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Latest reviews – Page 415
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Reviews
The White Countess
Dir: James Ivory. US. 2005.135mins.The finale to director James Ivory's longcollaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (who diedlast May, just as the film was being completed), The White Countess is an intimate period romance given historicalsweep by a script from The Remains Of TheDay novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.The tentative love affair atthe ...
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Reviews
Melissa P
Dir: Luca Guadagnino. It-Sp. 2005. 102mins. "Loosely based on" ascandalous bestselling book which purports to recount the true sexualexperiences of a 16-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl, Sony Pictures Entertainment'sfirst Italian production Melissa Pstruggles gamely to be less of an adolescent sexploitation flick and more of acoming-of-age study.True,there is some teen sex ...
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Reviews
Just Friends
Dir: Roger Kumble. US. 2005. 94mins.Sporting a rich premise, Just Friends ultimately fails to live up to its early potential,instead settling into broad comedy that shortchanges the film's romanticpossibilities.Opening in the USon Nov 23 during the packed Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday-themed film(rated PG-13) stands out as the only date movie ...
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Reviews
Syriana
Dir/scr: Stephen Gaghan. US. 2005. 123mins.Writer-director Stephen Gaghan'sSyrianasets out to do for the global oil industry what Steven Soderbergh'sTraffic - which Gaghanscripted - did for the international drug trade. But while Traffic managed to mix affecting drama with its big picturegeopolitics, Gaghan's provocative new study worksbetter as a stimulant for ...
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Reviews
Rent
Dir: Chris Columbus. US.2005. 130mins.The zeitgeist 1996 Broadway musical Rent gets a faithful and energetic filmadaptation from an unlikely film-maker in Chris Columbus, and an in-builtaudience of Rent-lovers won't bedisappointed. Columbus also has a fair shot at pulling in a new generation ofkids who don't know the show and who ...
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Reviews
Yours, Mine & Ours (Tuya)
Dir: Raja Gosnell. US. 2005. 90mins.Looking to follow the Cheaper By The Dozen formula to box officesuccess, Yours, Mine & Ours is atiresome kids comedy that's never as funny as it is loud and oddlymean-spirited.Opening Nov 23 inthe US, the film (with its PG rating) will be hoping to attract ...
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Reviews
Brothers Of The Head
Dirs: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe. UK. 2005. 90mins.Keith Fulton and Louis Pepetake a small step from documentary to mockumentarywith Brothers Of The Head, a bizarreriff on the source novel by Brian Aldiss.The story of conjoined twinbrothers and their brief rush of rock star fame during the 1970s is technically beyond ...
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Reviews
Go West
Dir/scr: Ahmed Imamovic. Bosnia-Herzegovina.2005. 100mins.Coming after his successful short, 10 Minutes, Ahmed Imamovic's debut feature Go West shows definite promise, as he attempts to present a solidfolksy melange of sex, politics and violence in the best traditions of Balkancinema.Focussing on the gaycommunity, atrocities against who have largely been overlooked in ...
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Reviews
Hostel
Dir: Eli Roth. US. 2005.95mins.A serpentine thriller likely to both repulse andexcite, Roth's second feature - and follow-up to Cabin Fever - plays like a shotgun marriage of Eurotripand Saw, starting out confidently as an European road sex adventure beforedevolving into a mutilation splatter flick.It is not always easy totake, ...
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Reviews
The Libertine
Dir. Laurence Dunmore. UK. 2005. 114mins.Resurfacing 14 months after its Toronto premiere as awork in progress, The Libertine hasnot improved with time, even after an extra year in the editing suite.Despite a sharp bounce fromJohnny Depp's deliciously suggestive performance as the titular Earl ofRochester, Laurence Dunmore's debut feature feels lacklustre ...
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Reviews
Sky Fighters (Les Chevaliers Du Ciel)
Dir: Gerard Pires. Fr. 2005. 102mins.In Sky Fighters,two gung-ho French airforce pilots battle withterrorists out to commandeer a Mirage 2000 jet for a post-9/11 apocalypse overParis. But as with too many aviation pictures, Gerard Pires'$22m feature soars when it is airborne but is hobbled on the ground by stockmelodramatics and ...
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Reviews
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
Dir: Mike Newell. US-UK. 2005. 150mins.A solid but mostly uninspired melding of theadventure and fright that have been the benchmarks of the franchise, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire isneither as singular a film as director Alfonso Cuaron's third instalment nor askid-pleasing as Chris Columbus's first two entries.As Potter's ...
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Reviews
Zathura
Dir: Jon Favreau. US. 2005. 100mins.Family features can often fall foul to several traps.One is that they end up as showcases for bedazzling special effects thatdominate the storytelling; another is that they rely on rote bodily function humour that may be funny to a six-year-old but is indicativeof lazy and ...
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Reviews
The Headsman
Dir: Simon Aeby. Aust-Swit-Ger-Lux-Hung-U.K. 2005. 108mins.While its production values are magnificent, The Headsman is an uneven period drama,too concerned with trying to convince the audience that history is repeatingitself and investing little enough effort into its mysteriously lifelessstoryline.As such it is ofprimary interest to history buffs, although even they may ...
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Reviews
Viva Zapatero!
Dir/scr: Sabina Guzzanti. It. 2005. 80mins.Sabina Guzzanti'santi-censorship documentary Viva Zapatero! does for Italianprime minister Silvio Berlusconi what Fahrenheit 9/11 did for George Bush: itexposes the ugly subtext that, in the film-maker's view, lies behind theairbrushed public image.Like Michael Moore, Sabina Guzzanti is no shrinking violet, and there is at first ...
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Reviews
Be With Me
Dir: Eric Khoo. Sing. 2005.90mins.Since it opened Directors Fortnight at Cannes, Be With Me, Eric Khoo'sthird feature has galloped from one event to another (most recently Chicago andTokyo), a festival warhorse that has gathered several favourable reviews aswell as becoming Singapore's submission for best foreign language Oscar.But while it is ...
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Reviews
Sorry, Haters
Dir/scr: Jeff Stanzler. US. 2005. 84mins.Jeff Stanzler's ambitious,unsettling second feature, Sorry, Hatersdeals in some disturbing imagery and visceral contemporary relevance,attempting to say something provocative about US culture and its frayed socialfabric in the wake of September 11.Unfortunately, its Hitchcockian treatment of sin, guilt and transferenceproduces a dramatic imbalance that undermines ...
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Reviews
What the Snow Brings (Yuki Ni Negau Koto)
Dir: Kichitaro Negishi. Jap. 2005. 112mins.What The Snow Brings pulled offa Superfecta at the Tokyo International Film Festival,winning the top prize - the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix - on top of the best directorprize for Kichitaro Negishi,the best actor prize for star Koichi Sato and the audience award.As its haul ...
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Reviews
Derailed
Dir: Mikael Hafstrom. US. 2005. 108mins.Representing a fairly low profile debut for a highprofile operation, The Weinstein Company's Derailedis a sharp, nicely cast neo-noir thriller that loses some of its edge over thecourse of its twisting and turning plot.Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom - whose Evil (Ondskan)was a best foreign language ...