Latest – Page 658
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Reviews
Hidalgo
Dir: Joe Johnston. US. 2003. 135mins.After getting bumped last year from Disney's fall slate, reportedly due to an overabundance of horse movies, the family-targeted action-adventure Western Hidalgo, starring Viggo Mortensen in his first post-Aragorn turn, arrives amid press reports questioning the authenticity of the film's real-life protagonist, one-time cowboy and ...
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Reviews
Triple Agent
Dir: Eric Rohmer. France. 2004. 115mins.Triple Agent is another clever, witty, intelligent morality play by the dean and master of the genre Eric Rohmer, interpreted with his legendary playful earnestness. This is however, by his own admission, the most talkative of his films and as such something of a challenge ...
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Reviews
Nightsongs (Die Nacht Singt Ihre Lieder)
Dir. Romuald Karmakar. Germany. 2004. 95mins.Regarded by many as one of the great hopes of German cinema, Romuald Karmakar's award-studded career risks taking a downward turn with Nightsongs, a self-indulgent, repetitive and unimaginative adaptation of a Norwegian stage play that gains nothing from being transferred to film.A static portrait of ...
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Reviews
Touch Of Pink
Dir: Ian Iqbal Rashid. UK-Canada. 2004. 91mins.The latest entry in the canon of colourful Indian-diaspora comedies after Bend It Like Beckham, The Guru and Bollywood/Hollywood, Touch Of Pink is a notable directorial debut from UK TV writer and poet Ian Iqbal Rashid. Oozing charm and a genuine joie de vivre ...
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Reviews
Kick 'n' Rush (2 Ryk Og 1 Aflevering)
Dir: Aage Rais-Nordentoft. Denmark. 2004. 95mins.Mixing football with the problems of adolescence has become something of a sub-genre in recent years. Purely Belter and Bend It Like Beckham opened the scoring for England; now the Scandinavians have begun to lob their own teen soccer tales into the area, with United, ...
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Reviews
Agatha And The Storm (Agata e la Tempesta)
Dir: Silvio Soldini. It-Switz-UK. 2004. 123 mins.With his 1999 comedy Bread And Tulips, Silvio Soldini pulled off the increasingly difficult act of combining auteurish pretensions (albeit gentle and soft-centred ones) with commercial success: the film racked up an impressive $5m-plus in its home market alone - around four times its ...
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Reviews
Twisted
Dir: Philip Kaufman. US. 2003. 96 mins.Ashley Judd has made a profitable habit of playing strong, successful women at the centre of moody, otherwise male-dominated thrillers. Twisted (originally known on the international sales circuit as Blackout) is a serviceable addition to Judd's resume but one that lacks the charge necessary ...
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Reviews
Cold Light (Kaldaljos)
Dir: Hilmar Oddsson. Ice-Ger-UK-Nor. 2004. 92mins.There must be a law in Iceland stipulating that local films should contain one or more of the following: a) a weird and lonely hero; b) an avalanche; c) cod fishermen vs the cruel sea; d) magical powers, especially the ability to predict the future. ...
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Reviews
Crimson Rivers 2: The Angels Of The Apocalypse (Rivieres Pourpres 2: Les Anges De L'Apocalypse)
Dir: Olivier Dahan. Fr-UK-It. 2004. 100mins.No, he's not the real thing, courtesy of Mel Gibson, but France still has its own screen Jesus figure this week, courtesy of Crimson Rivers 2: The Angels Of The Apocalypse. Here, the apostles all get killed off while 'the Christ' himself (or rather a ...
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Reviews
Pearls And Pigs (Helmia Ja Sikoja)
Dir: Perttu Leppa. Finland. 2003. 113 mins.Feelgood comedy Pearls And Pigs was seen by around 1 in 40 Finns in the weeks after its home release late last year, and while being big in Finland is no watertight guarantee of international success, this likeable teen comedy has some serious Hollywood ...
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Reviews
Love's Brother
Dir: Jan Sardi. Australia/UK. 2004. 90 minsJan Sardi's screenplay for the gritty biopic Shine was nominated for all the major international awards in 1997. Now he makes his directorial debut with this lightweight romantic fable from a self-penned screenplay which could have done with a tougher editor. Sardi's stretched story ...
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Reviews
Silmido
Dir: Kang Woo-suk. South Korea. 2003. 133 minsIf Quentin Tarantino ever gets around to his men on a mission flick, he could do worse than cast an eye over Silmido. Kang woo-suk's muscular tale of Death Row desperados combines brawn and brain to compelling effect. The political complexities of a ...
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Reviews
The Passion Of The Christ
Dir: Mel Gibson. US. 2004. 127 mins.It has become difficult to think about The Passion Of The Christ without being influenced by the storm of passion it has stirred up over the last six months, and some of the questions raised. Is it an act of hubris on the part ...
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Reviews
Your Next Life (La Vida Que Tu Espera)
Dir: Manuel Guttierez Aragon. Spain. 2004. 110 mins.It's doubtful that audiences can recall seeing so many cows in a single film since O Brother, Where Art Thou' The ruminants in veteran director Gutierrez Aragon's 15th feature don't get machine-gunned like their cousins in the Coen brothers' Odyssey-caper, though one does ...
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Reviews
Blueberry
Dir: Jan Kounen. Fr-UK-Mex. 2004. 122 mins.Blueberry is not so much a Gallic makeover of the spaghetti western ' shot in Mexico ' as a feature-length commercial for Indian shamanism, a sort of special effects-driven Dances With Spirits, in which the audience is asked not so much to thrill to ...
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Reviews
20:30:40
Dir: Silvia Chang. Taiwan-Hong Kong. 2004. 109mins.A cinematic weave of contemporary Asian women's stories, 20:30:40 is also a star vehicle for its three female protagonists. Sylvia Chang (who also directed and co-wrote), Rene Liu and Lee Sinje, each half a generation apart, have a cross-border appeal that stretches from Taiwan ...
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Reviews
We Don't Live Here Anymore
Dir: John Curran. US. 2004. 104 mins.A superlative drama about adultery boasting four courageous lead performances, We Don't Live Here Anymore may not be the ideal date movie but it will still be an attractive draw for smart adult audiences around the world.Adapted from two short stories by Andre Dubus, ...
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Reviews
Head On (Gegen die Wand)
Dir. Fatih Akin. Germany. 2004. 120 mins.Reinforced by this year's Golden Bear award, Fatih Akin's reputation as the foremost exponent of emigrant life in Germany shines through in this tale of a mismatched couple, one a 20-year-old rebellious girl of Turkish origin, the other a self-destructive drunk twice her age ...
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Reviews
Lost Embrace (El Abrazo Partido)
Dir Daniel Burman Argentina/France/Italy/Spain. 2003. 101 mins.Argentinian director Daniel Burman's fourth feature, which picked up the Jury Grand Prix Silver Bear at this year's Berlinale, is a bittersweet comedy of national, personal and religious identity set in a Jewish inner city suburb of Buenos Aires at the low point of ...
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Reviews
Ae Fond Kiss
Dir: Ken Loach. UK-It-Ger-Sp. 2004. 103 mins.Ken Loach is famous for shooting in sequence and not revealing key plot details to his actors beforehand, in order to catch the freshness of their shock or anger unfiltered by rehearsal. It's been a while since he's startled his fans in the same ...