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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 March 2004

I expected much better.  Once Upon A Time In Mexico is the third film in the series from writer/director Robert Rodriguez following 1992’s El Mariachi and 1995’s Desperado.  Antonio Banderas is back in the leading role but the only star of this film is Johnny Depp.  In the space of twelve months, Depp has shown that an otherwise ordinary character can be turned into something far more interesting.  I’m not the only one who agrees.  The Academy just awarded him with an Oscar nomination for Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

Depp plays a corrupt C.I.A. agent looking to kill a Mexican general.  There are many characters in the mix and given it’s been a few days since I’ve seen the film, it’s all become a blur.  Why couldn’t Rodriguez have made a more memorable film?  There’s a president in there somewhere and Antonio Banderas is a drifting guitar player looking to settle an old score.  Eva Mendes and Enrique Iglesias provide eye candy for the younger audience and Willem Dafoe and Mickey Rourke are in there to show that old guys still have what it takes.  That’s about that.

My point is that this film is just a glossed up muddle of action scenes lacking in story.  When you consider his first two films were made for less than $5m, Rodriguez hasn’t done enough with his $29m budget this time around.  He’s paid for some better actors and some half-decent stunt scenes but there’s no flow to the story and aside from Depp, not enough humour to appeal to me.

And that’s my two pesos.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 21 February 2004

A bad movie with a great soundtrack is still a bad movie.  There in lies the problem of One Perfect Day, a movie trying to cool but lets itself down with an incoherent screenplay.

Tommy (Spielman) is a pianist, violinist, musician and wannabe composer.  He’s studying in England and roams the streets with his microphone and mini-disc recorder looking for music and sounds to inspire him.  Back home in Australia, his girlfriend Alysse (Walsman) is waiting.  She’s a budding singer looking for a big break and may have found it when approached by a small-time music agent who wants to make her a star.

Tragedy will bring Tommy home when his sister Emma (Cornish), with whom he was very close, dies of a drug overdose in one of Melbourne’s leading nightclubs.  When he learns that it was his girlfriend who provided his sister the drugs, their relationship is all but over.  After the grieving period passes Tommy meets Trig (Phillips), an energetic raver who has a few contacts and sees promise.  Trig helps Tommy land a few gigs and at last, Tommy looks to have found the symphony he has been searching so long for.

I do hope my plot description is confusing as that was the lingering feeling I endured throughout.  There was little introduction to any of characters and I was unemotive towards their plight and eventual destiny.   Too many questions I was asking myself and director Paul Currie along with co-writer Chip Richards weren’t giving me the answers.

It’s always with reluctance that I dish out on an Aussie film.  We certainly have the talent to match it on the world stage but sadly that talent isn’t on display here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 February 2004

Released on Ash Wednesday, Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ is already the most talked about cinematic event of the year.  The film has been engulfed in controversy with some religious leaders claiming it falsely accuses the Jews as being responsible for Jesus’ death.  Religion is such a touchy subject and Gibson has taken a big career gamble in making this motion picture.  I confess it’s been many years since I’ve read the Bible so I will not enter into the heated debate over the film’s accuracy.

The Passion Of The Christ depicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus Christ.  The film begins with Jesus being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and concludes with his ultimate death on the crucifix.  Gibson wanted the film to be shot in the language of the time and at first, he didn’t even plan on having subtitles!  Thankfully for those of us who don’t speak Aramaic, Latin or Hebrew, they have now been included.  If you’re one of those moviegoers adverse to reading words off a screen, try to put aside your doubts as in no way do the subtitles detract from the story.

Now that the film has been released, the talk has switched from its factual accuracy to its graphic violence.  Leading American critic Roger Ebert describes it as “the most violent film I have ever seen” and here in Australia, David Stratton of The Movie Show labels it “the most relentless violent film I have ever seen”.  I dare not argue.  I guarantee that some will walk out of your screening.  The flogging, whipping and scourging of Jesus does not stop for over an hour.  Its highly questionable MA rating (open to anyone over the age of 15) is already raising eyebrows.

Taking on the leading role is Jim Caviezel, one of those guys who probably won’t know by name but may recognise by face.  His major roles to date have been in Frequency and The Count Of Monte Cristo but this film will surely be his signature.  He doesn’t say a lot but you will feel his suffering.  I do hope he is not overlooked this time next year when the award season begins again.  The only other actor you may recognise is Italian starlet Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded, Irreversible) but as Mary Magdalene, her talented was underutilised.

Braveheart won Mel Gibson the best director Oscar and The Passion Of The Christ is validation of this honour.   He is relentless in his pursuit of a vision and will accept nothing second rate.  I wish that a few other directors in Hollywood shared his passion and enthusiasm.  He is backed by an experienced crew and I single out cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (Fly Away Home) for his beautiful camera work.

I was certainly entranced by the film but do feel a little more substance was required.  I would have preferred the film to begin earlier along the timeline so as to learn more about the supporting characters rather than watch repeated floggings.  I also question the suitability of John Debney’s music score which at times is too loud and melodramatic.

With no leading stars and costing over $30m, The Passion Of The Christ was tipped by some to be a financial flop.  I guess as the saying goes - any publicity is good publicity.  Released in America over the weekend, early estimates show the film will gross in excess of $114m in its first five days.  This ranks it amongst the top 10 biggest openings of all time.  Already heavily discussed, you sense this is a film they will still talk about in the many years to come.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 February 2004

House Of Sand And Fog is an unconventional film in which there are two leading characters pitted against other but we are not required to take sides.  It comes to us from the acclaimed book by Andre Dubus III which I read only a few months ago.  I can’t recall seeing a film so truthfully resemble the novel from which it was adapted.

His government turned on him and Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani (Kinglsey) had no choice but to leave Iran and flee with his family to the United States.  The Colonel is a proud man and only his wife Nadi (Aghdashloo) knows that he works two jobs – one as a Council worker and one as a petrol station attendant.   The family rents an expensive apartment but Behrani knows they can no longer afford this.  Their savings are all but gone.

Kathy Nicolo (Connelly) is a troubled woman trapped in a world of depression.  Her family lives on the other side of the country and they don’t yet know that Kathy’s husband walked out on her 8 months ago.  She lives alone in the house her late father left her, struggles to pay her bills with a small cleaning job, and attends AA meetings to help fight her battle against the bottle.

On a Friday morning, a representative of the County Tax Office and two police offiers arrive on her doorstep.  She is to be evicted for an unpaid business tax fine of $500.  Kathy hasn’t been opening her mail and knows nothing of this.  It makes no sense to her since she doesn’t even own a business.  Police Officer Lester Bernham (Eldard) tells Kathy her best option will be to fight the matter with the County and gives her the phone number of an affordable lawyer.

The very next day, the house is bought at auction by Behrani for the bargain price of $45,000.  He has it immediately valued and realises it is worth four times what he paid for it.  It’s the investment opportunity of a lifetime and the profit he will make from the sale will boost the family savings and create a better life for his wife and son.

Kathy learns from her lawyer, Connie Walsh (Fisher), that the County had no right to take the house.  Unfortunately, the subsequent sale to Colonel Behrani is valid and the only way to keep fighting will be through a costly legal proceeding which could take months.  This isn’t acceptable to Kathy who wants the house back now.  She can’t even afford to stay in a hotel and is now sleeping in her car.  Behrani is approached by Connie Walsh who asks that he return the house for the original house but he has no plans to do so.  As he tells her “it is a matter of necessity for me and my family.”  Two people who have never met and done nothing wrong now find themselves pitted against each other.

It’s a gripping story of how a simple mistake can cause a chain reaction of despair.  Emotions have clouded reality and Behrani and Kathy will not stop their quest until the house is rightfully theirs.  Others too will be drawn into their tangled web and the ending itself may come as somewhat of a surprise.  For Russian director Vadim Perelman, this couldn’t be a more ideal screenplay from which to make his directorial debut.  Not a single scene is wasted.

Ben Kingsley has found himself included amongst the best actor nominees at this year’s Oscars as has actress Shohreh Aghdashloo in the supporting category.  Both work brilliantly off each other in a relationship full of complications.  For the talented Jennifer Connolly, it’s yet another chance to shine in an already impressive resume.

It’s a bit gloomy at times but through this fog, there’s a very worthy story being told.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 February 2004

At Wellesley College, you will find some of the country’s smartest girls.  In the class of 1953/54, there’s Betty Warren (Dunst), Joan Brandwyn (Stiles), Giselle Levy (Gyllenhaal) and Connie Baker (Goodwin) who are all close friends.  In their dormitory of an evening, they study religiously and talk of men and marriage.  It’s a school rich in tradition and the conservative school board likes it that way.

And then along came Katherine Watson (Roberts).  I say this with trepidation and you may already see where I’m coming from.  Katherine is a young teacher with fresh insight, unique teaching methods and different views.  She doesn’t believe a woman’s sole purpose in life is to find a husband.  She believes a woman can also have a college education and a successful career.  Sure enough, the school board is rattled but the students adore her and she’s become the breath of fresh air so desperately needed at Wellesley.

Unfortunately this theme is forced down our throat in large doses.  There’s nothing subtle about the screenplay and it’s all a little too “preachy” to win my vote.  Rather than letting the story tell the message, the message seems to be telling the story.

Julia Roberts is fine in the leading role but too much attention is paid to her plight.  The supporting characters are seldom seen and any emotion we are to feel for them doesn’t come through.  Also hindering their performances is a hurried screenplay which has them changing personalities in the blink of an eye.  I won’t outline specifics here but the development and ultimate fate of Julia Stiles’ character is a very good example.

Katherine finds a love interest in Bill Dunbar (West), a teacher at the school and this does little more than increase the film’s running time.  It’s a trivial subplot when I would have preferred more focus on the two characters Katherine lives with – an aging teacher stuck in a world of routine (played by Marcia Gay Harden) and a teacher fired for a simple mistake but with an interesting past (played by Juliet Stevenson).

I know it’s unrelated to the actual film but I feel compelled to criticise the trailer that’s been showing in cinemas for the past few months.  I’ve seen it several times now and in hindsight, it gives away virtually every plot detail including the finale.  Why show a film’s final scene in the trailer?  Is there any need for this?  Perhaps this is why I found the conclusion so disappointingly brief.

When it comes down to the crunch, Mona Lisa Smile is still worth a look just to see some of Hollywood’s best actresses light up the screen.  Just enough to bring a “smile” to my face.