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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 May 2010

I knew straight away that this would be an interesting film.  It’s a strong opening which will immediately grab your attention.  In turns out that J’s mother dies and he is forced to live with his grandmother and his three uncles.  This is no ordinary family.  They’ve been involved in armed robbery and drug dealing.  The police are watching them like hawks and are looking for evidence to pin against them.

It’s the police that make the first move… albeit a foolish one.  I won’t say too much more because this particular scene came as quite a surprise.  It sets in motion a serious of shocking events fuelled by hatred.  The cops are determined to get justice.  The family is determined to get revenge.  Both sides will stop at nothing to win this battle.  The law counts for very little.

Animal Kingdom features some of the finest performances of the year.  Ben Mendelsohn is incredibly off-putting (in a good way) as the patriarch of the family.  There’s a great scene in which he’s grilling his younger brother (played by Luke Ford) about the colour of his shirt.  It illustrates his character’s power but also his paranoia.  It’s a dangerous mix.

Jacki Weaver also makes an impact as J’s grandmother.  She’s a cunning character who reveals her true colours late in the film.  It’s the kind of role likely to pick up awards attention later in the year.  I was also impressed with newcomer James Frecheville.  He portrays J as a quiet kid but at the same time, you’re never quite sure what’s going through his head.  Does he really understand the gravity of the situation?

It’s a great script from writer-director David Michod.  I particularly enjoyed how it shows the two parts to the story – from the family’s perspective and the cop’s perspective.  This isn’t a simple good versus evil story.  There’s a lot of “greyness” to the characters and it’ll be interesting to see who audiences sympathise with.

In my eyes, the film’s weakness is its ending.  I just didn’t buy it.  Maybe I need to think about it some more but I had trouble reconciling J’s actions.  I also think that some of the subplots were undeveloped.  We meet a few people along the way (such as J’s girlfriend’s family and two young police officers) but we don’t spend enough time with them to justify their inclusion.

Given the appeal of the Underbelly television series, I’m sure plenty of Australians will be keen to see this new crime drama on the big screen.  It’s definitely worth your money.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 18 May 2010

Lo and behold, this person started walking around the cinema.  He then sat in the row behind me.  I glanced back to find that he looked exactly like Freddy (with the make up and hat).  At the same time, he put his “claws” over the chair and onto my shoulder.  He then shone a torch in my face and asked me if I was scared.

I guess I was.  I didn’t know what was going on.  Was this guy paid by the movie distributors to do this mid-movie?  Or was this just some nut who’d escaped from the mental asylum.  I hope it’s the former option but I’m yet to have this confirmed.

My point is that this was the scariest part of the movie.  The fact that someone was paid (I think) to scare the yawning audience during the screening says it all.  This isn’t like Paranormal Activity – a film which can stand on its own two feet as a “sends a shiver down your spine” horror flick.  This was a vastly inferior remake of what is one of cinema’s classic films.

Most will already know the story.  A group of high school students are having very bad nightmares.  Every time they fall asleep, they see a creepy looking guy named Freddy who is trying to kill them with his razor sharp claws.  These are no ordinary dreams however.  If Freddy get his hands on them, they not only die in the dreams but also in real life.

These teenagers realise the only way they can avoid Freddy is by staying awake.  As you can see, it’s a flawed plan.  It’s only a matter of time before their eyes close and Freddy appears.

Some will die.  Some will live.  There’s scary music and a few false alarms.  It’s just your standard, every day horror movie.  The dialogue from Freddy was laughable.  Was this supposed to be a comedy?  I overhead a member of the audience say on leaving the cinema – “that’s the last time I’m accepting tickets to a free movie.”  That pretty much sums it up.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 May 2010

I like a swashbuckling adventure as much as the next person but why do the screenwriters keep coming up with such unadventurous material.  Why are the characters so boring?  Why are the jokes so cheesy?  The door is open for a budding writer to come along and turn this cliché ridden genre on its head.

Based on the video game (just saying that makes me queasy), Prince Of Persia is about a brave warrior named Dastan (Gyllenhaal) who comes into the possession of a valuable sword.  When the handle is filled with magic sand, it enables the sword’s holder to travel back in time.  This makes the user almost invincible.  If they were ever wounded in battle, they could go back a minute and foresee their attacker’s next move.

There are others who wish to get their hands on this sword.  Caught up in the mix are Dastan’s brother (Coyle), his uncle (Kingsley) and the princess of a neighbouring kingdom (Arterton).  The only interesting performance however comes from Alfred Molina.  He plays an entrepreneurial sheik who runs an ostrich racing business.  He provides the film’s only laughs.

I’m being somewhat lenient with my grading given my approval for the film’s overall look.  Shot in Morocco, Australian cinematographer John Seale (The English Patient) has made the most of the location.  I also liked the booming film score from Harry Gregson-Williams.

When it comes to the crunch though, who will remember this film in five years time?  It’s nothing special at all.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 14 May 2010

If those comments inspire more rage from the pro-Torino camp, I now have something new to retaliate with.  I speak of Harry Brown.  It’s the film that Gran Torino should have been.  It has a likeable “hero”, a more probable ending and it paints a realistic, yet gloomy picture of the slums in London.  This is the first full length feature from English director Daniel Barber (one of his short films earned an Oscar nomination in 2007) and he’s a guy I’ll be following in the near future.

The title character is an elderly gentleman living in a rundown housing estate in East London.  It’s a depressing place.  Across from his building is a tunnel where a gang of teenagers congregate and deal drugs.  Harry sees them every day from his window.  These kids do all of this in plain sight.  It’s as if the police don’t even care.  Nothing is being done to stop them.

That’s about to change.  Harry’s best friend, a fellow pensioner named Leonard, tries to stand up to the gang after months of continual harassment.  They beat Leonard and then stab him to death with a huge knife.  Two police detectives are investigating the crime but they’re not having much luck.  All the gang members are keeping quiet and there were no other eye-witnesses.

Harry knows what happened though.  The time has come for this ex-marine to dish out his own brand of vigilante justice.  As the saying goes – one should fear the man who has nothing to lose.

He may be 77 years of age but Michael Caine is as good as he’s ever been.  Over the past decade, he’s delivered a string of memorable performances in films including Last Orders, Children Of Men, The Prestige and the new Batman movies.  He’s a class act and I never get tired of hearing his familiar British accent.

Caine’s performance is key to the success of this movie.  He does a wonderful job playing the tired, worn out Harry.  You’ll find yourself cheering for him right up to the final scenes (despite the illegality of almost everything he does).  I certainly was.

Things get a little far-fetched at the end but I’m still keen to recommend this film… particularly to those who disliked Gran Torino.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 May 2010

This didn’t stop Sahebjam.  In 1984, he again visited Iran using a false identity.  It was on this trip that he befriended a middle aged woman Zahra.  She confided in him about an atrocity which had recently occurred in the village.  Sahebjam knew this was a story that that must be told.  It was published as a novel in the mid 1990s and has been read by many people across the globe.

In 2008, American director Cyrus Nowrasteh brought the story to the screen.  I’m glad he did because it’s sure opened my eyes.  Others have felt the same way.  At the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, The Stoning Of Soraya M. finished third in the audience vote (behind Slumdog Millionaire).  Given that honour, I’m surprised the film has taken so long to receive a cinematic release in Australia.

The title speaks for itself.  Soraya was a married woman who was stoned to death by the men in her village.  She had been found guilty of adultery.  The allegations were baseless however.  Soraya’s husband had made up the story so that he could marry another woman.  The trial and execution all took place on the same day.  Soraya wasn’t even allowed to speak.

This is a tough film to watch for obvious reasons.  It certainly left an impact on me.  Shohreh Aghdashloo (House Of Sand And Fog) delivers and incredible performance as Zahra.  This is a very personal film for Aghdashloo given she’s an Iranian actress living in exile in the United States.  She wanted to highlight the oppression of women not just in Iran but in similar countries run by Islamic extremists.

Filmed in Jordan, The Stoning Of Soraya M. is a powerful film that will stick with you long after you’ve left the cinema.