recent nuptials of DemiMoore and Ashton Kutcher.Neither as broadly comic noras sophomorically crude as Meet The Parents, it mines ...
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Reviews
Two For The Money
Dir: DJ Caruso. US. 2005.120minsSavvy gamblers shouldn't bet the house on the new high-stakes drama TwoFor The Money in which Al Pacino plays devilish mentor to MatthewMcConaughey (not too dissimilar to his role with Keanu Reeves in Devil'sAdvocate). A cross between Any Given Sunday (which also starredPacino) and Wall Street's ...
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Reviews
Two For The Money
Dir: DJ Caruso. US. 2005.120minsSavvy gamblers shouldn't bet the house on the new high-stakes drama TwoFor The Money in which Al Pacino plays devilish mentor to MatthewMcConaughey (not too dissimilar to his role with Keanu Reeves in Devil'sAdvocate). A cross between Any Given Sunday (which also starredPacino) and Wall Street's ...
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Reviews
Sky High
Dir: Mike Mitchell. US2005. 90mins.Withmore than a passing nod towards Harry Potter, Spy Kids, TheIncredibles and X-Men, new superhero feature Sky High is setin a school for kids who are just coming into their paranormal powers - as ifteenage angst was not enough already.Given its mild, frequentlycorny, humour and the ...
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Reviews
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants
Dir: Ken Kwapis. US.2005. 119mins.Based on a wildly popular young-adult novel about fourteen girlfriends and the pair of magical blue jeans they share over the summer,The Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants is a coming-of-age dramatailor-made for fans of the books, which with its sequels has sold 3.5m-pluscopies in the US. ...
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Reviews
Monster-In-Law
Dir: Robert Luketic. US2005. 95mins.Jennifer Lopez may get top billing, but Jane Fonda is theonly conceivable reason to see Monster-In-Law, a tepid romantic comedyabout a bride-to-be locking horns with her boyfriend's mum.In the US, where the filmsopens on May 13, box-office may be mixed. Thirty years after the US pulled ...
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News
Loverboy
Dir: Kevin Bacon. US.2005. 87minsAn old psychiatric joke declares that 'neurotics build castles in thesky; psychotics live in them.' Loverboy focuses on a smart,creative, unusually intense woman whose natural, if somewhat alarminglypossessive, love for her young son careers into total obsession.But while Loverboyboasts some stellar performances, it is unlikely that ...
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Reviews
House Of D
Dir/scr: David Duchovny.US. 2004. 97mins.Cloying when it means tobe heartfelt, simplistic when it aims to be nostalgic, House Of Dconcerns a troubled artist who must come to terms with his past if he everhopes to get a handle on his life. In his feature writing and directorial debut,actor David Duchovny ...
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Reviews
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous
Dir: John Pasquin. US.2005. 112mins.Released four years ago,the first Miss Congeniality proved to be an amiable comedy, filled withamusing, if predictable, pratfalls and a few out-loud laughs. The real draw wasSandra Bullock, whose gift for comedy makes almost any movie she is inwatchable - apart from, possibly, Miss Congeniality 2: ...
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Reviews
Hitch
Dir: Andy Tennant. US2005. 115minsWhile it may not be on apar with benchmark romantic comedies like Pretty Woman, Andy Tennant's Hitchproves that even the unlikeliest love story works if backed up by a solid freshscript and believable, ingratiating characters.Columbia can expect a solidreturn on its this perfect date flick, both ...
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Reviews
The Wedding Date
Dir: Clare Kilner. US. 2005. 85minsImagine Pretty Womanin reverse. Instead of a handsome, sophisticated businessman hiring abeautiful, vivacious call girl to serve as his date for the weekend, it is thewoman, in this case sweet but neurotic, who pays a professional male escort topose as her boyfriend for three days. ...
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Reviews
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Dir: Wes Anderson. US.2004. 118mins.Bill Murray owes anenormous debt of gratitude to writer/director Wes Anderson, whose wonderfullydry, absurdist films have stretched the actor in ways the comedy star mightnever have attempted on his own.Forced to venture outsidehis comfort zone into uncharted emotional waters, Murray has delivered oneoutstanding performance after another ...
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Reviews
The Great Water (Golemata Voda)
Dir: Ivo Trajkov.Macedonia 2004. 90minsSet in Yugoslavia duringthe immediate aftermath of World War II, when Stalin was extending his reachover Eastern Europe, The Great Water concerns an all too real subject:orphans who were rounded up and sent to labour camps to be indoctrinated withCommunist ideology.Containing elements of bothdrama and surrealism, ...