Latest – Page 629
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Reviews
Something Like Happiness (Stetsi)
Dir/scr: Bodhan Slama.2005. Cz Rep. 100mins.A surprise winner of the top prize at San Sebastian, butno less deserving for that, Bodhan Slama's small-scale Czech drama surged aheadof more heavyweight rivals to take the Golden Shell for best film and bestactress (Ana Geislerova) - and that in a competition which allows ...
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Reviews
Flightplan
Dir:Robert Schwentke. US. 2005. 93mins.Germandirector makes a promising US debut with Flightplan, a taut suspensethriller that gets good use out of its transatlantic airliner setting and, fora while at least, produces some real emotional resonance too.Withthe very selective Jodie Foster starring, the Imagine/Touchstone productionshould be capable of strong box office ...
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Reviews
Summer In Berlin (Sommer Vorm Balkon)
Dir: Andreas Dresen.Germany 2005. 112mins.Indie director AndreasDresen is the German counterpart of Robert Guediguian: a regional maverickwithin a national system, whose drama-tinged comedies, or comedy-tinged dramas,are all set in the milieu he knows best. Dresen's preferred location is theformer East Germany, his preferred subject those who are struggling in thedepressed ...
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Reviews
Enlightened By Fire (Iluminados Por El Fuego)
Dir:Tristan Bauer. Arg. 2005. 100mins.Sometimesa film has more value as a national pain relief than as a quality piece ofcinema. Such is certainly the case with Enlightened By Fire, the firstArgentine commercial film to take on the subject of the Falklands/Malvinas war,and to deal with the traumas of the young ...
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Reviews
Hard Times (Malas Temporadas)
Dir. Manuel MartinCuenca. Sp. 2005. 115mins.Three sets of outsidersin Madrid, characters on the fringe of the accepted norm whether by choice orcircumstance, approach a crisis in the nicely-modulated and finely-acted HardTimes, Manuel Martin Cuenca's follow-up to The Weakness Of The Bolshevik.Despite its defiantly sombretone, it should find a solid audience ...
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Reviews
Water
Dir/scr.Deepa Mehta. Can. 2005. 114mins.As intelligent as it isravishing, Deepa Mehta's Water is amoving portrayal of impossible love and possible hope. Fronted by an equally ravishingcombination of Bollywood stars Lisa Ray and John Abraham and cloaked in ahistorical drama set within Indian's widow caste, it tells the story of a ...
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Reviews
April Snow (Wae Chul)
Dir: Hur Jin-ho. S Kor.2005. 105mins.Coming after ChristmasIn August and One Fine Spring Day, April Snow shows HurJin-ho be as gentle and romantic as ever - and as likely to enjoy successfulbox office.Once again he concentrateson strong emotions, showing as slow, deliberate and sensitive a touch as he hasdone before, ...
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Reviews
Not Here To Be Loved (Je Ne Suis Pas La Pour Etre Aime)
Dir: Stephane Brize. Fr.2005. 95mins.French director StephaneBrize's second feature after Hometown Blues (1999), Not Here To BeLoved is more a slow, intimate study of two repressed characters than astraightforward romantic comedy. The film's measured dosing of humour andpassion takes its cue from the tango music, which is central to the ...
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Reviews
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
Dirs: Nick Park, Steve Box.UK. 2005. 85mins.A delirious blend ofwhimsy and wit, the long-awaited Wallace & Gromit feature is sure tocharm all who encounter it. Having already opened in Australia - just ahead ofits Toronto appearance - to substantially better figures than those forAardman's previous feature, the buoyant Chicken Run, ...
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Reviews
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit
Dirs: Nick Park, Steve Box.UK. 2005. 85mins.A delirious blend ofwhimsy and wit, the long-awaited Wallace & Gromit feature is sure tocharm all who encounter it. Having already opened in Australia - just ahead ofits Toronto appearance - to substantially better figures than those forAardman's previous feature, the buoyant Chicken Run, ...
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Reviews
Cry Wolf
Dir: Jeff Wadlow. US.2005. 90mins.There are more twiststhan jolts in Cry_Wolf, the teen thriller whose script helped debutantfeature director Jeff Wadlow take first prize - a $1m production grant - in theChrysler Million Dollar Film Festival.Wadlowproves himself a worthy winner of the competition (created by Doug Liman'sproduction outfit Hypnotic and ...
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Reviews
Lord Of War
Dir/scr: Andrew Niccol.US. 2005. 121mins.Andrew Niccol has always been a fascinating writer,exploring decidedly catchy, low-fi concepts about the collision of humanity andmodernity, while also showing a consistent distrust of authority.His list of credits aswriter-director includes the under-heralded sci-fi drama of Gattaca, thebloated Hollywood-goes-digital satire Simone, and of course thescreenplay for ...
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Reviews
The World's Fastest Indian
Dir/scr: Roger Donaldson.NZ. 2005. 127mins.The latest RogerDonaldson is a natural born winner through and through. An inspiring real lifestory of a man who dared in his late sixties not only to dream but to go on andaccomplish his dreams against all odds, The World's Fastest Indian hasall the hallmarks of ...
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Reviews
El Aura
Dir/scr: Fabian Belinsky.Arg-Sp. 2005. 129mins.A successful debut filmis always a difficult act to follow. Argentine director Fabian Bielinsky dealswith the pressure by giving us what might be described as the anti Nine Queensin his follow-up feature, El Aura. That multi-territory hit, whichspawned the US remake Criminal, was as sharp as ...
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Reviews
Manslaughter (Drabet)
Dir:Per Fly. Den. 2005. 105mins.Adark, controlled moral tragedy, Manslaughter is even more austere, evenmore relentless in its probings of the consequences of our wrong turns, thanPer Fly's previous film, Inheritance. Jesper Christensen, most recentlyseen in The Interpreter, delivers an outstanding performance as anacademic proponent of class resistance forced to live ...
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Reviews
In Her Shoes
Dir: Curtis Hanson. US.2005. 130mins.Curtis Hanson'sgenre-spanning career has included The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, TheRiver Wild, LA Confidential and 8 Mile - so it should come asno surprise that he is able to craft a superior tearjerker in his latest film InHer Shoes.The contemporary equivalentof what used to be ...
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Reviews
Obaba
Dir: Montxo Armendariz.Sp-Ger. 2005. 109mins.There are strange thingsgoing on down in Obaba, a tale of isolated village life set in thePyrenean hinterland of San Sebastian - which is why, presumably, it was chosento open the 53rd edition of Spain's A-list film festival.But although it got a warmreaction from the gala ...
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Reviews
Mistress Of Spices
Dir: Paul Mayeda Berges.UK. 2005. 92mins.A featherweight, feelgoodromance, The Mistress Of Spices is heavily reliant on the radiant beautyof Aishwarya Rai for any modest charm that it may possess. The directorialdebut of Paul Mayeda Berges promises to add a taste of India to a Chocolat-stylescenario but falls considerably short of ...