All articles by Steven Rosen
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Reviews
I Think I Love My Wife
Dir: Chris Rock. US. 2007. 94mins. It sounds like a joke: comedian Chris Rock and Louis CK, with who he collaborated on his edgy 1990s HBO TV series, working together again on an adaptation of Eric Rohmer's Chloe In The Afternoon. The laughs sound even more pronounced given that they ...
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Reviews
On The Road With Judas
Dir/scr: JJ Lask. 100mins. US. 2006. In On the Road with Judas, novelist and television-commercial editor JJ Lask shows aptitude for making sense of a complex, multi-character narrative that in less sure hands would be chaotic and incoherent. However his achievement is more technical than emotional as beneath the Charlie ...
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Reviews
The Signal (La Senal)
Dirs/Writers: David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush. 99 minutes. U.S. 2006.A low-budget horror picture filmed in high-definition video to look ultra-realistic, The Signal has mind-numbingly brutal gore and violence that could catch on with extremist horror buffs because of its unusual structure and fast-moving nature. The picture appeared at Sundance ...
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Reviews
Joshua
Dir: George Ratliff. 105 minutes. U.S. A tense, stylish and satisfyingly adult psychological thriller about the bad side of having children, George Ratliff's Joshua benefits from fine writing and acting - especially by Vera Farmiga - but is marred by a final act that lacks a revelatory climax worthy of ...
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Reviews
Teeth
Dir/Writer: Mitchell Lichtenstein. 87 minutes. USWriter/director Mitchell Lichtenstein's, Teeth could have been just another bloody gross-out horror comedy with a gimmick - a teen virgin discovers she has a toothed vagina. But the sexuality angle, as well as the luminous presence and naturalistic performance of Jess Weixler as that girl, ...
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Reviews
Trade
Dir: Marco Kreuzpaintner. US. 2007. 113mins.While unconvincing as a muck-raking look at how a network of foreign sex-slave traffickers can operate within the US, Trade often works as a gritty, sordid thriller due to the pulsating, viscerally kinetic direction by German director Marco Kreuzpaintner. Working in Mexico City and the ...
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Reviews
Factory Girl
Dir: George Hickenlooper. US. 2006. 90mins.Sienna Miller does more than effectively capture doomed but beautiful 1960s pop art icon Edie Sedgwick with Factory Girl, George Hickenlooper's portrait of the Andy Warhol-anointed superstar that also conveys the elegant grunginess of the era.In the US, where Factory Girl enjoys a one-week Oscar-qualifying ...
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Reviews
The Painted Veil
Dir: John Curran. US-Chi.2006. 125mins.Adapted from W Somerset Maugham's novelabout an idealistic newlywed British couple living in turbulent 1920s China, JohnCurran's The Painted Veil is apalpably alive and heart-rending romantic drama about the extremes -geographic, sexual and emotional - travelled in a struggling marriage. Far morethan an attractive literary period-piece, ...
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Reviews
Blood Diamond
Dir: Edward Zwick. US. 2006. 138mins.A well-written, well-acted and provocative politicalaction thriller, Edward Zwick's Blood Diamond provokes its audience into thinking about the impactof diamond lust on the Third World. But itsrelentlessly realistic depiction of contemporary African warfare - and the waydiamond smuggling funds it - is so horrific that ...
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Reviews
Darkbluealmostblack
Dir/scr: Daniel Sanchez Arevalo. Spain.2006. 105mins.Pedro Almodovar's influenceis evident in Darkbluealmostblack,a kinky tragic-comic debut feature about dysfunctional families from Spanishwriter/director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo. But whereasthe master can make abrupt plot turns and mood shifts flow together smoothly, theundeniably promising Sanchez Arevalo tries too hard.At home Darkbluealmostblackhas taken $1m-plus, while beyond ...
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Reviews
Deja Vu
Dir: Tony Scott. US. 2006.128mins.The latest thriller from producer Jerry Bruckheimerand director Tony Scott, Deja Vu bites off more than it can stylishlyblow up in trying to turn a terrorist attack into back-story fodder for atime-travel tale. But its greatest weakness is making the usually charismatic Denzel Washington seem a ...
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Reviews
Beautiful Ohio
Dir: Chad Lowe. US. 2006.91mins.Chad Lowe makes an uneven directorial debut with Beautiful Ohio, failing to establish anassured tone, consistent acting or memorable visual style in this story about adysfunctional but talented family. All in all it feels very much like a missedopportunity, moreso because the source material's imaginativeliterariness and ...
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Reviews
Lies & Alibis
Dir: Kurt Matilla, Matt Checkowski. US. 2006. 90mins.A cute but superficial scam caper, Lies & Alibis is easy on the eye butleaves no real lasting impression. Despite its many flaws, first-time directorsKurt Matilla and Matt Checkowski do bring a zippy flair to the material, helpedby a good-humoured score and the ...
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Reviews
Happy Feet
Dir: George Miller. US.2006. 98mins.HappyFeet is one strange bird of an animated movie. Directedby George Miller, who was behind Babe(1995) and its badly-received sequel, it is by turns giddy, maudlin,swinging, narratively overstuffed and artisticallymagnificent as it makes the case - not always in jest - that penguins would havea better ...
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Reviews
The Dead Girl
Dir/scr: Karen Moncrieff. US. 2006. 93mins.The Dead Girl, Karen Moncrieff's thoroughly downbeat follow-up to herwell-received debut Blue Car, may beatmospherically creepy and have some good acting by respected names, but itsanguished, dysfunctional characters are so extreme that the film slips intounintentional self-parody.Theatrical prospects don'tseem good for First Look's late-December release, ...
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Reviews
A Good Year
Dir: Ridley Scott. U.S. 2006. 118mins.Ridley Scott's A Good Year, whichre-teams the director with Russell Crowe, should have been an easily likeableand amiable romantic comedy, adapted from the same-name novel by Peter Mayle, who has had a huge following since his 1989 memoir A Year In Provence.But this tale of ...
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Reviews
The US Vs John Lennon
MIME-Version: 1.0Content-Location: file:///C:/1E88C64E/johnlennon.htmContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printableContent-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"Dirs: David Leaf/John Scheinfeld.US. 2006. 99mins.Despite its provocative title, David Leaf and John Sch=einfeld'sdocumentary The US Vs John Lennon isas much a friendly portrait of the late Beatle as political activist as anexpose of early 1970s White House efforts to deport him for that activism. ...
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Reviews
The US Vs John Lennon
Dirs: David Leaf/John Scheinfeld.US. 2006. 99mins.Despite its provocativetitle, David Leaf and John Scheinfeld's documentary The US Vs John Lennon is as much a friendly portrait of the lateBeatle as political activist as an expose of early 1970s White House efforts todeport him for that activism. But it fails to clearly ...
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Reviews
Lady In The Water
Dir: M Night Shayamalan.US. 2006. 110 mins.An unusual setting,eccentric characters and a wry sense of humour partially compensate for asimplistic story and lack of mystery in M Night Shyamalan's Lady in theWater, a film that'sentertaining despite its shortcomings.Many fans of thewriter/director's past hits will find this modernist bedtime story/New Ageyempowerment ...
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Reviews
Nacho Libre
Dir: Jared Hess. US. 2006.90mins tbc.Mostly an interminable journey through corny accentsand gross sight gags, Jared Hess' lowbrow Mexican-wrestling comedy Nacho Librecomes alive only when Jack Black frees himself from its puerile screenplay andromps in all his wild-haired, flabby-tummy glory.In such moments,which are too infrequent and mostly come at the ...