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Short Cuts
On the Farm
Hilary Birmingham makes an impressive debut with Tully
By Andy Klein
Published: November 28, 2002
Small-town stud Tully (Anson Mount) works the family farm with his younger brother Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald) and their inexpressive, unsmiling widower dad (Bob Burrus). The...
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Short Cuts
Trials and Tribulations
Documentary presents a case against Kissinger
By Andy Klein
Published: November 28, 2002
Taking its cue from Christopher Hitchens' excoriating, similarly titled book (minus the "s" in "Trials"), this terse and compelling documentary presents the case that former...
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Dark Chocolat
Chabrol's bonbon femme fatale
By Andy Klein
Published: November 28, 2002
Through a strange chain of events, a likable young pianist (Anna Mouglalis) becomes an interloper in the household of an internationally renowned musician (Jacques Dutronc),...
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Half Bad
Steven Seagal fans won't even go for this lame hostage movie
By Luke Y. Thompson
Published: November 14, 2002
If the title is a Jeopardy question, then the answer might be "How does Steven Seagal come across these days?" or maybe "How will you feel after an 88-minute rip-off of The...
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Hot Stuff
The lighthearted Wasabi offers real kicks
By Andy Klein
Published: November 14, 2002
A tough Paris cop (Jean Reno) flies to Tokyo for the funeral of his great lost love, only to find out that she has left him in charge of the rebellious teen-age daughter (Ryoko...
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Short Cuts
Like Father, Like Hell
Mexican priests make it hurt so good in El Crimen del Padre Amaro
By Gregory Weinkauf
Published: November 14, 2002
It is the essential sexiness of holy archetypes that stirs up a ruckus in Carlos Carrera's competent if unremarkable tragedy, adapted by screenwriter Vicente Lenero from the...
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Short Cuts
Movie Magic
This 1946 version of Beauty and the Beast is enchantingly fantastic
By Jean Oppenheimer
Published: November 14, 2002
So enchanting it takes your breath away, Jean Cocteau's 1946 live-action version of the famous fairy tale remains one of the most magical films ever made. Boasting a new print,...
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Damaged Goods
Waking Up in Reno is not that bad, but it's not that good, either
By Robert Wilonsky
Published: October 24, 2002
Not as bad as its rep--Miramax has been hiding this sucker on the shelf for danged near two years--but not good enough to overcome its status as damaged goods, which is almost...
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Short Cuts
Memory Lame
Godard meanders aimlessly In Praise of Love
By Gregory Weinkauf
Published: October 24, 2002
The French word for turkey is dindon, so French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard's latest movie is basically fricasé du dindon. Snoots will no doubt rally to its cause,...
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Sinking Ship
This movie will take you on a ghostly voyage, but you'd be better off staying home
By Gregory Weinkauf
Published: October 24, 2002
The scrappy salvage tug Arctic Warrior sets out to plunder the legendarily missing and newly discovered luxury liner, Antonia Graza, and all bloody hell breaks loose for...
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Short Cuts
Pact With the Devil
The Grey Zone raises some important moral questions
By Jean Oppenheimer
Published: October 24, 2002
This exceedingly graphic Holocaust drama concerns the Auschwitz Sonderkommando, a special squad of Jewish prisoners who, in exchange for better food and a few extra months of...
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Short Cuts
Girl Power
Satin Rouge shows strong work from a debut director
By Gregory Weinkauf
Published: October 17, 2002
It's a family affair when widowed, repressed Lilia (Hiyam Abbas) and her spunky daughter Salma (Hend El Fahem) just can't get enough of a suave drummer, Chokri (Maher Kamoun)....
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Eye on Tinseltown
Ivans xtc takes a look at Hollywood, and it's pretty bleak
By David Ehrenstein
Published: October 17, 2002
More inspired by than adapted from Leo Tolstoy's story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich," Bernard Rose's film is set in the very fast lane of a modern Hollywood that would have...
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Short Cuts
Just Not Enough
Here's a romantic comedy you can Kiss goodbye
By Luke Y. Thompson
Published: October 17, 2002
Part watered-down Neil LaBute, part Seinfeld episode (especially the one in which George's fiancee licks the poison glue and dies) and part Waking Life, Just a Kiss follows a...
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Sub Scary
Below rises above the obvious
By Luke Y. Thompson
Published: October 17, 2002
Usually a master of creating aliens that go bump in the night, director David Twohy (Pitch Black) herein takes a turn toward ghosts and haunted houses, only this particular...
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Love Is a Battlefield
The Last Kiss highlights the struggle of growing up and growing old
By Gregory Weinkauf
Published: September 19, 2002
Muccino (But Forever in My Mind) pays his respects to Fellini (Juliet of the Spirits on television) and Tarantino (a Reservoir Dogs poster), then straddles with aplomb the...
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Short Cuts
Larger Than Life
Mel Brooks' The Producers is legendary for good reason
By Andy Klein
Published: September 19, 2002
Originally meant to be called Springtime for Hitler, Mel Brooks' first feature as writer-director was only a moderate success when released in 1968. Now, it is legendary and...
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Short Cuts
Choice Documentary
Fencer Peter Westbrook shows he may be mightier than the sword
By Robert Wilonsky
Published: September 19, 2002
He's one of Oprah's Angels and an Olympic champ, a published author (of his own autobiography, Harnessing Anger) and, soon enough, the subject of a Walt Disney-produced feature...
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Short Cuts
Going Ballistic
Ecks vs. Sever suffers from XXX disease
By Andy Klein
Published: September 19, 2002
The son of a fascistic intelligence agency boss (Gregg Henry) is kidnapped by Sever (Lucy Liu), a ruthless, mysteriously hooded killing machine. The only one who can retrieve...
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Short Cuts
Native Son
Sherman Alexie gets a load off his chest in The Business of Fancydancing
By Bill Gallo
Published: September 12, 2002
The much-celebrated Spokane/Coeur d'Alene poet and novelist Sherman Alexie (and writer-producer of Smoke Signals) brings all his ironic intelligence--the great elasticity of...
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