Latest – Page 653
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Reviews
Ladies In Lavender
Dir/scr: Charles Dance.UK. 2004. 108minsCharles Dance's directorial debut is a stilted andold-fashioned romantic drama which would be heavy as suet were it not for thedeft and lively performances of its two Dames, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Inrecreating 1930s Cornwall, Dance throws in all the elements associated withBritish heritage cinema ...
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Reviews
In My Father's Den
Dir: Brad McGann. NZ-UK.2004. 125minsLast year's Sydney FilmFestival opened to an embarrassing effort, the feeble Australian comedy TheHonourable Wally Norman. This year, in contrast, a packed house was grippedby New Zealand director-writer Brad McGann's assured debut feature In MyFather's Den, a hard-to-categorise mix of family conflict, coming of agedrama and ...
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Reviews
Uncovered: The War On Iraq
Dir/prod: Robert Greenwald. US. 90mins.Lessflamboyant than Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 - and, therefore,perhaps less superficially entertaining - Uncovered: The War On Iraq isa must-see for every American who cares about their country, regardless oftheir political persuasion.While the twofilms reach a similar conclusion - that the Bush administrations statedrationale for war ...
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Reviews
Bitter Dream (Khab E Talkh)
Dir/scr/ed:Mohsen Amiryoussefi. Iran. 2004. 87minsThelow-budget Iranian film Bitter Dream is a study of the meaning of lifeand death that is infinitely more far-reaching than it initially appears.Writtenand directed by first-time film-maker Mohsen Amiryoussefi, a self-confessedBrechtian, the film unfolds as a series of loosely connected, intenselyself-reflective vignettes, which centre on Abbas ...
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Reviews
The Terminal
Dir: Steven Spielberg.US. 2004. 128minsWhen Steven Spielberg sets out to make a feelgood heartwarmer, as he openlystates was his intention in The Terminal, cynics better watch out. Thefilm-maker whose command of the craft is so fluent that he can eke tears fromthe hardest of hearts goes all out for sentiment ...
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Reviews
Garfield The Movie
Dir: Peter Hewitt. US 2004.80minsHe is one of the mostrecognisable comic strip characters in the world today - a fat, slovenly,self-satisfied but lovable orange furball named Garfield - and he is the latesttwo-dimensional creature to star in his own live action/computer generatedfilm. But this fat cat won't generate half the ...
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Reviews
The Chronicles Of Riddick
Dir:David Twohy. US. 2004. 119mins.It'snot just the budget that is bigger on this sequel to Pitch Black, themodestly scaled sci-fi hit from writer/director David Twohy that four years agoset Vin Diesel on the road to stardom. In the $120m Chronicles Of Riddick,cult favourite Twohy fulfils the requirements of a summer ...
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Reviews
The Stepford Wives
Dir: Frank Oz. US. 2004.93mins.The third filmedadaptation of the Ira Levin thriller about suburban fembots on the rampage in afrosting-coated, master-planned community has been given an extreme makeoverredolent of Death Becomes Her, She-Devil and The Witches OfEastwick, forgettable female-driven star vehicles with limited substanceand depth, too many garish special effects ...
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Reviews
The Ordeal (Calvaire)
Dir: Fabrice du Welz. Fr-Bel-Lux. 2004. 90mins.Callinga film The Ordeal is surely asking for trouble, and this unforgivingexercise in Belgian Gothic is undeniably a rough ride for the faint of heart.However, anyone receptive to macabre psycho-horror with a distinct streak ofblack humour will find much to relish.Pitchedbetween Euro art-thriller and ...
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Reviews
Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
Dir:Xan Cassavetes. US. 2004. 120minsXanCassavetes' slightly uneven labour of love, Z Channel: A MagnificentObsession, is, at two hours, much too long for its own good but isnevertheless compulsively watchable, especially for people who love the movies.As such, while its commercial prospects may be slim, it should be of primeinterest to ...
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Reviews
Five
Dir:Abbas Kiarostami. Fr-Iran, 2003. 74minsHavingtaken his own cinema lessons to heart (see Screen International's reviewof 10 On Ten), Abbas Kiarostamihere reaches the logical conclusion, going for the most esoteric, minimalistcinema imaginable, consisting of just five long static shots taken with adigital camera, no actors, no script, no story and no ...
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Reviews
The Hook (Je Suis Un Assassin)
Dir: ThomasVincent. France. 2004. 110minsThe moralconsequences of murder provide the basis for a solid psychological thriller in TheHook. Director-writer Thomas Vincent created a few waves with his grittycharacter piece Karnaval (1999) and this follow-up marks a move towardsmore mainstream fare.Adapted from aDonald Westlake novel, it is intriguingly set up and ...
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Reviews
Woman Is The Future Of Man (La Femme Est L'avenir De L'homme)
Dir:Hong Sang-soo. S Korea/France. 2004. 88mins.Unfortunately,the best thing about Korean director Hong Sang-soo's Cannes competition film WomanIs The Future Of Man is its title, taken from the poet Aragon. The film ishandsomely mounted, and the glittery shine and tawdry dirt of contemporaryurban South Korea is always fascinating to behold, but ...
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Reviews
Welcome To Switzerland (Bienvenue En Suisse)
Dir/scr:Lea Fazer. Fr-Switz. 2004. 107mins.Awould-be crowd-pleasing comedy, Lea Fazer's one-joke comedy of culturalmisunderstandings squanders a talented cast and quickly wears out its welcome.Ahighly inappropriate selection to open the Un Certain Regard section at Cannesthis year, the film is too broad to appeal on the festival circuit, and is tooculturally specific ...
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Reviews
De-Lovely
Dir: Irwin Winkler. US.2004. 125mins.De-Lovely is one of those movies which begs the question why. Why in2004 make an old-fashioned biopic of homosexual composer Cole Porter as aheterosexual romance' Why re-record Cole Porter numbers with contemporary popacts when it was done so effectively for charity 15 years ago by the ...
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Reviews
A Common Thread (Brodeuses)
Dir: Eleonore Faucher. Fr.2004. 88minsAssured and tenderly felt, ACommon Thread (Brodeuses) announces a promising new talent inwriter-director Eleonore Faucher. The story of a rural teenager coming to termswith her pregnancy and her future has some affinities with Agnes Varda's Vagabondeand the Dardennes brothers Rosetta. ACommon Thread doesn't share their gritty ...
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Reviews
Cronicas
Dir: Sebastian Cordero. Ecuador-Mex. 2004. 107minsHere comes the next LatinAmerican candidate for Hollywood glory: Ecuador's Sebastian Cordero. His tough,gritty, uncompromising first film, Ratos,Ratones, Rateros (known in English as Rodents)- about punks, thieves and petty criminals living in the streets of Quito - didthe festival rounds several years ago, landed quite ...
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Reviews
After We're Gone (En Attendant Le Deluge)
Dir/scr: Damien Odoul. France. 2004. 80minsCannes simply would not be Cannes without at least onehighly-rated French auteur coming a cropper. This year it was the turn ofDamien Odoul, who made a dazzling debut in 2000 with Le Souffle, adream-like rural coming-of-age drama.Havinglost momentum with his prestigiously cast follow-up L'Errance, Odoul ...
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Reviews
Tropical Malady (Sud Pralad)
Dir:Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Fr-Thai-It-Ger. 2004. 118minsDeeplysubmerged within Apichatpong Weerasethakul's often impenetrable andoccasionally boring fable Tropical Malady, is a wonderful exploration of a perennialtheme: what makes a human being more than an animal' It begins promisingly witha passage from novelist Ton Nakajima: "All of us are by nature wild beasts andour duty ...
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Reviews
Duck Season (Temporada De Patos)
Dir/scr:Fernando Eimbcke. Mexico. 2004. 90minsFouryears ago, Critics' Week unearthed Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's AmoresPerros. While Temporado De Patos has little chance of emulating theinternational success of Inarritu's film, which grossed over $5m in the US andsold worldwide, Fernando Eimbcke's likeable debut feature looks likely to enjoya long life on the festival ...