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Kavita Daswani

Pearl Harbor

A dramatic re-enactment of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Starring Ben Affleck, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight, Josh Hartnett and Tom Sizemore.

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

'The film's immense cast and crew . . . blend artistry and technology to create a blockbuster entertainment that has passion, valour and tremendous action. Its combination of authentic aircraft and ships, stunt work and special effects re-creates the bombing in all its precise ferocity and immense scale. And despite its scale, Pearl Harbor has a brisk pace that makes this three-hour war epic seem like half that time.'

David Hunter

Hollywood Reporter

'Pearl Harbor strives to weave a story of personal dimensions into large historic events but mostly tests one's patience with unseaworthy dialogue and performers drowning in oily cliches. Ben Affleck as a pilot who can't wait to be a hero and Kate Beckinsale as a Navy nurse who falls for him are always photographed for maximum iconographic value, and it gets to be wearying.'

Leah Rozen

People

'Bloated and boring, Pearl Harbor is a collection of war-movie cliches in search of an epic. Director Michael Bay allows this sappy romantic drama disguised as an action film to drag on for three finger-drumming hours. While the actual, extended battle scenes are technically dazzling - full of diving fighter bombers and exploding warships - the story and dialogue that surround and accompany them are as hackneyed as a daytime soap opera.'

The Road Home

An emotional drama about a son who, on the way to his father's funeral, remembers the story of his parents' courtship in late 1950s China. The cast includes Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Zheng Hao, Zhao Yuelin and Li Bin.

Leah Rozen

People

'When her beloved husband dies, an elderly Chinese widow insists on weaving by hand a covering for his coffin just as, many years before, she wove a cloth to bring him good luck teaching at a newly built rural school. Weaving past and present together with just as much care, The Road Home shifts gracefully between the widow's preparations for the funeral and her determined pursuit as an 18-year-old villager ... of the shy young schoolmaster who would become her spouse.'

Kevin Thomas

Los Angeles Times

'A work of poetic grandeur celebrating the natural magnificence of the rolling hills in which a primitive village is nestled ... a paean to the power of love as sustenance in difficult times and to the value of learning ... The film is suffused with the relentlessness and inevitability of change ... a gorgeous film with a vision strong enough to sustain heart-tugging ... that verges on the sentimental. The film is also a showcase for Zhang Ziyi, who is never less than enchanting.'



What The Critics Say