Latest – Page 673
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Reviews
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter' And Spring (Bom, Teoreum, Gaeul, Gyeowool, Geurigo, Bom)
Dir: Kim Ki-duk. South Korea-Germnay. 2003. 102mins.Superior to any of his previous works, this contemplative, lavishly photographed picture made by the prolific Kim Ki-Duk, has been shot in a spectacular location, is calm, leisurely and philosophical and a cinema event in its own right. In sharp contrast to Kim's boldly ...
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Reviews
Gori Vatra (Fuse)
Dir. Pjer Zalica. Bosnia-Herzegovina/Austria/Turkey/France, 2003. 105 min.Competing in Locarno and the opening attraction at this year's Sarajevo Film Festival, Pjer Zalica's debut feature displays all the boisterous energy verging on the vulgar, the black sense of humour but also the tragic pathos which have become the trademarks of the better ...
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Reviews
Freddy Vs Jason
Dir: Ronny Yu. US. 2003. 97mins. Hoping to squeeze fresh revenue out of a pair of ageing horror franchises, New Line pits two of the genre's most recognizable icons - Nightmare On Elm Street's Freddy Krueger and Friday The 13th's Jason - against one another in Freddy Vs Jason, a ...
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Reviews
Work Hard, Play Hard (Violence Des Echanges En Milieu Tempere)
Dir. Jean-Marc Moutout. France/Belgium. 99 min.Another addition to the rapidly growing number of French films dealing with economic globalisation and its various ways of affecting human condition, Jean-Marc Moutout's feature debut may not reach the high standards established by outstanding films like Human Resources or L'Emploi Du Temps. But by ...
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Reviews
Perfect Strangers (NZ, 2003)
Dir: Gaylene Preston. New Zealand. 2003. 96mins.After its sold-out premiere at the Melbourne Film Festival, Gaylene Preston's "chilling romance" has, unsurprisingly, been invited to Montreal in September, a timely reminder that New Zealand cinema has more to offer than Lord Of The Rings blockbuster fantasy. Perfect Strangers is an adult, ...
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Reviews
Wondrous Oblivion
Dir: Paul Morrison. UK. 2003. 106minsA poignant, warm-spirited coming-of-age drama, Wondrous Oblivion represents a significant advance in the career of writer-director Paul Morrison. Oscar-nominated for his melodramatic Welsh language feature debut Solomon And Gaenor (1998), Morrison now reveals a much more assured touch in balancing personal dilemmas with wider social ...
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Reviews
16 Years Of Alcohol
Dir. Richard Jobson. UK. 2003. 102mins.Richard Jobson's first feature is an intensely felt, but often disjointed, tale of a man's desperate attempt to free himself not only from alcoholic addiction, but also to overcome his violent nature, basic mistrust in human nature and ferociously anti-social conduct. Growing up with a ...
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Reviews
Calendar Girls
Dir: Nigel Cole. UK. 2003. 108minsThe timing could not be more auspicious for Calendar Girls. A summer of under-performing one hit wonders suggests an audience that is weary of empty spectacle and hungry for old-fashioned entertainment. Calendar Girls isn't cutting edge. It can't boast state-of-the-art effects. It hasn't been inspired ...
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Reviews
S.W.A.T.
Dir. Clark Johnson. US. 2003. 116minsBacked by another stand-out performance by Colin Farrell and the best tag line of the season - 'Even cops dial 911' - this superior piece of formula film-making should blow the doors off the box office when it opens in the US this weekend (Aug ...
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Reviews
Memories Of Murder (Salinui Chueok)
Dir: Bong Joon-Ho. Korea. 2003. 129mins.Memories Of Murder is one of the most complete and compelling films to have come out of South Korea in recent years. Set up as a detective thriller, the film is by turn mysterious, dramatic, creepy and corroding - and it comes loaded with a ...
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Reviews
Le Divorce
Dir: James Ivory. US/France. 2003. 115mins.It's no coincidence that Kate Hudson's character is named Isabel Walker, a thinly disguised Isabel Archer, in Merchant Ivory's latest film Le Divorce. Diane Johnson, herself an American who has lived in Paris, wanted to update the Henry James concept of American naifs being influenced ...
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Reviews
Freaky Friday
Dir: Mark Waters. US. 2003. 97mins.An original remake sounds like an oxymoron, but the new Freaky Friday, Disney's reworking of its own 1976 film, is smart, energetic and loads of fun. Indeed, it is almost as good as The Parent Trap, a 1998 Disney re-make that, not so coincidentally, starred ...
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Reviews
Le Divorce
Dir: James Ivory. US/France. 2003. 115mins. Fans of film-makers Merchant Ivory should not fear that they have abandoned the literary classics altogether with their latest film. While Le Divorce is set in today's Paris, with hip young actors like Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts in the lead roles, it feels ...
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Reviews
Danny Deckchair
Dir: Jeff Balsmeyer. Australia. 2003. 100mins.Welsh actor Rhys Ifans created the abiding comic movie image of 1999 as Spike in Roger Michell's Notting Hill: the shaggy, skinny flatmate-from-Hell merrily posed in his underpants for photographers outside Hugh Grant's London pad. Unpredictably Ifans emerges here as a glamorously handsome Australian ...
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Reviews
American Wedding
Dir: Jesse Dylan. US. 2003. 96mins.The enthusiastic raunchiness of its gags aside, the third instalment of the American Pie franchise feels like the return of a favourite TV sitcom: the characters are enjoyably familiar and while the set up has changed a little the comedy still has energy to spare. ...
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Reviews
The Stewardess (Fai Sheung Hung Tse)
Dir: Sam Leong Tak. Hong Kong. 2002. 120mins.The Stewardess had a dismal theatrical outing in Hong Kong last year when its gross failed to break four figures. But an appearance in competition at the PiFan fantasy festival in Seoul last month could set this charmer of a black comedy back ...
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Reviews
Charlie: The Life And Art Of Charles Chaplin
Dir: Richard Schickel. US. 2003. 125minsAn admiring portrait of an artist who helped create the language of film comedy, Charlie: The Life And Art Of Charles Chaplin does an honourable job of covering the many facets of a complex and controversial figure. A straightforward mixture of talking heads and extensive ...
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Reviews
Spy Kids 3D: Game Over
Dir: Robert Rodriguez. US. 2003. 89mins.The final episode in Robert Rodriguez's family adventure series is an effective strictly-for-kids action feature which has already proved its mettle with a whopping $32.5m opening at the US box office last weekend. Set mostly within a computer game, the film was conceived and shot ...