Latest – Page 649
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Reviews
Return To Sender
Dir: Bille August.Den-UK. 2004. 103minsLike some fine wines,director Bille August doesn't seem totravel well. A universally admired European master for Cannes Palme D'Orwinners Pelle The Conqueror and Best Intentions, he has beenrather less admired for such ropey English-language international ventures as TheHouse Of The Spirits and Smilla's Sense Of Snow.Set ...
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Reviews
Keane
Dir/scr: LodgeKerrigan. US. 2004. 90mins.After a hiatusof six years following his not very well-received second film Claire Dolan,American independent director Lodge Kerrigan is back with Keane, an intense tale of obsession that recalls the triumph of hisdebut film, Clean, Shaven (1993).Like that earlierfilm, Keane focuses relentlessly andclaustrophobically on a single ...
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Reviews
After The Sunset
Dir: Brett Ratner. 2004.US. 93mins.Brett Ratner's capercomedy After The Sunset is a plodding, lifeless affair set on a Bahamasresort island that aspires to the level of To Catch A Thief but barelymusters the cultivated glitz of star Pierce Brosnan's Thomas Crown Affairremake.Instead it serves up anexotic Caribbean locale and two ...
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Reviews
Surviving Christmas
Dir: Mike Mitchell. US2004. 92minsAnybody hoping that thecomedy Surviving Christmas might resuscitate Ben Affleck's falteringcareer will be sorely disappointed. The very fact that DreamWorks did notrelease Mike Mitchell's feature in the heart of the season suggests they werehoping for some early holiday good cheer from audiences to buoy its chances.Sadly ...
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Reviews
Kings And Queen (Rois Et Reine)
Dir. Arnaud Desplechin.France, 2004. 150mins.Arnaud Desplechin'sstatus as a hero of the French intelligentsia, whose charms remain largelyunfathomable to the rest of the world, continues with Kings And Queen,which is as delightful and infuriating as his previous work.For two-and-a-half hours hespins two parallel tales that eventually converge to become one. Along ...
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Reviews
An Italian Romance (L'Amore Ritrovato)
Dir. Carlo Mazzacurati.It-Fr. 2004. 108mins.Two of Italy's hottestyoung stars combine with one of the country's most talented directors for AnItalian Romance (L'Amore Ritrovato), a disappointing melodrama whosefuture depends exclusively on their names; without them, it could not hope foranything better than a straight-to video release.As it is, the glamour ofStefano ...
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Reviews
A Way Of Life
Dir: AmmaAsante. UK. 2004. 91mins.A bruisingdrama in social realist mode, writer-director Amma Asante's A Way Of Lifetackles racism and anti-Muslim prejudice in a deprived town in South Wales.Asante's protagonists are disaffected teenagers, badly educated, strugglingwith poverty and unemployment, who blame a Turkish neighbour for theirpredicament.The film beginsin brutal fashion, with ...
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Reviews
As It Is In Heaven (Sa Som I Himmelen)
Dir/scr: Kay Pollak.Sweden-Denmark. 2004. 130minsSweden's entry in theforthcoming Academy Awards, As It Is In Heaven is an accomplishedcrowd-pleaser, and surely a front runner for this year's Film Most Likely To BeRemade By Hollywood.A tragi-comic musical romancethat shamelessly but efficiently tugs the heartstrings, the determinedlymiddle-brow offering represents a comeback for veteran ...
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Reviews
Frozen
Dir: Juliet McKoen.UK-Den. 2004. 90minsWintry and melancholic, writer-director Juliet McKoen'sdebut feature is a mood piece, exploring loss and obsession. Despite somestarkly beautiful imagery, it's a strangely cumbersome affair which soon beginsto sink under the weight of its own symbolism.McKoen has an eye for apoetic shot but is dragged down by ...
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Reviews
Red Dust
Dir: TomHooper. UK-S Africa. 2004. 100mins.While itssubject matter is almost identical to John Boorman's Country Of My Skull,the feature debut from UK TV director Tom Hooper proves far superior to thebigger budgeted Berlin competition entry, delivering a tighter and better-actedthriller drama. Itproves neither controversial nor edgy, but rather plays everything ...
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Reviews
Yes
Dir/scr: Sally Potter.UK-US. 2004. 99mins.Sally Potter can never beaccused of avoiding risks. From the magnificent Orlando on down, she hassought to push back the borders of 'acceptable' film practice, allthe while engaging herself autobiographically in the most contentious socialand political issues of the day.That noteworthy and welcometradition continues with the ...
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Reviews
The Bridesmaid (La Demoiselle d'Honneur)
Dir. Claude Chabrol.Fr-Ger. 2004. 110mins.By now veteran film-makerClaude Chabrol should be able to deliver a film like The Bridesmaid (LaDemoiselle d'Honneur) with his hands tied behind his back - so comfortableand familiar and comfortable is he with the troubled, frayed fringes of theFrench bourgeoisie and their efforts to disguise themselves ...
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Reviews
The Incredibles
Dir/scr:Brad Bird. US. 2004. 121 mins.Thesixth - and probably penultimate - Disney/Pixar collaboration is a technicallybrilliant piece of CG animation that also manages to introduce muscular actionand real family drama to a genre known mostly for bubbly fun. Not that TheIncredibles isn't also fun; it's just that in this, his ...
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Reviews
Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason
Dir: Beeban KidronUK-US-Fr 2004 107minsBridget Jones is back, as fretful and neurotic as ever,in an expertly crafted (if rather soulless) sequel which is likely to hit allthe right buttons for Working Title. Renee Zelwegger again excels as the podgy,thirtysomething London singleton with the ineffably messy love life. She is fedplenty ...
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Reviews
The Grudge
Dir: Takashi Shimizu. US.2004. 90mins.The second Hollywoodremake of a J-horror movie after blockbuster hit The Ring, The Grudgehas confirmed the wide appetite for this kind of unsettling chiller with a $40mopening weekend in North America.Domestic distributorColumbia Pictures positioned the film to perfection, scoring a teen-friendlyPG-13 rating, creating intriguing TV spots ...
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Reviews
The Polar Express
Dir: Robert Zemeckis. US.2004. 92mins.Only Hollywood couldproduce a film as lavish and technologically ground-breaking as The PolarExpress, and Warner Bros is banking on that fact to entice millions offamilies around the world into their seasonal heartwarmer.The film brings to lifeChris Van Allsburg's classic US kids' book using a new animation ...
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Reviews
Bullet Boy
Dir: Saul Dibb. UK. 2004.91minsA low-budget blackBritish film with energy and attitude, Bullet Boy is among the moreinvigorating UK movie debuts of recent years. In his first feature, directorSaul Dibb (best known as a documentary maker) uses his north London locationsin eerie, atmospheric fashion and manages to deal with gun ...
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Reviews
A Very Long Engagement (Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles)
Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet.France. 2004. 134mins.A flamboyant mixture ofbattlefront spectacle, home front romance, revenge drama, and detective story 'Jean-Pierre Jeunet's first film since Amelie is all this and more.Cinematically bigger and dramatically richer than that phenomenally successful2001 monument of whimsy, A Very Long Engagement confirms Jeunet as amaster showman who has ...
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Reviews
Alfie
Dir: Charles Shyer. US.2004. 103mins.Charles Shyer, whosecredits include the bland remake of Father Of The Bride and the periodmisfire The Affair Of The Necklace, takes another bath with his insipidremake of 1966 classic Alfie. Systematically eliminating any of thecruelty which made Alfie such an iconic figure of his day, he ...
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Reviews
Around The Bend
Dir/scr: Jordan Roberts.US. 2004. 85mins.For his directorialdebut, screenwriter Jordan Roberts (who was uncredited for his work on RoadTo Perdition) delivers a small, heartfelt family drama in which four malegenerations make a reluctant road trip through America's Southwest and scalethe rocky emotional terrain of their shared past.Around The Bend may fail ...