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Latest reviews – Page 375
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Reviews
The Drummer
Dir. Kenneth Bi. Hong Kong / Taiwan , 2007. 115 mins.Conceived as a vehicle for Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son) but more likely to serve as a showcase for the talents of the U Theatre drummers, this gangster-movie-meets-rites-of-initiation picture has a hard time deciding which way to go among the ...
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Reviews
Ai No Yokan (The Rebirth)
. Dir. Masahiro Kobayashi. Japan , 2007. 102mins.A test of endurance that will defeat most audiences, MasahiroKobayashi's new film is an exercise in repetitious movement bound to earn plaudits with both festival juries and the more refined art cinema patron. The closest parallel to this kind of cinema is the ...
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Reviews
Sparkle
Dir/Scr: Tom Hunsinger & Neil Hunter UK. 2007. 104minsTom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter have built a reputation for making exceedingly engaging, increasingly polished ensemble pieces on the vagaries and vulnerabilities of the human heart. Despite critical acclaim for Boyfriends (1996) and especially The Lawless Heart (2001), they have yet to ...
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Reviews
The Price of Sugar
Dir: Bill Haney. US. 2007. 90min One the stand-out documentaries at Austin's SXSW festival this past spring was Bill Haney's The Price of Sugar, a sobering and well-done examination of the unpleasant realities behind the sugar tens of millions of Americans innocently sprinkle over their cereal in the morning. A ...
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Reviews
Extraordinary Rendition
Dir: Jim Threapleton. UK . 2007. 77mins. Extraordinary Rendition is a direct and powerful treatment of a subject that has caused huge indignation in the west - namely the kidnapping of a suspected terrorist and his transfer to a country that allows torture. Clearly made quickly and shot on a ...
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Reviews
A Girl Cut In Two (La Fille Coupee En Deux)
Dir: Claude Chabrol France 2007. 115 mins tbcIt's cynical business as usual for Claude Chabrol, who offers plentiful style and psychological finesse, if few surprises, in his latest jaundiced and sophisticated entertainment. The story of a young woman caught between two rivalrous and highly unsuitable admirers, A Girl Cut In ...
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Reviews
Captain Achab
Dir. Philippe Ramos. Fr-Swe, 2007. 100mins. This five episodes piece, only the last section of which actually deals with Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, is a Freudian attempt to explain why Captain Achab became the driven man he was. It's the kind of picture that should please certain film theorists ...
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Reviews
The Yellow House (La Maison Jaune)
Dir/scr: Amor Hakkar. Fr-Alg. 2007. 80mins.Shot in the Aures mountains, one of the more remote and arid regions of Algeria, The Yellow House is a worthy and particularly authentic representative of North African cinema that at the least can expect an extended list of festival. Refraining from any political statements ...
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Reviews
Sooner Or Later (Fruher Oder Spater)
Dir/scr: Ulrike von Ribbeck. Ger. 2007. 91mins.Dangerously tottering on the line between parody and ridicule, this debut feature by a short film director whose early efforts got into both Berlin and Cannes is either a send-up of the coming-of-age movie, back in fashion in Germany of late, or an honest ...
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Reviews
Thieves (Ladrones)
Dir. Jaime Marques Olarreaga. Sp. 2007. 101mins.Sombre mood and stylish visuals lend a mysterious atmosphere to Jaime Marques Olarreaga's feature debut Thieves, a film which attempts to explore more avenues than it is willing to actually venture down, leaving the audience, by the end, with a work that amounts to ...
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Reviews
Summit Circle (Contre Toute Esperance)
Dir/scr: Bernard Emond. Can. 2007. 89mins.Having regained faith in God, against all odds, in La Neuvaine, Canadian anthropologist-turned-film-maker Bernard Emond, sets out, in the second part of his trilogy Faith-Hope-Charity, to retrieve hope where there is none. No wonder the original French, and much more suitable, title for Summit Circle ...
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Reviews
I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster (J'ai Toujours Reve D'etre Un Gangster)
Dir/scr: Samuel Benchetrit . Fr. 2007. 110minsCheerful absurdity, hangdog humour and a sober recognition that, when you come down to it, provincial France just isn't the wild frontier of American crime cinema - all this makes Samuel Benchetrit's downbeat farce a distinctively offbeat pleasure. A set of linked crime vignettes, ...
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Reviews
Underdog
Dir: Frederik Du Chau. US. 2007. 83mins.With one paw in the comic-book action genre and one in the mawkish family arena, Underdog is a lovable mutt that could have benefited from better breeding. This live-action reinvention of the 1960s cartoon works best when lightly spoofing the conventions of superhero cinema, ...
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Reviews
Rush Hour 3
Dir: Brett Ratner. US. 2007. 91mins.No matter how fast Chris Tucker shoots his mouth or Jackie Chan flashes his fists, they can't recapture the charm of the original Rush Hour in this third installment. Almost 10 years removed from the first pairing of these mismatched cop partners, Rush Hour 3's ...
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Reviews
Vexille
Dir: Fumihiko Sori. Jap. 2007. 109mins.Opening Locarno with the world premiere of a new Japanese CG anime feature might have been a shrewd decision in this era of animation popularity. But, technical achievements aside, even a Japanese anime is ultimately judged by what it is attempting to say and how ...
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Reviews
Stardust
Dir: Matthew Vaughn. US-UK. 2007. 125mins.A fairy tale based on Neil Gaiman's four-part DC Comics book from 1997, Stardust is an ambitious high-concept adventure which is one of the few non-sequels, non-toy or non-TV adaptations to arrive in theatres this summer. But although entertaining, ribald and clever, it might fall ...
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Reviews
Rise Of The Footsoldier
Dir: Julian Gilbey. UK. 2007. 120mins tbc Goodfellas comes to Essex in Julian Gilbey's gangster thriller Rise Of The Footsoldier. Luridly violent, full of macho posturing and often mired in cliche, the film nonetheless has an epic sweep and relentless narrative drive that show Gilbey is more than just another ...
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Reviews
Gandhi My Father
Dir: Feroze Abbas Khan. Ind. 2007. 128mins. 'To his nation, he was a father. To his son, he was a father...he never had.' Thus reads the tag line for Feroze Abbas Khan's Gandhi My Father, a film which never seems entirely sure whether it wants to be a sweeping historical ...
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Reviews
The Bourne Ultimatum
Dir: Paul Greengrass. US. 2007. 113mins.The Bourne Ultimatum serves as an involving and fitting bookend to Matt Damon's character-powered spy thriller series, paying off in a thrilling manner his amnesiac assassin's search to uncover the roots of his identity while also delivering plenty of slam-bang, real-world action set across a ...
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Reviews
The Simpsons Movie
Dir: David Silverman. US. 2007. 87mins.Mixing to pleasingly irreverent effect the same sort of light social satire, dysfunctional family comedy and base physical gags that have been part of its well-honed formula for almost 20 years, The Simpsons Movie smoothly jumps the yawning chasm from small screen to large, delivering ...