- Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Past, present, future. Through time and space, one man embarks on a bold 1000-year odyssey to defeat humankind's most indomitable foe: Death.Hugh Jackman plays that man, devoted to one woman (Rachel Weisz) and determined to protect her from forces that threaten her existence. His quest leads him to a Tree of Life.and to an adventure into eternity. Darren Aronofsky (Pi,
Set in ancient Egypt under Roman rule, AGORA follows the brilliant and beautiful astronomer Hypatia (Weisz) who leads a group of disciples fighting to save the wisdom of the Ancient World, as violent religious upheaval spills into the streets of Alexandria. Among these disciples are two men competing for her heart: the witty, privileged Orestes (Isaac) and Davus (Minghella), Hypatia’s young slave, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he knows can be his if he chooses to join ! the unstoppable surge of the Christians.Alternating between cosmic splendor and human squalor,
Agora is a movie of unusual ambition. In the last days of the Roman Empire, the Egyptian city of Alexandria is torn between the aristocratic pagan society and the emerging, rough-and-tumble Christians. As this broad cultural conflict teeters violently back and forth, the scientist-philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz,
The Brothers Bloom,
The Fountain) struggles to resolve the motion of the planets with her belief in celestial perfection. Tangled in her life are three men: a Roman prefect (Oscar Isaac,
Body of Lies), a Christian bishop (Rupert Evans,
Hellboy), and a slave (Max Minghella,
The Social Network) who turns to Christianity to escape his unrequited love for Hypatia. Some viewers will be uncomfortable with
Agora's depiction of early Christianity and others will quibble about the movie's historical accuracy, but the movie's theme! s--of faith vs. zealotry, of religion vs. the spirituality of ! science- -and its vivid depiction of one culture being brutally supplanted by another demonstrate a scope seldom found in contemporary film. Writer-director Alejandro Amenábar previously made popular ghost story
The Others, mind-bender
Open Your Eyes, and heartbreaker
The Sea Inside; clearly, this is a career to watch. Don't overlook the deleted scenes--the gorgeous original opening shot accentuates the twin pulls of science and spirituality.
--Bret FetzerA young woman believed to be a simpleton or worse a witch enrages the townsfolk when she falls in love with the mysterious survivor of a shipwreck. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 12/21/2004 Starring: Vincent Perez Kathy Bates Run time: 114 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Beeban KidronBased on the Joseph Conrad story "Amy Foster," this swirlingly romantic melodrama tells the story of a Polish sailor (Vincent Perez) shipwrecked and washed ashore on the English coast in the 19th century. ! Found by a servant girl, Amy (Rachel Weisz), who is a village outcast, he is considered retarded because no one can understand what he says. But slowly, through Amy's love and the doctor's tutelage, the sailor learns enough English to decide he wants to make an honest woman out of Amy. Which doesn't sit well with the disapproving villagers, who don't like Amy. Even the doctor, who has a fondness for the sailor, has a blind spot when it comes to the servant girl. Strong performances and gritty period settings lift this film above bodice-ripper status to something richer.
--Marshall FineTwo girls thrown together by their boyfriends violence accidentally kill one of them. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Iain Glen Alex Norton Run time: 89 minutes Rating: RPetula (Rachel Weisz) meets Dorothy (Susan Lynch) when Dorothy smacks a lead pipe into the head of Petula's boyfriend, who was strangling Petula at the time. Thus begins the darkly c! omic thriller
Beautiful Creatures--a little bit
Thel! ma & Lou ise, a little bit Alfred Hitchcock at his most sardonic. When Petula's boyfriend dies, she and Dorothy cook up a scheme to extort money out of the boyfriend's rich and vicious older brother--a scheme that would probably have fallen to pieces until an investigating police detective named George starts to help it along for devious reasons of his own. Soon Dorothy and Petula are coping with a bitten-off finger, Dorothy's own nasty boyfriend, a salesclerk with a bondage fetish, and more. Fans of movies with a similarly deadpan tone (like
Bound,
Fargo, and
Pulp Fiction) will love the film's caustic humor, and both Weisz and Lynch are delightful. Fast-paced and unpredictable,
Beautiful Creatures is a witty thriller that deserves attention.
--Bret Fetzer Yesterday, today, tomorrow. Past, present, future. Through time and space, one man embarks on a bold 1000-year odyssey to defeat humankind's most indomitable foe: Death. Hugh Jackman plays tha! t man, devoted to one woman (Rachel Weisz) and determined to protect her from forces that threaten her existence. His quest leads him to a Tree of Life...and to an adventure into eternity. Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) directs, continuing his string of imaginative, involving filmmaking with a tale alive with ideas and filled with astonishing vistas. "Not many films can blow your mind and break your heart at the same time, but this one will" (Drew McWeeny, Ain't It Cool News).Science fiction and romance collide in
The Fountain, the ambitious third feature from director Darren Aronofsky (
Pi, Requiem for a Dream), who labored for four years to complete this epic-sized love story that stretches across centuries and galaxies. Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (Aronofsky's real-life companion) play lovers in each of the film's three settings--16th century Europe and America (Jackman is a Spanish explorer searching for Incan magic), the present day (Jackman ! is a doctor attempting to cure his dying wife), and the 26th c! entury ( Jackman is a space traveler seeking a gateway to the afterlife)-â€"who struggle mightily to stay united, only to lose each other time and again. Aronofsky may not have chosen the easiest presentation for audiences to absorb his theories on the lasting qualities of life and the transformative powers of death-â€"the final sequence, in particular, with a bald Jackman floating through space in a bubble, harks back uncomfortably to "head movies" of the late '60s-â€"but his leads have considerable chemistry (and look terrific to boot), which goes a long way towards securing viewers' hopes for a happy ending. Critical reception for
The Fountain has been nothing short of bloodthirsty, with Cannes audiences booing, but there are elements to enjoy here, even if the premise throws one for a loop. Ellen Burstyn (who earned an Oscar nomination for
Requiem) delivers a typically solid performance as Jackman's boss in the present day sequence, and special effects (most done wi! thout the benefit of CGI) are also impressive given the film's low budget (spurred by a mid-production shutdown after original stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett ankled the picture). And science-fiction fans whose tastes run towards the metaphysical (Asimov, Le Guin) will appreciate the attempt to present the genre in a serious light.
--Paul Gaita
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