Latest – Page 669
-
Reviews
Gettin' Square
Dir: Jonathan Teplitzky. Australia. 2003. 100minsThe well-planned heist that 'goes wrong' to a thumping rock soundtrack, the bunch of lovable desperadoes in hock to the real nasties, the reliably unexpected twist in the narrative tail-all are in place in this attractively virile Aussie gangster comedy. Arguably, Guy Ritchie's British Lock, ...
-
Reviews
The Miracle (Il Miracolo)
Dir: Edoardo Winspeare. Italy. 2003. 89mins.Released on a limited Milan and Rome run the day after its Venice festival competition screening, Edoardo Winspeare's The Miracle racked up an impressive screen average then second only to The Hulk. This is the third film from the talented young southern Italian director, whose ...
-
Reviews
The Story Of The Weeping Camel
Dir: Luigi Falorni & Byambasuren Davaa. Mongolia/Germany. 2003. 90mins.One of the few buyer talking points at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, The Story Of The Weeping Camel is an illuminating portrait of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi desert which recalls everything from Nanook Of The North to Nikita Mikhalkov's ...
-
Reviews
The Rundown
Dir: Peter Berg. US. 2003. 104 mins. Having successfully flexed his muscles in last year's Mummy spin-off The Scorpion King, wrestler-turned-actor The Rock proves in The Rundown that he can also carry a contemporary movie - with a little help from some more experienced co-workers at any rate. This entertaining ...
-
Reviews
November (Noviembre)
Dir: Achero Manas. Spain. 2003. 104minsActor-turned-director Achero Manas marks his position as one of the most interesting young filmmakers in Spain with November, but it is unlikely that the film will get him recognition beyond what he gained from his impressive debut Pellet (El Bola). But this well-acted and great ...
-
Reviews
Kill Bill Vol 1
Dir: Quentin Tarantino. US. 2003. 110 mins.Kill Bill, the fourth film by Quentin Tarantino (as it is announced in the opening credits), continues the director's tradition of raiding other films, film-makers' styles and his own soundtrack collection. And like his three previous films, the result of his looting is a ...
-
Reviews
11:14
Dir: Greg Marcks. US. 2003. 95 minsThe random acts of desperate individuals propel the frantic, fashionably dark-hued ensemble 11:14. The first feature from writer-director Greg Marcks is distinguished by the intricacy of its plotting and a fondness for bad taste humour. A calling card for Marcks abilities, it lacks the ...
-
Reviews
Duplex
Dir: Danny DeVito. US 2003. 90 minsThe Lady Killers it ain't, although this latest directorial effort from actor/writer/director/producer Danny DeVito does concern an attempt to bump off a dotty old lady who comes with the flat, as it were. DeVito actually may have been aiming for something closer to his ...
-
Reviews
Under The Tuscan Sun
Dir: Audrey Wells. US 2003. 120 minutesA genial, if undemanding, romantic comedy/drama about a divorced woman learning to embrace life again, Under The Tuscan Sun owes a great deal of its appeal to its ingratiating star, Diane Lane. The actress has an inherent likableness that also worked for her in ...
-
Reviews
Monsieur Ibrahim And The Flowers Of The Koran (Monsieur Ibrahim Et Les Fleurs Du Koran)
Dir. Francois Dupeyron. France, 2003. 94mins.Screened out of competition at Venice to celebrate Omar Sharif's Golden Lion, Francois Dupeyron's new film isn't the kind of stuff festivals dream of, and looks much better suited for commercial than art house distribution. Based on a short best-selling, auto-biographical novel by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, ...
-
Reviews
Pornography
Dir: Jan Jakub Kolski. Poland/France. 2003. 113mins.One of the most frequent Polish guests at international film competition, Jan Jakub Kolski's Venice contender once again goes back to the Second World War, in order to expose old wounds that have never quite healed. But as ambitious as it looks on paper, ...
-
Reviews
Secondhand Lions
Dir: Tim McCanlies. US 2003. 107minsAny film starring Michael Caine and Robert Duvall as a pair of old codgers can't be all bad, but this family comedy/drama sure tests the audience's tolerance level. Veering between overly broad humour and exaggerated cutesyness, Secondhand Lions lacks any sense of real emotion and ...
-
Reviews
La Pelota Vasca
Dir. Julio Medem. Spain. 2003. 115 mins.Put this down as another well intentioned, dedicated but not terribly effective attempt to open up a dialogue within the Basque discord, one of the more stubborn ongoing conflicts smouldering in the world today. With the name of Julio Medem (Sex And Lucia, winner ...
-
Reviews
Grimm
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam. The Netherlands, 2003. 104mins.Looking both grim and Grimm (as in the Brothers), this modern nightmarish fairytale has nevertheless enough weird humour in it to legitimately qualify as a comedy, though there is nothing funny going on throughout. The way Dutch director Warmerdam applies his wicked touch ...
-
Reviews
Grimm
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam. The Netherlands, 2003. 104mins.Looking both grim and Grimm (as in the Brothers), this modern nightmarish fairytale has nevertheless enough weird humour in it to legitimately qualify as a comedy, though there is nothing funny going on throughout. The way Dutch director Warmerdam applies his wicked touch ...
-
Reviews
The Galindez File (El Misterio Galindez)
Dir. Gerardo Herrero. Spain/UK/Cuba/Portugal/Italy/France. 2003. 128 min.A political thriller based on a true story that delivers its answers before it asks the questions must be some kind of novelty. Not to mention that after establishing all the facts and pinpointing all the heroes and the villains of the story without ...
-
Reviews
Suite Habana
Dir. Fernando Perez. Cuba/Spain, 2003. 80 min.This well-intentioned, mostly melancholy but positive hymn of love to Havana, in the form of a pseudo-documentary, bears all the earmarks of an officially approved production that projects a more than affectionate portrait the city, notwithstanding all its shortcomings. But it is still a ...
-
Reviews
The Green Butchers
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen. Denmark. 2002. 100mins.The Green Butchers could launch a new sub-genre of black comedy: the flesh-coloured comedy. A laugh-out-loud farce bristling with cruelty, the film invites viewers into the loathsome world of two memorable losers, a pair of newly-minted butchers who stumble upon success by selling human ...
-
Reviews
Chill Out (Descongelate)
Dirs: Dunia Ayaso & Felix Sabroso. Spain. 2003.It is easy to see how writer-director team Ayaso and Sabroso's new film might attract the Almodovar brothers as co-producers through their El Deseo outfit. The black humour, camp and kitschy urban aesthetic hark back to early Almodovar gems like What Have I ...
-
Reviews
The Fighting Temptations
Dir: Jonathan Lynn. US. 2003. 116 mins.Pop diva Beyonce Knowles and an all-star gospel/R&B soundtrack are the main attractions of The Fighting Temptations, a pleasant but formulaic ensemble comedy from MTV Films that teams the singer with Cuba Gooding Jr and British ex-pat director Jonathan Lynn. With Beyonce's recent solo ...