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Latest reviews – Page 432
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Reviews
The Liberace Of Baghdad
Dir. Sean McAllister. UK-Den. 2004.75mins.A documentary that goes behind the dailyheadlines out of Iraq, The Liberace OfBaghdad focuses on a pianist whose professional career came to an abruptend with the toppling of Saddam. Shot over eight months in Baghdad in 2004 attremendous peril to its director Sean McAllister, not to ...
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Reviews
Live-In Maid (Cama Adentro)
Dir/scr:Jorge Gaggero. Arg-Sp. 2004. 87mins.Jorge Gaggero'sprize-winning Live-In Maid (Cama Adentro) is a wonderfully touching,understated two-hander from Argentina which has been an audience-pleaser at theSan Sebastian, Brussels and Sundance film festivals. Indeed, it won a specialjury prize in the inaugural world drama competition section of Sundance. Its release in Argentina has ...
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Reviews
The Ring Two
Dir: Hideo Nakata. US.2005. 111mins.Hideo Nakata, famedJapanese horror director of Dark Water and Chaos, makes his USfilm debut with The Ring Two, the sequel to Gore Verbinski's 2002 remakeof Nakata's own Ringu (1998), although it is not modelled on Nakata'sown Japanese sequel Ringu 2 (1999). Ironically lacking in the creepinessthat ...
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Reviews
Exorcist: The Prequel
Dir:Paul Schrader. US. 2005. 111mins.Shroudedin controversy, almost buried at birth by its producers Morgan Creek (whocommissioned an alternative version by Renny Harlin), Paul Schrader's Exorcistprequel is a far richer affair than its troubled production history mightsuggest. A notable improvement on Harlin's rushed job (released to mediocrebusiness and largely damning reviews ...
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Reviews
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed And Fabulous
Dir: John Pasquin. US.2005. 112mins.Released four years ago,the first Miss Congeniality proved to be an amiable comedy, filled withamusing, if predictable, pratfalls and a few out-loud laughs. The real draw wasSandra Bullock, whose gift for comedy makes almost any movie she is inwatchable - apart from, possibly, Miss Congeniality 2: ...
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Reviews
Sepet
Dir/scr: Yasmin Ahmad.Malay. 2004.104minsWhile it may be foolhardyto doubt the power of love to sell cinema tickets around the world, it isunlikely that star-crossed Malaysian tearjerker Sepet will enjoy muchgood fortune beyond home.Yasmin Ahmad's saga, whichupdates Romeo & Juliet to a modern south-east Asian locale, hascarried some weight at the ...
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Reviews
Towards Mathilde (Vers Mathilde)
Dir: Claire Denis. Fr.2005. 86mins.Claire Denis' career asdirector has seen her bounce back and forth between challenging butwell-crafted feature films (Beau Travail, Vendredi Soir) andother, less accessible stories that seem wilfully abstruse (Trouble EveryDay, L'Intrus).Vers Mathilde suggests that the more experimental, conceptual sideof the director's character may eventually find its ...
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Reviews
Hating Alison Ashley
Dir: Geoff Bennett. Aus.2004. 102mins.Australiansinger, soap star and media darling Delta Goodrem makes her feature debut in HatingAlison Ashley, an uneven teens-at-school feature in which she looks like anundernourished member of staff rather than one of the gang.Thebuild-up buzz to the 250-screen Hoyts rollout in Australia on March 17 has ...
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Reviews
Turkish Gambit (Turetskii Gambit)
Dir: Dzhanik Faiziyev.Russ. 2005. 132mins.The new epic-scaleRussian detective yarn set during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, TurkishGambit grossed $6.1m in its opening weekend, eclisping the success offantasy feature Night Watch. But despite such hallmarks of world-classshowmanship as Indiana Jones-style action, creative Amelie-like visualeffects and unique subject matter, Dzhanik Faiziyev's , ...
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Reviews
Lorelei: The Witch Of The Pacific Ocean (Rorerai)
Dir: Shinji Higuchi Jap.2004. 128minsLorelei may have the typical elements of a submarine movie(exploding depth charges, steely-jawed captain), but is nonetheless a genrestandout. Produced by Fuji TV's Chihiro Kameyama - the Japanese JerryBruckheimer, who was also responsible for the megahit Bayside Shakedownfilms - Lorelei is the first Japanese film of ...
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Reviews
Accused (Anklaget)
Dir. Jacob Theusen. Den.2005. 105mins.Jacob Theusen's debutfeature Accused, which competed in Berlin, initially looks like awell-intentioned TV drama on the topical subject of child molestation. Butwhile in its early stages it tries to depart from the genre's usual formula,this event-driven drama ultimately deviates from its course after the first andsecond ...
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Reviews
The Hero (O Heroi)
Dir: Zeze Gamboa.Ang-Port-Fr. 2004. 97mins.African cinema should geta healthy shot of international exposure and a boost of self-confidence fromZeze Gamboa's self-assured directorial debut The Hero. Directed by theAngolan Gamboa, produced by a Portuguese producer, Vendrell, who is dedicatedto producing films from Portugese-speaking African countries and written byPortugese writer Baptista, it ...
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Reviews
Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room
Dir: AlexGibney. US. 2005. 110mins.The Enronscandal may have happened mostly behind closed doors - but that doesn't stopdocumentary film-maker Alex Gibney from finding the visual drama to tell asthrilling a tale of corporate malfeasance as any Hollywood blockbuster with Enron:The Smartest Guys In The Room. Here he creates a sense ...
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Reviews
Unleashed (Danny The Dog)
Dir: Louis LeterrierFr-UK. 2005. 103mins.The latest action vehicleto roar off the assembly line at Luc Besson's EuropaCorp, Unleashed -known in France as Danny The Dog - is a wonky mixture of bone-crunchingviolence and mawkish sentiment. It casts martial arts star Jet Li as asub-human fighting machine who finds that music ...
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Reviews
Adam and Paul
Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 86mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam and Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...
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Reviews
Junebug
Dir: Phil Morrison. 2005.US. 102mins.Actress Amy Adams pullsoff a small miracle in Junebug, an ensemble comedy-drama about whathappens when a golden boy-turned-prodigal son brings his cosmopolitan bridehome to meet his working class North Carolina family.Adams (The Wedding Date)takes centre stage as Ashley, a sweet, naive Deep South chatterbox whoinstantly idolises ...
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Reviews
Adam & Paul
Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 8s6mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam & Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...
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Reviews
Drum
Dir: Zola Maseko. S Afr.2005. 112mins.A little-known butimportant period in South African history is brought to vibrant life in Drum,the fact-based story of Henry Nxumalo, a black journalist who was targeted bythe Nationalist government after he wrote a series of articles exposinghorrifying prison and work farm conditions.Still awaiting a USdistribution ...
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Reviews
Adam & Paul
Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 8s6mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam & Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...
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Reviews
Adam and Paul
Dir:Lenny Abrahamson. Ire. 2005. 8s6mins.Imaginea full-length Laurel and Hardy film set in Dublin's junkie netherworld andscripted by the bastard son of Samuel Beckett. If you like the sound of that,then you'll love Adam & Paul, Irish commercials director LennyAbrahamson's first feature.Abrahamsondoes a grand job, but it's scriptwriter and co-star Mark ...