Latest – Page 610
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Reviews
Avida
Dirs/scr: Benoit Delepine, Gustave Kervern. Fr. 2006. 83mins.Even by thestandards of their eccentric road comedy debut Aaltra, Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern's Avida - described in the press notes as a 'metaphysicalcomedy' - is bizarre indeed. Starting out as a Tati-esquesilent farce crammed with off-the-wall sight gags, this wayward tale ...
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Reviews
Back Home (Bled Number One)
Dir: Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche.Fr-Alg. 2005. 98mins.Algerian-born French director Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche confronts the problems of returnee Maghrebis with BackHome (as it is known in English), his follow-up tominor 2002 festival hit Wesh Wesh. The resultis a strange, loose exercise, part tradition-versus-modernity drama, partrambling filmed diary.Like its orange-hatted hero, the drama keeps switching ...
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Reviews
The Lake House
Dir: Alejandro Agresti. US.2006. 108mins.Cateringfaithfully to its core audience, The Lake House is a grownup romantic drama withhigh-gloss production values and a reliably tear-jerking storyline. Itssophisticated air and fairy-tale manner will play perfectly with adult womenwho won't quibble about the mediocre performances and glaring logic problems.This remake ofthe 2000 South ...
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Reviews
The Violin
Mexico. 2006. 98 mins. Director Francisco VargasQuevedoDirector Francisco Vargas Quevedo's film was upgradedfrom last year's Cinefondation at Cannes to a slot in the 2006 Un CertainRegard, but his theme, now fleshed out to full feature length, was kickedupstairs as well. The short version of The Violin contained most of the ...
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Reviews
Meurtrieres
France 2006 97 mins. Director Patrick GrandperretWhile it's an engaging enough diversion, especiallygiven its fetching female leads, Meurtrieres offers little that hasn't already been seen incountless other French films, from at least as far back as Agnes Varda's 1985drama Vagabond. This true-lifetale of two innocent and well-meaning 19-year old women ...
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Reviews
Transylvania
France. 2006. 103mins. Director, screenplay Tony GatlifIn Transylvania cult diva Asia Argentotakes to the agitated universe of Romany film-maker Tony Gatliflike a duck to water. The latestof French-based Gatlif's ventures into the world ofGypsy and Eastern European culture, Transylvania is at once romance,road movie, ethnological celebration, and vehicle for the ...
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Reviews
Re-Cycle
Directed by Danny & Oxide Pang. HongKong/Thailand 2006. 108 mins.ThisLin Sinjee vehicle is a calling card for the FarEastern special effects industry, creating a persuasively dark Alice Through the Looking Glass parallel universe with shadesof Terry Gilliam, Spirited Away and What Dreams May Come. Butthemoody fright-power of the Pang brothers' ...
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Reviews
Buenos Aires 1977
Dir:Israel Adrian Caetano,Argentina. 2006. 102minsBased on a true story set in 1970s Argentina,Israel Adrian Caetano’s Bueno Aires 1977(Cronaca De Una Fuga) is a familiar story of a prison break-out told infamiliar terms.Snapped up at Cannes by TheWeinstein Company for the US, whereit opens in January 2007, and Australasia, the film ...
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Reviews
The Break-Up
Dir: Peyton Reed. US. 2006. 107mins.Poor star chemistry and a screenplay without a first act - and not much of a final one, either - turn this highly anticipated romantic comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston into a keen disappointment. But the film has so far proved critic-proof. Thanks ...
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Reviews
Colossal Youth
Dir: Pedro Costa. Portugal/France/Switzerland 2006. 155 mins Without a doubt the most difficult film in this year's Cannes competition - where it provoked more walk-outs than any other film - Pedro Costa's hyper-austere Colossal Youth at least deserves some recognition and respect. While the film admittedly seems inert for ...
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Reviews
Cars
Exquisitelycrafted and warmly emotional, Cars isanother dazzling display Of computer animation from the apparently infalliblepeople at Pixar, this one telling its tale with a cast of cleverly humanisedautomobiles. The commercialprospects are certainly very strong, but the company's latest comedy adventure maynot be quite as sure a thing as Pixar's track ...
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Reviews
Clerks II
If it ain'tbroke, milk it, as they say in Hollywood. So why did New Jersey homeboyKevin Smith wait all of 12 years before returning to the successfulsmall-town-buddies formula of his cult debut, Clerks' True, Smith has done stridentvariations on the theme - Mallrats -and lame spin-offs - Jay and Silent ...
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Reviews
The Omen
Dir: JohnMoore. US. 2006. 106 minutes.More thanany other genre, horror film remakes can hew extremely closely to the plot ofthe original. Such is certainly the case with The Omen, John Moore's retread of director Richard Donner's 1976 chiller about the devil incarnate that also triesto by and large replicate much ...
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Reviews
Babel
Asingle gun shot reverberates around the world in Babel, unexpectedly uniting disparate lives in Morocco, Mexico and Japan. Thethird collaboration between director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu andscreenwriter Guillermo Arriaga initially seems to lack the bravura edge ofCannes discovery Amores Perros or the soulfulintensity of 21 Grams but it matures into amelancholy ...
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ReviewsPan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno)
Dir: Guillermo del Toro. Spain / Mexico.2006. 112 mins
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Reviews
The Singer (Quand J'Etais Chanteur)
Sadsongs say so much in The Singer, an unashamedlysentimental love story that features one of Gerard Depardieu's most fully-realisedand endearing performances in recent years. Hismelancholy, smalltime singer has the same weary charm as Burt Lancaster's ageinghood in Atlantic City. Depardieu is well matched by Cecile de France andtogether they transcend ...
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Reviews
The Singer (Quand J'Etais Chanteur)
Sadsongs say so much in The Singer, an unashamedlysentimental love story that features one of Gerard Depardieu's most fully-realisedand endearing performances in recent years. Hismelancholy, smalltime singer has the same weary charm as Burt Lancaster's ageinghood in Atlantic City. Depardieu is well matched by Cecile de France andtogether they transcend ...
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Reviews
The Singer (Quand J'Etais Chanteur)
Sadsongs say so much in Quand j'Etais Chanteur, an unashamedlysentimental love story that features one of Gerard Depardieu's most fully-realisedand endearing performances in recent years. Hismelancholy, smalltime singer has the same weary charm as Burt Lancaster's ageinghood in Atlantic City. Depardieu is well matched by Cecile de France andtogether they ...