Monthly Archives: May 2007

U.K. Coming Attractions: July

Many familiar faces and images are on display in cinemas in July including Harry Potter, Homer Simpson, “Die Hard” guy John McClane and those extraordinary transforming aliens. Sylvester Stallone waited 16 years before donning the boxing gloves once again for … Continue reading

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'Flyboys': Up in a crate like this

No one really expects movies about young men going to war in flying machines to be especially convincing when they’re on the ground. The whole point of pictures about aerial dogfights and planes crashing, from William Wellman’s 1928 Oscar-winning “Wings” … Continue reading

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'4 Months' deserves its Palme d'Or

CANNES — Romanian director Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” won the Palme d’Or at the 60th Festival de Cannes tonight and for once the jury has made a terrific choice. The film tells a harrowing story … Continue reading

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Anderson: Art as a happy accident

CANNES — Stephen Frears is a big-time movie director (“The Queen”) and this year’s jury president at the snazziest film festival in the world, but Malcolm McDowell recalls yelling at him to fetch the tea on the set of Lindsay … Continue reading

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No escaping Iraq after all

Galina Vishnevskaya visits soldiers in Chechnya in “Alexandra” CANNES — The war in Iraq seldom got a mention at this year’s Festival de Cannes but it was never far from mind when watching two very good films. Alexander Sokurov’s achingly … Continue reading

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Not a good festival for fathers

Nurgel Yesilgay and Patrycia Ziolkowska in “The Edge of Heaven” CANNES — Fathers haven’t made a very good impression in the films I’ve seen at the festival with the exception of Max Von Sydow’s compassionate old man in “The Diving … Continue reading

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Right, said Fred: save the world

CANNES — To shake hands with the singer and world peace campaigner known as Nassiri is like pulling a one-armed bandit except the jackpot is a tide of facts and figures detailing what is wrong with the world that peace … Continue reading

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'Diving Bell' makes beautiful music

CANNES — Julian Schnabel not only directed the splendid In Competition film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” but he also assembled the marvelous soundtrack music. The movie stars Mathieu Almaric (below with Anne Consigny) as French magazine editor Jean-Dominique … Continue reading

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This 'Band' should play on and on

CANNES — The best film so far at this year’s Festival de Cannes, by a country mile, is Eran Kolirin’s little gem, “The Band’s Visit.” It’s a shame and a mystery that it’s not In Competition. It tells a simple … Continue reading

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'Blind Mountain' survives cuts

CANNES — Like Hollywood studios under the Hays Code from 1934 to 1967, London playwrights under the Lord Chamberlain for eons until 1968, filmmakers in China today must please the authorities before their movies are released to the world. The … Continue reading

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