Latest – Page 637
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Reviews
Down In The Valley
Dir/scr: David Jacobson.US. 2005. 125mins.Hailed as the De Niro ofhis generation, Edward Norton finally has a chance to remind us why in DownIn The Valley. After a string of supporting roles and odd career choices (TheItalian Job, The Score, Kingdom Of Heaven etc), he once againtakes centre stage with a ...
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Reviews
The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse
Dir: Steve Bendelack. UK2005. 90mins.The League Of Gentlemen, rubber-faced Britishexponents of grotesque TV comedy, make a bravely eccentric cinema debut with TheLeague of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, a macabre farce that mixes theirdistinctive character playing with Hammer ghoulishness, movie-buff in-jokes andlashings of existential paradox in a Charlie Kaufman vein.The team - protean ...
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Reviews
The Death Of Mr Lazarescu (Moartea Domnului Lazarescu)
Dir: Cristi Puiu. Rom.2005. 154mins.It's got to be one of the hardest sells there is: atwo-and-a-half-hour film about an incontinent old man in Bucharest who is takenill one evening, calls an ambulance, and is shuttled from hospital to hospitalin search of a diagnosis, a scan, and a free bed.But The ...
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Reviews
Lords Of Dogtown
Dir: Catherine Hardwicke.US. 2005. 105mins.Based on the same true story that spawned the effortlesslycharismatic 2002 documentary Dogtown And Z-Boys, director CatherineHardwicke's Lords Of Dogtown offers forth an entertaining but relativelyimpressionistic look at the sweaty, counter-cultural explosion of streetskateboarding that took place in the late 1970s on the crookedly tapered, blackasphalt ...
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Reviews
The Moustache (La Moustache)
Dir:Emmanuel Carrere. Fr. 2005. 86mins.What seems like a merewhisker of a premise yields surprising results in The Moustache, aneconomical but impressive fiction debut by French director-writer EmmanuelCarrere.Originally known as ajournalist and novelist - his works were adapted by Claude Miller and NicoleGarcia as Class Trip and L'Adversaire respectively - Carrere ...
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Reviews
Quo Vadis, Baby'
Dir: Gabriele Salvatores.It. 2005. 98mins.Gabriele Salvatores has taken a step back from thedramatic intensity of I'm Not Scared with Quo Vadis, Baby', arambling contemporary noir set in Bologna.Based on the same-name novelby Grazia Verasani, the film is worth a look chiefly for its atmospheric HDcinematography and for its original private ...
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Reviews
Cinderella Man
Dir:Ron Howard. US. 2005. 144mins.Beautifullycrafted and emotionally uplifting, Cinderella Man reunites ABeautiful Mind star Russell Crowe and director Ron Howard to tell the trueDepression-era story of underdog American boxing champ Jim Braddock. It's aprime example of the kind of rousing melodrama that Hollywood, when it's nottrying to lure teens with ...
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Reviews
Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noel)
Dir/scr: Christian Carion.France. 2005. 115minsThe miracle of aChristmas truce in the trenches of World War One is transformed into apolished, pan-European heartwarmer in Merry Christmas. Refreshinglytraditional in comparison with many competition titles, it places its faith inthe virtues of straightforward storytelling, handsome production values and atouching real life incident. It ...
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Reviews
Chromophobia
Dir/scr:Martha Fiennes. UK-Fr. 2005. 138mins.The second film by Martha Fiennes, sister of Ralph andJoseph, is a multi-linear choral drama that aims to tell contemporary Britainlike it is. But although there is some sophisticated writing here, and some enjoyableperformances from the mostly British ensemble cast, Fiennes' attempt to do akind of ...
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Reviews
The Longest Yard
Dir: Peter Segal. USA.2005. 113mins.Underdog sports tales areoverly common, but Adam Sandler's new film The Longest Yard - asurprisingly faithful and raucous remake of Burt Reynolds beloved movie of thesame name - spikes that familiar punch with the motivation of revenge,resulting in an estimable and surprisingly entertaining kick-off to the ...
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Reviews
Tale Of Cinema (Keuk jang jeon)
Dir/scr: Hong Sangsoo. SKor-Fr. 2005. 90minsHong Sangsoo, Korea's master of elliptical urbannarrative, returns with a characteristically slippery slice of Seoul realism inTale Of Cinema, which morphs halfway through into a meditation oncinema, love and reality. The narrative spectacularly wrong-foots the viewerabout an hour in, but even given this perspectival twist, ...
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Reviews
The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael
Dir: Thomas Clay. UK.2005. 96minsThomas Clay announceshimself as a provocative new British talent with the disturbing state of thenation wake up call The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael. The 24year-old's ambitious debut feature carries echoes of such uncompromisingEuropean auteurs as Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noe before taking a turn intovideo ...
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Reviews
Tale Of Cinema (Keuk jang jeon)
Dir/scr: Hong Sangsoo. SKor-Fr. 2005. 90minsHong Sangsoo, Korea's master of elliptical urbannarrative, returns with a characteristically slippery slice of Seoul realism inTale Of Cinema, which morphs halfway through into a meditation oncinema, love and reality. The narrative spectacularly wrong-foots the viewerabout an hour in, but even given this perspectival twist, ...
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Reviews
Tale Of Cinema (Keuk jang jeon)
Dir/scr: Hong Sangsoo. SKor-Fr. 2005. 90minsHong Sangsoo, Korea's master of elliptical urbannarrative, returns with a characteristically slippery slice of Seoul realism inTale Of Cinema, which morphs halfway through into a meditation oncinema, love and reality. The narrative spectacularly wrong-foots the viewerabout an hour in, but even given this perspectival twist, ...
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Reviews
Madagascar
Dirs: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath. US. 2005. 86 mins. Apparently inspired by both the slapstick cartoons of Tex Avery and thestrange, stylised paintings of Henri Rousseau, the latest computer animatedfamily feature from DreamWorks delivers eye-catching fun for kids and justabout enough cute comic moments to keep their parents amused as ...
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Reviews
Free Zone
Dir. Amos Gitai.Fr-Is-Jor-Bel. 2005. 94mins.Even his detractors would have to agree that Free Zone,the Cannes competition entry from Amos Gitai, is his most satisfactory picturesince Kippur. The first Israel-Jordan co-production on record, his roadmovie, which features three women each representing a facet of the Middle Eastconflict, is less ideologically insistent ...
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Reviews
Don't Come Knocking
Dir: Wim Wenders. US.2005. 122mins.Reunited for the first timein 20 years, Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard fail to rekindle the magic of theircollaboration on Palme D'Or winner Paris, Texas. Don't Come Knockingis a film of striking compositions and telling moments that never achieves thetender depths of emotion that distinguished its ...
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Reviews
The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada
Dir: Tommy Lee Jones. US.2005. 120mins.A lone quest for justice becomes an ode to friendship andthe common ground between different cultures in The Three Burials OfMelquiades Estrada, a thoroughly respectable feature-length directorialdebut from Oscar-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones.An actor who believes thatless is more, Jones brings the same approach to ...
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Reviews
Three Times
Dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien Taiwan.2005. 120minsTaiwanese director HouHsiao-Hsien is in the mood for love with Three Times, a tryptich ofromantic stories in which the same actors (Shu Qi and Chang Chen) playdifferent characters in 1966, 1911 and the present day. An ambitious notionresults in a slight, wisp of a film that ...
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Reviews
Shanghai Dreams
Dir. Wang Xiaoshuai,China, 2005. 120mins.Once a rebel now workingin the mainstream, Wang Xiaoshuai draws on his own reminiscences as anadolescent for Cannes competition entry Shanghai Dreams.Wang's family was relocatedfrom Shanghai to the poor, mountainous province of Guiyang, all part of theChinese authorities' decision to install fortified industrial cities near theborder ...