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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 October 2007

A terrorist attack has taken place in Saudi Arabia.  A bomb was detonated inside an American housing compound in the city of Riyadh.  As medical teams helped the injured and detectives looked over the scene, a second bomb was detonated.  This was a carefully planned attack and many lives were lost as a result.

Back in the United States, Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Foxx) of the FBI wants to take a team to Saudi Arabia to help with the investigation.  His first request is denied.  The Saudi authorities don’t want to be seen as requiring assistance from the United States – it will make them look weak.  After lobbying some influential people, Fleury gets his permission.  He takes 3 other agents (played by Cooper, Garner and Bateman) and leaves on a top-secret flight.

Their first day in Riyadh isn’t as productive as they’d hoped.  They are given only limited access to the crime scene and the Saudi military are keeping a very close eye on them.  Despite this, they still manage to make some key breakthroughs.  With the help of Colonel Ghazi (Barhom), the four Americans are closing in on the terrorists responsible.

The Kingdom started promisingly enough.  The early scenes highlighted the difficulties that FBI agents face when investigating a crime in another country.  From about the half way point though, the film deteriorated rapidly.  I realised that this wasn’t a serious thriller but rather a standard Hollywood action flick.  Bullets and clichés were flying everywhere.  How can someone can be shot at 100 times and not get hit once?  I’ve been asking this question for a long time and I haven’t found an answer yet.

Some viewers won’t be perturbed by this criticism and won’t mind that this is filled with predictable action.  It all depends on who you are.  Still, with a cast including the likes of Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner, I expected better value for money.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 September 2007

Evan Almighty has already received a lot of bad publicity before reaching Australia.  It cost an estimated $175m to make which makes it the most expensive comedy movie in history.  Its box-office returns have been very poor.  It has made only $100m in the United States which is less than half of what the original Bruce Almighty grossed.

This film tells the story of Evan Baxter (Carell), a recently elected politician who has moved with his family to Washington.  It’s a difficult transition for his wife and three sons who have left their family and friends behind to support Evan in his new career.

On his very first day, Evan realises just how demanding his job is going to be.  Congressman Chuck Long (Goodman) asks for his support in endorsing a controversial new bill.  Given just 24 hours to review the bill, Evan is forced to cancel a planned hiking trip with his kids.  They aren’t too happy about it.

As all this goes on, Evan is visited by God (Freeman).  God tells him that a massive flood is coming and that he must build an ark.  God will provide the buildings materials and once complete, it must have room for two of every animal.  Evan doesn’t believe a word of it but things soon change when God starts meddling in his life.  God gives Evan a beard that can’t be shaved off and forces him wear some strange, ancient robes.  Evan realises he doesn’t have a choice and starts work on the project.

My plot description has been brief but it’s all this film deserves.  Evan Almighty is a G-rated family flick which tries too hard to please its audience.  Some will be able to look past the plot holes and the lack of logic by saying that “it’s only a movie”.  If this is the case, you might actually enjoy the movie.  If you’re like me however, you’d going to be asking a lot of questions which will go unanswered.

How did Evan get a hold of animals such as elephants, lions, giraffes and polar bears?  Why aren’t the onlookers surprised by this either?  How did Evan manage to build it all so quickly (even with the help of his kids and the animals)?  It looked like an awfully big project to me.

Furthermore, when the flood does come, are the people and animals who don’t get on the ark killed?  This seems to be glossed over.  By the way, I’m not giving anything away by mentioning that the flood does happen as it’s shown in the film’s trailer (another poor decision).

Evan Almighty provides little more than two hours of wasted time.  In a sarcastic tone, let me finish by saying that’s $175m well spent.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 October 2007

When it comes to comedy, few people do it better than the English.  Each year, they seem to come with an array of riotous movies and television shows.  I’d name some examples but that would be unfair to the great comedies that I forget to mention.  If you give it some thought for a moment, I’m sure you’ll come up with a worthy list of your own.

Death At A Funeral is made in the same vein of many great English comedies.  It takes a serious situation and turns it into a complete farce.  I’m not surprised that the script attracted the attention of director Frank Oz.  He’s made some hilarious movies in his long career including Bowfinger, In & Out and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Oz is most famous though for his voice.  He is the man behind such characters as Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear on The Muppet Show Bert and Bert and the Cookie Monster on Sesame Street.  He is also the voice of Yoda in the Star Wars movies.

With a script from young writer Dean Craig, Oz has created a film where each scene is more outrageous than the last.  As the title suggests, it all takes place at a funeral.  A small group of family and friends have come together to pay their respects to a man who recently passed away.  The day doesn’t start well with the funeral company accidentally bringing the wrong coffin to the service.

That’s just the start of what becomes a chaotic afternoon.  I won’t go into too much detail because I’d hate to spoil the jokes.  Many people have compared the film to Four Weddings & A Funeral and it’s a good analogy.  I don’t think Death At A Funeral is as witty but it features the same type of humour.  That should give you a fair indication of what to expect.

I will mention one cast member – Alan Tudyk (A Knight’s Tale) stands out with an extremely funny performance.  Whilst stressing out in the lead up to the funeral, his girlfriend gives him a valium tablet from a bottle she finds on her brother’s kitchen table.  It turns out that it’s not valium – it’s actually acid.  Over the next few hours, he will behave like he’s never behaved before.  His actions during the funeral service left me cringing in my seat and covering my eyes.

This is a very enjoyable film but I admit that some of the jokes were a little too obvious.  You could see them coming from a long way away (well, at least I could).  The finale with the coffin is a good idea.  Still, it’s not easy putting together a great comedy and young screenwriter Dean Craig has done an admirable job.  For the most part, this film is a “crowd pleaser” in every sense of the word.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 September 2007

Maps, Misty, Sparks and Spit are four boys who live at a Catholic orphanage in the Australian outback.  They are best friends who share the same birth month, December (and hence the film’s title).  They enjoy their life at the orphanage but deep down, they yearn to be adopted by a loving family.

As a special birthday treat, the nuns of the orphanage are sending the four boys on a holiday.  An elderly couple who live on a remote part of the South Australian coast have agreed to take care of them for a few weeks.  The boys couldn’t be more excited.

Over the course of the holidays, the boys learn a lot of life lessons and have much fun in the process.  Maps has his first experience with a girl.  Spark tries to catch a legendary fish which has eluded fisherman for years.  Misty tries to the win the affections of a young couple with the hope of being adopted.  They are provided with valuable memories which will stay with them their entire lives.

December Boys is based on the novel by Michael Noonan, first published in 1994.  The movie falls victim to a common problem with book adaptations – there’s too much material to condense into a two hour film.  As a result, the film feels fragmented and you don’t get to know the characters in any real depth.  There are also some strange sub-plots (one involving a legendary fish) that have no purpose in the film.  I left the cinema feeling that I’d only seen part of the story.

Lead actor Daniel Radcliffe is a smart 18-year-old.  He doesn’t want to be typecast as “the kid from Harry Potter” and is trying to broaden his resume.  In the past 12 months, he’s poked fun at himself in a hilarious episode of Extras (with Ricky Gervais) and featured in a West End revival of the Equus (which got much publicity because of his full frontal nudity).  December Boys won’t be regarded as Radcliffe’s greatest work (it’s actually not that big of a role) but it completes another stepping stone for him.

Writer Marc Rosenberg and director Ron Hardy have struggled with the material but the movie isn’t a total write off.  There are certain scenes that I really enjoyed.  The touching ending left a little moisture in my eyes (which doesn’t happen too often).  December Boys shows a lot of promise but it could have been much better.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 September 2007

Grant (Pinsent) and Fiona (Christie) have been married for almost half a century.  They’ve always thought that they’d be together until the very end.  It will not be the case however as Fiona’s is showing signs of having Alzheimer’s Disease.  Her short-term memory is failing and Grant is becoming increasingly concerned.

A doctor strongly suggested that Fiona be put into an aged care facility.  There, she will be able to get the increased level of care which is required by someone in Fiona’s condition.  It’s perhaps the hardest decision that Grant has ever had to make in his life.  He knows that once she is admitted, it’s very unlikely that she will ever return home.

Fiona too understands the situation.  She tells Grant that he has to let go and put her in the home.  She knows it’s the right thing to do and she doesn’t want to be a burden for the rest of his life.  The decision is made.  After 44 years together, Grant and Fiona will now live their lives apart.

Grant regularly visits Fiona at the hospital but as expected, her memories continue to fade.  The only thing that seems to give her pleasure is the company of a wheelchair-bound mute (Murphy) who also lives at the home.  Grant is somewhat jealous of the attention that Fiona gives this other man.

To help deal with the situation, Grant develops a friendship with a young nurse named Kristy (Thomson).  He expresses his emotions and she does his best to comfort him.  As a nurse at the home, it’s a situation that Kristy has seen all too frequently.  It’s not easy to see a loved one slip slowly away.

Away From Her is a love story above anything else.  The film doesn’t dwell on the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease or any possible cures or experimental medial treatments.  It’s the simple tale of two people who have realised that their time together is coming to an end.

It has been nicely told by 28-year-old writer-director Sarah Polley.  Polley has been acting since she was a child and has starred in some of my all time favourite films including The Sweet Hereafter (my favourite film of 1998) and Go.  Having been directed by the likes of Atom Egoyan, Doug Liman and David Cronenberg, it seems Polley has learned a great deal.  This is the first major film she has directed and it has been well received at film festivals across the globe.  It cost just $3.4m to produce.

The reason this film will touch audiences is because of the performances of its two stars – Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent.  Few words are shared between them but you’ll understand their connection by looking at their actions and emotions.  Christie is tipped to earn an Academy Award nomination early next year for her role (she won an Oscar back in 1965 for Darling).

There are a few elements to the story that I didn’t understand (such as why the home wouldn’t allow Grant to visit Fiona in the first 30 days) but I still enjoyed Away From Her.  I think a lot of other people will too.