Latest reviews – Page 450
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Reviews
Goddess Of Mercy
Dir: Ann Hui. China. 2004. 109mins.A word of warning for viewers of a nervous disposition: there is precious little mercy in this lifetime for anyone, especially the men, connected with the heroine An Xin. But Goddess Of Mercy is not a man-hating diatribe. Experienced director Ann Hui delivers an understated ...
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Reviews
The Whole Ten Yards
Dir: Howard Deutch. US. 2004. 99mins.When Bruce Willis makes his entrance in headscarf, frilly apron and bunny slippers you can somehow tell that The Whole Ten Yards is going to be a less black and much broader comedy than its fairly amusing predecessor, The Whole Nine Yards. The sequel doesn't ...
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Reviews
The Eye 2
Dirs: Danny and Oxide Pang. Hong Kong. 2004. 94minsDespite some truly edge-of-the-seat moments, The Eye 2, the Pang brothers' follow-up to one of Hong Kong's most successful recent horror exports, only partially lives up to its predecessor's promise.Sporting new characters and a different cast, it shares the first film's theme ...
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Reviews
Home On The Range
Dirs: Will Finn, John Sanford. US. 2003. 75mins.The comedy is fun and the music has its moments, but by Disney standards Home On The Range is a lightweight animated offering, with little of the emotional pull exerted by the studio's best work. Kids should be able to pass a contented ...
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Reviews
Bad Education (La Mala Educacion)
Dir/scr: Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 2004. 104 minsPedro Almodovar's status as Europe's most distinctive and bankable auteur is effortlessly maintained with Bad Education, a rich fusion of film noir and melodrama spun with all the intricacy of a spider's web. Autobiographical memories and Almodovar's trademark preoccupations with death and desire are ...
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Reviews
Walking Tall
Dir: Kevin Bray. 2004. US. 86mins.Former wrestler turned action hero The Rock stars in this updated and reconstituted revenge saga based on the true story of Sheriff Buford Pusser, whose vigilante exploits in a small Tennessee town set the stage for the 1970's trilogy of 'hickspolitation' films on which this ...
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Reviews
The Alamo
Dir: John Lee Hancock. US. 2003. 136mins.Reconceived and re-budgeted after the departure of original director Ron Howard and then rescheduled by Disney from its planned release date last Christmas, The Alamo finally arrives on screen with a lot of baggage. But it's not the baggage that weighs down this latest ...
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Reviews
Ella Enchanted
Dir: Tommy O'Haver. US. 2004. 95 mins.Somewhere underneath the decorative clutter of characters, effects, jokes and name actors which over-stuffs Ella Enchanted, director Tommy O'Haver has fashioned a sweet, good-natured fantasy which wisely banks on the delightful new star Anne Hathaway to provide its heart.With Home On The Range and ...
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Reviews
Kill Bill Vol 2
Dir: Quentin Tarantino.US. 2004. 136 mins.Rather like ThePassion Of The Christ, weknow how Quentin Tarantino's four-hour-plus epic Kill Bill will end. Yes, plot spoiler ahead, she killsBill. The pleasure, of course, comes in the journey, and, in contrast to thehigh style and stylized action of Vol 1, Vol 2 is ...
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Reviews
The Prince And Me
Dir: Martha Coolidge. US. 2004. 110 mins.The Prince & Me is a contemporary fairy tale romance which will enchant pre-teen and teenage girls around the world, but few else. If that core demographic signs up at the box office this weekend in North America, girl power will likely follow suit ...
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Reviews
The Smell of Blood (L'odore Del Sangue)
Dir: Mario Martone. It-Fr. 2004. 99mins.Italian auteur Mario Martone's latest arthouse offering is a sterile and rather dated relationship drama in psycho-thriller sauce which will be defended only by the director's staunchest fans, and make the rest of us nostalgic for the edgy originality of his 1995 breakout film, L'Amore ...
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Reviews
Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Dir: Enki Bilal. Fr-UK-It. 2004 102 mins.A futuristic take on the Greek myth of Amphitryon, set in New York City in 2095, Immortel is the visually exciting third feature from Enki Bilal, the Belgrade-born artist who is one of the dominant figures in European comic strip art. Using a darkly ...
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Reviews
Kill Bill Vol 2 review
Dir: Quentin Tarantino.US. 2004. 136 mins.Rather like ThePassion Of The Christ, weknow how Quentin Tarantino's four-hour-plus epic Kill Bill will end. Yes, plot spoiler ahead, she killsBill. The pleasure, of course, comes in the journey, and, in contrast to thehigh style and stylized action of Vol 1, Vol 2 is ...
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Reviews
Baober In Love (Lian Ai Zhong De Bao Bei)
Dir: Li Shaohong. China. 2004. 100minsHad the Berlin festival in February been just a touch more adventurous it might have scheduled Baober In Love as the Chinese film in competition rather than Sylvia Chang's pleasant but predictable 20 30 40. Programmed in the International Forum sidebar, the surprising Baober was ...
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Reviews
Innocence
Dir/scr: Mamoru Oshii. Japan. 2004. 99mins.Japanese sci-fi animation, from Katysuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988) onwards, often points towards a post-apocalyptic part-human future. For all the blasts 'n' babes - the buffed heroines in spandex pouring thousands of rounds into clanking foes - the essential vision is dark. But as Mamoru Oshii's ...
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Reviews
Podium
Dir: Yann Moix. 2004. France-Belgium 2004. 95 mins.A mild satire on the morbid contemporary phenomenon of pop celebrity cloning, Podium owes what energy it has to its Belgian star, Benoit Poelvoorde. Directed by Yann Moix, a former journalist who published the story as a best-selling novel in 2002, the film ...
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Reviews
Hellboy
Dir: Guillermo del Toro. US. 2003. 122 mins.Their web sites have been spreading pre-release buzz for weeks and comic book geeks won't be disappointed when Guillermo del Toro's handsome and long-awaited big screen take on artist Mike Mignola's Hellboy opens in the US this weekend. Whether broad mainstream audiences will ...
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Reviews
Death In Gaza
Dirs: James Miller/ Misha Manson-Smith. UK/US. 2004. 80minsJames Miller was considered one of his generation's most observant witnesses to war. An Emmy-winning journalist who had reported from Bosnia, Lebanon and Iraq, he was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in May 2003. Miller was just 34 and had been working ...
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Reviews
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Dir: Raja Gosnell. US. 2003. 93 mins.The sequel to Warner's surprisingly powerful summer 2002 hit Scooby-Doo adds more characters and more effects to the formula first used to turn the long-running Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon into a live action feature - and it also delivers more genuine fun than its painfully ...
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Reviews
Dawn Of The Dead
Dir: Zack Snyder. US. 2003. 100mins.It may not have the intensity and satirical touch that made George Romero's original Dawn Of The Dead a modern horror classic. But this 're-envisioning' of Romero's 1979 cult favourite by commercials director Zack Snyder at least partially makes up for the lack with a ...