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Latest reviews – Page 401
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Reviews
Severance
Dir: Christopher Smith. UK. 2006. 95mins.The latest in a seemingly endless cycle of newBritish horror films, Christopher Smith's Severanceis slick, funny and determinedly superficial and derivative. The screenplay(co-written by Smith and James Moran) is leavened with sub-Viz humour, satirical asidesabout office politics and the arms trade, and self-parodicjokes. Smith, who ...
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Reviews
Nomad
Dirs: Ivan Passer/Sergei Bodrov/Talgat Temenov. Kazakh. 2006. 112mins.A sprawling spectacle that took its three directorsmore than three years to usher it to Locarno's PiazzaGrande, Nomad is a larger-than-lifehistorical epic replete with stunning landscapes and authentic productionvalues.While hardly afestival gem, it should still be something of a crowd pleaser among sympatheticaudiences ...
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ReviewsThe Lives Of Others (Das Leben Der Anderen)
Dir/scr. Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck.Ger. 2006. 137mins.
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Reviews
The Lives Of The Saints
Dirs: Rankin/Chris Cottam.100mins. UK. 2006.The Lives Of TheSaints is a bold but determinedly awkward affair in whichdebut directors Rankin and Chris Cottam ultimatelyrisk overstretching themselves. Individual sequences are strikingly shot andperformed and there is no faulting the film-makers' ambition or imagination - butthere is no disguising either the gauche moments ...
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Reviews
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
Dir/scr: Steve Oedekerk. USA. 2006. 87minutes.The secret lives of farm animals get an energetic animatedworkout in writer-director Steve Oedekerk's Barnyard, a colourfulshowcase that sacrifices some of its narrative cogency for frenzied jamborees,pratfalls and musical montage-fed poignancy.With neither abroad TV advertising campaign nor top-shelf star voice talent, Barnyard will face tough ...
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Reviews
The Bubble (Ha'Bua)
Dir: Eytan Fox. Is. 2006. 90mins.Film-maker Eytan Foxdisappointingly follows Walk On Water, one of Israel's strongest exports of recenttimes, with The Bubble, asurprisingly feeble drama which picks up on similar themes but frames them indisorganised fashion.Set in Tel Aviv's Shenkin neighbourhood, the Israeli capital's equivalent ofGreenwich Village, the drama addresses ...
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Reviews
Serambi
Dirs: Garin Nugroho, Tonny Trimarsanto, Viva Westi,Lianto Luseno. Ind'sia-Fr. 2006. 75mins.Concentrating on the events after 2004's Asiantsunami disaster, the documentary Serambifunctions best as a companion piece to Garin Nugroho's previous work Of Love And Eggs, itself an ebullient pieceabout an Indonesian marketplace. Presenting through its collage of images thehuman and ...
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Reviews
Just Like The Son
Dir/scr: Morgan J Freeman. US. 2006. 86minsEssentially a road movie for kids, with the adultssimply straight men and women to a wisecrackingsix-years-old, Morgan J Freeman's Just LikeThe Son joins the plethora of undemanding matinee products targeted at thechildren's crowd.While its plot motor - adultkidnaps boy - hardly sounds ethical, audience ...
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Reviews
World Trade Center
Dir: Oliver Stone. US. 2006.125mins.In Hollywood's first really major movie aboutthe events of September 11, 2001, Oliver Stone mostly steers clear of politics,religion and other potentially controversial issues. Instead, the usuallyprovocative film-maker focuses on the true and more personal story of two copstrapped in the rubble of the Twin Towers ...
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Reviews
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Dir: Adam McKay. US. 2006.108mins.Even though TalladegaNights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby intermittentlyspins its wheels, crowd-pleaser runs well enough to reach the finish line.Playing to his strengths, star/co-writer/executive producer Will Ferrell reapsmany good comic moments early on in Adam Mckay'sfeature to compensate for a sluggish second half.Set in the world ...
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Reviews
Talladega Nights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby
Dir: Adam McKay. US. 2006. 108mins.Even though TalladegaNights: The Ballad Of Ricky Bobby intermittentlyspins its wheels, crowd-pleaser runs well enough to reach the finish line.Playing to his strengths, star/co-writer/executive producer Will Ferrell reapsmany good comic moments early on in Adam Mckay'sfeature to compensate for a sluggish second half.Set in the ...
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Reviews
The Ant Bully
Dir: John A Davis. US. 2006.87mins.Familiar tropes and jokes are trotted out in squirmingly obvious fashion with The Ant Bully, an intermittently sweetly moralisingbut rather lacklustre and ramshackle animated tale ofshifted perspective in which an adolescent is shrunk to the same size as theants in his front yard.Visually, the movierecalls ...
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Reviews
Miami Vice
Dir: Michael Mann. US. 2006.132mins.Forget "MTV cops" in pastel suits. Michael Mann's bigscreen version of TV landmark Miami Viceturns the stylish (in its day) mid-1980s series into a darkly intensecontemporary crime drama with a vivid digital video look and broodingperformances from stars Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx. Mann'sdaring approach results ...
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Reviews
Driving Lessons
MIME-Version: 1.0Content-Location: file:///C:/2A8CB117/drivingreview.htmContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printableContent-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"Dir/scr: Jeremy Bro=ck. UK. 200=6.95mins.Funny and tender enough to compen=satefor its lightweight, conventional core, DrivingLessons, the first directorial feature from scriptwriter Jeremy Brock (=Mrs Brown, Charlotte Gray) is a likeable HaroldAnd Maude rerun that is given a commercial leg-up by the canny casting =ofthe three ...
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Reviews
Driving Lessons
Dir/scr: Jeremy Brock. UK. 2006.95mins.Funny and tender enough to compensate for itslightweight, conventional core, DrivingLessons, the first directorial feature from scriptwriter Jeremy Brock (Mrs Brown, Charlotte Gray) is a likeable HaroldAnd Maude rerun that is given a commercial leg-up by the canny casting ofthe three main roles. Harry Potterregular Rupert ...
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Reviews
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Dir: Ivan Reitman. US. 2006. 96mins.A tantalising comic premise about a beautifulsuperhero whose romantic frustration turns her into a vengeful stalker, Ivan Reitman's large budget action comedy My Super Ex-Girlfriend plays to diminished power that is all set-upand no pay-off. In particular, this flat, increasingly mannered work sabotagesa droll, inventive ...
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Reviews
Stormbreaker (aka Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker)
Dir: Geoffrey Sax. UK-US-Ger. 2006. 93mins.Geoffrey Sax's Stormbreaker, the first in whatthe producers are hoping will become a new British movie franchise to rival Spy Kids or Harry Potter, announces its intentions right at the outset. The audienceare treated to a frantic chase in which James Bond-style superspyIan Rider (Ewan ...
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Reviews
Sway (Yureru)
Dir: Miwa Nishikawa. Jap.2006. 119mins.Japanese film-maker Miwa Nishikawa may have beenmentored by acclaimed director's Hirokazu Kore-eda, but his latest feature, Sway, lacks the veteran's pacing and distinguished handling of drama.A supposed thriller thatuses a seemingly accidental death to deal with the malaise afflicting aJapanese family, and through it Japanese society, ...
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Reviews
Salvador
Dir: Manuel Huerga. Sp-UK. 2006. 138mins.Based on the true story of a dashing Spanish anarchistand his execution as General Franco's last political prisoner, Manuel Huerga's Salvadoris never an overtly bad film but does pantingly flirtwith disaster during its overlong running time.While well-mounted, withexcellent production values and convincing action, theatrical prospects ...
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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 ...