Film Festivals 2006
Another eclectic clutch of fine cinema from around the world. The 30th Telecom International Festival kicked off this year with Ken Loach's 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley', exploring tense Anglo-Irish relations in the 1920s; auteur Terrence Malick returned to filmmaking with a different story of colonialism, an eerily dream-like re-telling of the Pocahontas story and the 'conquering' of 'The New World'. Speaking of dreams, the innovative Michel Gondry gave us the enchanting 'The Science of Sleep', Richard Linklater came out with the animated 'A Scanner Darkly' and Korean Joon-ho Bong revisited the monster movie nightmare with fan favourite, 'The Host'. More personal stories included the excellent Canadian coming of age flick 'CRAZY', Tommy Lee Jones's 'The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada'; low-key thriller 'Keane' and a blackly humourous tale of the prodigal son, 'Lonesome Jim'.
The New World: The Extended Cut ( Blu-ray ) (2005)
6.7/10
Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: August Schellenberg, Ben Mendelsohn, Brian O'Byrne, Christian Bale, Christopher...
Terrence Malick's epic dramatization of the mythical story of Pocahantas and John Smith (Colin Farrell) is just his fourth feature, coming more than 3... Read more
A Fistful of Dynamite ( aka Duck You Sucker ) (1972)
Director: Sergio Leone
Starring: Romolo Valli, Rod Steiger, James Coburn
James Coburn is top-billed as an Irish soldier of fortune with a penchant for explosives. Rod Steiger plays another mercenary who wants to utilize Cob... Read more
The Heart of the Game (2005)
7.6/10
Director: Ward Serrill
Starring: Narrated by, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
What started out as a small documentary about an eccentric, middle-aged tax professor coaching a Seattle girls basketball team, the Roosevelt Roughrid... Read more
Scared Sacred (2004)
Director: Velcrow Ripper
An award-winning, film festival favourite, this uplifting documentary travels to the world's 'ground zeros', finding hope in the most unlikely of plac... Read more
The Last Resort (2006)
3/10
Director: Errol Wright, Abi King-Jones
Opposition to the sale of a 60-year-old camp ground at Mahia is the subject of this fascinating documentary as long-time visitors and local residents... Read more
A Lion in the House (2006)
8.9/10
Director: Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
How does a family with a cancer-stricken child persevere in the face of the heart-wrenching challenges that emerge every day? Five such families are p... Read more
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence ( Blu-ray ) (2004)
7.6/10
Director: Mamoru Oshii
This highly anticipated sequel sees the return of Batou, the Section 9 cyborg cop who has almost nothing of his human self left - just a part of his b... Read more
Waves (2006)
6.7/10
Director: Li Tao
Follows brief periods in the lives of four Chinese teenagers attending high school in New Zealand, achieving a rare level of intimacy that keeps you f... Read more
Quinceanera (2006)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Chalo Gonzalez, Jesse Garcia, Emily Rios
As Magdalena's (Emily Rios) 15th birthday approaches, her working class family prepares for the all-important Quinceanera - a lavish coming-of-age cel... Read more
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2006)
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Dwight Yoakam, January Jones, Julio Cedillo
Veteran actor Tommy Lee Jones wears the director's hat for the first time with this poetic homage to the Tex-Mex western, written by Guillermo Arriaga... Read more