Latest reviews – Page 480
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Reviews
Phone Booth
Director: Joel Schumacher. US. 2002. 80minsA slick, Twilight Zone-style premise is stretched to the limit of narrative credibility in Phone Booth, a trim, trashy little thriller that reunites the Tigerland team of director Joel Schumacher and star Colin Farrell. A compelling central performance and energetic direction serve to distract from ...
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Reviews
Antwone Fisher
Dir: Denzel Washington. US. 2002. 117minsAn assured directorial debut from double Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, Antwone Fisher is an inspirational true story of one man's struggle to overcome the legacy of an abused childhood. It may sound like the subject matter of countless TV-movies dramas but, handled with discretion and sensitivity, ...
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Reviews
The Crime Of Father Amaro (El Crimen Del Padre Amaro)
Dir: Carlos Carrera Mex-Sp-Arg-Fr 2002 118mins.Already breaking records at home in Mexico, Carlos Carrera's fifth feature is a compelling, multi-textured social drama that fires some hard questions at the role of the Catholic Church amid the extremes of wealth and poverty. Rising star Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros, Y Tu ...
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Reviews
Springtime In A Small Town (Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun)
Dir: Tian Zhuangzhuang. China-Hong Kong. 2002. 116minsSpringtime In A Small Town is a glossy period piece, which coolly depicts the pressure-cooker atmosphere created in a small family following the arrival of an unexpected house guest. Director Tian Zhuangzhuang, who has not made a feature since his celebrated The Blue Kite ...
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Reviews
In America (Working Title)
Director: Jim Sheridan. Ire-UK. 2002. 103 minsA heart-warming portrait of an Irish family's life and death struggles, In America marks another uplifting human drama from writer-director Jim Sheridan. Beautifully acted by the entire cast, its sure-footed mixture of laughter and tears is on the sentimental side but should win over ...
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Reviews
11' 09' 01
Directors: various. France. 2002. 135minsTrailing controversy and accusations of a vicious anti-American sensibility, portemanteau production 11'09''01 proves to be a much more measured, wide-ranging and humanist response to the events of September 11, 2001. Commissioned to make a short film, eleven directors of international standing have created a collection ...
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Reviews
Suddenly (Tan De Repente)
Dir: Diego Lerman. Argentina. 2002. 94 mins. Further proof of the astonishing range and vigour of the current Argentine cinema is offered by Suddenly (Tan De Repente), a captivating, simple yet subtle road movie about a lonely shop girl whose world is transformed when she is abducted by two punk ...
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Reviews
Slap Her...She's French
Dir: Melanie Mayron. Germany-US. 2002. 90mins.As high-school satires go - and more than a few of them have come and gone over the past few years - German-backed US comedy Slap Her' She's French takes an amusing enough poke at the mores of modern teens but doesn't come close to ...
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Reviews
The Four Feathers
Director: Shekhar Kapur. US-UK. 2002 125minsThe question of whether the world really needs another version of The Four Feathers is convincingly answered by Shekhar Kapur's stirring approach to the venerable tale of Empire and honour. Boasting a strong cast of rising young stars and handsomely captured locations, the classic adventure ...
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Reviews
Dirty Pretty Things
Dir: Stephen Frears. UK. 2002. 98mins.Stephen Frears' latest film doesn't just expose the rotten underbelly of London: it slices it wide open. By turns macabre (often stomach-churningly so), funny and tender, this elaborate tale of moonlighting and illegal organ transplants set among the city's invisible underclass of immigrant service workers ...
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Reviews
The Other Side Of The Bed (El Otro Lado De La Cama)
Dir: Emilio Martinez Lazaro. 120mins. Spain. 2002.The makers of The Other Side Of The Bed (El Otro Lado De La Cama) took a gamble with this modern musical comedy set to popular Spanish and Latin American rock n roll tunes. It paid off mightily in Spain, where the genre's originality, ...
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Reviews
The Four Feathers
Director: Shekhar Kapur. US-UK. 2002 125minsThe question of whether the world really needs another version of The Four Feathers is convincingly answered by Shekhar Kapur's stirring approach to the venerable tale of Empire and honour. Boasting a strong cast of rising young stars and handsomely captured locations, the classic adventure ...
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Reviews
The Quiet American
Director: Phillip Noyce. US-UK. 2002. 101minsThe fatal global consequences of blundering American naivety are brought into sharp focus by Phillip Noyce's elegantly understated adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. First published in 1955, Greene's spare, prophetic fiction told of America's misguided adventures in the politics of Indo-China through a love ...
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Reviews
The Good Thief
Director: Neil Jordan. UK-Fr-Ire. 2002. 108minsA loose-limbed, shaggy dog reworking of 1955 French crime classic Bob Le Flambeur, The Good Thief (previously known as Double Down) is writer-director Neil Jordan's most enjoyable and commercial feature for several years. Subverting the conventions of the heist caper with sly humour and a ...
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Reviews
Oasis
Dir: Lee Chang-dong. Korea. 2002. 134mins.His 2000 festival-pleaser Peppermint Candy made Korean writer/director Lee Chang-dong one of Asia's hot new arthouse properties. With Oasis, his third feature, he puts his talent for unusual stories and finely-nuanced characters (he is also a novelist) to good use to further that reputation. A ...
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Reviews
The Good Thief
Director: Neil Jordan. UK-Fr-Ire. 2002. 108minsA loose-limbed, shaggy dog reworking of 1955 French crime classic Bob Le Flambeur, The Good Thief (previously known as Double Down) is writer-director Neil Jordan's most enjoyable and commercial feature for several years. Subverting the conventions of the heist caper with sly humour and a ...
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Reviews
The Quiet American
Director: Phillip Noyce. US-UK. 2002. 101minsThe fatal global consequences of blundering American naivety are brought into sharp focus by Phillip Noyce's elegantly understated adaptation of the Graham Greene novel. First published in 1955, Greene's spare, prophetic fiction told of America's misguided adventures in the politics of Indo-China through a love ...
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Reviews
Dolls (Pusinky)
Dir: Takeshi Kitano. Jap. 2002. 113 mins.Takeshi Kitano returns to Venice, where he won the Golden Lion with Hana-Bi in 1997, with Dolls, a film about three pairs of star-crossed lovers. The film's unusual 'bunraku' (Japanese puppet play) structure, in which the protagonists of a puppet love story come to ...
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Reviews
Ken Park
Dir: Larry Clark and Ed Lachman. US-Neth-France. 2002. 92mins.Every film festival needs its succes de scandale, and who better than Larry Clark to lay on the controversy at Venice 2002' Ken Park - co-directed by Clark and cinematographer Ed Lachman - contains scenes of graphic, uncut sexual activity between what ...
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Reviews
Dolls (Pusinky)
Dir: Takeshi Kitano. Jap. 2002. 113 mins.Takeshi Kitano returns to Venice, where he won the Golden Lion with Hana-Bi in 1997, with Dolls, a film about three star-crossed lovers. The film's unusual 'bunraku' (Japanese puppet play) structure, in which the protagonists of a puppet love story come to life, may ...