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3 items from 2010

21 May 2010 4:06 PM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (12A)

(Mike Newell, 2010, Us) Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina. 116 mins

You can tell by the title, the presence of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the colossal expense how badly this wants to be the next Pirates Of The Caribbean. But it follows the family-friendly franchise formula so slavishly, there are few surprises. On the plus side, the leads are perfectly likable, the pace lively and the Arabian-themed spectacle impressive, but the British accents and incongruous Iraq-invasion parallel only point up what a dubious post-Orientalist wish-fulfilment it really is.

Bad Lieutenant (18)

(Werner Herzog, 2009, Us) Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer. 122 mins

At last Herzog finds a replacement for the infamous Klaus Kinski, as Cage's long-repressed wild side is, er, uncaged, in an ironic portrait of post-Katrina cop corruption. Nothing like the original, it's more of an insane black comedy, with pulp crime »

- The guide

8 January 2010 11:22 PM, PST | Dark Horizons | See recent Dark Horizons news »

St. Trinian's II: The Legend of Fritton's Gold

Opens: 2010

Cast: Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, David Tennant, Gemma Arterton, Talulah Riley

Director: Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson

Summary: A rollercoaster-style treasure hunt for the legendary Fritton’s Gold ensues as the feisty and ever-resourceful schoolgirls of St Trinian’s face their most fearsome establishment rivals yet - the villainous Pomfrey and his sidekicks from the women-hating secret society known as AD1.

Analysis: While it didn't travel much beyond the UK, 2007's reboot of the "St Trinian's" franchise nearly doubled its £7 million production budget in sales in the UK alone - making it one of the top grossing independent British films of the past decade. Reviews were decidedly mixed but generally pretty weak at the time, so the greenlighting of a sequel surprised quite a few.

Despite a critical drubbing, the core audience of young British teenage girls seemed to be satisfied by »

- Garth Franklin

5 January 2010 3:10 AM, PST | Dark Horizons | See recent Dark Horizons news »

Shanghai

Opens: 2010

Cast: John Cusack, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chow Yun-Fat

Director: Mikael Hafstrom

Summary: In the months leading up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, an American man arrives in Shanghai to find his friend recently murdered. In investigating his friend's death, he stumbles upon a secret the United States government has been keeping and falls in love in the process.

Analysis: After being granted permission to shoot in the Chinese city, the $10 million production found its permit quickly being revoked by the Government who expressed concerns about the script. The result is Bangkok and the United Kingdom standing in for the real Shanghai which seems kind of against the entire point.

Cusack himself has emphatically endorsed the project in interviews, calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", but being stuck at the cash-strapped Weinstein Company means that its release plans are unsure beyond a vague promise of a limited bow around Easter. »

- Garth Franklin

3 items from 2010