Latest – Page 642
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Reviews
Hardcore
Dir. Dennis Iliadis. Gre.2004. 98minsA promising sketch ratheran actual probe into Athens' sleazy dives, lo-fi drama Hardcorenevertheless shows distinct promise for debut feature film-maker DennisIliadis.While his film-making giftsclearly need more mileage to mature, Iliadis' first feature neverthelessmaintains a steady course between coyness and titillation, conveying in theprocess a credible and ...
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Reviews
Alone In The Dark
Dir: Uwe Boll. US. 2004.96mins.Feeling like a throwbackto the video quickies of the late 1980s, Alone In The Dark, from Germandirector Uwe Boll, is an amusingly cheesy screen version of the popular Atarivideo game of the same name. Economical screen versions of video game hits havesometimes worked well in the ...
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Reviews
Hide And Seek
Dir: John Polson. US.2004. 105mins.A good cast and somespooky build-up fall victim to cliched plotting and an unlikely surprise endingin suspense thriller Hide And Seek, the second US film from Australiandirector (and actor) John Polson. The cast, headed by Robert De Niro and rising10-year-old star Dakota Fanning, might get the ...
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Reviews
Hustle & Flow
Dir/scr. Craig Brewer.US. 2004. 114mins.Hustle & Flow sets a new standard for films about rap music, ifonly because it's a strong-piece of story-driven filmmaking in its own right.While 8 Mile was a star-vehicle for rapper Eminem, the new film exploresnot just the making of the music - by any means ...
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Reviews
The Magic Roundabout (La Manege Enchante)
Dirs: Dave Borthwick, Jean Duval, Frank Passingham. 2005. UK-Fr. 81minsRemaking 1960sfive-minute children's TV show The Magic Roundabout as a full-lengthcomputer-animated feature always seemed a somewhat unlikely project. Sadly, theresulting $24m Anglo-French co-production explains why.The original series beganlife as La Manege Enchante on French TV in 1964. In the UK the ...
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Reviews
Hard Candy
Dir: David Slade. US.2005. 103mins.Whip-crackingly tautpsychological drama Hard Candy is the most talked about movie atSundance this year and one of the most riveting directorial debuts seen at thefestival in a few years. A two-hander in which a teenage girl turns the tableson the paedophile who has picked her up ...
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Reviews
Thumbsucker
Dir: Mike Mills. US.2005. 94mins.Music video andcommercials director and graphic artist Mike Mills makes an impressive featuredirectorial debut with Thumbsucker, a short and sweet adaptation of thenovel by Walter Kirn.Of all the high schoolpictures at Sundance this year, this is by far the best, treating the teenagerat its centre as ...
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Reviews
The Forest For The Trees (Der Wald Vor Lauter Baumen)
Dir:Maren Ade. Ger. 2003. 81minsA sober psychological drama about a novice teacher in meltdown, Maren Ade'slow-budget The Forest for the Trees builds slowly but assuredly toproduce an unsettling final kick. An introverted but commanding lead performanceby Eva Lobau should put her name on the map, as well as that of ...
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Reviews
The Aristocrats
Dir. PaulProvenza. US. 2004. 90mins.A documentary exploring the art and history of the world's filthiest joke, The Aristocrats is a no-frills primer onthe craft of comedy. Co-executive producers Paul Provenza and Penn Jilette (thespeaking half of the magic-comedy duo Penn & Teller) have tapped the brainstrust of professional US comedy ...
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Reviews
The Matador
Dir: Richard Shepard. US.2005. 97 mins. A crime comedy whichplays like Pulp Fiction-ultra-lite, The Matador is an unlikelyfit for the Sundance Film Festival where it world premiered on Saturday night.Broad, benign and cheerfully implausible, it is an independently financed filmwith mainstream sensibilities and distributors who have already committed willbe pleased ...
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Reviews
The Jacket
Dir: John Maybury. US/UK.2005. 102 mins. An intriguing hybrid oftime travel thriller, asylum horror movie and visual arts experiment, TheJacket may ultimately fail in its ambitions to fuse those genres but itremains an engaging and original entertainment which has the potential to tapinto a medium to wide audience on its ...
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Reviews
Dear Wendy
Dir. Thomas Vinterberg.Denmark/Germany/France/UK. 101 min. Dogme may be no more butif Dear Wendy is any indication, the artistic collaboration of itsfounders Thomas Vinterberg and Lars Von Trier is very much alive. An elaboratespoof of US politics and culture, the new film is a continuation of the themesraised in Von Trier's ...
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Reviews
Inside Deep Throat
Dirs/scrs: Fenton Bailey,Randy Barbato. US. 2004. 90mins It has been thirty-threeyears since Deep Throat first went down on one of Time Square's triple-Xfleapits in Manhattan and came up a pop-cultural landmark that reverberates tothis day. The lasting impact, both personal and societal, of this seminal pornflick is now chronicled in ...
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Reviews
Happy Endings
Dir/scr. Don Roos. US. 2004. 128mins A full seven years since making a splash at Sundance as a filmmaking debutant, Don Roos returns to Park City with this year's opening night attraction. Happy Endings, his third directorial outing, promises a benign beginning to the Park City festivities, if only because ...
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Reviews
Unconscious (Inconscientes)
Dir: Joaquin Oristrell.Sp-Port-Ger-It. 108mins.Spain's Joaquin Oristrelltakes time off from contemporary urban dramas and, with Unconscious,delivers an attractive and witty mystery comedy that maintains its screwballenergy throughout.Although the elements ofperiod comedy, an unappealing title and foreign language might deter somebuyers from looking deeper into this delightful Sherlock Holmes-Meets-Freudpiece, distributors and festivals ...
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Reviews
This Charming Girl (Woman, Jeong-hae)
Dir: Lee Yoon-ki. 2004. 99minsAny film that deals with subjects such as loneliness, boredom andself-loathing must run the risk of inflicting similar feelings on its audience.This Charming Girl flirts with these dangers as it slowly, slowlyscratches beneath the isolationist facade put up by a largely unremarkableyoung woman. Often minimalist in ...
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Reviews
Alla Luce Del Sole
Dir/scr: Roberto Faenza.It. 2005. 92mins.A brave voice speaks outagainst the Mafia; the voice gets silenced, but its message remains. AllaLuce Del Sole is not the first committed Italian biopic to fit this pitchline, and is unlikely to be the last.The most obvious differencebetween Roberto Faenza's new film and other examples ...
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Reviews
Watermarks (Hakoach Liskhot)
Dir/scr. Yaron Zilberman.Is-Fr-Us. 2004. 80mins.Science graduate YaronZilberman had never worked in film industry until he came across the story ofVienna's Jewish swimming team. The result is Watermarks, a lively andsurprisingly uplifting documentary set on the eve of World War Two.Having already takenaudience awards at festivals in Vienna, Boston and Washington, ...
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Reviews
Hostage
Dir/scr. ConstantineGiannaris. Gre-Tur. 2004. 102minsThe two Albanians whorecently hijacked a bus in Athens probably did not know that they werere-enacting the screenplay of Constantine Giannaris' Hostage, itselfbased on a similar real-life incident that took place in 1999.As told through the eyes ofan disoriented and angry young Albanian immigrant, this is ...
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Reviews
Lila Says (Lila Dit Ca)
Dir: Ziad Doueiri. Fr.2004. 89mins.Watching Lila Saysis like putting a watercolour painting instead of a photograph on the frontpage of a newspaper. Just conceivably, there are circumstances where, indefiance of expectations, the broad brush-strokes could work instead of thecrisp snapshot. And, directed by a French Muslim Ziad Doueiri as an ...