Jean-jacques Annaud

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Enemy at the Gates, The Lover) returns to wild animal territory last seen in his film The Bear, choosing to focus his latest project - a children's movie - on two live, non-talking, non-CGI tigers. The result is a pleasantly sweet-natured and sometimes remarkable kids' film. Perhaps the biggest shocker is that, in these days of Babe and Pixar, Universal let this honest tale get out of the edit room without CGI-ing in even a single eyebrow-raise on these cubs' faces.

Continue reading: Two Brothers Review

First, and foremost, because of its screenplay. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years in Tibet, The Bear) and partner Alain Godard take a horrific true tale and sap it of its energy, irony, and tension. It starts off impressively enough: Russian soliders are immediately gunned down as they arrive in Stalingrad -- if not by the enemy, then by their own officers, who kill the boys when they retreat in terror. Vassily Zaitsev (Jude Law) becomes an instant hero when he plays dead, and in sniper fashion, shoots a number of unsuspecting Nazis.

Continue reading: Enemy At The Gates Review

Released just in time for a wave of anti-French sentiment, the film follows a French colony in Africa's Ivory Coast on the eve of World War I. The Frenchmen discover that war has been declared, so they figure they'll do their part by attacking the German colony up the river. After all, they have six rifles, and one of them's an automatic.

Continue reading: Black And White In Color Review