All articles by John Hazelton – Page 24
-
Reviews
Nicholas Nickleby
Dir: Douglas McGrath. US. 2002. 130mins.Having captured the spirit of Jane Austen with his 1996 debut Emma, American writer-director Douglas McGrath now delivers a warm and engaging, though necessarily breezy version of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby that features an enticing, mainly British ensemble cast. The cast has already won the ...
-
Reviews
Star Trek: Nemesis
Dir: Stuart Baird. US. 2002. 117mins. After four years in space dock, Paramount's Star Trek franchise is back with a solidly entertaining 10th big-screen instalment, whose disappointing US debut nevertheless casts doubt over the future of the 23-year-old movie series. An opening weekend gross of $18.8m from 2,711 US sites ...
-
Reviews
Extreme Ops
Dir: Christian Duguay. Ger-UK. 2002. 93mins.Some effectively shot extreme skiing and snowboarding footage is the primary excuse for Extreme Ops, an otherwise pretty cheesy, virtually plot-free Euro-American action romp with a mid-level cast of youngsters and older hands from the British, German and US film and TV worlds. The long-completed ...
-
Reviews
Sonny
Dir: Nicolas Cage. US. 2002. 110mins.Nicolas Cage's first film as a director is a moody, atmospheric Southern drama starring up-and-comer James Franco in a sexily tragic role that Cage reportedly considered taking on himself earlier in his career. While it could eventually lead to bigger jobs behind the camera for ...
-
Reviews
Die Another Day
Dir: Lee Tamahori. UK/US. 2002. 129 mins. Die Another Day has a lot to live up to: the hoopla surrounding the fortieth anniversary of the James Bond franchise, a box office track record that has seen each of the last three entries gross around $350m worldwide, and the expectations of ...
-
Reviews
I Spy
Dir: Betty Thomas. US. 2002. 96 mins.At the end of a year of box office disappointment, Eddie Murphy could certainly do with the kind of boost promised by a big screen version of a popular TV show and a teaming with an up-and-coming younger star. Sporadically effective action comedy I ...
-
Reviews
The Santa Clause 2
Dir: Michael Lembeck. US. 2002. 98 mins.Eight years after the original family comedy became, in the US at least, a surprise Christmas smash, The Santa Clause 2 finds star Tim Allen back in the red and white suit for a pleasantly warm 'n' fuzzy - if typically overstuffed - holiday ...
-
Reviews
Abandon
Dir: Stephen Gaghan. US. 2002. 99mins.The directorial debut of Oscar-winning Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan, Abandon is not so much a teen thriller as a Bright Young Thing thriller - and like some of its Ivy League student characters it may be a bit too clever for its own good. US ...
-
Reviews
Swept Away
Dir: Guy Ritchie. UK-US. 2002. 89mins.Even with husband Guy Ritchie writing and directing, Swept Away turns out to be another bewilderingly off-key movie vehicle for Madonna, a misconceived and unappealing romantic comedy - based on Lina Wertmuller's 1974 Italian film Travolti da un Insolito Destino nell'Azzurro Mare d'Agosto - that ...
-
Reviews
Red Dragon
Dir: Brett Ratner. US. 2002. 124 mins. The creepy appeal of 'Hannibal the Cannibal' Lecter is efficiently exploited once again in Red Dragon, an unadventurous yet slickly chilling successor to The Silence Of The Lambs and Hannibal whose commercial success was probably assured the day Anthony Hopkins signed on to ...
-
Reviews
Slap Her...She's French
Dir: Melanie Mayron. Germany-US. 2002. 90mins.As high-school satires go - and more than a few of them have come and gone over the past few years - German-backed US comedy Slap Her' She's French takes an amusing enough poke at the mores of modern teens but doesn't come close to ...
-
News
Starz Encore to shut down Starz! Pictures division
US pay TV channel operator Starz Encore Group is to shut down its Starz! Pictures cable movie development and production unit, laying off Los Angeles-based vice president of original movies Paige Orloff and her three-person development team. A Starz Encore spokesman confirmed that the unit, which most recently produced boxing ...
-
Reviews
Full Frontal
Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2002. 101mins.With a string of commercial successes and a best director Oscar safely under his belt, Steven Soderbergh should perhaps be forgiven for a brief lapse into self-indulgence. But that doesn't make it any less disappointing to see the director of sex, lies and videotape expend ...
-
Reviews
Stuart Little 2
Dir: Rob Minkoff. US. 2002. 78mins. A summer sequel to a surprise Christmas smash, Stuart Little 2 takes its computer animated mouse hero and his idyllic human family out into the world with a story that touches on such contemporary issues as child empowerment. However, it comes off as a ...
-
Reviews
The Bourne Identity
Dir: Doug Liman. US. 2002. 118 mins.One of Robert Ludlum's best-selling Cold War spy novels gets a refreshingly edgy cinema update in The Bourne Identity, an international thriller that, under the guidance of indie director Doug Liman, spins out its Hollywood genre conventions with continental flair. The film opened strongly ...
-
Reviews
Mr Deeds
Dir: Steven Brill. US. 2002. 96 mins. The Adam Sandler hit factory appears to be back in business. After falling way short of their usual box office standards with 2000's surreally wacky Little Nicky, the boyish star and his regular writing and producing partners revert to much safer material with ...
-
Reviews
Men In Black II
Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld. US. 2002. 82 mins. The invigorating burst of zany energy that made sci-fi comedy Men In Black the surprise smash of the 1997 summer season was never going to be easy to reproduce. So it's hardly surprising that Men In Black II feels more slight and less ...
-
Reviews
Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Dir: Callie Khouri. US. 2002. 116 mins. With millions of loyal readers waiting eagerly to see their fictional heroines made real on screen, Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood, based on Rebecca Wells' 1996 international best-seller, is primed to become the must-see chick flick of the 2002 summer. Fans will ...
-
Reviews
The Sum Of All Fears
Dir: Phil Alden Robinson. US. 2002. 124 mins. It's not the efficiently staged action that stands out in the fourth movie adapted from Tom Clancy's series of best-selling Jack Ryan political thriller novels. Nor even the debut of Ben Affleck as a younger, sexier incarnation of CIA stalwart Ryan. Rather, ...