Latest – Page 581
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Reviews
Waz
Dir: Tom Shankland . UK. 2007. 103mins. Blend together elements of Seven, Saw and the CSI television franchise and sprinkle liberally with torture porn nastiness and you have the recipe for WAZ, a grimy, unremarkable serial killer thriller that looks like the kind of derivative material destined for an early ...
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Reviews
The Waiting Room
Dir/scr: Roger Goldby. UK. 2007. 96mins.A chance encounter changes lives and re-defines relationships in The Waiting Room, a mawkish, low-key ensemble piece that marks the debut feature of writer/director Roger Goldby. Stray moments of touching emotion and accomplished lead performances are some compensation for a central premise that is hard ...
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Reviews
3:10 To Yuma
Dir: James Mangold US . 2007. 117minsThe western has become the most unfashionable of genres, with a reputation for box-office poison that persists despite the relatively recent success of Open Range (2003). The fiftieth anniversary remake of 3:10 To Yuma is sturdy enough to withstand the jinx. Handsomely crafted, it ...
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Reviews
The Invasion
Dir: Oliver Hirschbiegel. US. 2007. 100mins The latest remake of Jack Finney's 1955 novel The Body Snatchers is a success if viewed as a slick thriller from mainstream producer Joel Silver but a disappointment as the US debut of Germany's Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall, The Experiment) starring Nicole Kidman. Completed, reportedly, ...
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Reviews
Beneath The Rooftops of Paris (Sous Les Toits De Paris)
Dir: Hiner Saleem. France, 2007. 100minsThis study of old age and solitude finds exiled Kurdish director Hiner Saleem divesting himself of the mischievous drive and wicked sense of humour which permeated such earlier efforts as Vodka Lemon and Kilometre Zero. Launched in a light, warm and humanistic vein which keeps ...
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Reviews
The Drummer
Dir. Kenneth Bi. Hong Kong / Taiwan , 2007. 115 mins.Conceived as a vehicle for Jaycee Chan (Jackie Chan's son) but more likely to serve as a showcase for the talents of the U Theatre drummers, this gangster-movie-meets-rites-of-initiation picture has a hard time deciding which way to go among the ...
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Reviews
Ai No Yokan (The Rebirth)
. Dir. Masahiro Kobayashi. Japan , 2007. 102mins.A test of endurance that will defeat most audiences, MasahiroKobayashi's new film is an exercise in repetitious movement bound to earn plaudits with both festival juries and the more refined art cinema patron. The closest parallel to this kind of cinema is the ...
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Reviews
Sparkle
Dir/Scr: Tom Hunsinger & Neil Hunter UK. 2007. 104minsTom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter have built a reputation for making exceedingly engaging, increasingly polished ensemble pieces on the vagaries and vulnerabilities of the human heart. Despite critical acclaim for Boyfriends (1996) and especially The Lawless Heart (2001), they have yet to ...
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Reviews
The Price of Sugar
Dir: Bill Haney. US. 2007. 90min One the stand-out documentaries at Austin's SXSW festival this past spring was Bill Haney's The Price of Sugar, a sobering and well-done examination of the unpleasant realities behind the sugar tens of millions of Americans innocently sprinkle over their cereal in the morning. A ...
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Reviews
Extraordinary Rendition
Dir: Jim Threapleton. UK . 2007. 77mins. Extraordinary Rendition is a direct and powerful treatment of a subject that has caused huge indignation in the west - namely the kidnapping of a suspected terrorist and his transfer to a country that allows torture. Clearly made quickly and shot on a ...
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Reviews
A Girl Cut In Two (La Fille Coupee En Deux)
Dir: Claude Chabrol France 2007. 115 mins tbcIt's cynical business as usual for Claude Chabrol, who offers plentiful style and psychological finesse, if few surprises, in his latest jaundiced and sophisticated entertainment. The story of a young woman caught between two rivalrous and highly unsuitable admirers, A Girl Cut In ...
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Reviews
Captain Achab
Dir. Philippe Ramos. Fr-Swe, 2007. 100mins. This five episodes piece, only the last section of which actually deals with Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, is a Freudian attempt to explain why Captain Achab became the driven man he was. It's the kind of picture that should please certain film theorists ...
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Reviews
The Yellow House (La Maison Jaune)
Dir/scr: Amor Hakkar. Fr-Alg. 2007. 80mins.Shot in the Aures mountains, one of the more remote and arid regions of Algeria, The Yellow House is a worthy and particularly authentic representative of North African cinema that at the least can expect an extended list of festival. Refraining from any political statements ...
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Reviews
Sooner Or Later (Fruher Oder Spater)
Dir/scr: Ulrike von Ribbeck. Ger. 2007. 91mins.Dangerously tottering on the line between parody and ridicule, this debut feature by a short film director whose early efforts got into both Berlin and Cannes is either a send-up of the coming-of-age movie, back in fashion in Germany of late, or an honest ...
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Reviews
Thieves (Ladrones)
Dir. Jaime Marques Olarreaga. Sp. 2007. 101mins.Sombre mood and stylish visuals lend a mysterious atmosphere to Jaime Marques Olarreaga's feature debut Thieves, a film which attempts to explore more avenues than it is willing to actually venture down, leaving the audience, by the end, with a work that amounts to ...
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Reviews
Summit Circle (Contre Toute Esperance)
Dir/scr: Bernard Emond. Can. 2007. 89mins.Having regained faith in God, against all odds, in La Neuvaine, Canadian anthropologist-turned-film-maker Bernard Emond, sets out, in the second part of his trilogy Faith-Hope-Charity, to retrieve hope where there is none. No wonder the original French, and much more suitable, title for Summit Circle ...
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Reviews
I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster (J'ai Toujours Reve D'etre Un Gangster)
Dir/scr: Samuel Benchetrit . Fr. 2007. 110minsCheerful absurdity, hangdog humour and a sober recognition that, when you come down to it, provincial France just isn't the wild frontier of American crime cinema - all this makes Samuel Benchetrit's downbeat farce a distinctively offbeat pleasure. A set of linked crime vignettes, ...
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Reviews
Underdog
Dir: Frederik Du Chau. US. 2007. 83mins.With one paw in the comic-book action genre and one in the mawkish family arena, Underdog is a lovable mutt that could have benefited from better breeding. This live-action reinvention of the 1960s cartoon works best when lightly spoofing the conventions of superhero cinema, ...
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Reviews
Rush Hour 3
Dir: Brett Ratner. US. 2007. 91mins.No matter how fast Chris Tucker shoots his mouth or Jackie Chan flashes his fists, they can't recapture the charm of the original Rush Hour in this third installment. Almost 10 years removed from the first pairing of these mismatched cop partners, Rush Hour 3's ...
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Reviews
Vexille
Dir: Fumihiko Sori. Jap. 2007. 109mins.Opening Locarno with the world premiere of a new Japanese CG anime feature might have been a shrewd decision in this era of animation popularity. But, technical achievements aside, even a Japanese anime is ultimately judged by what it is attempting to say and how ...