Latest – Page 546
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Reviews
Defiance
Dir: Edward Zwick. US. 2008. 129 mins.In trying to add a new chapter to the long history of films made about the Holocaust, Defiance can barely move a narrative muscle without bumping into another, better movie that covers some of the same ground. Based on the true story of three ...
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Reviews
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman . US. 2008. 97 mins.Kinky, sexy, gory and campy, Repo! The Genetic Opera may be an unwieldy mess, but it's a fun unwieldy mess. Based on a Los Angeles theatrical piece, this futuristic rock opera will annoy those unwilling to meet it halfway, as its shamelessly ...
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Reviews
Secrets of State (Secret Defense)
Dir: Philippe Haim. France. 2008. 100 mins.If French political thriller Secrets of State were any more topical, it would be about what you ate for breakfast. This fast-paced and meticulously-researched tale shows the recruitment and training of a young female Secret Service operative alongside a parallel story about how an ...
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ReviewsTelstar (2007)
Dir. Nick Moran. UK, 2008. 114 mins.There’s a lot in the Telstar credits to attract the viewer - or at least the UK viewer. Nick Moran’s directorial debut (an adaptation of his stage play with Hicks); Kevin Spacey in a small but substantial role; its setting ...
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Reviews
The Other End of The Line
Dir James Dodson. US. 2008. 106 mins Indian-American joint venture The Other End Of The Line demonstrates the pitfalls of creative globalisation even as it makes globalisation a backdrop for its frothy romantic comedy. Produced by Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park and Bollywood giant Adlabs, this piece of cross-cultural cuteness will ...
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Reviews
Role Models
Dir: David Wain. US. 2008. 99 mins.A superbly-cast comedy, Role Models manages to locate and till fresh ground in the ascendant guys-behaving-badly sub-genre of American studio comedies. Both Paul Rudd (Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and Seann William Scott (the American Pie films) are best known as ensemble comedic ...
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Reviews
The Human Contract
Dir/Scr: Jada Pinkett Smith. US. 2008. 106minsA seriously-intended dramatic study of erotic obsession, jealousy and violence, Jada Pinkett Smith's debut feature The Human Contract is a messy and frequently furious entwining of the sacred and the profane. Despite some entertaining stretches and compensatory observations about contemporary Los Angeles, the work ...
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Reviews
Franklyn
Dir/scr. Gerald McMorrow. UK 2007. 95 minsIt's unusual in the current film-making climate to see an independent director making such an ambitious debut as Gerald McMorrow's Franklyn. He aims high, visually and conceptually, but a more experienced director would have trouble finding the right tone to pull this intricate plot ...
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ReviewsBronson
Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn. UK, 2008. 92 mins.With Bronson, Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher trilogy) takes his first director-for-hire job and makes an indelible stamp on it. Bronson is about the UK’s most violent prisoner, Charles Bronson, born Michael Peterson, but it’s in no way a biography. This ...
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Reviews
Troubled Water
Dir: Erik Poppe. Norway-Sweden. 2008. 90 mins.A sensitive, slow-build script, original directorial vision and bravura performances turn what might have been just another high-concept melodrama centring on the death of a child into a highly-charged ride that is both gritty and poetic. Eric Poppe's third film is by no means ...
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Reviews
When A Man Comes Home (En Mand Kommer Hjem)
Dir. Thomas Vinterberg. Denmark-Sweden. 2007. 96mins.Thomas Vinterberg's artsy, bittersweet comedy, repped by Celluloid Dreams, is only now making its international bow after a disappointing Danish run a year ago. With Teodora Film set to open Italy in December, this funny Festen bowed to a warm audience at the Rome Film ...
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Reviews
The Past Is A Foreign Land (Il passato è una terra straniera)
Dir: Daniele Vicari. Italy. 2008. 120 mins.Italian director Daniele Vicari's latest outing is uneven but compellingly-dark. Shot, scored and directed with terrific command of atmosphere, this study of the relationship between a conflicted law student from a good family and the dangerous but attractive working class card-sharp he takes up ...
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Reviews
Opium War
Dir/scr Siddiq Barmak. Afghanistan-Japan-Korea-France. 2008. 92 mins.There could be a good film hiding somewhere behind Afghan director Siddiq Barmak's tragicomic parable about his country's two main industries - war and opium. But it's not up there on the screen. This Best Foreign Film Oscar candidate is a misguided, amateurish attempt ...
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Reviews
The Man Who Loves (Uomo che ama, L')
Dir: Maria Sole Tognazzi. Italy. 2008. 97 mins.Maria Sole Tognazzi's second feature, which opened this year's Rome Film Festival, has the merit of offering a rarely-seen woman's take on a man's experience of love. But behind the smokescreen of its play with the audience's gender expectations and its tricksy (but ...
