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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 September 2004

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Sam.  She was an only child in a single parent family but Sam and her father were the most important people in each other’s lives and shared a special bond.  Everything changed though when her father remarried.  Fiona had no interest in Sam and wanted her own two children, Brianna and Gabriella, to always have the upper hand.  Sam’s world was then completely destroyed when her father passed away suddenly.  Leaving no will, the entire inheritance, including her father’s home and business, now belonged to the wicked Fiona.

Eight years have since passed and Sam is on the cusp of finishing high school.  Her life has improved very little and Sam is forced to do all the household chores whilst Brianna and Gabriella live their posh life.  As each day passes though, Sam finds herself closer to fulfilling her dream – to escape Fiona’s world and attend college at Princeton.  Mopping floors at her stepmother’s diner has given her the money so now she just has to make sure she studies hard to the grades.

Sam doesn’t have much luck in the romance department either.  With good looking guys notice her at school as they’re more interested in the big-breasted cheerleaders.  However, she has found a special someone with whom she has much in common – on the internet.  Meeting in a net chatroom, the two both know they attend the same school but don’t know each other’s identity.  After weeks of getting to know each other, the time has come for the two to meet.  Knowing she has to be back at the diner to meet her stepmother at 12 midnight, Sam sneaks off to the school Halloween Ball to meet her love for the very first time…

A few years back, studios caught onto the idea of pitching Shakespearean tales to a teen audience.  We saw teen remakes of Romeo & Juliet, Othello, Hamlet and The Taming Of The Shrew.  I suppose a natural progression is to redevelop a fairy tale and as the title so bluntly phrases it, this is a Cinderella story.  Drew Barrymore starred in a similar remake, Ever After, which was released in 1998 but pitched to a wider audience.  This though is strictly for young teenage girls.  If you ain’t one, then there’s no point wasting your time.

Leading actress Hilary Duff has a following in America and we’ve seen her here in films including The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Cheaper By The Dozen.  She’s badly typecast here and I can’t buy the fact that she’s a sweet, innocent girl who no guy would be interested in.  Worst of all was the father of Austin (aka the mystery day).  He keeps pressuring his son into living his own dreams and I’m sick of enduring this tiring, familiar storyline.  We all know how it’s going to end.

I thought I might enjoy A Cinderella Story but sorrowfully, there’s no fairy tale ending to this review.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 September 2004

From Singapore to New Zealand and the U.K. to Australia, Borders has welcomed book and music lovers on three continents outside North America.  Every Borders store offers a vast selection of books, music, movies, and more, tailored specifically to the interests of the community it serves.  We provide cozy chairs, comfortable cafes, and listening stations, so our customers can relax and stay awhile. Our knowledgeable staff is always happy to help you find what you're looking for, or you can use our convenient Title Sleuth stations to explore on your own.  Our customers often refer to their local Borders store as "my Borders."  We appreciate it, and the feeling is mutual.

Yes, that’s right.  I’ve become a corporate sell-out.  I am now selling space in my reviews so that multi-national organisations can “inconspicuously” promote their product.  I figure that if Steven Spielberg can do it, then why can’t I?

There was a point about half way through the film when I thought to myself “I can’t believe Spielberg directed this.”  The script is boring and lazy and the direction simple and plain.  It’s the kind of film where you think someone wrote it and filmed it in a single day.  The Terminal is horribly rough around the edges which is a huge disappointment when you consider the talent involved both in front of and behind the camera.

Based on a true story (rather loosely I’d suggest), our film is set entirely within New York’s JFK airport.  Viktor Navorski (Hanks) speaks barely a word of English and has just arrived in the States en route from his home country of Krakoshia.  Unfortunately for Viktor, his country’s government was overthrown while in the air and now the U.S. will not acknowledge his passport and visa.  He cannot return home either since Krakoshia no longer exists.  He has, in the words of airport controller Frank Dixon (Tucci), “fallen through the cracks”.

There is now only one place Viktor can call home – JFK Airport.  He sleeps on a self-made bed near Gate 67, he get spare change by returning luggage to refund machines, he learns English from books picked up a Borders (another free plug) bookstore, he finds love with a stewardess (Zeta-Jones) and he finds new friends amongst the many of the airport’s employees.  It’s a fun adventure but Viktor hasn’t lost sight of what he really wants – to walk outside through the front entrance.

I’m not sure what genre to best classify this mess.  There are many attempts at humour but quite a few moments are aimed at generating an emotional response from the audience.  Not helping is a pathetical long and tiresome introduction where Viktor and Frank Dixon talk in his office.  You’ll tire of Hanks’ accent very quickly and you’ll ask yourself why the great Stanley Tucci is playing such a silly one-dimensional character.

Since Viktor’s story isn’t enough to fill a full feature, a few extra subplots are thrown into the mix to bulk it up.  All were worthless.  Topping the list had to be the attempts of food service attendant Enrique Cruz (Luna) to win the heart of another employee.  Without spoiling how it evolves, the word “farce” comes to mind.

So if you’re thinking about checking out The Terminal, my advice is to terminate any such thought.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 September 2004

Sometimes a film is so bad that it is actually is good.  The film I speak of is Dude, Where’s My Car? with Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott.  I trashed it back in 2001 but the film has since developed into a cult favourite.  I’ve caught it a few times on television since its release and even I find myself chuckling at how stupid it is.  It’s proof that first appearances can sometimes be deceiving.

Now comes the follow up film from director Danny Leiner with an equally memorable title, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle.  Not sure if they paid for the rights but White Castle is a fast-food chain in America which is famous for its miniature burgers.  From this point, the title should tell you all you need to know.

Harold and Kumar are just two guys looking to get high.  Harold (Cho) has just had a truckload of weekend work dumped on him by his boss and Kumar (Penn) has just deliberately messed up a college interview so he can continue his life as a freeloading bum.  It’s Friday night so Harold and Kumar do what will best kick start their weekend – they get high.  Of course this now leaves them with the munchies and after seeing a television advertisement for White Castle, they set off on a night time journey across New Jersey in search of the famous franchise.

With similarities to films like Dude and the two Bill & Ted films, I see Harold & Kumar developing its own cult following.  It won’t be a box-office sensation but it’ll be a regular weekly renter in video stores for many years to come.  The jokes are strongest early in the film.  Many of them are borrowed from other movies but unheralded actors John Cho and Kal Penn have the right personalities and timings to pull it off.  Oh, and just wait till you see the great cameo from Neil Patrick Harris (aka Doogie Howser).

Like Harold and Kumar, the film gets a little too crazy for its own good towards the end.  The one-liners dried up and instead we were left with the duo riding through a forest on the back of a cheetah.  Ah, can’t be too critical though.  The film’s trailer promotes it as from the director of Dude, Where’s My Car? and starring the Asian guy from American Pie and the Indian guy from Van Wilder.  Even if you haven’t seen the film, you get a pretty good indication of what is in store.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 September 2004

I’m a fan of Ben Stiller but as I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I see him as a very hit and miss actor.  When he’s hot, he’s hot and when he’s not, he’s not.  Looking back, Stiller seems better suited to more over-the-top, sarcastic comedies such as There’s Something About Mary and Zoolander.  I find him weaker in more straight down-the-line, quasi-emotional comedies such as Meet The Parents and Along Came Polly.

Judging from my grade, you can tell this film falls into the better Stiller category.  He is White Goodman, owner a multitude of gymnasiums spouting the motto – “we’re better than you are”.  Goodman’s looking to expand one of his biggest gyms by building a new multi-level car park.  It just so happens that the land he has earmarked for this project is owned by one of his competitors.  Next door is the gym of Peter La Fleur (Vaughn) and the bank has given him 30 days to pay his outstanding bills or they will seize the property and sell it to Goodman.  I guess the nice-guy La Fleur should have seen this coming since he brought in a dime of revenue in over a year.

With no chance of coming up with the $50,000 needed to save his gym, La Fleur and his buddies stumble across a crazy idea.  The national dodgeball championships are soon to be held in Vegas with first prize being (wait for it) $50,000.  Of course none of this team has ever played serious dodgeball before and if you were a betting man, you’d consider them the ultimate underdogs.  Will they succeed?  Only time will tell.

Comedy is the hardest genre to perfect as everyone has a different sense of humour.  The mood you are in when entering the cinema can also have a significant influence on your experience.  Well the cards were in favour of Dodgeball because I found myself laughing on many occasions at the great one-liners of Ben Stiller and Rip Torn (as the dodgeball coach).  Vince Vaughn is also funny because he’s the only normal character is a film of zany misfits.  I love good sarcasm and Vaughn continually delivers.

It’s quick and offers many laughs.  What more do you want from a comedy?  Dodgeball delivers both on and off the court.  It’s one of the best comedies of 2004.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 September 2004

It’s been well documented that 2004 has been a dismal year for cinema in Australia.  As a paid-up member of the Australian Film Institute, I have taken pride each year in selecting the 4 films I believe worthy of a nominee for best picture at the Institute’s annual awards.  This year, just 10 Australian films have been made (a record low) and some of these weren’t even given a release here in Brisbane.  That’s probably a good thing since those Aussie films that did make it into cinemas, were obliterated by the U.S. competition at the box-office.

Somersault isn’t our greatest film but it’d be the pick of the bunch this year.  It centres on Heidi (Cornish), a young girl from Canberra who is looking for love much too quickly.  After a fight with her mother, she jumps on a bus and heads to the quiet snow town of Jindabyne to meet up with a man who once left a business card with her.  As always, she has misinterpreted the situation and is left stranded in Jindabyne with no guy and no accommodation.

At a bar, she meets Joe (Worthington), a Jindabyne local who has a reputation as being somewhat of a ladies man.  The two strike up a conversation and end up spending the night in a cheap motel room.  From this point on, Somersault becomes a complicated romance that I applaud for its realism.  Heidi is a complicated girl and her character reminded me of Charlize Theron’s in Monster.  She is not an intelligent girl and continually makes poor decisions but you feel for her because of her innocence and inexperience.

The story has its lulls and drags towards the end but the highlights for me were the performances of newcomer Abbie Cornish and regular Sam Worthington.  It’s easy for an actor to play a more superior character but not quite as easy when playing a character with so many flaws.  Cornish has only a handful of screen credits to date but she steps up to the plate with a brave showing.  I see her as the leading contender to win the best actress prize at the Australian Film Institute’s awards in November.

Somersault is destined to perform poorly at the box-office.  Deep and meaningful Australian dramas don’t appeal to our audiences and their short attention spans.  It’s a shame but a fact that can’t be ignored.