Latest reviews – Page 475
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Reviews
It's All About Love
Dir: Thomas Vinterberg. Denmark. 2003. 104 min.Hugely imaginative, conceptually compelling, arresting in its visual panache, It's All About Love can be seen as a millennial fairy tale and Thomas Vinterberg as its latter-day Grimm. He peers into the near-future and sees a wintry dystopia, where the absence of love - ...
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Reviews
Levity
Dir: Ed Solomon. US. 2003. 100mins.From its portentous title to its lofty themes, Levity reeks of a self-importance which is rarely justified. The ambitious directorial debut of Ed Solomon, the screenwriter of Men In Black and the two Bill And Ted films, was the opening night film of the Sundance ...
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Reviews
A Guy Thing
Dir: Chris Koch. US. 2002. 101mins. Having got his big break as the writer of $300m worldwide hit Meet The Parents, Greg Glienna now mines a similar vein of material for A Guy Thing, a sweet-natured, though sometimes familiar-feeling romantic comedy made on a modest budget for MGM. Replicating the ...
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Reviews
9
Dir: Umit Unal. Turkey. 2002. 94mins.Preceded by a quote from Franz Kafka's In The Penal Colony about the invisible workings of the system, 9 presents a grim portrait of the way in which religious bigotry and social malaise have a direct and poisonous impact on people's everyday behaviour. Chosen, surprisingly, ...
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Reviews
Kangaroo Jack
Dir: David McNally. US. 2002. 86 mins. Jerry Bruckheimer's first stab at younger-skewing family fare is a mishmash of an action comedy with buddy bonding, chase sequences and eye candy for the adults and fart gags and a computer enhanced 'roo for the kids. Arriving in US cinemas this week ...
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Reviews
Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei)
Dir: Yoji Yamada. Japan. 2002. 129mins.The winner of a slew of film awards at home and a competition selection at Berlin next month, The Twilight Samurai (Tasogare Seibei) may finally propel director Yoji Yamada into the international spotlight, after a long and highly successful career. Ironically, the film is in ...
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Reviews
No Good Deed
Dir: Bob Rafelson. USA. 2002. 104mins.Based on a Dashiell Hammett story, Bob Rafelson's latest noir thriller is neither particularly dark nor especially thrilling. Samuel L Jackson makes a fair stab at the first black diabetic cello-playing cop in cinema history, but his bitter intensity is not enough to paper over ...
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Reviews
War (Vojna)
Dir. Aleksei Balabanov. Russia 2002. 120mins. The takeover of a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels last year, and that incident's bloody outcome, can only emphasise the impact of Alekesi Balabanov's War. The gang wars of Balabanov's previous action-packed hits Brat and Brat 2 are replaced here by real conflict, between ...
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Reviews
Bolivar, That's Me (Bolivar Soy Yo)
Dir: Jorge Ali Triana. Colombia/France. 2002. 93 mins. Since taking the top prize at Mar del Plata last year, Bolivar, That's Me, an offbeat satire about an actor who starts to over-identity with the character he is playing, has been a regular guest on the international festival circuit, playing at ...
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Reviews
Tycoon (Oligarch)
Dir. Pavel Lounguine. Russia/France. 128mins.Pavel Lounguine's latest chronicle of the new Russia must have had many of this country's high and mighty squirming on their seats - that is if they still care at all about their reputation. A major hit at home and a festival staple last year, Lounguine's ...
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Reviews
Two Weeks Notice
Dir: Marc Lawrence. US 2002. 102minsThe adorably klutzy Sandra Bullock and the self-deprecatingly charming Hugh Grant have always engendered enormous goodwill among movie-goers. That's lucky for writer and first-time director Marc Lawrence because without the couple's seemingly bullet-proof appeal, this predictable, utterly formulaic romantic comedy would be unbearable. The film ...
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Reviews
Naked Weapon
Dirs: Tony Ching, Siu Tung. Hong Kong. 2002. 92mins.It has been exactly 10 years since Naked Killer's man-killing vixens attained cult status, a decade in which Hong Kong cinema has seen more than its share of ups and downs, mostly downs. Producer-writer Wong Jing's much-awaited English-language follow-up demonstrates that the ...
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Reviews
Edi
Dir: Piotr Trzaskalski. Poland. 2002. 100minsPolish Oscar hopeful Edi presents a touching portrait of a man who has lost everything in life yet accepts his fate with a stoicism and respectful courage. The Polish feature debut from director Piotr Trzaskalski, who has spent the past 10 years in Polish television, ...
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Reviews
The Last Train (Poslednyi Poezd)
Dir: Diego Arsuaga. Uruguay/Argentina/Spain. 2002. 93 mins.Faintly reminiscent of an Ealing Studio's comedy (The Titfield Thunderbolt springs particularly to mind), Uruguay's Oscar candidate is a gentle caper movie about a gang of old codgers who hijack a steam train. International critics are likely to turn their noses up at this ...
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Reviews
Maid In Manhattan
Dir: Wayne Wang. US. 2002. 105 mins. A bland but smartly packaged and deftly executed take on the familiar Cinderella fairy tale, Maid In Manhattan has already, with a gross of $76.7m after four weeks, given Jennifer Lopez her biggest US hit to date. Now it looks set to give ...
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Reviews
Hero
Dir: Zhang Yimou. China. 2002. 98 mins. One of the most eagerly awaited films in Asian film history - and already a box office blockbuster in China and Hong Kong - Zhang Yimou's Hero is an intoxicatingly beautiful, structurally enigmatic and decidedly brief epic which will struggle to escape comparisons ...
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Reviews
Hard Goodbyes: My Father (Diskoli Aporcheretismi: Babas Mou)
Dir. Penny Panayotopoulou. Greece/Germany, 2002. 108 min.A coming-of-age story that is richer and more original than most, Penny Panayotopoulou's first feature film effort is the most accomplished Greek film offering of this year. First unveiled in Locarno, where 10 years-old Giorgos Karayannis walked away with an acting award, it also ...
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Reviews
Equilibrium
Dir: Kurt Wimmer. US. 2002. 107 mins.You could call Equilibrium a poor man's Minority Report. Or, for that matter, a poor man's Fahrenheit 451, 1984 or The Matrix. Unimaginatively derivative and silly without being fun, this sci-fi thriller from Miramax's Dimension label comes equipped with a mid-level Anglo-American cast but ...
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Reviews
Star Trek: Nemesis
Dir: Stuart Baird. US. 2002. 117mins. After four years in space dock, Paramount's Star Trek franchise is back with a solidly entertaining 10th big-screen instalment, whose disappointing US debut nevertheless casts doubt over the future of the 23-year-old movie series. An opening weekend gross of $18.8m from 2,711 US sites ...
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Reviews
Nicholas Nickleby
Dir: Douglas McGrath. US. 2002. 130mins.Having captured the spirit of Jane Austen with his 1996 debut Emma, American writer-director Douglas McGrath now delivers a warm and engaging, though necessarily breezy version of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby that features an enticing, mainly British ensemble cast. The cast has already won the ...