Subscribe
Home Blog Page 1179

It’s A Guy Thing

Uncut
-
0

DIRECTED BY Scott Roberts STARRING Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Taylor Opens September 12, Cert 18, 103 mins According to its producer Al Clark (now occupying an entirely different stratosphere from when he used to be the PR supremo for Virgin Records in London), The Hard Word is "Michael Mann's Heat re-imagined by the Coen brothers". That's a little far-fetched, but it does suggest something of the film's mix of criminal camaraderie, fraught psychological gamesmanship, and a heist that goes black-comically wrong. At the same time, it's the movie's unmistakable Australianness, with its uncrowded streets, open spaces and outbursts of Aussie backslang, that lends it much of its lopsided appeal. At the core of the plot are the Twentyman brothers, Dale, Mal and Shane, three Sydney bank robbers about to be released on bail thanks to a fix by their bent lawyer, Frank. Mal is the cheerful simpleton who dreams only of starting his own butchery business, Shane is a blonde psycho obsessed with his own body-beautiful, and Dale is the calm, analytical one, played by Guy Pearce with suppressed, smouldering menace. The story pivots on Pearce's twin relationships, one with his brothers and the other with his wife Carol. Pearce returned to the small pool of Oz flicks trailing clouds of glory from his work on LA Confidential and Memento, but he meets his match in Rachel Griffiths' performance as Carol. Blonde, shaped like an hourglass on steroids and delivering violent jolts of fatal sexuality, Griffiths artfully keeps her performance just the right side of parody, while always viewing proceedings with a quizzically arched eyebrow. It's to the credit of the rest of the cast that these two didn't swallow the picture whole. Robert Taylor's portrayal of crooked lawyer Frank oozes the self-justifying arrogance of the truly deluded, as he unwisely allows his apparent control of the Twentyman brothers, and his network of warped coppers and corrupt judges, to go to his head. And you might have guessed that his sleazeball-on-heat pursuit of Carol would end in tears. The only duff character is a shotgun-wielding English?supposedly?psycho, which only proves that umpteen Ashes victories have taught the Australians nothing about the Old Country.

DIRECTED BY Scott Roberts

STARRING Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Taylor

Opens September 12, Cert 18, 103 mins

According to its producer Al Clark (now occupying an entirely different stratosphere from when he used to be the PR supremo for Virgin Records in London), The Hard Word is “Michael Mann’s Heat re-imagined by the Coen brothers”. That’s a little far-fetched, but it does suggest something of the film’s mix of criminal camaraderie, fraught psychological gamesmanship, and a heist that goes black-comically wrong. At the same time, it’s the movie’s unmistakable Australianness, with its uncrowded streets, open spaces and outbursts of Aussie backslang, that lends it much of its lopsided appeal.

At the core of the plot are the Twentyman brothers, Dale, Mal and Shane, three Sydney bank robbers about to be released on bail thanks to a fix by their bent lawyer, Frank. Mal is the cheerful simpleton who dreams only of starting his own butchery business, Shane is a blonde psycho obsessed with his own body-beautiful, and Dale is the calm, analytical one, played by Guy Pearce with suppressed, smouldering menace.

The story pivots on Pearce’s twin relationships, one with his brothers and the other with his wife Carol. Pearce returned to the small pool of Oz flicks trailing clouds of glory from his work on LA Confidential and Memento, but he meets his match in Rachel Griffiths’ performance as Carol. Blonde, shaped like an hourglass on steroids and delivering violent jolts of fatal sexuality, Griffiths artfully keeps her performance just the right side of parody, while always viewing proceedings with a quizzically arched eyebrow.

It’s to the credit of the rest of the cast that these two didn’t swallow the picture whole. Robert Taylor’s portrayal of crooked lawyer Frank oozes the self-justifying arrogance of the truly deluded, as he unwisely allows his apparent control of the Twentyman brothers, and his network of warped coppers and corrupt judges, to go to his head. And you might have guessed that his sleazeball-on-heat pursuit of Carol would end in tears. The only duff character is a shotgun-wielding English?supposedly?psycho, which only proves that umpteen Ashes victories have taught the Australians nothing about the Old Country.

Reborn In The USA

Uncut
-
0
DIRECTED BY F Gary Gray STARRING Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland Opens September 19, Cert 12A, 110 mins First things first: this is not a remake of everyone's favourite career-defining Michael Caine flick. Apart from a brief in-jokey DVD clip of Caine as Charlie C...

DIRECTED BY F Gary Gray

STARRING Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Donald Sutherland

Opens September 19, Cert 12A, 110 mins

First things first: this is not a remake of everyone’s favourite career-defining Michael Caine flick. Apart from a brief in-jokey DVD clip of Caine as Charlie Croker and the climactic appearance of a trio of modern Mini Coopers, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Troy Kennedy Martin-scripted original. Most of it doesn’t even take place in Italy.

So what is this curious heist flick?other than the waste of a rights payment for the title? Two hours of amiable, undemanding, brain-dead fun, that’s what.

The unfailingly plank-like Marky Mark plays 2003’s Charlie Croker, gifted prot

Cypher

Uncut
-
0

OPENS SEPTEMBER 5, CERT 15, 96 MINS The second feature by the director of promising sci-fi picture Cube seems to delight in confounding expectations and undermining conventions?it takes a while to realise that the picture is not just a stylish thriller set in the world of corporate espionage, but also one of the most original and brain-bending sci-fi films for a long time. Jeremy Northam plays Morgan Sullivan, an unemployed, disillusioned accountant recruited by a multinational to perform low-level industrial espionage. But then the headaches and hallucinations start. And an exotic beauty called Rita seems to think his life is in danger. There are similarities to Minority Report, though Cypher is the equal of that film on a fraction of the budget and with virtually no special effects. But Memento is the movie with which this has most in common?a man cut loose from his own identity, searching for a version of the truth. Expect a series of switchbacks and U-turns rather than a nice easy ride.

OPENS SEPTEMBER 5, CERT 15, 96 MINS

The second feature by the director of promising sci-fi picture Cube seems to delight in confounding expectations and undermining conventions?it takes a while to realise that the picture is not just a stylish thriller set in the world of corporate espionage, but also one of the most original and brain-bending sci-fi films for a long time.

Jeremy Northam plays Morgan Sullivan, an unemployed, disillusioned accountant recruited by a multinational to perform low-level industrial espionage. But then the headaches and hallucinations start. And an exotic beauty called Rita seems to think his life is in danger.

There are similarities to Minority Report, though Cypher is the equal of that film on a fraction of the budget and with virtually no special effects. But Memento is the movie with which this has most in common?a man cut loose from his own identity, searching for a version of the truth. Expect a series of switchbacks and U-turns rather than a nice easy ride.

The Boy David Story

Uncut
-
0

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT PG, 95 MINS A chronological compilation drawn from six one-hour films by the late Desmond Wilcox, The Boy David Story concerns David Lopez, abandoned by his Campa Indian parents as a baby when he contracted a rare, hideous disease that destroyed the centre of his face. Rescued by a Swiss charity worker from a Peruvian hospital, Lopez was taken into care by plastic surgeon Ian Jackson and his wife Marjorie, who later adopted him. Today, following 95 operations, David Lopez is David Jackson, a 28-year-old graphic designer in LA. This movie retraces his journey, the harrowing surgery he's undergone and the struggles of his adoptive parents to acquire him a US visa in the face of Peruvian bureaucracy and callousness on the part of the American authorities, who at one point were determined to deport him. The Boy David Story is very sentimental?complete with a soundtrack comprising John Williams-style guitars and wistful pan-pipes?but, inevitably, deeply moving. The Boy done great.

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT PG, 95 MINS

A chronological compilation drawn from six one-hour films by the late Desmond Wilcox, The Boy David Story concerns David Lopez, abandoned by his Campa Indian parents as a baby when he contracted a rare, hideous disease that destroyed the centre of his face. Rescued by a Swiss charity worker from a Peruvian hospital, Lopez was taken into care by plastic surgeon Ian Jackson and his wife Marjorie, who later adopted him. Today, following 95 operations, David Lopez is David Jackson, a 28-year-old graphic designer in LA.

This movie retraces his journey, the harrowing surgery he’s undergone and the struggles of his adoptive parents to acquire him a US visa in the face of Peruvian bureaucracy and callousness on the part of the American authorities, who at one point were determined to deport him. The Boy David Story is very sentimental?complete with a soundtrack comprising John Williams-style guitars and wistful pan-pipes?but, inevitably, deeply moving. The Boy done great.

Raising Victor Vargas

Uncut
-
0
OPENS SEPTEMBER 19, CERT 15, 88 MINS A favourite at Cannes and Sundance, Peter Sollett's low-budget debut is an intermittently charming look at growing up poor and Latino on New York's Lower East Side. But for all the cheeky bravado of the mainly amateur cast, it remains cute'n'cosy, like Larry Cla...

OPENS SEPTEMBER 19, CERT 15, 88 MINS

A favourite at Cannes and Sundance, Peter Sollett’s low-budget debut is an intermittently charming look at growing up poor and Latino on New York’s Lower East Side. But for all the cheeky bravado of the mainly amateur cast, it remains cute’n’cosy, like Larry Clark without the edge.

Victor (Victor Rasuk) is 17 and lives in a tiny apartment with his younger brother, stroppy sister and old-fashioned granny. He fancies himself rotten, and struts around the local pool checking out the chicas. The apple of his eye is “Juicy” Judy (Judy Marte), a kind of Latino J-Lo meets Chlo

Citizen Verdict

Uncut
-
0
OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT 15, 98 MINS Following an upsurge in terrorism and violent crime, Florida's Governor Tyler (Roy Scheider) decides to greenlight a new TV concept dreamt up by producer Marty Rockman (Springer). Capital criminal cases are tried on TV, with viewers acting as jury. If the defend...

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT 15, 98 MINS

Following an upsurge in terrorism and violent crime, Florida’s Governor Tyler (Roy Scheider) decides to greenlight a new TV concept dreamt up by producer Marty Rockman (Springer). Capital criminal cases are tried on TV, with viewers acting as jury. If the defendant is found guilty, the execution will be televised on pay-per-view.

Armand Assante plays the liberal lawyer who mystifyingly goes along with this farce as counsel for the defence, only to suspect evidence is being doctored to ensure a ratings-grabbing outcome.

Could it happen? Of course it fucking couldn’t, as this grossly implausible movie incontrovertibly demonstrates. Citizen Verdict would have worked better as a black comedy, but writer/director Philippe Martinez opts for the melodramatic high ground instead. The d

Spirited Away

Uncut
-
0

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT U, 122 MINS Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are driving in their Audi to their new home in a new city. An ill-advised detour leads the family down a tunnel to a ghost town where a mysterious banquet waits. As her parents stuff themselves with so much food that they turn into pigs, a terrified Chihiro is forced to survive on her wits in a fantastical world of ghouls, talking frogs, wicked grandmothers and grotesque gods. The word "indescribable" is the last refuge of the punch-drunk hack, but Spirited Away lets its fingers run so deftly across the keys of dream, fantasy and memory that it's as much as you can do to keep from drowning (a fate that keeps rearing up in Chihiro's subconscious as she soars on the back of a flying river-dragon or travels across beautiful landscapes on a magic train). The film manages to quote from every myth you've ever known, from Alice In Wonderland to Cinderella and presumably their Japanese equivalents, but?thanks to cunning graphics and cartwheeling imaginative twists?it's ultimately like nothing you've ever seen.

OPENS SEPTEMBER 12, CERT U, 122 MINS

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are driving in their Audi to their new home in a new city. An ill-advised detour leads the family down a tunnel to a ghost town where a mysterious banquet waits. As her parents stuff themselves with so much food that they turn into pigs, a terrified Chihiro is forced to survive on her wits in a fantastical world of ghouls, talking frogs, wicked grandmothers and grotesque gods.

The word “indescribable” is the last refuge of the punch-drunk hack, but Spirited Away lets its fingers run so deftly across the keys of dream, fantasy and memory that it’s as much as you can do to keep from drowning (a fate that keeps rearing up in Chihiro’s subconscious as she soars on the back of a flying river-dragon or travels across beautiful landscapes on a magic train). The film manages to quote from every myth you’ve ever known, from Alice In Wonderland to Cinderella and presumably their Japanese equivalents, but?thanks to cunning graphics and cartwheeling imaginative twists?it’s ultimately like nothing you’ve ever seen.

Massage In A Brothel

Uncut
-
0

In this defiant anti-western from Robert Altman, searing desert sunshine has become thick mountain rain, Utah is swapped for British Columbia, the saloon is a brothel, the women are heroes, the men are cowards, and in gunfights you shoot to kill?in the back. In this shadowy world, lit mostly like a Dutch master by Vilmos Zsigmond, Warren Beatty's bumbling, insecure pimp is the perfect protagonist. His ambitions, his towering self-doubt, his coyly romantic relationship with brothel madam Julie Christie, and his final desperate showdown with three hired killers provide the movie's cool nihilism with a warm, resonating soul. It's impossible not to be moved by Beatty as McCabe, pre-gunfight, alone, utterly terrified, rehearsing a courtship speech he'll never give. "I got poetry in me!" he says to himself, voice cracking with emotion, "I do! I got poetry in me!" One of the best westerns, ever.

In this defiant anti-western from Robert Altman, searing desert sunshine has become thick mountain rain, Utah is swapped for British Columbia, the saloon is a brothel, the women are heroes, the men are cowards, and in gunfights you shoot to kill?in the back. In this shadowy world, lit mostly like a Dutch master by Vilmos Zsigmond, Warren Beatty’s bumbling, insecure pimp is the perfect protagonist. His ambitions, his towering self-doubt, his coyly romantic relationship with brothel madam Julie Christie, and his final desperate showdown with three hired killers provide the movie’s cool nihilism with a warm, resonating soul. It’s impossible not to be moved by Beatty as McCabe, pre-gunfight, alone, utterly terrified, rehearsing a courtship speech he’ll never give. “I got poetry in me!” he says to himself, voice cracking with emotion, “I do! I got poetry in me!” One of the best westerns, ever.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Uncut
-
0

Philip Noyce's deceptively simple tale, describing the inspirational Disneyesque homeward journey of three headstrong aboriginal children, is accompanied by a stinging assault on the rarely explored genocidal project central to Australian nationhood, and in particular the crisis of the country's infamous "Stolen Generations". The result, simultaneously palatable and unnerving, is a contemporary cinematic anomaly?a politically provocative piece of mainstream film-making. DVD EXTRAS: Audio commentary, Making Of... documentary, trailer. Rating Star (KM)

Philip Noyce’s deceptively simple tale, describing the inspirational Disneyesque homeward journey of three headstrong aboriginal children, is accompanied by a stinging assault on the rarely explored genocidal project central to Australian nationhood, and in particular the crisis of the country’s infamous “Stolen Generations”. The result, simultaneously palatable and unnerving, is a contemporary cinematic anomaly?a politically provocative piece of mainstream film-making.

DVD EXTRAS: Audio commentary, Making Of… documentary, trailer. Rating Star

(KM)

A Touch Of Zen

Uncut
-
0

Originally re-edited and released in two parts, King Hu's lengthy 1969 spiritual kung-fu masterpiece here appears as the director intended. The first half is slow, as an underachieving artist meets a beautiful damsel in a haunted fort. Then the fighting begins. Less concerned with special effects than the communication of "zen" through the feeling of the film, it's a truly beautiful piece. DVD EXTRAS: Filmographies, director's notes.Rating Star

Originally re-edited and released in two parts, King Hu’s lengthy 1969 spiritual kung-fu masterpiece here appears as the director intended. The first half is slow, as an underachieving artist meets a beautiful damsel in a haunted fort. Then the fighting begins. Less concerned with special effects than the communication of “zen” through the feeling of the film, it’s a truly beautiful piece.

DVD EXTRAS: Filmographies, director’s notes.Rating Star

The Life Of David Gale

Uncut
-
0

Unfairly pilloried on its theatrical release for co-opting the dolefully serious subject of capital punishment into a twist-ending thriller, Alan Parker's depiction of the eponymous philosophy professor and death row defendant (Kevin Spacey?droll), gutsy crusading journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet?er, enthusiastic), and their frenetic race to prove Gale's innocence is fundamentally competent?sometimes clinical?studio entertainment. DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Parker, deleted scenes, Making Of..., music featurette, posters, trailers.

Unfairly pilloried on its theatrical release for co-opting the dolefully serious subject of capital punishment into a twist-ending thriller, Alan Parker’s depiction of the eponymous philosophy professor and death row defendant (Kevin Spacey?droll), gutsy crusading journalist Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet?er, enthusiastic), and their frenetic race to prove Gale’s innocence is fundamentally competent?sometimes clinical?studio entertainment.

DVD EXTRAS: Commentary from Parker, deleted scenes, Making Of…, music featurette, posters, trailers.

Bulletproof Monk

Uncut
-
0

Comic book adaptation with Woo favourite Chow Yun-Fat as a kind of near-immortal arse-kicking Dalai Lama who's spent the last 60 years battling baddies for possession of the Scroll of the Ultimate. And now it's time to pass the baton to a younger chap. You could see it as a martial arts Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or a Crouching Tiger for nitwits. Or you could not see it at all. The choice is yours.

Comic book adaptation with Woo favourite Chow Yun-Fat as a kind of near-immortal arse-kicking Dalai Lama who’s spent the last 60 years battling baddies for possession of the Scroll of the Ultimate. And now it’s time to pass the baton to a younger chap. You could see it as a martial arts Raiders Of The Lost Ark, or a Crouching Tiger for nitwits. Or you could not see it at all. The choice is yours.

L’Homme Du Train

Uncut
-
0

Patrice Leconte (Ridicule) brings a sombre poetic realism to this elegiac meditation on the nature of fate and the road less travelled. Johnny Hallyday, battered and craggy with gravitas, is awesomely iconic as the taciturn gangster who encounters Jean Rochefort's inquisitive retired schoolteacher. The two men are inexorably attracted, seeing in the other the tragedy of the life they never lived.

Patrice Leconte (Ridicule) brings a sombre poetic realism to this elegiac meditation on the nature of fate and the road less travelled. Johnny Hallyday, battered and craggy with gravitas, is awesomely iconic as the taciturn gangster who encounters Jean Rochefort’s inquisitive retired schoolteacher. The two men are inexorably attracted, seeing in the other the tragedy of the life they never lived.

The Rookie

Uncut
-
0

Mining that fecund Field Of Dreams territory, where baseball and unresolved Oedipal complexes collide, The Rookie is a rousing real-life account of loyal Texan husband, science teacher and occasional 98mph pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), whose small-town existence and lifelong battles with cantankerous pop (Brian Cox) are suddenly transformed by the offer of a place in the Major League.

Mining that fecund Field Of Dreams territory, where baseball and unresolved Oedipal complexes collide, The Rookie is a rousing real-life account of loyal Texan husband, science teacher and occasional 98mph pitcher Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid), whose small-town existence and lifelong battles with cantankerous pop (Brian Cox) are suddenly transformed by the offer of a place in the Major League.

Analyze That

Uncut
-
0

A rather contrived sequel to 1999's Billy Crystal/Robert De Niro buddy comedy (Analyze This), Analyze That nonetheless has enough sporadic wit and infectious Hope/Crosby chemistry to justify its existence. Here De Niro's neurotic mobster is released from prison into the protective custody of Crystal's wisecracking shrink (don't ask). Cue some 'fish out of water' shenanigans, a Sopranos parody, and a grand heist finale.

A rather contrived sequel to 1999’s Billy Crystal/Robert De Niro buddy comedy (Analyze This), Analyze That nonetheless has enough sporadic wit and infectious Hope/Crosby chemistry to justify its existence. Here De Niro’s neurotic mobster is released from prison into the protective custody of Crystal’s wisecracking shrink (don’t ask). Cue some ‘fish out of water’ shenanigans, a Sopranos parody, and a grand heist finale.

Thunderbolt And Lightfoot

Uncut
-
0

Four years before The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino made his debut as writer and director with this macho love story, starring Clint Eastwood as a typically crusty old bank robber and Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges as his wide-eyed and adoring young sidekick. Excellent support from George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis as a couple of hoods after Clint's ass (as it were).

Four years before The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino made his debut as writer and director with this macho love story, starring Clint Eastwood as a typically crusty old bank robber and Oscar-nominated Jeff Bridges as his wide-eyed and adoring young sidekick. Excellent support from George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis as a couple of hoods after Clint’s ass (as it were).

Othello

Uncut
-
0

Filming in Venice and Morocco whenever funds permitted, Orson Welles shot this adaptation of The Bard's play in scraps over four years in the late 1940s. The circumstances?there were literally years between shots?inspired kaleidoscopic editing and audacious improvisation:when costumes failed to arrive for a critical murder, Welles restaged it half-naked in a Turkish bath. The result:the most vibrant slice of Shakespeare-noir ever filmed.

Filming in Venice and Morocco whenever funds permitted, Orson Welles shot this adaptation of The Bard’s play in scraps over four years in the late 1940s. The circumstances?there were literally years between shots?inspired kaleidoscopic editing and audacious improvisation:when costumes failed to arrive for a critical murder, Welles restaged it half-naked in a Turkish bath. The result:the most vibrant slice of Shakespeare-noir ever filmed.

The Daytrippers

Uncut
-
0

The promising 1996 debut by Greg Mottola, The Daytrippers is the epitome of early-'90s Sundance syndrome, where fulsome character and sharp dialogue take precedence over narrative logic. Thus, on the whim of daughter Eliza (Hope Davis), the entire Malone family (including indie queen Parker Posey) take an entertaining but essentially unjustifiable day trip to Manhattan.

The promising 1996 debut by Greg Mottola, The Daytrippers is the epitome of early-’90s Sundance syndrome, where fulsome character and sharp dialogue take precedence over narrative logic. Thus, on the whim of daughter Eliza (Hope Davis), the entire Malone family (including indie queen Parker Posey) take an entertaining but essentially unjustifiable day trip to Manhattan.

Heaven

Uncut
-
0

Miraculous, much underrated adaptation of posthumous Kieslowski screenplay by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer. Cate Blanchett is a British teacher in Turin who, as an act of vengeance, becomes an unlikely terrorist. Young policeman Giovanni Ribisi falls in love and joins her on the run, but it's more about magic realism and haunting, luminous beauty.

Miraculous, much underrated adaptation of posthumous Kieslowski screenplay by Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer. Cate Blanchett is a British teacher in Turin who, as an act of vengeance, becomes an unlikely terrorist. Young policeman Giovanni Ribisi falls in love and joins her on the run, but it’s more about magic realism and haunting, luminous beauty.

The Swimmer

Uncut
-
0
Based on a John Cheever story, this 1968 movie stars Burt Lancaster as a seemingly prosperous and urbane middle-aged man who decides to swim back to his suburban house via all the pools in the neighbourhood. But his journey turns out to be an expos...

Based on a John Cheever story, this 1968 movie stars Burt Lancaster as a seemingly prosperous and urbane middle-aged man who decides to swim back to his suburban house via all the pools in the neighbourhood. But his journey turns out to be an expos

1...1,1781,1791,180...1,271Page 1,179 of 1,271

SHOP UNCUT