Machuca (movie 2004) review: Personal and political realms are inexorably intertwined in this Chilean coming-of-age drama set at the time of that country’s 1973 military coup.
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The Other Side of the Street / O Outro Lado da Rua (movie 2004) review: Shades of Alfred Hitchcock and Michelangelo Antonioni in Rio-set Fernanda Montenegro showcase.
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The Perfect Crime (movie 2004) review: Álex de la Iglesia’s brazenly ‘offensive’ satire featues a phenomenal Mónica Cervera as a deceptively timid shopgirl. Guillermo Toledo costars.
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Starring Kevin Bacon as a child molester, Nicole Kassell’s U.S. drama The Woodsman has won the London Film Festival’s Satyajit Ray Award. Kyra Sedgwick and Benjamin Bratt costar.
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An award-winning Iraq War drama is getting U.S. distribution + Oscar winner Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker) has been hospitalized + Antarctica is getting its first film house.
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Calling Hedy Lamarr (movie 2004) review: The low-key documentary offers a glimpse into the phone habits of one of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars.
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Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (movie 2003) review: First-rate athlete Tony Jaa is the one positive element in the juvenile and reactionary martial arts actioner for die-hard fans of the genre.
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This year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar entries stem from 49 countries, but two internationally acclaimed Gael García Bernal movies have ended up as Academy Award orphans.
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Vera Drake (movie 2004) review: Imelda Staunton delivers a superb performance as a mid-1950s abortionist in Mike Leigh’s uneven socially conscious family drama.
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The Devil Strikes at Night (movie 1957) review: Robert Siodmak’s intriguing political drama asks whether serial killers are any less of a danger than socially sanctioned mass murderers.
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Two Pedro Almodóvar quotes: Bad Education filmmaker takes on the Catholic Church and its millenary anti-gay stance, while actor Gael García Bernal reveals his ‘inner transvestite.’
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Stage Beauty (movie 2004) review: This less effusive rehash of the hit Shakespeare in Love fails to delve into the complexities of gender and sexual identity. Billy Crudup stars.
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The Grandfather (movie 1998) review: José Luis Garci’s Oscar-nominated period drama ultimately works thanks to a brilliant central performance by Fernando Fernán Gómez.
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What are the best British films of all time? Starring Michael Caine, Mike Hodges’ violent thriller Get Carter is critics’ surprise #1 choice, while women-focused titles are completely absent.
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Iranian filmmaker Abolhassan Davoodi, whose credits include Book of Love and I Love the Earth, was hospitalized after being arrested by Iran’s Islamic police.
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War-related movies were the clear favorites at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where Lifetime Achievement honors went to Hollywood celebrities Woody Allen and Annette Bening.
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The new Claude Lelouch film The Parisians is a critical and box office bomb. The director is resorting to radical measures, but fellow veteran Philippe de Broca thinks that won’t work.
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About a Boy (movie 2002) review: Chris and Paul Weitz’s moralistic ‘family’ comedy stars Hugh Grant as a self-centered dude who tragically discovers his inner family man.
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Venice Festival awards: The Golden Lion went to the British abortion drama Vera Drake, angering Italian nativists rooting for a local Gianni Amelio drama starring Kim Rossi Stuart.
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (movie 2004) review: Alfonso Cuarón’s big-screen version proves that CGI and movie magic aren’t the same thing. Daniel Radcliffe stars.
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Generally overlooked in most of the world, African cinema is the focus of one of the Toronto Film Festival’s sidebars. Key title: Ousmane Sembene’s most recent film, the Burkina Faso-set Moolaadé.
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Toronto Film Festival topics: Sex and politics. Highlights include a biopic of contentious American researcher Alfred Kinsey and veteran filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s latest political musings.
Carthage Film Festival Awards: Tunisia’s Arab cinema showcase has bestowed top honors on a socially conscious Moroccan drama. Omar Sharif and Youssef Chahine were among those in attendance.
Operation Thunderbolt (movie 1977) review: Oscar-nominated political thriller is a dismal failure as both cinema and propaganda. Klaus Kinski and Sybil Danning star.
9 Songs’ sex scenes have not prevented the British Board of Film Classification from granting Michael Winterbottom’s romantic drama an ’18 certificate’ rating. Some are outraged.
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan asserts that his latest movie - the historical political and biographical drama Mangal Pandey: The Rising - is not anti-British. Ketan Mehta directed.
One of Germany’s costliest and most controversial movies ever made, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Adolf Hitler drama Downfall is a major box office hit as well. Bruno Ganz stars.
This year’s Venice Film Festival was fraught with assorted snafus that negatively impacted average festivalgoers and big names alike, among them Al Pacino and Harvey Weinstein.
The Adolf Hitler movie controversy surrounding Downfall revolves around the following question: Should the world’s most hated leader be portrayed as a complex human being?