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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 February 2006

Traffic was an incredible motion picture.  It was released in early 2001 and went on to win four Oscars including best director (Steven Soderbergh) and best supporting actor (Benecio Del Toro).  The film focused on the drug war in America and looked at the problems from several perspectives.  It featured one of my favourite movie traits – where are there are several different stories which overlap as the film progresses.

Syriana has been written and directed by the Academy Award winner writer of Traffic, Stephen Gaghan.  It doesn’t take long to realise that Syriana is a very similar film in terms of its style and quality.  This time, Gaghan’s focus is on the oil wells of the Middle East.  You’ll sense that there’s much truth behind his tales of greed, power and corruption.

Looking like it was shot entirely with hand-held cameras, Syriana takes you inside a world that is kept hidden from the public.  Like Traffic, there are many interlinked stories.  It gets a little confusing at times but by the end of the film, you’ll feel the impact.  The highlight is a prophetic speech from actor Tim Blake Nelson on why America is the most successful nation in the world – because they are the most corrupt.

The film boasts a fine cast including Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper and George Clooney.  Clooney put on 16 kilograms for his role as an undercover operative and his work has not gone unnoticed having been nominated for an Academy Award this year.  I’m a little surprised that Clooney’s performance has been singled out.  He’s great, but then so is the rest of the cast.

Syriana is inspired by the Robert Baer book, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism.  Baer is a former CIA case offer who has used his novel to highlight some of the major problems within the organisation.

If you’re catching on, you’ll see that Syriana’s biggest fans will be those who have enjoyed other films which paint the United States in a negative light.  I speak of films such as Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Corporation.  The facts will always be disputed but at least these films make people think and get people talking.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 February 2006

Director Sam Mendes has only made two films but he has a huge reputation.  His first feature, American Beauty, comfortably won the Oscar for best film.  Road To Perdition didn’t win as many awards but it was also a great movie.

Jarhead is Mendes’ latest film but for the first time, he isn’t basking in critical and public acclaim.  The film underperformed at the U.S. box-office and didn’t receive a mention during last week’s Academy Award nominations.  I read a recent interview with Mendes in which he talked possible reasons for the poor reception in America – “Fundamentally, Jarhead disobeys all the laws of American movies, and not just the political laws of American movies right now which demand on some level to tell us which side they’re on.”

I wanted to include that comment because I think it’s the perfect way to describe what this film is on about.  Jarhead is not a pro-war film or an anti-war film.  Mendes simply puts the story out there and leaves it up to the audience to make of it what they will.  This will frustrate some but I found plenty to think and talk about afterwards.

The story is based on Anthony Swofford’s non-fiction novel.  As a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, Swofford took part in “Operation Desert Shield” in 1990.  The country of Kuwait had been invaded by Iraq (under the command of Suddam Hussein) and U.S. soldiers were called.

Unlike other war films, the focus isn’t on fierce battles and survival.  Jarhead is a story of boredom.  Anthony Swofford and his team spent six months is Saudi Arabia waiting to go to war.  Until orders came through from President Bush to attack, the 500,000 U.S troops had to sit and wait.  They talked rubbish, they played football and they masturbated.

Jake Gyllehaal (Brokeback Mountain) plays Swofford and other notable cast members include Peter Sarsgaard (Shattered Glass), Jamie Foxx (Ray) and Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights).  All get to display their prowess in the later stages of the movie when the emotional impact kicks in.  The wait affects them in different ways and some are driven to the point of insanity.  When you’re sweltering in boiling temperatures, continually following orders and hanging around testosterone-charged guys for 24 hours a day, it’s easy to lose your grip on reality.  It made me wonder how I’d handle the same situation.

So many good war films have been made and Jarhead deserves to be included amongst them.  Films like Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are fantastic but Jarhead’s fresh look distinguishes it from the rest.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 February 2006

I see pretty much every film released in cinemas but I don’t always write a full length review.  I only have the time and patience to write two or three full reviews each week.  For the rest of the films, I simply give the grade and leave it at that.  I’ve fulfilled my quota this week and had no intention of typing this very review for A Sound Of Thunder.  I have no choice however because this film is an utter disgrace and the public needs to know.

Has anyone heard of this film before?  I hadn’t before I saw it.  A quick check on the internet tells me that it was made in 2002 and has sat on a studio shelf for a long time.  That can’t be good.  The reason given for the delay was the bankruptcy of the company which produced it – they ran out of money during post-production.  That also ain’t good.

I try to avoid sensationalising my reviews but sometimes I can’t help myself.  So here we go.  This is the worst film I’ve seen in ten years on the big screen.  How does that sound?  Not too overdramatic?  I’m probably wrong and I’m probably forgetting about another film I carved up but right here and now, I stand by my comment.

The film in set in 2055 and centres on a safari company which has perfected the art of time travel.  For an enormous fee, you can go back 65 million years, kill a dinosaur and return to the real world.  Don’t ask me why this company has exclusive rights to time travel.  Things go wrong however when the inadvertently change the past and in doing so, change the future.

So bad were the dialogue, story, acting and special effects that the audience was laughing openly during the final 20 minutes.  No one could understand how the characters had that magical “sixth sense” to know exactly what to do in any life-threatening situation.  Even more frustrating was the fragmented story.  I thought that scenes had been left out.  That’s how disjointed it felt.

On the Internet Movie Database, the film currently has an average review of 3.8 out of 10.  This is voted upon by the public and over 1,500 people have registered a vote.  The Rotten Tomatoes website reveals that of the 82 major critics in America who reviewed the film, 76 of them gave it a negative review.  If you really feel like a laugh, you should read some of their reviews!

With both the public and the critics united in their disgust for A Sound Of Thunder, I thought I’d close with an extract from the review of Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle – “It’s somehow refreshing to know that the spirit, if not the flesh, of Edward D. Wood Jr. lives on.”

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 January 2006

Based on his own autobiography, Walk The Line brings to the screen the true life story of musician Johnny Cash.  His career began in 1955 when as a 23-year-old, he recorded his first songs for Sun Records.  His first big hit was “I Walk The Line” and other songs you may remember include “A Boy Named Sue”, “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Ring Of Fire”.

After a brief introduction, Walk The Line chronicles Cash’s life from his early success through to a famous concert at the London Gardens in 1968.  If his accomplishments were achieved with ease, then this movie probably wouldn’t have been made.  We love to see stories of people triumphing over adversity and Johnny Cash did just that.  He battled alcoholism, struggled to overcome a drug addiction and had a difficult marriage with his first wife, Vivian.  These problems are the focus of James Mangold’s film.

Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator) plays Johnny Cash and those in the know have been buzzing about his performance for some months.  Reese Witherspoon (Just Like Heaven, Election) plays June Carter, a fellow artist who Cash had an on-again, off-again relationship with for many years.  Their performances are incredible and both will earn Academy Award nominations.  I particularly loved Reese’s Southern accent and I think she’s a shoe-in to claim the Oscar.  You’ll be happy to know that both actors sung all the film’s songs themselves.  They sound great too.  Both had six months training from music producer T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

As well made as the film is, I was disappointed by the film’s lack of adventurousness.  Twelve months ago we were treated to Ray, the life story of Ray Charles with Jamie Foxx in the leading role.  Charles too had marital problems and battled his own drug addiction.  Walk The Line feels very similar and at 136 minutes, my patience grew thin.  I was also discouraged by some of the tacky dialogue and I believe the story has been over-Hollywood-ised.

Extremely popular when released in the United States last November, Walk The Line should be equally successful here in Australia.  Johnny Cash has a huge fan-base and his death in 2003 did nothing to diminish that.  His story will be of interest to many.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 05 February 2006

Battling to make ends meet, Josey Aimes (Theron) is a single mother living in Minnesota.  She recently left her abusive husband and is now back home with her parents and her two young children.  In need of employment, Josey accepts a job in a nearby mine.  The money is good but it’s an industry in which men outnumber women by 30 to 1.

Josey is about to learn why there aren’t many women in this workplace.  Most of the male employees are resentful of their presence because they are taking jobs away from other men.  This has given them the right to harass, both verbally and physically, the female staff.  None of the women speak up because they can’t afford to lose their jobs and they wouldn’t be believed anyway.

After several confronting incidents, Josey takes a stand.  She quits her job and with the help of a retired lawyer (Harrelson), commences a lawsuit against the operators of the mine.  The year is 1989 and the case will be a first in the American legal system.  It won’t be easy however because no other women are prepared to support Josey (they value their jobs more) and the mining company will stop at nothing to protect their own reputation.

This film is fictional but is based on America’s first successful sexual harassment case.  Some of the courtroom scenes are bit far-fetched but the overall story is very compelling.  There’s a scene in which Josey loses her cool in a car park after being taunted by the wife of another miner.  It’s a defining moment in the film and you get a sense of how difficult it must have been for Josey and her family.

It is the performances which make this film and both Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand (as a fellow miner) have received well-deserved Oscar nominations.  Like her role in Monster, I’m impressed by how Theron brings out in the flaws in her own character.  Her character may be dong the right thing but she often goes about it in the wrong way.

Directed by New Zealand born Niki Caro (Whale Rider), North Country is a strong film which most should enjoy.