Latest – Page 617
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Reviews
The Wedding Director (Il Regista Di Matrimoni)
Dir/scr: Marco Bellocchio. It. 2006. 102mins.After the compelling Red Brigade psycho-drama Good Morning, Night, Italian auteurMarco Bellocchio has returned to the hermetic,dreamlike mode of The Hour Of Religionwith his latest effort, in which a leading arthousedirector is talked into shooting a Sicilian wedding video. Occasionally comic,undeniably evocative, at times simmering ...
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Reviews
The Wedding Director (Il Regista Di Matrimoni)
Dir/scr: Marco Bellocchio. It. 2006. 102mins.After his compelling Red Brigade psycho-drama Good Morning, Night, Italian auteurMarco Bellocchio returns to the hermetic, dreamlikemode of The Hour Of Religion with hislatest effort, The Wedding Director, inwhich a leading arthouse film-maker is talked intoshooting a Sicilian matrimonial video.Bellocchio is a profoundly visual director, ...
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Reviews
The Unforgiven (Yongseobadji Mot-hanja)
Dir/scr: Yoon Jong-bin. S Kor. 2005. 126mins.The traumas of masculinity and themilitary life are sensitively and obliquely probed in The Unforgiven, the debut feature fromKorean writer-director Yoon Jong-bin. Despitecurrents of menace and brutality, it lies at the more contemplative end ofSouth Korea's cinema spectrum, its elliptical, two-strand structure making itakin ...
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Reviews
The Wild
Dir: Steve "Spaz" Williams.US. 2006. 84mins.The wilderness may be unmanageable and out ofcontrol, but Disney's The Wild is very much a beast offamiliarity, albeit a somewhat colorful one. Disney's rift with animationpartner Pixar now healed, it will be June release Cars that gets the bigger promotionalpush and is most likely ...
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Reviews
Election 2 (Hak Sewui: Yi Wo Wai Gwai)
Dir:Johnnie To. HK. 2006. 93mins.The second part of Johnnie To's contemporary gangster saga, Election 2 will be atreat for fans of last year's original, eager for more from its black-as-pitch Hong Kong triad family.But this exposition-heavy sequel is unlikely to draw in a new audience. Slow tobuild a head of ...
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Reviews
American Dreamz
Dir: Paul Weitz. US. 2006. 107mins.A comedy attempting to have fun at the expense ofseveral contemporary US institutions - George Bush and reality TV among them - American Dreamzis a disappointingly lame follow-up by director Paul Weitzto the pleasantly understated In GoodCompany. Too broad and obvious to rate as satire, ...
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Reviews
Alien Autopsy
Dir: Jonny Campbell UK.2006. 95minsFitfully entertaining, but undermined by its owninanity, Alien Autopsy is muddled anduneven fare which shows yet again how difficult it is for the best Britishcomic talent to make the transition to the big screen. Its stars Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, hugely popular TVpersonalities in the ...
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Reviews
Come Early Morning
Dir: Joey Lauren Adams. US.2006. 97mins.Response was mixed at the Sundance Film Festival inJanuary to Joey Lauren Adams' directorial debut Come Early Morning, but away from the hot-house atmosphere of ParkCity, the film will surely get a favourable second look from critics anddistributors.A small, unpretentiouscharacter piece notable for an outstanding ...
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Reviews
Take The Lead
Dir: Liz Friedlander. US.2006. 118mins.The cathartic joy of dance gets drained away by thepredictable rhythms of formulaic and obvious storytelling in Take The Lead. Basedon the true story of a teacher's quest to impart the respect and dignity offormal dance to delinquent high schoolers, the debutfeature from music video director ...
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Reviews
The Valet (La Doublure)
Dir/scr: Francis Veber. Fr. 2006. 83mins.Francis Veberlacks a funny bone in The Valet,misjudging both his script and his cast in a romantic comedy about a lucklessyoung man obliged to feign cohabitation with a gorgeous top model.A curiously lifeless affairthat seems vaguely inspired by PrettyWoman, it raises some smiles but few ...
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Reviews
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
Dir: Carlos Saldanha. US.2006. 91 mins.20th Century Foxlooks set to enjoy an early year worldwide smash with Ice Age 2: TheMeltdown (called just Ice Age:The Meltdown in North America), alikeable sequel to the spring 2002 original which was one of the firstnon-Pixar CGI films to make a mint - $373m ...
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Reviews
Basic Instinct 2
Dir: Michael Caton-Jones.US/UK. 2006. 113 mins.The crime of BasicInstinct 2 is not that it fails to achieve instant camp classic status, butthat it is never more than tragically mundane. 14 years ago Paul Verhoevenreinvented the sex thriller with the gloriously trashy original, teamingMichael Douglas with explosive new star Sharon Stone ...
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Reviews
Volver
Dir: Pedro Almodovar.Spain. 2006. 111 mins.The literal Englishtranslation of Volver is "To Return" and Pedro Almodovar's newfilm represents several 'returns' for the iconic director. He returns to hispersonal roots in La Mancha, where he was born. He also returns to his roots asa filmmaker, working mainly with women and, after ...
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Reviews
The Caiman (Il Caimano)
Dir: Nanni Moretti. It-Fr. 2006. 112mins.Part impassioned political expose, part maritaldrama, part meta-cinematic comedy, Nanni Moretti's new film TheCaiman is a curious hybrid that, in most other hands, would feel forced. It'sthe director's intuitive command of tonal shifts - from slapstick to serious,from Allen-esque one-liners to barbed Moore-ish satire - ...
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Reviews
Eden
Dir: Michael Hoffman. Ger-Switz. 2005. 98mins.Voted the audience award winner at Rotterdam, MichaelHoffman's Eden is a natural crowdpleaser that successfully combines food and sex for aromantic romp in the best tradition of hits like Mostly Martha.More demure and lessenergetic than Sandra Nettlebeck's feature, thiscomedy about the encounter between an overweight, ...
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Reviews
Paper Dolls
Dir/scr: Tomer Heymann. Is-Swiss.2005. 80mins.A surefire winner on specialistcircuits, Paper Dolls, Tomer Heymann's documentary abouta group of Filipino transsexuals in Israel has everything a successful pictureneeds: endearing characters, tears, laughter, heartbreak and an explosiveclimax at the most unexpected moment.Originally commissioned as asix-part TV series, it has now been cut to ...
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Reviews
Wilderness
Dir: Michael J Bassett. UK 2006. 91mins"Get them out of here. Get them to the island andteach them a bloody lesson!" the governor at a young offenders institutionroars at the inmates early on in Wilderness,Michael Bassett's lurid but enjoyably cheesy horror picture.This is not subtlefilm-making. Dario Poloni's screenplay is influencedby ...
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Reviews
Dreamland
Dir. Jason Matzner. US. 2006. 88mins.The debut feature from video director and fine artistJason Matzner, Dreamlandlimns the emotional frustrations and personal consequence of emerging femalesexuality, tracking love, heartbreak and self-discovery among a trinity ofdamaged souls in the New Mexico desert.The movie is tender andvisually confident, although the script by Tom ...
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Reviews
Slither
Dir: James Gunn. US. 2006. 94mins.A loving homage to B-movie horror films, James Gunn'sSlither supplies gross-out scares aswell as some self-mocking humour. But while the filmwill please genre fans, others may find the presentation over-familiar.Slither opens on March 31 in the US - following its appearance at the SXSW FilmFestival ...
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Reviews
Inside Man
Dir: Spike Lee. US. 2006.129mins.In Inside Man,Spike Lee applies his jazzy and provocative directing style to the bank heistgenre and turns out an ambitious, often intriguing, but extremely uneven crimethriller. The genre and a strong cast headed by DenzelWashington suggest that this Imagine Entertainment production has the potentialto end Lee's ...