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More reviews have been published by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety:

Sleuth

"Kenneth Branagh's new version of the crime caper "Sleuth" looks smashing and it features several great lines by screenwriter Harold Pinter. But despite top-flight acting from Michael Caine and Jude Law, it loses its grip in the third act and let's the air out of what might have been a memorably gripping film."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9697

"The post-Agatha Christie teases and comforts provided by Anthony Shaffer's play "Sleuth," and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1972 film adaptation, have been morphed into a bizarrely contorted facsimile by screenwriter Harold Pinter and helmer Kenneth Branagh. New pic also happens to be titled "Sleuth," but those who know the original may wonder after awhile if their minds aren't playing tricks on them. The results will be received with a large, loud yawn by all but the most loyal fans of Pinter and hard-working co-stars Michael Caine and Jude Law, with vid holding a few profitable twists."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934531.html?categoryid=1263&cs=1

Lust, Caution

"Ang Lee's lugubrious spy epic "Lust, Caution" brings to mind what soldiers say about war: that it's long periods of boredom relieved by moments of extremely heightened excitement."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9696

"Too much caution and too little lust squeeze much of the dramatic juice out of Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution," a 2½--hour period drama that's a long haul for relatively few returns. Adapted from a short story by the late Eileen Chang, tale of a patriotic student -- who's willing bait in a plot to assassinate a high-up Chinese collaborator in Japanese-held WWII Shanghai -- is an immaculately played but largely bloodless melodrama which takes an hour-and-a-half to even start revving up its motor."

http://www.variety.com/VE1117934527.html

Far North

"A vicious little tale of the icy outdoors, screened in the Venice Nights sidebar, "Far North" features Michelle Yeoh as Saiva, the arctic equivalent of a mountain woman, who takes no prisoners in her desire for solitude. What begins as a tale of survival, however, ends in a climax so shocking and unexpected that the film shouldn't be mistaken for a nice little outing in the snow."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9698

At least one of the ones I'm looking most forward to received a good review:

In the Valley of Elah

"Ostensibly a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, "In the Valley of Elah" is a deeply reflective, quietly powerful work that is as timely as it is moving."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9699
 
More Atonement reviews

""Atonement," Ian McEwan's best-selling novel of love thwarted by juvenile fantasy, has been rendered on screen so well by director Joe Wright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton that it ranks with the best novel adaptations of recent times."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9693

"Over the years, novelist Ian McEwan must have experienced all the mixed emotions of surrendering his work to the tender mercies of disparate filmmakers. He is unlikely to have cause for concern over Joe Wright's immaculate adaptation of Atonement.

This is a textbook example of literary adaptation; breathtakingly beautiful in its craftsmanship, impeccably acted and quietly devastating in its emotional impact. Worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) or The English Patient (1996), it combines an epic sweep with an intense, slow-burning intimacy.

Glowing reviews and strong word of mouth should ensure robust commercial returns as Atonement becomes the must-see prestige release of the autumn. It should also be considered the first front runner for across the board consideration among both Oscar and BAFTA voters."

http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=34139

The Times isn't as impressed:

"But the buzz, Oscar and otherwise, around this world premiere of Atonement is only partially merited."

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2350206.ece
 
In the Valley of Elah

Variety didn't like In the Valley of Elah as much as The Hollywood Reporter.

"The Iraq war has proven as nettlesome to Hollywood moviemakers as it has to Washington policymakers, and "In the Valley of Elah" continues the trend. Working overtime to be an important statement on domestic dissatisfaction with the war and the special price paid by vets and their families, Paul Haggis' follow-up to "Crash" is too self-serious to work as a straight-ahead whodunit and too lacking in imagination to realize its art-film aspirations."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934532

:(
 
More reviews

The Hunting Party

"Proceeding with the same tone of cynical world-weariness that proved a mixed blessing in his debut feature, "The Matador," writer-director Richard Shepard fictionalizes a real-life tale of journos recklessly tracking down a Bosnian war criminal in "The Hunting Party." Alternately glib, superficial and amusing, pic vainly attempts to absorb some degree of Serbian irony into a story that's unavoidably lessened by its privileged American vantage point."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934534.html?categoryid=1263&cs=1

Michael Clayton

"Spare and unhurried, writer Tony Gilroy's directorial debut "Michael Clayton" features strong performances and a solid story, drawn from the familiar well of faceless corporations grinding ordinary people through their profit-making machinery. Yet Gilroy's fidelity to his script comes at the expense of the pacing, which initially lumbers forward so assiduously as to feel like a throwback to an earlier era."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934536.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

An exceedingly enthuastic response from The Hollywood Reporter to Redacted.

"Veteran director Brian De Palma's filmmaking skills have seldom been as razor sharp as they are in his sensational new film about members of a U.S. army squad who rape and murder a 15-year-old Iraqi girl and slay her family.

Made on HD video and employing images from digital cameras, video recorders, Internet uploads and old-fashioned film, De Palma's movie is a ferocious argument against the engagement in Iraq for what it is doing to everyone involved.

Made so expertly that it appears to be assembled from genuine footage, the film details the extraordinary psychological pressure suffered by young soldiers on checkpoint duty in occupied areas of Iraq, and then follows one unit as two of its members skew monstrously out of control.

De Palma's screenplay is outstanding, and he draws wonderfully naturalistic performances from his youthful cast. Sympathetic to the young men who lose their way in horrible circumstances but unflinching in its depiction of the horrors that can result, the film is harrowing, but it should find responsive audiences everywhere."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/cannes/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9704
 
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Mixed messages about Brad Pitt's latest:

"A ravishing, majesterial, poetic epic which moves its characters toward their tragic destinies with all the implacability of a Greek drama, "The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford" is one of the best Westerns of the 1970s, which represents the highest possible praise. It's a magnificent throwback to a time when filmmakers found all sorts of ways to refashion Hollywood's oldest and most durable genre."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=cannes2007&jump=review

"At the heart of "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" lies an obsessive, destructive relationship between two disparate yet oddly similar men. One will eventually kill the other. Yet this fascinating relationship gets smothered in pointlessly long takes, repetitive scenes, grim Western landscapes and mumbled, heavily accented dialogue."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=HwhYGY0hyGdM45NTjKQH4y6RhHdhtnht6stPJD9wJWwnsqryrZvW!-1117394478&&rid=9707
 
soonplus said:
anyone know if that blade runner final cut going to be in cinemas or straight to dvd... might have to buy that.... it's supposedly got extra scenes and what not....
Click to expand...
The August 2007 issue of Empire had a large feature on Blade Runner, which I've only just looked at.

It mentions the Final Cut and only says "Blade Runner: The Final Cut will be released on DVD later this year."

IMDB don't list it as getting a UK theatrical release. I don't believe that the 1992 director's cut version was released here either.

Hopefully it will come to the London Film Festival or get some screenings around the country but I'm not convinced. :(
 
Redacted

Screen Daily doesn't think Redacted works:

"Designed to resemble an American's soldier video blog from Iraq , with additional footage from a French-language pseudo-documentary, YouTube clips and reports from local TV crews, Brian de Palma's attempt to reveal some of the expurgated truth behind the media coverage of the war in Iraq ultimately backfires on him. The evidence of a well-honed professional sensibility behind the camera is too obvious to make the such a fiction actually believable."

http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=34245

 
Variety, too, didn't like Redacted.

"The bullet veers far off the mark in Brian De Palma's "Redacted." Deeply felt but dramatically unconvincing "fictional documentary" -- inspired by the March 2006 rape and killings by U.S. troops in Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad -- has almost nothing new to say about the Iraq situation and can't make up its mind about how to package its anger in an alternative cinematic form. HD-lensed item, largely using thesps with legit experience, feels more like a filmed Off Broadway play than a docudrama, and has trouble establishing a consistent dramatic tone."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934538.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
 
Into the Wild

"Jon Krakauer's bestseller "Into the Wild" chronicled the real-life, way-off-grid adventures of Christopher McCandless, a middle-class college grad whose quest for "ultimate freedom" ended in 1992 with starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. It seemed natural, if challenging, screen material -- and in his fourth and by far best feature turn behind the camera, Sean Penn delivers a compelling, ambitious work that will satisfy most admirers of the book."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934548.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
 
Rail and Ties

"Reserved, careful and largely predictable in the way it plays out its wrenching emotional crises, "Rails & Ties" reps a capable but modest directorial debut by Alison Eastwood [Clint's daughter]. The tale of a middle-aged husband and wife who work through a professional tragedy and a medical trauma when fate lands a young boy at their doorstep, the pic possesses some straightforward virtues, but is so discreet that its emotional payoff is delayed too long. High-profile fest bows may create unrealistic expectations for this unashamedly old-fashioned drama"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934546


It's A Free World...

"The hot-button topic of exploited immigrant labor forms the backdrop of "It's a Free World .... ," the latest collaboration between helmer Ken Loach and scribe Paul Laverty (following "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"). Strong, pacily told London-set tale unfolds from the p.o.v. of a would-be exploiter rather than a victim, illuminating a chain of connections most people would rather ignore. Human drama remains front and center, with discussion of issues more naturally incorporated than in some of the pair's past work. Realistically lensed, convincingly cast pic contains several star-making turns and should work internationally as a quality arthouse item."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934554

Another review here:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/cannes/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9711

My Enemy's Enemy

"It's difficult to tell whom Kevin Macdonald is angriest at in his new doc, "My Enemy's Enemy" -- Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie, or the U.S. government, which pic argues was responsible for protecting Barbie for more than three decades following WWII. The argument may be awfully loaded -- and will be read in some circles as simplistic Yank-bashing -- but Macdonald summons a vast range of witnesses and experts to describe the darkest days of the Cold War."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934547
 
Cassandra's Dream

A strange description of Woody Allen's latest:

"Like a tragic overture played at the wrong tempo and slightly off-key, Woody Allen's London-set "Cassandra's Dream" sends out more mixed signals than an inebriated telegraphist. On the face of it a "serious Woody," following two brothers embroiled in murder, pic is actually a low-key, bumpy black comedy whose humor stems from the perhaps deliberate awkwardness of the characterizations and dialogue. A relatively easy sit, thanks to energetic perfs by Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, pic still fails to satisfy fully on any level."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934555

The Hollywood Reporter is blunter:

"Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream" is a humorless misfire that wastes the talents of some fine actors including Ewan McGregor, Hayley Atwell and Tom Wilkinson while continuing the mystery of Colin Farrell's appeal to major filmmakers."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?rid=9713
 
Margot at the Wedding

"Again fearlessly navigating those perilous waters known as family dynamics, filmmaker Noah Baumbach has followed up his acclaimed 2005 breakthrough "The Squid and the Whale" with another wryly observed, giddily cringe-inducing, bracingly original winner."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9712

The Romance of Astrea and Celadon

Another bizarre review from a US trade paper pining about the Carry On films :D

"Eric Rohmer is a filmmaker of distinction and no doubt Honore d'Urfe is a writer worthy of respect, but it's difficult to view the French director's irony-free adaptation of the fairy tale "The Romance of Astrea and Celadon" without imaging what fun Kenneth Williams and the rest of the "Carry On" gang would have had with it. "

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9715

Hotel Meina

"Italian director Carlo Lizzani's WWII story about a group of mostly Italian Jews trapped by the Nazis in a luxury resort ends with such a horrifyingly brilliant sequence in Lago Maggiore that it prompts forgiveness of the film's small failings."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9714
 
The Darjeeling Limited

"Three estranged brothers bond and get rid of some literal and figurative baggage during a trip across India in Wes Anderson's colorful and kinetic seriocomedy "The Darjeeling Limited." Breaking no new ground thematically, pic comes closer to "The Royal Tenenbaums" than "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," but without achieving the poignance of "Rushmore." Inventively staged pic should satisfy the upscale, youth and cult auds Anderson hasdeveloped, though it's unlikely to draw significantly better than his earlier work."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934573.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Juno

"The popular mini-genre of unwanted pregnancies being taken to term continues with "Juno," an ultra-smart-mouthed comedy about a planned adoption that goes weirdly awry. Given that the girl who gets saddled with child here is a 16-year-old high schooler, played by the conspicuously talented Ellen Page, this zippy item skews younger than either "Knocked Up" or "Waitress,"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934566

The Sun Also Rises

"If Emir Kusturica ever made a pic in China, it would look a little like Jiang Wen's "The Sun Also Rises." Highly colored ride through landscape, love and history will prove murder for many and manna for a few, depending on individual tolerance for cranked-up visuals and acting, as well as knowledge of the niceties of 20th-century Maoist history. Part ego-trip by actor-director Jiang -- but also a genuine effort to push the envelope of Mainland cinema away from bloodless art movies -- "Sun" looks to shine only fleetingly in occidental territories without major critical support and good word-of-mouth."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934574
 
i want to see Yuma and I want to see Good Luck Chuck. can't wait for those!


________________________________
"They say our lives are shaped not by those who love us, but by those who refuse to love us." Baby Phat
 
 
I'm Not There

"A densely idiosyncratic, cubist-like cinematic portrait of a man who often calls to mind Bob Dylan, Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There" resembles a film a precocious grad student in musicology might make about a creative hero. Stylistically audacious in the way it employs six different actors and assorted visual styles to depict various aspects of the troubadour's life and career, the film nevertheless lacks a narrative and a center, much like the "ghost" at its core."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934602
 
The Toronto festival has now started so more reviews in the next few days.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

"An intricate tragedy that plumbs messy emotional depths with cinematic precision, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" explores urban malaise via ingredients so timeless, an ancient Greek stumbling into the theater would recognize the building blocks of mortal folly. Filial impiety, sibling rivalry, marital distress and crippling debt bedevil protags who shop for all their decisions at Bad Choices 'R Us. Satisfyingly draining narrative will probably skew toward older viewers, but the wrenching tale has something for anyone who likes their melodrama spiked with palpable tension and genuine suspense."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934641

Rendition

"It's not easy to make a dull film when your central components include terrorism, torture, secret CIA operations and contempo Middle East intrigue, but Gavin Hood has done it with "Rendition." By underplaying the melodrama in the presumed hope of seeming subtle when Kelley Sane's script is so baldly melodramatic, the "Tsotsi" helmer drains the life out of an obviously explosive subject."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934646

""Rendition" tackles the concern in a heavy-handed thriller with simplistic characters and manipulative story lines."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?rid=9758

Nightwatching

"In look and tone "Nightwatching" reps a return to the Peter Greenaway style of old, though whether it's a return to form is another matter. Visually an expectedly rich affair, the baroque helmer's take on the enigmatic painting colloquially called "The Night Watch" is played out on theatrical sets enhanced by celestial lighting, where Rembrandt's middle period becomes a series of tableaux of love, lust and fear. Knowing what to emphasize, however, occasionally slips Greenaway's grasp, and power remains largely in the art direction. Fans should be partly satisfied"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934647

"There are said to be 51 mysteries in Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn's masterpiece "The Night Watch" and British writer and director Peter Greenaway sets out to explain all of them in his richly detailed but lumbering and theatrical drama "Nightwatching.""

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9747

Mad Detective

""Mad Detective" is a neat idea that doesn't quite hit the bull's-eye. The first teaming of helmer Johnnie To and writer-helmer Wai Ka-fai since the 2003 Andy Lau muscle-suit drama "Running on Karma," pic about a loony cop who solves crimes through intuition rather than logic is a typically high Wai concept that's still a rewrite or two away from achieving the rigor of a To movie. Despite some cherishable, out-there moments, "Detective" is a bumpier dramatic ride than usual from the Milkyway Image alums"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934643

"Fast-paced and funny crime caper involving an imaginative policeman."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9741

Disengagement

"Finding an exhilarating equilibrium -- or perhaps disequilibrium -- between the personal and the political, Amos Gitai's English-language "Disengagement," about the eviction of Israeli settlers from Gaza, looks to be the helmer's strongest entry since "Kippur." Featuring a virtuoso, disquietingly fey performance by Juliette Binoche and a compelling straight-arrow turn by Israeli heartthrob (and Gitai regular) Liron Levo, magisterial pic shifts foreground and background as it focuses on both mass displacement and its impact on a family. Displaying none of the rough edges or lumpen agitprop that often shake up Gitai's narratives, pic joyously disturbs on all levels."

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934642

"Individual questions of belonging and reconciliation resonate with contentious geopolitical ones in the new film by Amos Gitai, a story that prefers to draw connections obliquely and without rendering direct judgment. Challenging at times but ultimately affecting"

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9769

Fugitive Pieces

"The cool hand of Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa proves a disappointing match for "Fugitive Pieces," a generally dull and unmemorable adaptation of Anne Michaels' extraordinary prose-poetry novel. Account of a Jewish boy's survival during the Holocaust, care of a doting Greek archaeologist, and his subsequent troubled adulthood becomes a belabored pattern of flashbacks and flash-forwards onscreen. Great literature is often not the friend of film adapters, and this Toronto fest opener proves the rule, unlikely to draw many beyond the novel's passionate readership"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934634
 
Maltin said:
Juno
Click to expand...

""Juno" defies expectations at every turn, giving the slip to anything saccharine or trite or didactic, looking to its characters for insight and complexity, reveling in dialogue that is artificial yet witty and articulate and, most crucially, taking a presumably stale storyline and making it into a buoyant comedy. The film, the second directed by Jason Reitman and first written by professional stripper-turned-writer Diablo Cody, detonates wisecracks every step of the way, yet never completely disguises the fact that this is a comedy from a couple of moralists determined to portray the great human values in love and friendship."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9773
 
Eastern Promises

The opener at the London Film Festival sounds good.

"Ultraviolent, gruesome and riveting, David Cronenberg's trangressive crime drama, "Eastern Promises," may be one of the director's best recent films. Engineering the cliches of the gangster genre for their own purposes, Cronenberg and screenwriter Steve Knight masterfully orchestrate an atmosphere of danger and dread for a descent into an underworld inhabited by the Russian mafia in London. That tension is maintained is quite a trick given the presence of stock characters and a script that telegraphs where it's going at the midpoint. A mood of pervasive malevolence and performances by Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen certainly make it worth the ride."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9760

Hopefully, Variety don't put a dampener on my expectations.
 
Dhimmi said:
Outstanding thread Maltin!

Let's not forget...

Exodus

Moses is a member of the ruling class, son of populist politician Pharoah Mann. Pharoah has found the perfect solution for the Promised Land. All the unwanted elements of society – asylum seekers and economic refugees, the long term unemployed, sexual deviants, substance abusers, petty criminals and ethnic minorities – are forced to live in the Dreamland, a shanty town built on the site of a disused funfair. When Moses reaches adulthood, he discovers that his birth mother is a poor Romany woman, Levi, who gave him away as a baby so that he might have the chance of a better life in the Promised Land. Moses visits Dreamland and kills a guard after witnessing a violent attack on a young woman, Zipporah. It is his birth brother Aaron who helps him escape from the pursuing soldiers. Now in exile in the Dreamland, Moses falls in love and marries Zipporah, with whom he has a son. His father-in-law, Jethro, a gentle and dignified man who runs the ghetto school, is killed by Pharoah’s Pest Control forces whilst protecting a street child. Moses leads the construction of a giant funeral pyre for Jethro made out of rubbish and then burnt, challenging Pharoah to tear down the fence while a peaceful solution is still possible. Pharoah refuses. Moses leads a guerrilla war to liberate the inhabitants of Dreamland. He and his followers poison the sea, infect computers with deadly viruses and lethally contaminate foodstuffs. Many innocent people lose their lives. After a final act of atrocity, Pharoah surrenders and the Exodus out of Dreamland begins...

Premiering at Venice, well after it did in Margate.
Click to expand...

Variety thought it was very good.

"Penny Woolcock's gripping "Exodus" is a provocative, searingly political updating of the Old Testament story, with the Pharaoh as a right-wing politician and Moses as a terrorist. Shot in widescreen, with an eye-popping vision of dystopia that rivals Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men," it shows a Promised Land where the oppressed are brutalized and become brutal, and terrible injustice leads to horrific terrorism. Slated for British hardtops and Channel 4 broadcast later this year"

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=review&reviewid=VE1117934628

I'll try to watch this when it's shown. You'll have to tell us how we can spot you.
 
Venice awards

The main awards at Venice were given to:
GOLDEN LION for Best Film
SE, JIE (LUST, CAUTION) by Ang LEE (USA/China/China, Taiwan)

SILVER LION for Best Director to:
Brian DE PALMA for the film: REDACTED (USA)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to (ex aequo):
LA GRAINE ET LE MULET by Abdellatif KECHICHE (France)
I’M NOT THERE by Todd HAYNES (USA)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actor:
Brad PITT in the film THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES
BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD by Andrew DOMINIK (USA)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actress:
Cate BLANCHETT in the film: I’M NOT THERE by Todd HAYNES (USA)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD
for Best Young Actor or Actress:
Hafsia HERZI in the filmLA GRAINE ET LE MULETby Abdellatif KECHICHE (France)

OSELLA
for Best Cinematography to:
Rodrigo PRIETO director of photography for the SE, JIE (LUST, CAUTION) di Ang LEE (USA/China/China, Taiwan)

OSELLA
for Best Screenplay to:
Paul LAVERTY for the film IT’S A FREE WORLD… by Ken LOACH
(UK/Italy/Germany/Spain)
Click to expand...

http://www.labiennale.org/en/news/cinema/en/78166.html

The only film with the review not listed above is:

La Graine et Le Mulet (The Secret of the Grain)

"In the ambitious social-issues family drama "The Secret of the Grain," writer-helmer Abdellatif Kechiche uses a Maghrebi emigre's attempt to open a restaurant as the pretext to explore more profound themes. Choosing not to exploit the drama of the will-he-or-won't-he storyline, Kechiche opts instead to focus on the complexities of his Franco-Arab characters, using detail to paint a bigger picture. This deliberate choice results in an overlong, dramatically unbalanced pic whose emotional wallop gets somewhat diffused."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934615.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
 
Gone Baby Gone

"Moral ambiguity is the real star of Ben Affleck's helming debut, "Gone Baby Gone," an involving Boston-set tale of mixed motives, selflessness and perfidy in the wake of a 4-year-old girl's disappearance. Adapted from a novel by "Mystic River" author Dennis Lehane, somber pic radiates a feel for Beantown's working-class Dorchester neighborhood, in and around which two private investigators encounter a morass of motivations."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934619.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Captain Mike Across America

"One could easily carve an interesting hour-long docu out of "Captain Mike Across America," Michael Moore's ungainly account of his "Slacker Uprising" campaign to encourage young people to vote for John Kerry -- and, more importantly, against George W. Bush -- during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In its current form, however, this repetitious and self-indulgent hodgepodge comes across as a nostalgia-drenched vanity project, with far too much footage of various celebs at assorted gatherings introing Moore as the greatest thing since sliced bread."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934650.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Man From Plains

"It is easy to underestimate the careful construction behind Jonathan Demme's peerless portrait of Jimmy Carter, as the former president occupies the frame so totally and unselfconsciously. Starting and ending in his home town in Georgia, "Man From Plains" follows Carter's tour for the most controversial of his 21 books, 2006's "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Thanked and vilified in equal measure from coast to coast, Carter's belief that Israel's policies in the Occupied Territories are unjust and counterproductive remains steadfast."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934655.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

"Winning the Nobel Peace Prize does not automatically visit sainthood upon the recipient as Tom Lehrer observed while noting that satire died the day Henry Kissinger became laureate, but it looks pretty good on Jimmy Carter.
That's the problem, however, with Jonathan Demme's blandly interesting new documentary on the former president from Georgia titled "Man From Plains.""

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9767

The Heartbreak Kid

"With their smart, hilarious update of "The Heartbreak Kid" the Farrelly Bros. make mincemeat of the (often correct) theory that good movies should never be remade. Cleverly bending the template of the Neil Simon-penned, Elaine May-helmed 1972 original to their patented brand of profane gagdom, the Farrellys fashion a pitch-perfect riff on the consequences that ensue when getting hitched turns into something out of Hitchcock. Uproarious romp, grounded in believable if gleefully implausible human behavior, is a model of comic timing. Pic world preemed to side-splitting response in Deauville."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934655.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

12

"Sidney Lumet turned Reginald Rose's fine play "12 Angry Men" into a splendid movie in 1957 and it has been revisited on stage and television but never better than in Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov's triumphant new film version titled simply "12.""

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=2185

The Visitor

"In "The Visitor," actor-turned-filmmaker Tom McCarthy demonstrates that the critical acclaim for "The Station Agent" in 2003 was no fluke. The guy is a terrific storyteller, letting characters move into a story so naturally that the story develops and deepens his characters while their actions and behavior propel the story. "The Visitor" touches on both personal and political issues, but is never about those issues. McCarthy's story is about its people, a college professor lost in his own life and two, then three, illegal immigrants working hard in the United States, a country that can deport them at any moment."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9775

Chaotic Ana

"With "Sex and Lucia" and "The Lovers of the Arctic Circle," Spanish director Julio Medem firmly established his own dreamy, winding plots, suffused with philosophical themes and spiced with a liberal dose of sex. Medem's work is not to everyone's taste, but his new film, "Chaotic Ana," is carried by imagination and the force of a strong cast."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9734

Le Deuxieme Souffle

"Jean-Pierre Melville's seminal 1966 gangster movie, "Le deuxieme souffle" gets a second wind courtesy of a visually dazzling remake by Alain Corneau.

Turning to the 1958 Jose Giovanni novel as his source material, the veteran French filmmaker has added a gorgeous dollop of saturated color to the noir palette, in addition to much more dialogue, while still retaining the original's Very. Deliberate. Pace."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9778

Shake Hands with the Devil

"A flatly-executed take on the 1994 Rwandan genocide."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=1684

Then She Found Me

"Playing like an adult woman's rejoinder to the Peter Pan factor in recent rom-coms, "Then She Found Me" prefers the mature man to the overgrown boy, gets knocked up without freaking out, and never -- well, maybe once -- goes for the startling gag over the pointed observation. With subtle laughs but solid emotional thrust, it will play very well with older audiences."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9776

Rebellion: The Litvienko Case

"Despite a timely, intrigue-filled subject and a level of access that has now become impossible, "Rebellion" lacks the storytelling drive it needs to stand out on the documentary circuit."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9777
 
Reno said:
MY WINNIPEG (Guy Maddin)

Never heard of this and I'm a Maddin obsessive. :)

I hope the THE MOTHER OF TEARS will be a return to form for Dario Argento, but I'm not getting my hopes up. The trailer looks like this doesn't follow the Technicolor style cinematography and art deco design of SUSPIRIA and INFERNO, which would be a shame.
Click to expand...
Both reviews were published on Variety.com yesterday.

My Winnipeg

"A multilayered journey through the hometown in his head, Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg" is a vigorous caprice of fact and fiction. Employing the filmmaker's by now-familiar but no less unique fusion of silent film technique and pre-moistened melodrama, pic explores a version of his roots that may not be entirely true but sure is entertaining. Though it may feel undernourished to the faithful, "Winnipeg" is an easily digestible meal, for the uninitiated and fans alike, featuring Maddin's utterly individual worldview"

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934651.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Mothers of Tears: The Third Mother

"It has taken Dario Argento nearly three decades to complete his "Three Mothers" horror trilogy commenced by 1977's "Suspiria" -- his first, best and most widely popular post-giallo effort -- and 1980's visually striking if muddled "Inferno." Whether viewers will think "Mother of Tears: The Third Mother" was worth the wait depends on if they are willing to settle for laughs over chills: This hectic pileup of supernatural nonsense is a treasure trove of seemingly unintentional hilarity. Although lacking helmer's usual aesthetic panache, this "Mother" is a cheesy, breathless future camp classic."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934653.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
 
Maltin said:
The opener at the London Film Festival sounds good.

"Ultraviolent, gruesome and riveting, David Cronenberg's trangressive crime drama, "Eastern Promises," may be one of the director's best recent films. Engineering the cliches of the gangster genre for their own purposes, Cronenberg and screenwriter Steve Knight masterfully orchestrate an atmosphere of danger and dread for a descent into an underworld inhabited by the Russian mafia in London. That tension is maintained is quite a trick given the presence of stock characters and a script that telegraphs where it's going at the midpoint. A mood of pervasive malevolence and performances by Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen certainly make it worth the ride."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/fest_reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9760

Hopefully, Variety don't put a dampener on my expectations.
Click to expand...
Yay, Variety liked it as well.

"A superbly wrought yarn set in the milieu of first-generation Russian mobsters in London that is simultaneously tough-minded and compassionate about the human condition, "Eastern Promises" instantly takes is place among David Cronenberg's very best films. Same could be said for Viggo Mortensen, whose tightly coiled star turn recalls the magnetic work of Hollywood's greats of yore."

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934652.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
 
The New York Times have published their fall season preview:

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2007/09/09/movies/moviesspecial/index.html

Films I'm looking forward to that were not highlighted earlier in the thread inlcude:

NANKING Bill Guttentag and Bill Sturman assembled this documentary about the horrific massacre of Chinese at the hands of the Japanese army of occupation in 1937-38.

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/b15a2edb1ca1955295cf2ff07d310fc3

MONGOL And you thought you knew all there was to know about Genghis Khan — or here, as he is called in his youth, Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano).

(Russian language?)

THE ORPHANAGE A single mother (Belén Rueda) hopes to refurbish the orphanage where she was happily raised, but has second thoughts when her young son acquires a new and invisible friend.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2xq9e_the-orphanage-us-trailer_shortfilms
 
Maltin said:
THE ORPHANAGE A single mother (Belén Rueda) hopes to refurbish the orphanage where she was happily raised, but has second thoughts when her young son acquires a new and invisible friend.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2xq9e_the-orphanage-us-trailer_shortfilms
Click to expand...

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and found it rather dissappointing. Starts out well enough and there are a few effective scares, but mostly it's haunted house clichees all the way to a soppy ending.

Maltin said:
An exceedingly enthuastic response from The Hollywood Reporter to Redacted.

"Veteran director Brian De Palma's filmmaking skills have seldom been as razor sharp as they are in his sensational new film about members of a U.S. army squad who rape and murder a 15-year-old Iraqi girl and slay her family.

Made on HD video and employing images from digital cameras, video recorders, Internet uploads and old-fashioned film, De Palma's movie is a ferocious argument against the engagement in Iraq for what it is doing to everyone involved.

Made so expertly that it appears to be assembled from genuine footage, the film details the extraordinary psychological pressure suffered by young soldiers on checkpoint duty in occupied areas of Iraq, and then follows one unit as two of its members skew monstrously out of control.

De Palma's screenplay is outstanding, and he draws wonderfully naturalistic performances from his youthful cast. Sympathetic to the young men who lose their way in horrible circumstances but unflinching in its depiction of the horrors that can result, the film is harrowing, but it should find responsive audiences everywhere."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/awards_festivals/cannes/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9704
Click to expand...

Very much looking forward to this !
 
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