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Latest reviews – Page 437
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Reviews
Olga
Dir Jayme Monjardim.2004. Brazil. 144minsAn adaptation of areal-life story set between Germany's concentration camps, Moscow, and aturbulent Rio de Janeiro, Olga was Brazil's box office champ of 2004 (atleast 3m admissions) and the country's official entry in the Oscar stakes.But despite a clutch ofsales to smaller territories, though, its telenovella-ish ...
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Reviews
Deck Dogz
Dir/scr: Steve Pasvolsky.Aust. 2004. 88minsOscar-nominatedlive-action short director Steve Pasvolsky graduates to full-length featureswith Deck Dogz, a small-scale teen action drama that confidentlytranscends its narrow focus of three Australian adolescents on a skateboardingodyssey.Opening wide (150 screens)at home on Jan 6 during school holidays, it's unusual for an Australian movieto so aggressively ...
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Reviews
Holy Lola
Dir: Bertrand Tavernier.Fr. 2003. 128mins.At times Holy Lolafeels closer to fly-on-the-wall documentary than dramatic feature as it followsa handful of French couples in Cambodia on the trail of children to adopt. Thefilm's worthy subject matter and the reputation of veteran director BertrandTavernier may get it some play at smaller festivals. ...
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Reviews
The Ritchie Boys
Dir/scr. Christian Bauer.Ger-Can. 2004. 90mins.The Ritchie Boys is the documentary ideal: at once a broad canvas andan intense personal journey, as rich in historical detail as it is in humanistresonance. The film profiles the experiences of several emigre German Jews whofled their nation during Hitler's 1930s rise to power and ...
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Reviews
Saraband
Dir/scr: Ingmar Bergman.Swe. 2003. 107mins.The valedictory work of one of the titans of the 20th century art is aminor, unsteady film that will disappoint those who expect a blazing testamentto an awe-inspiring career. But when your name is Ingmar Bergman, no matter. Saraband,upon which the Swedish filmmaker says he's bowing ...
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Reviews
Meet The Fockers
Dir: Jay Roach. US. 2004.114mins.Despite the welcomeaddition of Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand for this sequel to surpriseworldwide hit Meet The Parents, getting to know the Fockers turns out tobe less fun than meeting the original folks was four years ago.The sequel - which alsoreunites Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller ...
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Reviews
The Queen Of Sheba's Pearls
Dir/scr: ColinNutley. Swe-UK. 2004. 130mins.Lush decor,swooping cinematography and stirring music. Director Colin Nutley makes hiscanvas clear from the opening frames of The Queen Of Sheba's Pearls, apassionate 1950s-set drama about growing up, love, loss and lingering memories.The film, Nutley's first for ages set in his nativeEngland, rather than his adopted ...
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Reviews
White Noise
Dir:Vinta Nanda. India-UK. 2004. 108mins.A litmus test of how Indian cinema is changing in the MTV and satellite era,White Noise has all the New Bollywood ingredients: a feisty, sexuallyliberated, working heroine, a hip and sensitive male love interest who hasbroken away from his traditional family, satirical digs at contemporary IndianTV ...
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Reviews
Flight Of The Phoenix (Flight Of The Phoenix)
Dir:John Moore. US. 2004. 112mins.Featuringmore special effects and fewer white males, the pumped-up re-make of RobertAldrich's 1965 ensemble drama Flight Of The Phoenix is a lightweightaction adventure apparently designed to grab as broad a range of moviegoers ascinematically possible. The push to please everyone leads to some pretty daftepisodes, but ...
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Reviews
In Good Company
Dir/scr: Paul Weitz. US.2004. 106mins.A warm, timelycontemporary comedy set against a backdrop of corporate mergers and staffdownsizing, In Good Company (formerly titled Synergy), is ripewith value for its distributors both as a medium-sized theatrical performer anda robust TV and DVD title.Both a bittersweet romanticcomedy and a moral fable of keeping ...
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Reviews
Noel
Dir:Chazz Palminteri. US. 2004. 96mins.Animmensely talented cast is mostly wasted in Noel,actor Chazz Palminteri's inauspicious directorial debut. Sadly, this feel-goodfilm, set at Christmas in New York (that old movie stand-by), never rises muchabove made-for-TV fare, despite the high-voltage actors who populate it.Stalwarts like Susan Sarandon, PenelopeCruz, and an uncredited Robin ...
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Reviews
Spanglish
Dir/scr: James L Brooks.US. 2004. 131mins.Seven years after hislast movie As Good As It Gets, James L Brooks returns with asophisticated adult comedy which also looks at a bunch of misfits - only thistime they are the members of an ostensibly successful Beverly Hills family.Their world is thrown intodisarray at ...
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Reviews
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Dir: Brad Silberling. US.2004. 113mins.A vast and colourfulmovie based on the sinister kids' books by Lemony Snicket aka 34 year-oldDaniel Handler, A Series Of Unfortunate Events is set to take over theworld's movie screens over Christmas and beyond. Paramount and DreamWorksco-financed this extravagantly lavish affair and returns will be considerablein ...
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Reviews
Phil The Alien
Dir/scr:Rod Stefaniuk. Can. 2004. 85mins.Canadiancomedy by nature veers toward the deadpan with a twist of wit dryer than theperfect martini. These elements are out in full force in Phil The Alien,written, directed and starring actor/musician Rob Stefaniuk.However,the whimsical yarn of an extra-terrestrial who touches down in remote NorthernOntario and changes ...
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Reviews
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera
Dir: Joel Schumacher.UK-US. 2004. 140mins.After Jesus ChristSuperstar and Evita, this is the third feature-version of an AndrewLloyd Webber musical and it suffers from the same problems in translation whichbeset its predecessors. Although filled with pleasures and confidently directedby Joel Schumacher, Phantom remains filmed rock-opera and it fails toignite as dramatic ...
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Reviews
Haven
Dir/scr: Frank E Flowers. UK-Ger-US-Sp. 2004. 115mins.Handsomely, even expensively mounted, and serviceably if notbrilliantly, acted, Haven is a filmso lacking in narrative skill, interesting characters, or anything but the mostshowily attractive situations andthemes that it self-destructs barely 15 minutes in and stays out of servicethroughout its long, long length.Despite the ...
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Reviews
36 Quai Des Orfevres
Dir: Olivier Marchal.France. 2004. 110mins.A muscular police actionthriller, 36 Quai Des Orfevres is a welcome throwback to the stylish1980s French cops and robbers pictures of Blier, Corneau and Beineix. That itis by relative newcomer director (and former cop) Olivier Marchal (who directed2002's Gangsters) and the recently somnolent Gaumont are also ...
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Reviews
Ocean's Twelve
Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2004. 132mins Warner Bros andVillage Roadshow can count on another worldwide hit with Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to the 2001 blockbuster Ocean's Eleven which grossed $183.4m inNorth America and $267.3m in international territories. With global movie starsClooney, Pitt, Damon, Roberts and now Catherine Zeta-Jones heading the ...
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Reviews
Godzilla: Final Wars
Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura.Jap. 2004. 110mins.Godzilla: Final Wars, director Ryuhei Kitamura's send-off to the Big G,going into retirement after a 50-year run, is like one of those documentariesof R&B greats - the old guys can still play the notes, but the heat left along time ago. They once shook the world ...
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Reviews
The Oyster Farmer
Dir/scr: Anna Reeves. Aust-UK. 2004. 91minsAustralian newcomer Anna Reeves does little to changethe image of her countrymen or local cliches with Oyster Farmer, servingup the typical Aussie quirky characters, black humour, beer and sex in equalmeasure.It isn't the most attractive picture that writer-director Reeves paints of theisolated oyster farmers of ...