CineVue
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DVD Releases: ‘The Princess and the Frog’
Starring the voice talents of Anika Noni Rose, best known for her role as Lorrell Robinson in 2006’s Dreamgirls and Bruno Campos, a regular on our TV screens having featured in ER and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Disney’s latest animated picture The Princess and the Frog (2009) is in many ways a nostalgic step back into the…
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DVD Releases: ‘The Wolfman’
After the death of his brother, Shakespearean actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio del Toro) returns to the family stately home in Blackmoor. His father John (Anthony Hopkins) and brother’s fiancee Gwen (Emily Blunt) wait for him there. Gruesome killings start to take place, tracked by Scotland Yard Inspector Abberline (Hugo Weaving). The main problem with The Wolfman…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘The Brothers Bloom’
In his first feature movie Brick (2005), writer-director Rian Johnson created a self-contained world of noir double-crosses, femme-fatales and hardboiled dialogue, and set it all in the microcosm of a Californian high school. For The Brothers Bloom (2008), his second film, Johnson takes the same interest in the intricacies of language and story-telling, and takes…
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Theatrical Releases: ‘Sex and the City 2’
There is no doubt that the Sex and the City franchise is one of the most successful in television history. The series is popular with teenagers and women alike, and its stars have become style icons for fans to the point where many have dressed for theatre showings in attire that wouldn’t seem out of place…
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Special Feature: Studio Ghibli – the Japanese Disney?
In 2002, the Japanese animation company Studio Ghibli won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature with the seminal Spirited Away (2001). To this day, it has been the only Japanese anime to win this prestigious award. Whilst Spirited Away arguably garnered the most critical acclaim and international interest, there remains an established and devoted fan-base for the films…
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DVD Review: ‘Ponyo’
★★★★☆ There is no doubt that we are in the middle of an animation boom, a ‘silver age’ of animation if you will. The contemporary film market is saturated with computer-animated films. This year so far has seen the rerelease of Disney Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999) on Disney DVD and…
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DVD Releases: ’44 Inch Chest’
WARNING: Contains spoilers The front cover of the 44 Inch Chest DVD is littered with four star reviews. Unfortunately, not one of them comes from a particularly reputable source, unless you turn to Nuts, Loaded or Bizarre for views and opinions on the latest releases.Admittedly, perhaps aside from Sight & Sound’s Ben Walters, more respected critics…
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Film Review: ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’
★★★☆☆ With such a ridiculous title, it would be unwise to go into Hot Tub Time Machine (2010) with the preconception that what you are about to see is anything but lavishly ludicrous. The plot fails to stretch far beyond the fact that four guys hop into a hot tub, only to find when they…
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Cannes Film Festival 2010: Palme d’Or win for Weerasethakul’s ‘Uncle Boonmee’
The 63rd Cannes Film Festival drew to a close with a genuine surprise as Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul walked away with the coveted Palme d’Or prize for his surreal drama Uncle Boonmee who can Recall his Past Lives (2010). Gliding over challenges from favourites Xavier Beauvois, winner of the Grand Prix for his Des Hommes et…
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Blu-ray Releases: ‘Road to Perdition’
★★★★★ Sam Mendes’ Road to Perdition (2002) is shot by the undoubted master of cinematography – Conrad Hall: the man who lit every rose in American Beauty (1999) with an individual spotlight; the man who reportedly cried when looking through the viewfinder at Paul Newman because he was “just so beautiful”; the man who, once…