Latest – Page 605
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Reviews
The Tiger's Tail
Dir/scr: John Boorman. Ire-UK. 2006. 106mins.John Boorman's admirers,uneasily awaiting his latest feature after the disappointment of Country Of My Skull,can rest easy. Back on familiar ground - Dublin - and reunited with a sterlingBrendan Gleeson, The Tiger's Tail isan alternately funny and thoughtful doppelganger story that may well see theveteran ...
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Reviews
After The Wedding (Efter Bryllupet)
Dir: Susanne Bier. Den. 2006.122mins.The desperate conflict between individual actions andcollective responsibility is explored to devastating effect in After The Wedding.The latest feature from director Susanne Bier, it shows a powerful command ofcraft and narrative as it unfolds an emotionally complex and gripping saga ofmoral dilemmas and the way good ...
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Reviews
Rescue Dawn
Dir/scr: Werner Herzog. US. 2006. 120mins.With the escape drama Rescue Dawn, Werner Herzog has finally managed to make a pure commercialHollywood thriller, as if to prove that he always could - if he really wanted. Anopening title informs us that his new feature is "inspired by true events inthe life ...
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Reviews
Gardens In Autumn (Jardins En Automne)
Dir/scr: Otar Iosseliani. Fr-It-Russ. 2006. 117mins.The then-Soviet republic of Georgia lost one of itsmajor cultural assets when it allowed non-conformist film-maker Otar Iosseliani to 'emigrate' professionally to France in 1984. Since then,he has regularly regaled audiences with his wry, deadpan, post-modern comedies(though arguably none has equalled the poetic films he ...
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Reviews
The Dog Pound (La Perrera)
Dir: Manuel Nieto Zas. Urug-Arg-Can-Sp.2006. 109mins.Ahyper-naturalistic portrait of a city slacker living amongst uneducatedlabourers in a sleepy resort town on the Uruguayan coast, La Perrera (The Dog Pound) is a deceptively simple film which,underneath its placid surface, is unsettling and finally shocking. With itslanguid pace and detached point of view, ...
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Reviews
The Half Life Of Timofey Berezin
Dir/scr: Scott Z Burns US.2006. 107mins.An uneasy mix of ecological warning, hyped-up Russianaccents and touching family drama, one can only leave The Half Life Of TimofeyBerezin in sadness that it squanders itspotential.The directorial debut fromScott Z Burns - co-producer of Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth - has some bits ...
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Reviews
Fay Grim
Dir/scr: Hal Hartley. US. 2006. 118mins.Hal Hartley's droll sense of humourand slightly off-kilter cinematic technique has never been to everyone's taste,but hardcore fans will enjoy Fay Grim,a sequel of sorts to his breakout 1998 hit HenryFool. Others, however, may find what Hartley calls an 'internationalespionage farce' more than a bit ...
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Reviews
Mon Colonel
Dir: Laurent Herbiet. Fr-Belg-Alg. 2006. 110mins.With a pedigree that includes Costa Gavras as a script writer and Michele Ray Gavras and the Dardenne brothersin the production team, Laurent Herbiet's featuredebut is bound to draw international attention, notwithstanding his ownanonymity. Mon Colonel reads verymuch like a Costa Gavras project, a political ...
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Reviews
The Guardian
Dir: Andrew Davis. US. 2006.139mins.A square-jawed, water-set tale of tutelage andtrumped personal adversity that takes place against the backdrop of a varietyof rescues in dangerously stormy weather, Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher's TheGuardian is a sincere and capably executed film, if ultimately also adispensable one.Despite copious exclamationsof "hoo-rah!" and the ...
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Reviews
School For Scoundrels
Dir: Todd Phillips. US.2006. 101mins.Todd Phillips' new comedy School For Scoundrels seems divided against itself, telling two interconnectedstories that rarely cohere. It treads on familiar territory recognisablethrough Phillips' previous work (Road Trip,Old School), enlivened here by thepeculiar love triangle ensnaring Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hederand Jacinda Barrett.These talented actors givethe ...
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Reviews
School For Scoundrels
Dir: Todd Phillips. US.2006. 101mins.Todd Phillips' new comedy School For Scoundrels seems divided against itself, telling two interconnectedstories that rarely cohere. It treads on familiar territory recognisablethrough Phillips' previous work (Road Trip,Old School), enlivened here by thepeculiar love triangle ensnaring Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Hederand Jacinda Barrett.These talented actors givethe ...
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Reviews
The Road To San Diego (El Camino De San Diego)
Dir: Carlos Sorin. Arg. 2006. 98mins.A natural crowdpleaserwhich could easily follow on the tracks of his previous film, Bombon: El Perro,Carlos Sorin's TheRoad To San Diego shows him to be that rare film-maker:one who still has some faith in human nature.Anyone who went for hisshaggy dog tale last time round ...
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Reviews
Amazing Grace
Dir. Michael AptedUK 2006 111mins.A historical drama about the efforts of 18th-centuryBritish parliamentarian William Wilberforce to legislate an end to the slavetrade in Britain, Amazing Grace is aworthy but ultimately flat chronology. It will suffer by comparison with recentUK TV production such as Bleak Houseand Elizabeth I while US theatricalprospects ...
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Reviews
The Last Winter
Dir: Larry Fessenden. US-Ice. 2006. 106mins.The fourth feature from idiosyncratic American independentdirector Larry Fessenden, The Last Winter expertly conflates the psychological dread fundamentalto the horror genre, broadening it out into a deeper, existential malaise aboutthe disintegration of civilisation.A story about the madness thatengulfs a disparate group at a remote Alaskan ...
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Reviews
Flyboys
Dir: Tony Bill. US. 2006.138mins.Impressively staged and expansive in scope, World WarOne aviation feature Flyboys isrooted in the true story of those young American men who volunteered as fighterpilots for the French prior to their country's entry into the war. It alsosuccessfully captures how aeroplanes, these newinventions of the sky, ...
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Reviews
Mon Meilleur Ami
Dir: Patrice Leconte. Fr. 2006. 94mins.Patrice Leconte, whosebelated second sequel to his breakthrough 1978 smash Les Bronzes was France's biggest homegrownblockbuster this year, stays in similar territory for his follow-up Mon Meilleur Ami.In fact, this broad high-concept comedy of the Dinner Game or Apres Vous variety could have been a ...
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Reviews
Ghosts
Dir: Nick Broomfield. UK.2006. 96mins.Labelled as fiction but closer in spirit to thedocumentaries he is best known for, Nick Broomfield's Ghosts initially looks like a milder version of Michael Winterbottom's Berlin winner In This World. But then this San Sebastian opener seems to segueinto Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation, with ...
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Reviews
The Boss Of It All (El Patron)
Dir/scr: Lars Von Trier. Den. 2006. 110mins.After the epic sermonising of Dogville and Manderlay, Lars Von Trier is clearly in the mood for a little fun. Theomniscient narrator of The Boss Of It All even introduces the film as a humble comedylest we have any doubts about what might lie ...
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Reviews
Copying Beethoven
Dir: Agnieszka Holland. UK-Hung. 2006. 104mins.With Copying Beethoven,workmanlike director Agnieska Holland partiallyredeems herself for such embarrassing earlier Toronto misfires like Total Eclipse (1995) - will anyoneever forget the silliness of ultra-American teen Leonardo DiCaprioas French poet Arthur Rimbaud' - but only partially.Movies thatcentre on classical music, of course, have a ...
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Reviews
Hula Girls (Hula Garu)
Dir: Lee Sang-il. Jap. 2006. 108minsHula Girls has allthe ingredients for a crowd-pleasing heartwarmer butit sweats and strains to make the recipe work. Despite being based on trueevents it feels entirely formulaic with even the most casual cinemagoer likelyto be one step ahead of every twist and turn in the ...