Small MPU – Page 1443
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Reviews
17 Fois Cecile Cassard
Dir: Christophe Honore. France. 2002. 105mins. A patchily promising first feature from writer turned director Christophe Honore, 17 Fois Cecile Cassard charts a woman's agonising struggle to rebuild her life after the devastating death of her husband. Told in 17 snapshots of moments that define her journey from abject misery ...
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Reviews
The Abduction Club
Dir: Stefan Schwartz. Ire-UK. 2001. 96mins. Based on an amusing plot premise - "the 18th century's answer to Dateline" - The Abduction Club avoids the music-vid gimmickry of previous attempts to bring the costume romp to the youth market such as Jake Scott's Plunkett And Macleane. The gentle tone of ...
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Reviews
Lilo & Stitch
Dirs: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois. US. 2002. 85mins.Lilo & Stitch may not push the animation envelope much, but with its modestly scaled story and retro cartooning techniques, this endearing ugly duckling tale could still give Disney its biggest traditionally animated summer hit in years. The film's $35.3m opening weekend US ...
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News
Vivendi shares plummet amid accountancy queries
Vivendi Universal shares crashed today (July 2) as the company became the latest to be tinged by questions over its accountancy policies.At 1215 GMT today the shares were down 35% at Euros15.53 having been suspended four times by stockmarket regulator, the COB, which limits violent price movements. The shares had ...
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Reviews
Fate (Yazgi)
Dir. Zeki Demirkubuz. Turkey. 2001. 115mins.The first of three Tales Of Darkness features by Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey's most promising new film-maker, this free adaptation of Albert Camus' novel The Stranger is bound to attract plenty of festival activity. The best indication of the film's nature and eventual future comes with ...
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Reviews
El Bonaerense
Dir: Pablo Trapero. Argentina 2002. 92mins. The Buenos Aires police department comes under wry satirical scrutiny in the second feature by the director of the highly-acclaimed Mondo Grua (Crane World). The business of crime-fighting has rarely looked so farcically disreputable outside the Police Academy series, but the humour here is ...
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Reviews
Happy Times (Xingfu Shiguang)
Dir: Zhang Yimou. China-US. 2000. 96minsThe first film from Edward R Pressman and Terrence Malick's Sunflower Productions, Zhang Yimou 's Happy Times is a Chaplinesque sentimental comedy which has its moments of greatness. Even during the more pedestrian scenes, it is difficult not to be warmed by this winning tale ...
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Reviews
Just A Kiss
Dir: Fisher Stevens. US. 2001. 90mins.This New York ensemble comedy is like a drunk at a party. It thinks it's being witty, kooky and perceptive, but to those of us on the other side of the cranium, it's just slurring its speech. Director Fisher Stevens is a stage, film ...
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Reviews
L'Adversaire (The Adversary)
Dir: Nicole Garcia. France 2002. 120 mins.A slow, sombre drama about a mythomaniac in crisis, the latest film by actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia is a stolid effort that additionally suffers by covering too-familiar material. Its story is fundamentally the same as the one told by Laurent Cantet in his recent L'Emploi ...
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Reviews
Le Pays Du Chien Qui Chante
Dir: Yann Dedet. France. 2002. 95 mins. A quirky, unassuming first feature from highly respected editor Yann Dedet, Le Pays Du Chien Qui Chante displays a number of agreeable qualities without every blossoming into compelling viewing. Possessed of a gentle nature and a quiet humour, it may charm a few ...
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Reviews
Dark Water
Dir: Hideo Nakata. 2002. Jap. 91mins.The latest film by Japanese horror master Hideo Nakata, who directed two of the celebrated Ring series, relies on classic genre staples to run its narrative motor, including a creepy old building where bad things happened, a little girl in jeopardy and parents badly in ...
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Reviews
Madame Sata
Dir: Karim Ainouz. Brazil/France. 2002. 103mins. There's a wonderful film to be made about Joao Francisco Dos Santos, otherwise known as Madame Sata, a rugged homosexual, six-foot-tall and weighing 170 pounds, who lived as a street fighter, singer, transvestite and devoted father to seven adopted children in the bohemian quarter ...
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News
Spain's Abaco to double its cinema circuit by 2005
Spanish exhibitor Cines Abaco has unveiled plans to invest Euros 48m over the next three years to grow its multiplex cinema circuit and entertainment chain.The expansion plans encompass seven new multiplexes across Spain with a total of 81 screens by 2005. Plans also include 20 new video game entertainment centres.Abaco ...
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Reviews
Road To Perdition
Dir: Sam Mendes. US. 2002. 119 mins.Brit wunderkind Sam Mendes takes another close look at warts-and-all America in his second film Road To Perdition, a Depression-era gangster movie set in and around Chicago which confirms both his command of the medium and his signature visual bravado. With a smashing cast ...
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News
Lawless Heart woos discerning UK audience
A host of new openers were unable to dislodge Columbia TriStar's Spider-Man from the top of the UK chart this week. Now in its third week on release the blockbuster dropped off 39% from its previous weekend taking $3.97m (£2.6m) from 507 situations. The film faces stiffer competition this coming ...
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Reviews
Tomorrow La Scala
Director: Francesca Joseph. UK. 2002. 108 mins. Funny, stylish and deeply moving, Tomorrow La Scala! is a little gem of a first feature from award-winning documentary filmmaker Francesca Joseph. Inspired by the director's own experiences and partially improvised over three weeks of workshops, it finds real depth and feeling in ...
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Reviews
The Uncertainty Principle (O Principio Da Incerteza)
Dir: Manoel de Oliveira. Portugal 2002. 133mins. Nowadays more prolific than ever, 93-year-old Portuguese veteran Manoel de Oliveira continues to follow his own wildly idiosyncratic path. Although in many ways decorous, even a little staid in its composure, The Uncertainty Principle is overall a characteristically eccentric venture that is as ...
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Reviews
Une Pure Coincidence
Dir: Romain Goupil. France. 2002. 92mins.Friends for more than 30 years, a group of radicals rediscover their passion for direct action in Une Pure Coincidence. The result is a timely, entertaining documentary notable for its warm spirit and light humour. Lacking a professional polish or great visual appeal, it is ...
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Reviews
A Piece Of Sky (Une Part Du Ciel)
Dir: Benedicte Lienard. Belgium-France-Luxembourg. 2002. 85mins.Defiantly out of step with the prevailing mood of the times, Une Part du Ciel makes no bones about its militant political stance nor about its intransigent art-cinema leanings. A story of two estranged female friends - one a factory worker, the other serving time ...
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News
South Africa cracks down on DVD piracy
A passenger carrying 3,800 pirate DVDs, including 1,400 copies of Men In Black II was intercepted at Johannesburg International airport over the weekend by South Africa's Federation against Copyright Theft, in its latest drive to stem the counterfeiting market which is costing the industry some $6.1m per year.In just two ...