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Latest reviews – Page 422
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Reviews
Proof
Dir:John Madden. US-UK. 2005. 100mins.Anefficient drama, rather than a memorable one, John Madden's Proofbenefits, for once, from its theatrical origins. Madden directed GwynethPaltrow in the main role of David Auburn's stage play at the Donmar Warehousein London, and the familiarity of both director and actress with the materialcomes through in ...
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Reviews
Casanova
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom. US.2005. 112mins.There's somethingold-fashioned about Lasse Hallstrom's take on the 18-century Venetian rake andwomaniser Giacomo Casanova; but also something disarmingly likeable.It's as if the spirit of Richard Lester, circa The Three Musketeers, had takenpossession of the Swedish director.Hallstrom is helped by ascript fizzing with brio and by the ...
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Reviews
Persona Non Grata
Dir/scr:Krzysztof Zanussi. Pol-Russ-It. 2005. 117mins.Krzysztof Zanussimakes films for mature specialised audiences, interested in human nature andethical standards rather than in plots, heroes and villains. If this dooms himto a small, appreciative cinema-going crowd and to selective festivals (likehis competition slot in Venice), then so be it. He has never appeared ...
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Reviews
Gabrielle
Dir: PatriceChereau. Fr-It. 2005.90mins.An analytical butstrangely alienated portrait of a 10 year-old marriage gone sour, PatriceChereau's latest feature is impressive on many counts but falls short ofdelivering the emotional wallop it seems to hanker for.Expanding on JosephConrad's novella The Return to show both viewpoints in a marital crisis,Chereau delivers an ...
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Reviews
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
Dir: Scott Derrickson.US. 2005. 118minsAn interesting but unresolved hybrid of metaphysical horror film andcourtroom drama, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose takes the true story of agirl who died in Germany following an apparent case of demonic possession, andtransplants it to small-town America.Billed as the firstauthentic film treatment of demonic possession, ...
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Reviews
Everything Is Illuminated
Dir: Liev Schreiber. US.2005. 102mins.The fine US actor LievSchreiber makes his directorial debut on his own ambitious adaptation of whatis perhaps an unfilmable book - Jonathan Safran Foer's brilliant first novel EverythingIs Illuminated. It's a brave attempt, but only partially successful, andcritics will compare it unfavourably with the very recent ...
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Reviews
Brokeback Mountain
Dir:Ang Lee. US. 2005. 133mins.Nonewly-arrived Martian would ever guess that the same person had directed Sense& Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Hulk.The most impressive thing about Ang Lee's creative take on the multiplepersonality syndrome is the way that each successive experiment feels like thework of a pro that ...
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ReviewsTakeshis'
Dir/scr: Takeshi Kitano.Jap. 2005. 108mins.By the morning of thepress screening, pretty much everyone on the Lido knew that the “surprise” filmon the Venice competition roster was the new project by Japanese auteur and TVcelebrity Takeshi Kitano. The real surprise, however, came at the end: thebriefest ripple ...
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Reviews
Gabrielle
Dir: PatriceChereau. Fr-It. 2005.90mins.An analytical butstrangely alienated portrait of a 10 year-old marriage gone sour, PatriceChereau's latest feature is impressive on many counts but falls short ofdelivering the emotional wallop it seems to hanker for.Expanding on JosephConrad's novella The Return to show both viewpoints in a marital crisis,Chereau delivers an ...
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Reviews
A Sound Of Thunder
Dir: Peter Hyams.US/Germany/Czech Republic/UK. 2005. 101 mins. Emerging in themarketplace almost three years after it was made, A Sound of Thunder turns a vintage Ray Bradbury short story into acheesy and unconvincing big budget B-movie. With its sub-par effects, uninspiredperformances and unfocused narrative, this sci-fi thriller, left over from theglory ...
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Reviews
Good Night, And Good Luck
Dir:George Clooney. US. 2005. 90mins.Anaustere drama of political and journalistic ethics, Good Night, And GoodLuck represents George Clooney's consecration as a serious writer anddirector after his original but uncertain debut, Confessions Of A DangerousMind.Shotin elegant black-and-white with a classic, measured feel to editing and pacingthat matches its patient establishment of ...
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Reviews
The Secret Life Of Words (La Vida Secreta De Las Palabras)
Dir/scr: IsabelCoixet. 2005. Sp-UK. 112mins.Produced once more by Pedro Almodovar's El Deseooutfit, Isabel Coixet's second English-language feature proves itself to be adeeply felt work that is much stronger on emotions than it is on form.Initially affecting,her story of a recluse tending a temporarily blinded man eventually becomesrepetitive before stating its ...
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Reviews
Seven Swords (Qi Jian)
Dir: Tsui Hark. HK-Chi-SKor. 2005. 152mins.Hong Kong auteur TsuiHark's most ambitious film to date, Seven Swords makes for an energeticVenice curtain-raiser after the dreary plod of last year's The Terminal.The director has talked upSeven Swords as the Saving Private Ryan of martial arts films, of areturn to basics and focus ...
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Reviews
The Great Goblin War (Yokai Daisenso)
Dir: Takashi Miike. Jap.2005. 124mins.Announcing the production of the $30m The Great Goblin War lastSeptember, Kadokawa Group chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa said the film would'rival Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings in its worldwideappeal".To make its chairman's wordsa reality, Kadokawa hired Takashi Miike, a director best known for hisfull-frontal plunges ...
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Reviews
A Perfect Day
Dir/scr: JoanaHadjithomas, Khalil Joreige. Fr-Leb-Ger. 2005. 88mins.The perfect metaphor in search of a plot, thesecond feature from Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige assembles thenecessary ingredients to paint a portrait of life in Beirut but lacks thedramatic momentum to pull them all together and spark some life.Set in the Lebanesecapital, A ...
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Reviews
The Cave
Dir:Bruce Hunt. US. 2005. 96mins.US-backedbut utilising international above- and below-the-line talent and locations, TheCave is an efficient yet routine horror thriller with what would normallyseem like a novel underground exploration setting. Unfortunately, the settingis shared with recent British caving chiller The Descent - so in theinternational marketplace at least, The ...
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Reviews
Gypo
Dir/scr: Jan Dunn. UK.2005. 98minsThe prospect of anofficially approved British Dogme film may not set hearts racing but Gypodefies any low expectations. An accomplished first feature, it makes a virtueof its adherence to the vows of cinematic chastity required by the Dogmemanifesto.Shot in 13 days on a microbudget from a ...
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Reviews
The Cave
Dir:Bruce Hunt. US. 2005. 96mins.US-backedbut utilising international above- and below-the-line talent and locations, TheCave is an efficient yet routine horror thriller with what would normallyseem like a novel underground exploration setting. Unfortunately, the settingis shared with recent British caving chiller The Descent - so in theinternational marketplace at least, The ...
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Reviews
The Dark
Dir: John Fawcett. UK.2005. 92minsA promising supernaturalthriller never quite comes to the boil in The Dark. The latest featurefrom Ginger Snaps director John Fawcett blends together the intriguingingredients of a pagan religion, a remote coastal location, the power of amother's love and the scorn of an injured child but it ...
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Reviews
An Unfinished Life
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom.US. 2005. 107mins.An Unfinished Life is the kind of film where you can predicteverything that will happen within moments of the story starting to unfold. Allthat remains is a simple matter of dutifully filling in the blanks.This Lasse Hallstromventure had been sitting on the shelf for some time ...