Latest – Page 660
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Reviews
The Alamo
Dir: John Lee Hancock. US. 2003. 136mins.Reconceived and re-budgeted after the departure of original director Ron Howard and then rescheduled by Disney from its planned release date last Christmas, The Alamo finally arrives on screen with a lot of baggage. But it's not the baggage that weighs down this latest ...
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Reviews
Ella Enchanted
Dir: Tommy O'Haver. US. 2004. 95 mins.Somewhere underneath the decorative clutter of characters, effects, jokes and name actors which over-stuffs Ella Enchanted, director Tommy O'Haver has fashioned a sweet, good-natured fantasy which wisely banks on the delightful new star Anne Hathaway to provide its heart.With Home On The Range and ...
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Reviews
Kill Bill Vol 2
Dir: Quentin Tarantino.US. 2004. 136 mins.Rather like ThePassion Of The Christ, weknow how Quentin Tarantino's four-hour-plus epic Kill Bill will end. Yes, plot spoiler ahead, she killsBill. The pleasure, of course, comes in the journey, and, in contrast to thehigh style and stylized action of Vol 1, Vol 2 is ...
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Reviews
The Prince And Me
Dir: Martha Coolidge. US. 2004. 110 mins.The Prince & Me is a contemporary fairy tale romance which will enchant pre-teen and teenage girls around the world, but few else. If that core demographic signs up at the box office this weekend in North America, girl power will likely follow suit ...
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Reviews
The Smell of Blood (L'odore Del Sangue)
Dir: Mario Martone. It-Fr. 2004. 99mins.Italian auteur Mario Martone's latest arthouse offering is a sterile and rather dated relationship drama in psycho-thriller sauce which will be defended only by the director's staunchest fans, and make the rest of us nostalgic for the edgy originality of his 1995 breakout film, L'Amore ...
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Reviews
Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Dir: Enki Bilal. Fr-UK-It. 2004 102 mins.A futuristic take on the Greek myth of Amphitryon, set in New York City in 2095, Immortel is the visually exciting third feature from Enki Bilal, the Belgrade-born artist who is one of the dominant figures in European comic strip art. Using a darkly ...
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Reviews
Kill Bill Vol 2 review
Dir: Quentin Tarantino.US. 2004. 136 mins.Rather like ThePassion Of The Christ, weknow how Quentin Tarantino's four-hour-plus epic Kill Bill will end. Yes, plot spoiler ahead, she killsBill. The pleasure, of course, comes in the journey, and, in contrast to thehigh style and stylized action of Vol 1, Vol 2 is ...
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Reviews
Baober In Love (Lian Ai Zhong De Bao Bei)
Dir: Li Shaohong. China. 2004. 100minsHad the Berlin festival in February been just a touch more adventurous it might have scheduled Baober In Love as the Chinese film in competition rather than Sylvia Chang's pleasant but predictable 20 30 40. Programmed in the International Forum sidebar, the surprising Baober was ...
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Reviews
Innocence
Dir/scr: Mamoru Oshii. Japan. 2004. 99mins.Japanese sci-fi animation, from Katysuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988) onwards, often points towards a post-apocalyptic part-human future. For all the blasts 'n' babes - the buffed heroines in spandex pouring thousands of rounds into clanking foes - the essential vision is dark. But as Mamoru Oshii's ...
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Reviews
Podium
Dir: Yann Moix. 2004. France-Belgium 2004. 95 mins.A mild satire on the morbid contemporary phenomenon of pop celebrity cloning, Podium owes what energy it has to its Belgian star, Benoit Poelvoorde. Directed by Yann Moix, a former journalist who published the story as a best-selling novel in 2002, the film ...
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Reviews
Hellboy
Dir: Guillermo del Toro. US. 2003. 122 mins.Their web sites have been spreading pre-release buzz for weeks and comic book geeks won't be disappointed when Guillermo del Toro's handsome and long-awaited big screen take on artist Mike Mignola's Hellboy opens in the US this weekend. Whether broad mainstream audiences will ...
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Reviews
Death In Gaza
Dirs: James Miller/ Misha Manson-Smith. UK/US. 2004. 80minsJames Miller was considered one of his generation's most observant witnesses to war. An Emmy-winning journalist who had reported from Bosnia, Lebanon and Iraq, he was shot dead by an Israeli soldier in May 2003. Miller was just 34 and had been working ...
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Reviews
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Dir: Raja Gosnell. US. 2003. 93 mins.The sequel to Warner's surprisingly powerful summer 2002 hit Scooby-Doo adds more characters and more effects to the formula first used to turn the long-running Hanna-Barbera TV cartoon into a live action feature - and it also delivers more genuine fun than its painfully ...
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Reviews
Dawn Of The Dead
Dir: Zack Snyder. US. 2003. 100mins.It may not have the intensity and satirical touch that made George Romero's original Dawn Of The Dead a modern horror classic. But this 're-envisioning' of Romero's 1979 cult favourite by commercials director Zack Snyder at least partially makes up for the lack with a ...
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Reviews
Taking Lives
Dir: DJ Caruso. US. 2004. 103 mins.Serial killer thrillers don't come slicker than this good-looking Montreal-set production from Mark Canton and Warner Bros. Boasting a stellar cast led by the larger-than-life Angelina Jolie, Taking Lives is an enjoyable studio outing in the vein of Copycat or The Bone Collector but, ...
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Reviews
The Ladykillers
Dir: Joel & Ethan Coen. US. 2004. 104 mins.After the Coen Brothers' unmemorable Intolerable Cruelty last year, The Ladykillers represents another awkward fusion of their distinctive style and studio-originated material. More suited to their sensibilities than the fizzy screwball high-jinks the brothers attempted to whip up in Cruelty, The Ladykillers ...
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Reviews
Blind Flight
Dir: John Furse. UK. 2003. 96 minsExceptional performances from Ian Hart and Linus Roache lend a compelling authority to the true story of hostages Brian Keenan and John McCarthy. Both actors get under the skin of two very different characters, capturing their individual personalities but also illuminating the common humanity ...
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Reviews
Tre Metri Sopra Il Cielo
Dir: Luca Lucini. Italy. 2004. 102 mins.Federico Moccia's novel Tre Metri Sopra Il Cielo (which translates as 'Three Steps Over Heaven') was a real teen phenomenon in Italy: first published in 1992, it soon went out of print, but high-school students continued to circulate photocopied copies of the work - ...
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Reviews
Jersey Girl
Dir: Kevin Smith. US. 2004. 103mins.It's theoretically possible, of course, that director Kevin Smith has not used every cliche associated with the domestic genre featuring guilty yuppie parents and guilting kids, but audiences will be hard-pressed to find anything missing in Jersey Girl. As attested to in an egregious 'director's ...
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Reviews
Secret Window
Dir: David Koepp. US. 2004.Johnny Depp is beloved among moviegoers for his outrageous screen characters whose exaggerated physical attributes have included wigs, facial tics and garish attire. In the tepid psychodrama Secret Window, based on a novella by Stephen King, Depp dons a frayed bath robe, big spectacles and a ...