All articles by Mike Goodridge – Page 39
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Reviews
Momma's Man
Dir: Azazel Jacobs. US. 2008. 94 mins.Azazel Jacobs' highly personal Momma's Man was a major discovery at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Artfully tracking the internal breakdown of a thirtysomething man, the film is both lyrical in its near wordless storytelling and humorous in its warm observation of human ...
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Reviews
The Wackness
Dir: Jonathan Levine. US. 2008. 110 mins.Having shown that he is a dab hand at teen horror in Toronto 2006 hit All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, Jonathan Levine proves that he can handle character-driven drama, albeit still of the teen variety, in his second film The Wackness. The audience ...
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Reviews
Transsiberian
Dir: Brad Anderson. US. 2008. 111 mins.The latest entry in Brad Anderson's increasingly fascinating oeuvre is an ambitious thriller set on the Transsiberian train from China to Moscow which recalls train-set thrillers from the 1970s like Silver Streak, The Cassandra Crossing and Murder On The Orient Express, not to mention ...
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Reviews
The Great Buck Howard
Dir: Sean McGinly. US. 2008. 87 minsThe Great Buck Howard is a well-made character piece which is so slight, good-natured and ever so slightly bland that it is likely to land in a commercial no man's land somewhere between the mainstream and the arthouse. Produced by Gary Goetzman and Tom ...
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Reviews
Hamlet 2
Dir: Andrew Fleming. US. 2008. 92mins.Britain's Steve Coogan finally finds a US vehicle which effectively showcases his comedic talents in Hamlet 2, a more-hit-than-miss gagfest in which he plays a talentless high school drama teacher called Dana Marszh. Often wildly funny, this puerile romp was a welcome oasis of frivolity ...
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Reviews
Incendiary (2007)
Dir: Sharon Maguire. UK. 2008. 96mins.This relatively large-scale UK production about the human cost of terrorism is an overly earnest, narratively muddled affair notable chiefly for a gutsy performance by Michelle Williams. Although it starts promisingly, Sharon Maguire's first film since Bridget Jones's Diary in 2001 quickly veers into the ...
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News
Oscars analysis: Surprises include Tommy Lee Jones, Laura Linney
Dark dramas There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men led the pack in the nominations for the 80th annual Academy Awards with eight apiece. Michael Clayton and Atonement followed with seven each.Those four films together with Juno were nominated for best picture, although Atonement director Joe Wright ...
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Reviews
Sunshine Cleaning
Dir: Christine Jeffs. US. 2008. 102minsChristine Jeffs' third feature has a great premise and knockout cast but proves disappointingly soft-centred. Long touted as a follow-up of sorts to Little Miss Sunshine - it shares the same financiers, producers, almost the same title and Oscar-winning actor Alan Arkin in virtually the ...
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Reviews
Mad Money
Dir: Callie Khouri. US. 2007. 104 mins.A relentlessly upbeat all-women heist comedy along the lines of How To Beat The High Cost Of Living and Fun With Dick And Jane, Mad Money is inoffensive star-driven entertainment which might capture the imagination of female audiences in theatres, before heading for a ...
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News
Marketing executive Grace Cianciotta dies in Toronto at 43
Much-loved film marketing expert Grace Cianciotta died in Toronto at the age of 43 on Jan 7 after a battle with breast cancer.Since last August, Cianciotta had worked in marketing for the new Canadian sales company Maximum Films International and local distributor Maximum Films Distribution.She was well-known for her zest ...
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News
Seven films shortlisted for Visual Effects Oscar
Seven films have been shortlisted for the Oscar for achievement in visual effects by the effects branch of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. They are 300, The Bourne Ultimatum, Evan Almighty, The Golden Compass, I Am Legend, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End and Transformers.Members of ...
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Features
United Kingdom - A very long disengagement
In the 11 years since he was fired from the directing chair of New Line's The Island Of Dr Moreau, Richard Stanley has kept a low profile. The UK film-maker had made a big splash with his first feature, Hardware, in 1990 but his subsequent career proved troubled to say ...
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Features
Best picture: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
DreamWorks-Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros Pictures
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News
Maycock appointed managing director of Technicolor (Thailand)
Ian Maycock has been appointed managing director of Technicolor (Thailand), the Bangkok-based facility film lab which provides servicing for films, commercials and documentary projects.Maycock moves into the position from his role as director, business development. He has been with Technicolor since May 2007.The facility was established in Bangkok in 1977 ...
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News
David A Grafton to receive Academy's Gordon E Sawyer Award
David A Grafton will receive this year's Gorden E Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette for technological industry contributions, from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.Grafton is a pioneer in designing lenses for optical effects printers which, at the time of their development, were adopted by virtually every visual ...
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News
Universal says 2007 was studio's 'most profitable year of all time'
Universal Pictures has reported that 2007 marked a box office high for the studio with a global take of $2.133bn, consisting of a best ever $1.099bn domestic gross and $1.034bn in international markets.The studio also said it had scored best-ever financial returns from its domestic home entertainment and international television ...
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News
Robert Luketic's 21 to open 15th South By Southwest
Columbia Pictures thriller 21 directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey will open the 15th South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival on March 7 in Austin, Texas.The film, based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down The House: The Inside Story Of Six ...
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News
Awards Countdown - Best director - The visionaries
1. TIM BURTONSweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet StreetBurton has a Bafta nomination under his belt for Big Fish in 2003 and was nominated for the feature animation Oscar for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. But bearing in mind his films have grossed several billion dollars between them, he is ...
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Features
Awards Countdown - Screenwriting - Keeping To The Script
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY1. Tony GilroyMichael ClaytonGilroy, who wrote all three Bourne films, came up with one of the year's smartest original scripts in Michael Clayton, which also marked his directorial debut. If he is pushed out of the director category by heavyweight veterans, he will likely be the front runner for ...