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| FEATURED ARTICLES - FILM REVIEWS | ||
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| | OSCAR PREDIX Will this finally be the year Martin Scorsese wins his long overdue Academy Award for best director? Date Posted: 2/3/2005 11:43:51 AM |
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| | ARE WE THERE YET? Some movies are just insulting..... Date Posted: 1/21/2005 10:39:05 AM |
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| | THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Something happened to Al Pacino’s acting after the failure of Revolution (1985)..... . Date Posted: 1/21/2005 10:24:26 AM |
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| | HOTEL RWANDA There is a dilemma in watching this film that I felt the moment I first screened it at this years’ Toronto International Film Festival. Date Posted: 1/12/2005 10:25:02 AM |
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| | THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON Sam Bick (Sean Penn) reminds me a great deal of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) in Taxi Driver (1976). There is that same sense of a lost soul struggling .... Date Posted: 1/11/2005 11:28:17 AM |
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| | TROY(2004) Remember that Academy Award Gladiator (2000) won for best picture? This film is the direct result of that. Date Posted: 1/11/2005 10:25:53 AM |
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| | Staff Picks - Top 5 Films 2004 HN staff picks the top 5 films of the year Date Posted: 12/30/2004 12:16:23 PM |
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| | THE TEN WORST FILMS OF 2004 Being a film critic, my friends tell me is easy work. What they do not realize, is that I see all the movies. Everything. The good, the bad and the very ugly. Date Posted: 12/29/2004 9:30:52 AM |
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| | THE TEN BEST FILMS OF 2004 Great films from world class directors such as Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Robert Zemeckis, Alexander Payne, Walter Salles, Mike Nichols and Mel Gibson Date Posted: 12/29/2004 8:35:27 AM |
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| | THE WOODSMAN Being the father of two young daughters, reading the stories I come across in the newspapers about child predators and child molesters angers me. Date Posted: 12/21/2004 3:12:39 PM |
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| | LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Though not a great work of fantasy on the level of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2002--2003) or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2003), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events Date Posted: 12/21/2004 3:02:53 PM |
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| | PHANTOM OF THE OPERA With the enormous success of recent musicals such as Moulin Rouge (2001) and the Oscar winning Chicago(2002) it seems inevitable that the Broadway hits of Andrew Lloyd Webber would make a comeback Date Posted: 12/21/2004 2:56:09 PM |
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| | MILLION DOLLAR BABY Clint Eastwood became one of the great American filmmakers patiently and slowly through the seventies and eighties. He made interesting deals with the studios, agreeing to act in one of their Dirty Harry Date Posted: 12/16/2004 11:36:42 AM |
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| | THE AVIATOR At long last, director Martin Scorsese should finally win a long overdue Academy Award for best director. Date Posted: 12/16/2004 11:24:38 AM |
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| | CLOSER Mike Nichols is enjoying something of a career renaissance this past year with the enormous success of his television film for HBO Angels in America(2003) ... Date Posted: 12/3/2004 3:15:01 PM |
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| | ALEXANDER Oliver Stone is no stranger to historical films. In fact Stone has made some of the finest biographical films... Date Posted: 11/23/2004 9:54:57 AM |
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| | KINSEY Two of several new biographical films arrive in theatres this week, both with strong Oscar buzz surrounding them,... Date Posted: 11/18/2004 10:51:57 AM |
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| | BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON I like Renee Zellweger. I think she is among the most talented actresses in film today, having broken through with a scene and heart stealing performance opposite Date Posted: 11/12/2004 11:29:55 AM |
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| | THE INCREDIBLES The Incredibles is, in a word, well…. incredible. Easily the finest film to emerge from Pixar Studios, the folks behind the ......... Date Posted: 11/11/2004 12:24:21 PM |
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| | THE POLAR EXPRESS Destined to become a holiday classic, The Polar Express is based on the children's book by Chris Van Allsburg. This enchanting story is ..... Date Posted: 11/10/2004 10:52:41 AM |
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| | RAY He was a musical pioneer, combining elements of blues, country, gospel, jazz and rock to create one of the most distinctive sounds of the last century. His story is one of enormous triumph over adversity, overcoming extraordinary odds to become what and who he was. Date Posted: 11/16/2004 4:32:35 PM |
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| | BEING JULIA The Opening Night Gala Presentation at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Being Julia was marred with late coming actors as Warren Beatty worked the line outside Roy Thomson Hall and audio troubles plagued the film. I saw the film again recently at a press screening free of audio issues. Date Posted: 10/25/2004 12:34:19 PM |
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| | SIDEWAYS The character Miles, beautifully portrayed by the character actor Paul Giamatti is answering a question asked to him by Maya (Virginia Madsen) a fellow wine lover about why he so loves the Pinot grape Date Posted: 10/25/2004 12:29:52 PM |
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| | THE FORGOTTEN There are times when an actor or actress can elevate an otherwise ordinary film through the sheer power of their performance.... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 9:21:41 AM |
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| | THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES After earning rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, Walter Salles splendid film The Motorcycle Diaries played at the Toronto International Film Festival..... Date Posted: 9/23/2004 9:05:02 AM |
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| | SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW A non-festival review folks! Date Posted: 12/8/2004 9:22:15 AM |
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| | VANITY FAIR Adapting a massive book such as Vanity Fair to the screen is an extraordinary endeavour. While watching the film I began to wonder if perhaps it was not better suited as a mini-series on television as opposed to a film just over two hours long. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:09:35 AM |
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| | OPEN WATER The portrayal of terror is a tricky business, often difficult to convey without going radically over the top. The terror of the doomed teenagers in the Friday the 13th films i Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:09:52 AM |
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| | ALIEN VS PREDATOR In the forties, when studios had played out their monster franchises with sequel after ridiculous sequel, they began paring their monsters off in films such as Frankenstein meets the Wolfman (1944), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945). Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:10:04 AM |
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| | MORE FILMS ANNOUNCED FOR TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL Several more films were announced today as premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, now in its 29th year. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:10:19 AM |
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| | COLLATERAL Tom Cruise deserves an Academy Award. Though nominated three times, Cruise has yet to take home the little golden man. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:10:30 AM |
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| | THE VILLAGE Since Haley Joel Osment whispered in hushed, terrified tones "I see dead people", director-writer M. Night Shyamalan has been one of the film world's most sought after directors. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:10:42 AM |
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| | THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (2004) When it was initially announced that Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme was going to direct a remake of the Cold War classic The Manchurian Candidate (1962), most of the film world was aghast. The question posed to Demme was “why tamper with perfection?”. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:10:57 AM |
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| | THE BOURNE SUPREMACY Audiences seeking thrilling and yet intelligent cinema this season need look no further than The Bourne Supremacy, a taut and tight new thriller that is a sequel to the exceptionally good The Bourne Identity Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:11:43 AM |
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| | CATWOMAN A few weeks ago I gave Garfield (2004) another feline oriented film a scathing review in which I referred to the film as a hairball thrown onto the movie screen. ... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:12:08 AM |
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| | I, ROBOT I was among those who cheered when Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award as best actor for his riveting and sublime performance as the former heavyweight .... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:12:24 AM |
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| | KING ARTHUR The great book, Le Morte Darthur, written by Sir Thomas Mallory, was first published in 1485; a brilliant telling of... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:12:50 AM |
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| | DE-LOVELY In the wake of such brilliant and honest biographies such as Malcolm X (1992), Nixon (1995) and Monster (2003), I find it repulsive when..... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:13:07 AM |
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| | TWO BROTHERS Jean Jacques Annaud is likely best known for his outstanding wildlife film The Bear (1989), a superb study of a Kodiak bear at the turn of the last century, orphaned and forced to grow up on his own in the woods. That particular film was a masterpiece of visual storytelling, as Annaud turned his cameras on the magnificent bear and allowed Date Posted: 7/6/2004 9:42:21 AM |
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| | SPIDER MAN 2 Without peer, this is the best film I have ever seen based on a comic book. For once I agree with Roger Ebert who says the same this week, blown away as .... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 10:13:22 AM |
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| | FAHRENHEIT 9/11 Did we really need Michael Moore to tell us President George W. Bush is an idiot?..... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:09:39 AM |
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| | AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS It will only seem like eighty days have passed once the end credits roll in this horrible film, supposedly based on the novel by Jules Verne. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:09:28 AM |
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| | THE TERMINAL There has been an astonishing maturation in the work of Steven Spielberg since he won his first Academy Award for Schindler's List..... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:09:13 AM |
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| | THE STEPFORD WIVES First of all I do not share the opinion of many in the business that former Muppet master Frank Oz cannot direct a film....... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:08:53 AM |
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| | GARFIELD Like the disgusting, sticky mess of a hairball spewed onto the big screen, Garfield is little more than one mess of a movie. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:08:41 AM |
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| | THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK With the enormous success of the low budget science fiction thriller Pitch Black (2000), a smart and stylishly directed picture, some sort of sequel seemed obvious to ... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:08:27 AM |
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| | HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN Handing the directorial reins over to Alfonso Cuaron for the third Harry Potter film was the best thing Warner Brothers could have done for the enormously popular franchise film.... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:08:17 AM |
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| | TWIST First screened at the Toronto International Film Festival last September, Twist caused a minor stir with its up to date variation on Charles Dickens classic novel Oliver Twist. Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:08:00 AM |
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| | THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW For a short time in the seventies, disaster films were among the most popular genres with audiences, who would flock to see an all-star cast placed in peril. Films such as Airport (1970), The Poseidon Adventure..... Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:07:45 AM |
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| | SHREK 2 The art of computer animation has come so far in such a short time. Remember the water creature in The Abyss (1989)? It all seems so primitive when one compares it to Monsters Inc (2001 Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:07:28 AM |
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| | TROY Wolfgang Peterson’s massive Troy will no doubt leave more than a few viewers in awe with the sheer scope and size of the picture, and for hard core history buffs, there will be issues Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:06:41 AM |
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| | VAN HELSING Over a decade ago, I was directing a production of Dracula a local theatre troupe and made the decision to go in a radically different direction with the play Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:06:53 AM |
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| | THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD How is it Guy Maddin’s magnificent film The Saddest Music in the World failed to earn a Genie nomination as best picture from the Academy of Canadian Filmand Television? Date Posted: 12/8/2004 11:07:06 AM |
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| | MAN ON FIRE Denzel Washington is such a magnificent actor one is quickly to forgive some of the logic in his latest film Man on Fire. Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:29:48 PM |
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| | CONNIE AND CARLA I was not among the millions who fell in love with My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), which I concur grossed in excess of two hundred million dollars and remains the highest grossing independent film of all time Date Posted: 4/19/2004 9:54:25 AM |
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| | KILL BILL VOLUME TWO (2004) While the first film was a tight, action oriented work, full of violence and stunning fight sequences, this second film is equally thrilling, but more for the dialogue and performances, which are deeper and much richer this second time round. Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:30:11 PM |
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| | THE ALAMO The famous rallying cry “remember the Alamo” will not apply to this film. Ever Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:30:26 PM |
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| | HELLBOY What is surprising about Hellboy, the latest major film adapted from a successful comic book, is that it is so good. The filmmakers obviously realized for the picture to work humour was an essential part of the equation, and that is exactly what makes the film as strong as it is Date Posted: 4/5/2004 10:30:00 AM |
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| | SCOOBY DOO 2 – MONSTERS UNLEASHED I believe it is a sad state in the film industry when a film starring a computer generated dog is the top grossing film of the past weekend. There are still Oscar winners in the theatres, The Barbarian Invasions (2003), The Passion of the Christ (2004), Jersey Girl (2004) and Dawn of the Dead (2004) are playing yet a sequel to an equally bad film, Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:30:47 PM |
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| | THE LADYKILLERS A remake of a minor classic of the British cinema, The Ladykillers (1955) was one of those old chestnuts in which sudden plot twists stun the audience with their sheer audacity and yet delight us with the results Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:30:59 PM |
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| | JERSEY GIRL While many of Kevin Smith’s purest fans will believe he sold out making this sweet natured film, I see it as a maturing of his talents as he furthers his talent in writing about his life. What has made Woody Allen the finest writer in American film for the past thirty years is the fact Woody writes about himself, his life, and the way he thinks about social issues. Kevin Smith has done that in the past, and again with Jersey Girl. Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:31:11 PM |
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| | DAWN OF THE DEAD In remaking George Romero’s classic film Dawn of the Dead (1978) there is no doubt in my mind that the filmmakers were aware that they were tampering with a classic, and that legions of fans would be watching close, ready to pounce on those who ruined the film. Romero’s blood drenched film was a superb satire on the state of America at that time in history, with a particular jab at consumerism. Date Posted: 4/12/2004 1:21:42 PM |
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| | STARSKY AND HUTCH With Starsky and Hutch, the filmmakers go in an unexpected direction, using the action series as a template and going in the direction of a full blown comedy. With any eye towards spoofing the source material, it is clear everyone involved with this film had a great deal of fun with it, and while it is hardly Oscar bait, it was an enjoyable ninety minutes Date Posted: 4/12/2004 1:21:22 PM |
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| | HIDALGO One would hope that Viggo Mortenson would parlay his incredible success as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy into greater roles for this obviously gifted actor. Date Posted: 4/12/2004 1:21:09 PM |
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| | TWISTED Once one of the great directors of the late seventies and eighties, Kaufman has gone from directing great, daring works of art, to duds that should never have been made in the first place. Date Posted: 3/5/2004 12:03:07 PM |
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| | THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST In years to come, film audiences, critics and historians will come to regard this film as the finest of its kind ever put to film Date Posted: 5/13/2004 12:31:48 PM |
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| | WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT Date Posted: 2/16/2004 11:51:55 AM |
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| | THE DREAMERS John H. Foote reviews master filmmaker, Bernardo Bertolucci’s new controversial film Date Posted: 4/12/2004 1:20:35 PM |
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| | THE TEN BEST FILMS OF 2003 Date Posted: 2/3/2004 5:19:23 PM |
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| | MIRACLE As a Canadian, I though the greatest event in sport was Paul Henderson s game winner in Russia in 1972, giving Team Canada a 6-5 win. Or Wayne Gretzky s drop pass to Mario Lemeiux which number 66 drilled home giving Canada yet another 6-5 win over Russia Date Posted: 4/12/2004 1:20:13 PM |
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| | HOLLYWOOD NORTH Date Posted: 1/29/2004 12:14:22 PM |
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| | THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG Sometimes unjust things happen to people due to one silly mistake caused by overlooking something that suddenly spirals wildly out of control Date Posted: 2/9/2004 10:59:24 PM |
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| | PETER PAN In P.J. Hogan’s excellent new version of the superb book, Peter Pan is portrayed by a boy, quite well in fact, and the film will have you believing in fairies. Date Posted: 2/2/2004 1:59:27 PM |
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| | COLD MOUNTAIN A brilliant Civil War epic that is astounding in its intimacy, the film traces the impact of the war on a group of people and those they encounter on their journeys back to one another. Date Posted: 2/2/2004 2:00:13 PM |
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| | THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING In years to come, I will tell my grandchildren about this film and the two before it, and I firmly believe that they will watch it over and over as my three year old does Date Posted: 1/9/04 11:37:55 PM |
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