Latest – Page 644
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Reviews
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera
Dir: Joel Schumacher.UK-US. 2004. 140mins.After Jesus ChristSuperstar and Evita, this is the third feature-version of an AndrewLloyd Webber musical and it suffers from the same problems in translation whichbeset its predecessors. Although filled with pleasures and confidently directedby Joel Schumacher, Phantom remains filmed rock-opera and it fails toignite as dramatic ...
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Reviews
Haven
Dir/scr: Frank E Flowers. UK-Ger-US-Sp. 2004. 115mins.Handsomely, even expensively mounted, and serviceably if notbrilliantly, acted, Haven is a filmso lacking in narrative skill, interesting characters, or anything but the mostshowily attractive situations andthemes that it self-destructs barely 15 minutes in and stays out of servicethroughout its long, long length.Despite the ...
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Reviews
36 Quai Des Orfevres
Dir: Olivier Marchal.France. 2004. 110mins.A muscular police actionthriller, 36 Quai Des Orfevres is a welcome throwback to the stylish1980s French cops and robbers pictures of Blier, Corneau and Beineix. That itis by relative newcomer director (and former cop) Olivier Marchal (who directed2002's Gangsters) and the recently somnolent Gaumont are also ...
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Reviews
Ocean's Twelve
Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2004. 132mins Warner Bros andVillage Roadshow can count on another worldwide hit with Ocean's Twelve, the sequel to the 2001 blockbuster Ocean's Eleven which grossed $183.4m inNorth America and $267.3m in international territories. With global movie starsClooney, Pitt, Damon, Roberts and now Catherine Zeta-Jones heading the ...
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Reviews
Godzilla: Final Wars
Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura.Jap. 2004. 110mins.Godzilla: Final Wars, director Ryuhei Kitamura's send-off to the Big G,going into retirement after a 50-year run, is like one of those documentariesof R&B greats - the old guys can still play the notes, but the heat left along time ago. They once shook the world ...
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Reviews
The Oyster Farmer
Dir/scr: Anna Reeves. Aust-UK. 2004. 91minsAustralian newcomer Anna Reeves does little to changethe image of her countrymen or local cliches with Oyster Farmer, servingup the typical Aussie quirky characters, black humour, beer and sex in equalmeasure.It isn't the most attractive picture that writer-director Reeves paints of theisolated oyster farmers of ...
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Reviews
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Dir: Wes Anderson. US.2004. 118mins.Bill Murray owes anenormous debt of gratitude to writer/director Wes Anderson, whose wonderfullydry, absurdist films have stretched the actor in ways the comedy star mightnever have attempted on his own.Forced to venture outsidehis comfort zone into uncharted emotional waters, Murray has delivered oneoutstanding performance after another ...
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Reviews
A Midwinter Night's Dream
Dir. Goran Paskaljevic.Serbia-Montenegro. 2004. 95mins.More introspective andless explosive than his remarkable feature Powder Keg (1998), GoranPaskaljevic's A Midwinter Night's Dream may, in many respects, be ametaphor for Serbia today, but it is still a powerful and moving personaltragedy that functions well, regardless of its political subtext.The finely tunedrelationship between a ...
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Reviews
Blade: Trinity
Dir:David S Goyer. US. 2004. 114mins.There'sas much joke cracking as blood sucking in the third episode of New Line'ssolidly successful Blade franchise, a young-skewing horror outing withWesley Snipes again starring as the titular Marvel Comics vampire slayer.Theraunchy humour, together with some boisterous action and a coven of newcharacters, gives the ...
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Reviews
The Aviator
Dir: Martin Scorsese. US.2004. 169 mins. He's perhaps best knownas a nutty old recluse, but it's the younger Howard Hughes, the ambitious movieproducer, industrialist and aviation pioneer, that interests Martin Scorseseand Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator, their epic period biopic forMiramax, Warner and Initial Entertainment Group. Director and star paint ...
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Reviews
Silver City
Dir/scr/ed: John Sayles.US. 2004. 128minsWith his political satireslash noir murder mystery Silver City, American maverick John Saylesmight just have made his most commercial movie to date. While much of the film'stopicality, especially in the US, might have rested on last month's USelection, the return of George W Bush to power ...
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Reviews
Les Soeurs Fachees
Dir/scr. AlexandraLeclere. Fr. 2004. 93mins.A vehicle for theconsiderable thespian prowess of Isabelle Huppert, film-maker Alexandra Lecleremakes an effective debut with Les Soeurs Fachees, a family drama thatshould play well in mainstream Francophone markets.The traditional French feeland the cast attraction of Huppert (enjoying a higher profile of late through IHeart Huckabee's) ...
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Reviews
Machuca
Dir: Andres Wood.Chile-Spain. 2004. 120mins.Originally screened inDirectors Fortnight at Cannes this year, Andres Wood's Machuca haspicked up steam throughout the year, is the official Chilean selection for theforeign language Academy Award and was recently picked up for US distributionby Menemsha Films.It's an unsettling piece seton the eve of the military ...
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Reviews
The Alzheimer Case (De Zaak Alzheimer)
Dir:Erik Van Looy. Belgium. 2003. 120minsEveryoneis looking for the fresh twist that can raise a thriller out of the ranks ofthe ordinary. Erik Van Looy appears to have found it in The Alzheimer Case.The twist here is a hired killer turned avenging angel struggling with theonset of Alzheimers. His faltering ...
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Reviews
Silver City
Dir/scr/ed: John Sayles.US. 2004. 128minsWith his political satireslash noir murder mystery Silver City, American maverick John Saylesmight just have made his most commercial movie to date. While much of the film'stopicality, especially in the US, might have rested on last month's USelection, the return of George W Bush to power ...
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Reviews
The Great Water (Golemata Voda)
Dir: Ivo Trajkov.Macedonia 2004. 90minsSet in Yugoslavia duringthe immediate aftermath of World War II, when Stalin was extending his reachover Eastern Europe, The Great Water concerns an all too real subject:orphans who were rounded up and sent to labour camps to be indoctrinated withCommunist ideology.Containing elements of bothdrama and surrealism, ...
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Reviews
Tell Them Who You Are
Dir/prod/cine:Mark SWexler. US. 2004. 95minsA son's search for hisfather, even a famous one, might appear to be too narrow a theme for atheatrical documentary were it not for the recent success of theOscar-nominated feature My Architect.Tell Them Who You Are, which has been shortlisted for Best DocumentaryFeature for this season, ...
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Reviews
Blood And Bones (Chi To Hone)
Dir: Yoichi Sai.Jap.2004. 144mins.Known in Japan as a TVcelebrity, actor and director of both commercial hits (Quill) and awardwinners (All Under The Moon), Yoichi Sai resembles friend and colleagueTakeshi 'Beat' Kitano in not only his resume but his earthy,quick-witted public persona.He is now building asimilarly high international profile with his ...
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Reviews
Eyes Of Crystal (Occhi Di Cristallo)
Dir: Eros Puglielli.It-Sp-UK. 2004. 110mins.The latestCattleya-Alchimia co-production (after Callas Forever, Don't Moveand I'm Not Scared), Eyes Of Crystal is a declared attempt torevive the horror-thriller genre that, in Italy, is virtually synonymous withDario Argento. Though uneven, second-time director Eros Puglielli's serialkiller yarn is a stylish and enjoyable essay in shock ...