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Latest reviews – Page 391
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Reviews
Arthur And The Invisibles (Arthur Et Les Minimoys)
Dir: Luc Besson, Pierre Buffin. Fr. 2006. 102mins.French producer-director Luc Bessonhits most of the right buttons with ArthurAnd The Invisibles (Arthur Et Les Minimoys as it is known inFrance), an engagingly imaginative computer animation and live-actionchildren's saga about a young boy's search for treasure in a kingdom ofLilliputian creatures.Five years ...
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Reviews
The Good German
Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2006.107mins.Steven Soderbergh's latestcinematic experiment is an homage to atmospheric wartime noir classics like The Third Man and Casablanca, attempting to reconjure themagic by recreating post-war Berlin on the backlot, shootingin black-and-white and encouraging the actors to give heightened theatricalperformances a la Bogart or Dietrich. It's a ...
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Reviews
Apocalypto
Dir: Mel Gibson. US. 2006.136mins.True to the pre-release PR spin and healthy industrybuzz, Mel Gibson's Apocalyptois less of a stodgy history lesson and more of a fleet-footed action adventure- albeit one with a highly unusual setting in the world of the ancient Maya.The action is sometimes thrilling and the evocation ...
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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
Turistas (aka Paradise Lost)
Dir: John Stockwell. US. 2006. 89mins.Set in a remote Brazilian beach town and effectivelyplaying to a traveler's worst nightmares, Turistas details the grittymisfortunes that befall a marooned group of young adventurers. A tangledcombination of thriller elements, travelogue and streamlined bits of gruesomeimperilment, it successfully wrings some novel tension from its ...
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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
Dreamgirls
Dir: Bill Condon. US. 2006.130mins.As movie versions of hit Broadway musicals go, BillCondon's Dreamgirlsis more Chicago than Rent. Likely to set the box officealight over Christmas domestically and in the New Year around the world, it isalso bound to figure highly in Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, if notend-of-year critics ...
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Reviews
The Holiday
Dir: Nancy Meyers. US. 2006.136mins.Queen of saccharine Nancy Meyers returns with The Holiday, a bloated romantic comedywhich will inevitably be the indulgence of choice for millions of predominantlyfemale moviegoers during the upcoming holiday season. With What Women Want and Something's Gotta Give, Meyersestablished her own brand of contemporary rom-com:guilty pleasure ...
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Reviews
The Nativity Story
Dir: Catherine Hardwicke. US. 2006. 102mins.One of the most bizarre matches of talent andmaterial this year - the story of the nativity from the director of Thirteen and The Lords Of Dogtown and the writer of The Rookie - delivers a satisfying andentirely inoffensive slice of Biblical drama which could ...
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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
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
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
The Return
Dir: Asif Kapadia. US. 2006. 85mins.UK film-maker Asif Kapadia confirms the sharp directorial authority hedisplayed in The Warrior with The Return,a disarming and visually arresting work about a woman imperilled by herunsolved link to a murder 15 years earlier. Unfortunately, his craftsmanship isultimately stranded by a story that lacks the ...
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Reviews
Curse Of The Golden Flower (Man Cheng Jin Dai Huang Jin Jia)
Dir: Zhang Yimou. China. 2006.114mins.China's mostexpensive production to date has every yuang up onthe screen. One of the most sumptuous and almost absurdly opulent spectacles onscreen in recent memory, Zhang Yimou's $45m epic Curse Of the GoldenFlower is fortunately not just a pretty face. It's also a meaty,blood-soaked melodrama filled ...
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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
Goya's Ghosts (Los Fantasmas De Goya)
Dir. MilosForman. UK-Sp. 2006.114mins.Director Milos Forman and producerSaul Zaentz reteam for thefirst time since the Oscar-winning Amadeus(1984) with Goya's Ghosts, a strongly crafted productionwhich effectively brings to life not only the revered painter Francisco Goyabut also the tumultuous period in which he lived.Tightly-scriptedplotting (the film also reunites Forman and Valmontscreenwriter ...
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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
Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Personne)
Dir: Guillaume Canet. Fr. 2006. 125mins.Actor Guillaume Canettackles his second film as director with TellNo One, a slickly confected adaptation of Harlan Coben'ssuspense bestseller about a widower who opens a Pandora's Box of family secretsand violent death. Credibly transposed to France, it has the dynamic rhythm ofa good chase thriller ...
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Reviews
Jade Warrior (Jadesoturi)
Dir: Antti-Jussi Annila. Fin-Neth-Chi-Est.2006. 100mins.Making a kung fu film in Finland sounds so bizarrethat it might just work, especially when it combines the Scandinavian epic taleKalevala, about valiant warriors unhappy in love, withChinese mythology. But expecting a first-time film-maker to tackle such a task isasking too much - and certainly ...
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Reviews
Casino Royale
Dir: Martin Campbell. UK. 2006. 147minsBond Is Back. The old promise takes on a freshemphasis in Casino Royale, amuscular, wildly successful attempt to strip the lucrative James Bond franchiseback to basics. Returning to the origins of the series in the first Ian Flemingnovel, Casino Royaledepicts Bond as a rough, reckless ...