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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 May 2010

The story begins in the late 12^th Century with King John (Isaac) appointed to the English throne following the death of his father.  The power has quickly overwhelmed him.  Persuaded by his new advisor, King John demands that taxes be raised.  Those who do not pay will see their houses burned to the ground.

It turns out King John’s advisor has an ulterior motive.  His name is Godfrey and his loyalties lie elsewhere.  Hiding behind the King’s mandate, he uses his soldiers to obliterate townships across England.  His plan is to incite a civil war and leave the country open to attack from the French army.

A man by the name of Robin Longstride (Crowe) will stand between Godfrey and his ambitious goals.  You could call him an accidental hero.  After returning from battle in France, Robin goes to the small northern town of Nottingham to fulfil the last wish of a dead solider.  He asked that his sword be returned to his estranged father (Sydow).

With no home of his own, Robin is welcomed into the family of the late soldier.  His eyes are then opened to the oppression suffered by the townsfolk.  Despite all their hard work, their money is taken by the King and their food is taken by the Church.  The time has come to unite the people of England and fight for equality.

It’s hard not to compare this film with Gladiator.  Both movies are set in long-ago times.  Both movies are directed by Ridley Scott.  Both movies star Russell Crowe.  Unfortunately, Robin Hood can’t match Gladiator in terms of its passion and excitement.  It’s slow to start and things don’t start to get interesting until the second hour.  The momentum achieved is then lost with a rushed, clichéd conclusion.

There are some good performances amongst the cast.  The wonderful Max von Sydow shines as Sir Walter Loxley, the father of the slain soldier.  He’s such a great character to listen to.  Cate Blanchett is also nice as the feisty Marion Loxley, Robin’s developing love interest.

I can’t say the same for Russell Crowe.  I admire him as an actor but his monotone demeanour doesn’t work here.  There’s no life in the character at all.  The supporting players (such as King John and his influential mother) offer up more interesting dialogue and storylines.

With no expense spared on sets and costumes, Robin Hood ticks many boxes in its quest to be an epic blockbuster.  The direction of the action scenes late in the film was a little haphazard but on the whole, this is a well made production.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 April 2010

While tidying up the Bolshoi offices, Andrei notices a fax which has just arrived.  It’s a lucrative offer for the Bolshoi orchestra to perform at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris.  It gives Andrei a crazy idea.  He destroys the fax and then calls the Châtelet to accept their offer.  He’s going to put together his own orchestra and take them to Paris… under the guise that they’re the real Bolshoi.

Yes, he wants to reinvigorate his conducting career but there’s another reason why Andrei wants to pull off this elaborate scam.  He has asked for a renowned French violin player named Anne-Marie Jacquet (Laurent) to be the show’s key soloist.  Andrei has followed Anne-Marie’s career closely and this will be his chance to meet her.

The Concert is a mix of comedy and drama.  As you can imagine from this farcical storyline, there are plenty of opportunities for humour.  Just wait until you see the eccentric group of Russian musicians that Andrei assembles for the performance.  From the moment they set foot in Paris, they’re an accident waiting to happen.

The dramatic elements to the story are a little underdeveloped but they culminate with a great finale in which Andrei finally performs his dream concert.  I’m no guru when it comes to classical music but Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra is a beautiful piece of music.  Director Radu Mihaileanu weaves glimpses of the both the past and the future into this emotive sequence.

I wasn’t familiar with most of the cast members but Melanie Laurent will catch the eye of many following her memorable performance in last year’s Inglourious Basterds.  She’s great here again.  I don’t know if she can actually play the violin but she sure looks like it.

It didn’t hold my attention all the way through but I liked the ending and I hope others do too.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 May 2010

It’s a simple plot which centres on Jim (Cowell) and his girlfriend of more than three years, Alice (Strahovski).  They’re out at dinner one night and Jim pulls a ring from his pocket.  Alice starts to get excited.  Is this going to be the moment she’s been waiting for?  The answer is no.  It turns out Jim’s gift is just a “commitment ring” and Alice isn’t happy.  She gets something else off her chest.  Not once in all their time together has he ever said “I love you”.

Alice breaks it off with Jim and starts planning a permanent move to London.  Jim knows his time his short and that he’ll do anything to get her back.  His best friend Blake (Helliar) isn’t much help though.  There’s a dumb scene in the film where he hires an older-looking prostitute to help Jim get “back in the game”.  I guess I didn’t find this as funny as some.

When Jim gets his best advice is from an American guy named Charlie (Dinklage) who he meets in rather unusual circumstances.  They agree that Jim should write a love letter to Alice and express his true feelings.  Will it work?  Can Alice’s heart be won back?

I do my best to support Australian cinema but I didn’t like this movie.  I didn’t mind the opening but it degenerates with each passing minute.  The jokes are silly and it reminded me in many ways of a cheesy American sitcom.  The only thing missing was a laugh track in the background.  I kept hoping the film would be redeemed by a great ending but alas, it was not to be.

It’s Peter Helliar’s first screenplay and I give him credit for getting this off the ground.  As filmmakers in this country will tell you, it’s tough finding the financiers to bring local scripts to life.  That said, I didn’t think much of the writing here.  There are some sub-plots (such as Alice’s friendship with her boss) that go nowhere.

The best scenes in the film revolve around the great Peter Dinklage.  He’s a gifted actor who many will remember from films including The Station Agent and Death At A Funeral.  A friend of mine summed it up best when he said he cared more about Dinklage than the two leads.  That’s spot on.  He’s the film’s only interesting character.

There’s an audience for romantic comedies in Australia.  That’s the only way I explain how the god-awful The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler recently made $5m here.  Will we support a locally made rom-com?  We’ll find out from this Thursday.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 April 2010

While in Rome for her younger sister’s wedding, she stumbles across the Fountain of Love.  The legend goes that if you throw a coin in the fountain then you will find your true love.  The cynical Beth doesn’t believe in such fairytales and somewhat intoxicated, she takes off her shoes and steps into the fountain.  She then picks up five coins from the bottom and slips them into her purse.  Beth wants to save the people who have made these foolish wishes.

It turns out there are ramifications.  If you remove a coin from the fountain, its owner will fall madly in love with you.  Sure enough, Beth returns to New York and finds five guys working very hard to win her affections.  Could the legend really be true?

Complicating matters is the fact that Beth really likes one of these guys.  His name is Nick (Duhamel) and the met back in Italy at the wedding.  Beth’s not sure what to do though.  Does Nick really like her or is he just under some magical spell that will soon go away?

There’s an audience for films like this.  You will not find me among them.  This is a silly, cheesy romantic comedy that defies logic.  Even if you don’t mind the “too hard to believe” premise, you’ll probably feel disappointed by the lack of chemistry between stars Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.  I don’t know why he kept pursuing her given how badly she treated him.

The best parts of the film are when Beth interacts with her other four suitors.  They provide the film’s only laughs (which are still few and far between).  Playing a gothic-looking magician, Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) is the best of the cast.

The saying goes that “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  I’d like to hope that watching mediocre romantic comedies like this is not something they’d do on a regular basis.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 28 April 2010

That’s not the case here.  I liked the premise of Iron Man 2 and whilst it won’t be winning Academy Awards, the screenplay is all you could ask for from an action film.

When we’re reintroduced to Tony Stark (Downey Jr), he’s defending himself in front of a Senate hearing.  The U.S. military want him to hand over the technology for his iron man suits.  They can then use them to booster their defence force and become an even bigger military power.

Stark wants none of this.  He likes having the power and proudly proclaims that he’s “privatised world peace.”  He doesn’t want to see the technology abused by the government.  It’s a sound argument but there is a flip side.  Stark’s flamboyance is growing and many are concerned that his ego clouds his judgement.  Yes, he’s saving the world now but what happens if he has a change of heart?  What happens if a rival creates similar technology?

That situation is about to present itself.  A Russian scientist named Ivan Vanko (Rourke) has created his own iron man suit and attacks Stark while in Monte Carlo.  Stark narrowly escapes with his life and Vanko is sent to prison.  It’s certainly a wake up call.  But that’s not the last we’ll see of Vanko.  Justin Hammer, a big-name weapons manufacturer, is keen to harness and profit from this amazing technology.  He busts Vanko out of jail and sets him to work on developing an even better iron man suit.  They forge an uneasy partnership which can only end badly…

Similar in ways to the last two Batman movies, I like the exploration between good and evil.  Sometimes there’s a fine line that separates them.  I always come back to the great quote from The Dark Knight – “you can either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”.  That’s the case here and whilst Stark’s antics are quite humorous, he’s not your stereotypical type hero.  He makes his fair share of mistakes.

There’s a lot more to the plot which I haven’t gone into.  Scarlett Johansson pops up with an interesting role as Stark’s new assistant.  As promised at the end of the last film, Samuel L. Jackson enters the story as a mysterious individual who helps Stark in a time of need.

Don Cheadle has replaced Terrence Howard in the role of James Rhodes and if you listen to his first piece of dialogue, you’ll pick up on a subtle reference regarding this.  I had to smile.  My pick of the cast though was Sam Rockwell as the money hungry Justin Hammer.  He’ll get under your skin with his overly suave demeanour.

My major grievance came at the very end.  I liked the plot development throughout but as I should have expected, it turns into your stock-standard action finale.  There’s lot of noise, fast paced editing and visual effects.  It’s not always easy to see what’s going on.  I do smirk at the way in avoids showing the loss of life which would have ordinarily occurred.  But they, that’s an action film for you.

I stayed for the entirety of the end credits and suggest you do the same.  You’ll see a quick glimpse of what’s to come to the next instalment.  I guess then next film is dependent on the financial success of this one but given the hype, I expect Iron Man 2 to fly into the box-office stratosphere this weekend.