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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 February 2005

I have respect for Keanu Reeves.  He can’t act but at least he knows it.  Others tell me that he’s been quoted as saying how lucky he is to be given so many great cinematic opportunities.  He knows there are much better actors out there who can’t find work.  Keanu is just making the most of what he’s got.

The truth is, Reeves is very disappointing in the leading role of John Constantine.  He delivers his lines in the same deep and unemotional tones that we’ve come to expect after The Matrix trilogy.  There were some parts where I thought he was reading his lines straight off an autocue.  Nothing seemed spontaneous and the deliberate pauses were continually annoying.

For those interested in the storyline, John Constantine is an important individual.  Not to those on earth but to those who control it.  You see, God and the Devil made a wager and at stake are the souls of every living human being.  God tries to make people good and the Devil tries to make people bad.

Several years ago, John tried to commit suicide.  In fact, he was dead for close to two minutes before regaining consciousness and returning to the real world.  In that two minutes, which he called “a lifetime”, he saw a glimpse of hell which he never again wanted to see.  He knew he must redeem himself to God to ensure that when he died a second time, he wouldn’t be going back.

John’s mission is to help God by removing “half-breeds” – these a associates of the Devil who are part-human and part-immortal.  They use their powers and influence to sway the bet in the Devil’s favour.  Unfortunately for them, John has a few powers and weapons of his own and he continues to defeat those half-breeds who step out of line.

A romantic interest enters the picture when police detective Angela Dodson (Weisz) has a sister who dies in a mental institution and she comes to John with questions of the after-life.  John soon releases that there’s more to Angela that he first thought and she is soon the key to winning the battle once and for all…

I couldn’t help but think all the way throughout the film of The Devil’s Advocate – the 1997 film starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino in which Reeves works as a lawyer who has the devil as a client.  I know the two films aren’t the same but you can’t help but think there’s a similarity in that they do revolve around Lucifer himself.

In reviewing Constantine, I found myself bored and uninterested.  Lots of special effects, glimpse into the underworld, the exploration of supernatural themes.  It just doesn’t interest me and first-time director Francis Lawrence did little to keep me enthused.  The disappointing start to 2005 continues…

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 19 February 2005

House Of Flying Daggers is a beautifully film… visually.  When you see it in all its glory on the big screen, you’ll be struck by the cinematography from Xiaoding Zhao.  From the greens of the bamboo forest, to the browns of the open country in autumn and to the whites of a sudden snowstorm – a myriad of colours has been splashed throughout.  I’m not the only one to notice Zhao’s work – he’s been nominated for best cinematography at this year’s Academy Awards (alongside The Aviator, The Passion Of The Christ, The Phantom Of The Opera, and A Very Long Engagement).

Ah, but looks aren’t everything.  Aside from the impeccable camera work, Daggers is a mess.  The director of the film is Yimou Zhang and we saw his last film only a few months ago here in Australia – Hero with Jet Li.  Both films are similar since they tell ancient Chinese stories and use the latest in special effects technology to create exciting martial arts sequences.  Many critics have enjoyed both films but I can honest say that Hero is vastly superior to this effort.

Set in a long forgotten era, a secret army known as the House of Flying Daggers has arisen to overthrow the corrupt government.  No one knows the leader of this army and a police officer named Jin (Kaneshiro) thinks he has a chance to find out.  One of the Daggers, a dancer named Mei (Zhang) has been captured and by pretending to be friend, Jin helps Mei escape from custody in the hope she will lead him to the army’s lair…

I am extremely critical of Zhang’s direction here.  It’s terribly sloppy and the editing looks rushed.  There’s a strange mix of fast-mo, slow-mo and regular-mo which was annoying more than artistic.  Further, you could tell as they panned from one camera angle to the next, that it wasn’t filmed simultaneously.  I know it never is, but you should at least make it look like it is!  One of the first scenes in the film sees Mei perform an elaborate dance.  This is a perfect example of the problems I speak of.  She keeps using her dress to beat on drums despite the fact she’s standing way too far away from them.

The script here isn’t much better.  After a tedious opening, I had thoughts of closing my eyes as the tiredness set in.  Unfortunately, one can’t do so in a subtitled film – you have to watching the screen at all times or you’ll have no idea what is being said.

I’m appreciative of British critics but my jaw hits the floor when I release that Daggers was nominated for nine British Academy Awards.  What were they thinking?  Like a Pamela Anderson or a Paris Hilton, House of Flying Daggers looks promising on the outside but is remarkably unintelligent on the inside.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 February 2005

If it doesn’t involve us, we have a knack for turning a blind eye.  People are killed every day as a result of conflict, war, terrorism and other basic human rights violations.  The troubles of the Middle East and Africa will often appear as a part of 20 second blurb late in any news telecast or deep on page 32 in any newspaper, if at all.  How fickle the media is and how quickly they tire of any news story.

This isn’t my usual rant on a biased media.  I bring this up to highlight how quickly we forget so many of our recent tragedies.  We all remember the events of September 11, 2001 when 2,752 people lost their lives.  But do you remember what happened in the African country of Rwanda in 1994?  An estimated 937,000 people were killed in just 100 days in a fierce “ethnic cleansing” war between the Tutsis and the Hutus.

I remember very little of the event and I suggest many people won’t recall it at all.  How sad it is that we don’t remember.  Thankfully, the medium of film is one way that the events of the past can be brought back into the spotlight.  Director Terry George has done that with Hotel Rwanda. 

Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) was a Hutu who managed a posh hotel, the Des Milles Collines, in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.  The hotel was a popular destination for foreign tourists and Paul took pride in the service provided.  On April 6, 1994, Paul’s life would be changed forever.  The Rwandan president’s plane was shot down and the Hutu’s began a violent war to exterminate all Tutsis from the country.

Paul may have been on the right side but he wanted nothing to do with this insane war.  As the English and other foreigners fled the hotel, Paul let in as many Tutsis as possible to provide refuge and to keep them safe from the advancing Hutus.  A small team of U.N. peacekeepers were sent in to help get the foreign tourists out of the country.  That unfortunately, was it.  No one was coming to assist the Tutsis.  No one around the world gave a damn.

There are always tales of heroism in any war and this is Paul’s tale.  He constantly put his life at risk to protect the many Tutsis staying at the hotel.  It’s inspiring stuff and you can see the film for yourself to discover what becomes of them.  There are moments of reflection and sadness but also moments of uplifting joy.  Everyone who sees Hotel Rwanda will take something away.

The stars of the film are Don Cheadle (as Paul) and Sophie Okonedo (as Paul’s wife, Tatiana).  This may be a small, low-budget drama but it isn’t going unnoticed.  Both Cheadle and Okonedo earned Academy Award nominations and writers Terry George and Keir Pearson received a nomination for their great screenplay.  I’ve always liked Cheadle as an actor and I’m glad he got the part over other more favoured actors (such as Denzel Washington).  He makes the movie.

Engrossing from the opening credits to the final curtain, Hotel Rwanda ranks as one of the finer films of 2005.  If only there were more films like it.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 February 2005

There are few directors who capture the emotion of people better than Mike Leigh.  My first Leigh experience was 1996’s Secrets & Lies which earned 5 Academy Award nominations, including best picture.  He’s only made a handful of films since with the two most impressive being Topsy-Turvy and All Or Nothing.

Vera Drake (Staunton) is an elderly woman living in a tiny, run-down apartment with her husband, George (Graham), her son, Reg (Marsan), and her daughter Nellie (Keaveney).  Incredibly polite, she can’t help herself sometimes – she just loves helping people out.  Her latest challenge is to find her incredibly shy daughter a husband and she thinks she’s found just the right guy.

Soon though, her uncomplicated life will meet a very abrupt change.  Unbeknown to her family, Vera has been performing abortions for poor young women.  Such a practice is illegal but many young girls cannot afford the 150 pound charge to get it done properly in a doctor’s surgery.  Vera thinks she’s “helping them out”.  When one of Vera’s abortions goes wrong and the girl ends up clinging to life, the police arrive on her doorstep…

A controversial topic, Vera Drake is perfectly balanced.  It does not preach to the audience nor does it favour any one side.  You’ll understand Vera and sympathise with her and yet you’ll understand the police and their motives for doing what they do.  It’s a strong screenplay and Leigh’s direction is also impressive.  Instead of focusing the entire film on Vera, he occasionally breaks away to give us a glimpse into the life of another character.  It all adds up.

Like most other Leigh films, this really is about the people.  Forget glossed up Hollywood phonies, these characters are passionately real and you can’t help but laugh and feel sorry for them at the same.  Take Vera’s daughter Nellie for example.  Wonderfully played by Anna Keaveney, she’s a typical Leigh character.  What I find interesting is that Leigh did not tell the cast (except for Imelda Staunton) that this film was about abortion.  They were given an abbreviated script and didn’t find out until the scenes in question were shot.

Of course, what everyone is talking about is the performance of Imelda Staunton.  Winner of a host of critics’ awards, she’ll undoubtedly lose to Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) at the Oscars in a fortnight.  It’s a shame because Staunton’s performance is the best by an actress this year.  I don’t know how she harnessed the emotional energy to pull this off.  The final half hour will be gut-wrenching for some.

Just last night, Vera Drake was voted the best British film of the year at the British Academy Awards.  I couldn’t think of more worthy winner.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 February 2005

The last film of writer-director James L. Brooks was As Good As It Gets in 1997.  It was a very entertaining comedy and earned Academy Awards for stars Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt.  Given his strong reputation, there were many looking forward to catching his latest production, Spanglish.

John Clasky (Sandler) is a renowned chef living in Los Angeles.  As happy as he should be, there’s one person always dragging him down – his wife, Deborah (Leoni).  Deb is a complete neurotic.  She never shuts up, is insensitive to her children, ignores the needs of her husband and is lousy in bed.  She may sound like a nasty piece of work but this is just how Deb is – the screenplay makes you feel slightly sympathetic towards her.

Looking for a new housemaid, John and Deborah find Flor (Vega), a young Mexican mother who can’t speak a word of English.  Not able to understand the troubles going on around her, Flor goes about her daily chores.  Things change though when John and Deb rent a holiday home for the summer and ask Flor and her daughter, Christina (Bruce), to come along.

With Christina able to speak English, Flor finally understand what this family is all about.  She feels sorry for John as he’s a sweet family man who is being dominated by a demanding wife.  After taking a home English course, she’s soon able to communicate with them all and an intriguing relationship will develop with all of them…

Like other Brooks films, there are some witty one-liners and intelligent conversations, particularly in the early stages of the film.  Unfortunately, things unravel in the final hour.  The characters become dumb and boring.  I didn’t at all understand why the film panned out the way it did and what Brooks was trying to say.  Was it a happy ending or an unhappy ending?  After developing them early in the piece, what became of John and Deb’s children?

This isn’t at all a strong cast.  Tea Leoni is too over-the-top and her sobbing and ranting in the finale was terribly distracting.  As for Adam Sandler, I like his attempt to try a different role (as he did in Punch Drunk Love) but this is not for him.  Playing the suppressed husband is not in his repertoire.

A poor performer at the U.S. box-office, Spanglish isn’t hitting the same successful notes that As Good As It Gets could manager.  Worth a look… but only just.