Latest – Page 621
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Reviews
Keeping Mum
Dir: Niall Johnson. UK. 2005. 103mins.Keeping Mum is acurious mish-mash: part morbid comedy in the vein ofold Ealing classic Kind Hearts And Coronets, part family drama, part Rowan Atkinsonvehicle, part murder mystery, part Mary Poppins, its disparate elements are thrown together withlittle craft or subtlety.Director and co-writer NiallJohnson never seems ...
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Reviews
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Dir: Andrew Adamson. US.2005. 140mins.Hopes are riding high on the back of Aslan, the talking lion, for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, the first of Disney andWalden Media's mooted adaptation of CS Lewis' seven-book series.Coming after Peter Jackson'sstorming, imaginative rendition of TheLord Of The Rings trilogy - and ...
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Reviews
Aeon Flux
Dir: Karyn Kusama. US. 2005. 92mins.A cult animated MTV series from the early 1990s getsa disappointingly dull live-action makeover in sci-fi thriller Aeon Flux, directed by Sundanceaward-winner (for her debut film Girlfight) Karyn Kusama.Teenage fanboysand their slightly older brothers will be the primary audience, and with Charlize Theron wearing the ...
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Reviews
Sogepaq announces sales for Fernando Leon's latest
Spain's Sogepaq has announced first sales in Europe and Latin America on Fernando Leon's Sundance World Competition entry, Princesses (Princesas). The film has sold to France and Belgium (ARP), Switzerland (Xenix), Greece & Cyprus (Audiovisual), Portugal (Atalanta Filmes), Mexico (Cine Video y TV), Argentina, Chile, Uruguay & Paraguay (Alfa Films) ...
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Reviews
Unknown White Male
Dir: Rupert Murray. UK. 2005. 88mins.A bizarre case of amnesia yields philosophical foodfor thought as well as an unorthodox character study in Unknown White Male, a thought-provoking documentary by Britishfilm-maker Rupert Murray.The film's subject is afriend of Murray's - a 35-year-old Englishman named Douglas Bruce who suddenlyand inexplicably lost all ...
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Reviews
Gravehopping (Od Groba Do Groba)
Dir/scr: Jan Cvitkovic. Slovenia, 2005. 103mins.A darkly comic curio, the second filmfrom Bread And Milk director Jan Cvitkovic has been flying the festival flag for Sloveniaever since its debut at San Sebastian - where it picked up the New Directors Award- and has since won best film prizes at Cottbus ...
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Reviews
The White Countess
Dir: James Ivory. US. 2005.135mins.The finale to director James Ivory's longcollaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (who diedlast May, just as the film was being completed), The White Countess is an intimate period romance given historicalsweep by a script from The Remains Of TheDay novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.The tentative love affair atthe ...
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Reviews
Melissa P
Dir: Luca Guadagnino. It-Sp. 2005. 102mins. "Loosely based on" ascandalous bestselling book which purports to recount the true sexualexperiences of a 16-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl, Sony Pictures Entertainment'sfirst Italian production Melissa Pstruggles gamely to be less of an adolescent sexploitation flick and more of acoming-of-age study.True,there is some teen sex ...
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Reviews
Just Friends
Dir: Roger Kumble. US. 2005. 94mins.Sporting a rich premise, Just Friends ultimately fails to live up to its early potential,instead settling into broad comedy that shortchanges the film's romanticpossibilities.Opening in the USon Nov 23 during the packed Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday-themed film(rated PG-13) stands out as the only date movie ...
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Reviews
Syriana
Dir/scr: Stephen Gaghan. US. 2005. 123mins.Writer-director Stephen Gaghan'sSyrianasets out to do for the global oil industry what Steven Soderbergh'sTraffic - which Gaghanscripted - did for the international drug trade. But while Traffic managed to mix affecting drama with its big picturegeopolitics, Gaghan's provocative new study worksbetter as a stimulant for ...
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Reviews
Rent
Dir: Chris Columbus. US.2005. 130mins.The zeitgeist 1996 Broadway musical Rent gets a faithful and energetic filmadaptation from an unlikely film-maker in Chris Columbus, and an in-builtaudience of Rent-lovers won't bedisappointed. Columbus also has a fair shot at pulling in a new generation ofkids who don't know the show and who ...
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Reviews
Yours, Mine & Ours (Tuya)
Dir: Raja Gosnell. US. 2005. 90mins.Looking to follow the Cheaper By The Dozen formula to box officesuccess, Yours, Mine & Ours is atiresome kids comedy that's never as funny as it is loud and oddlymean-spirited.Opening Nov 23 inthe US, the film (with its PG rating) will be hoping to attract ...
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Reviews
Brothers Of The Head
Dirs: Keith Fulton, Louis Pepe. UK. 2005. 90mins.Keith Fulton and Louis Pepetake a small step from documentary to mockumentarywith Brothers Of The Head, a bizarreriff on the source novel by Brian Aldiss.The story of conjoined twinbrothers and their brief rush of rock star fame during the 1970s is technically beyond ...
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Reviews
Go West
Dir/scr: Ahmed Imamovic. Bosnia-Herzegovina.2005. 100mins.Coming after his successful short, 10 Minutes, Ahmed Imamovic's debut feature Go West shows definite promise, as he attempts to present a solidfolksy melange of sex, politics and violence in the best traditions of Balkancinema.Focussing on the gaycommunity, atrocities against who have largely been overlooked in ...
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Reviews
Hostel
Dir: Eli Roth. US. 2005.95mins.A serpentine thriller likely to both repulse andexcite, Roth's second feature - and follow-up to Cabin Fever - plays like a shotgun marriage of Eurotripand Saw, starting out confidently as an European road sex adventure beforedevolving into a mutilation splatter flick.It is not always easy totake, ...
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Reviews
The Libertine
Dir. Laurence Dunmore. UK. 2005. 114mins.Resurfacing 14 months after its Toronto premiere as awork in progress, The Libertine hasnot improved with time, even after an extra year in the editing suite.Despite a sharp bounce fromJohnny Depp's deliciously suggestive performance as the titular Earl ofRochester, Laurence Dunmore's debut feature feels lacklustre ...
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Reviews
Sky Fighters (Les Chevaliers Du Ciel)
Dir: Gerard Pires. Fr. 2005. 102mins.In Sky Fighters,two gung-ho French airforce pilots battle withterrorists out to commandeer a Mirage 2000 jet for a post-9/11 apocalypse overParis. But as with too many aviation pictures, Gerard Pires'$22m feature soars when it is airborne but is hobbled on the ground by stockmelodramatics and ...
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Reviews
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire
Dir: Mike Newell. US-UK. 2005. 150mins.A solid but mostly uninspired melding of theadventure and fright that have been the benchmarks of the franchise, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire isneither as singular a film as director Alfonso Cuaron's third instalment nor askid-pleasing as Chris Columbus's first two entries.As Potter's ...
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Reviews
Zathura
Dir: Jon Favreau. US. 2005. 100mins.Family features can often fall foul to several traps.One is that they end up as showcases for bedazzling special effects thatdominate the storytelling; another is that they rely on rote bodily function humour that may be funny to a six-year-old but is indicativeof lazy and ...