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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 08 June 2000

This version sees seven new pieces combined with one surviving from the original - The Sorcerer's Apprentice featuring Mickey Mouse.  To open is a rather boring piece with a just a bunch of funny colours and shapes which was followed by another slow segment involving whales.

The two highlights were the depression number (played to Gershwin’s Rhapspdy in Blue), and the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier featuring music by Shostakovich.  To end was a bewildering finale about death and rebirth that didn’t do anything for me.

Children aren’t going to be dazzled by this given the recent advances in animated stories.  It is no longer 1940 and today we see creative stories told with sensational animation (e.g. The Lion King, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, and Antz).  From the opening credits to the start of the closing credits, a mere 63 minutes passes by making it by far the shortest film I think I’ll see this year.  That is usually a bonus when taking hyperactive kids to the cinema but I feel many will have had enough after only half-and-hour.

The film has two serious flaws.  Firstly, Hollywood celebrities telling stories of how each piece was created segment all the musical numbers.  Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin and Bette Midler ramble on with frivolous details that serve little point.

Secondly, and most importantly, in the United States this film was screened only in 3-D at Imax cinemas.  For Australia, it has been adapted back into 2-D for the smaller screen and this is a tragedy.  You can tell from watching the film that it would make superb viewing in 3 dimensions because of the great mix of foreground and background images.

Enjoy it for the music but don’t expect much more from Fantasia 2000.  Save your money for the more elaborate animated creations coming soon to a cinema near you.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 June 2000

Nineteen Hundred travelled back and forth his entire life between England and America aboard the ship and never set foot on land.  In that tiny world was crafted the greatest piano player that ever lived.  Uninfluenced by music from the land, Nineteen Hundred created his own music and was the talk of musicians around the world.  But he would not give in to temptation, and would not leave the boat in search of fame and fortune.  Nothing could drag him away from the boat he called home.

This film is a stretch and I know it’s not a true story but when you get to the end there is a sense of disappointment.  You expect some moment by film’s end but it just doesn’t arrive.  The first hour is aptly described as boring with little impression made at all.  It’s so ludicrously far-fetched that it makes it very hard to find any emotional attachment with the characters.  Tim Roth was admirable in the leading role but the best performance comes from Pruitt Taylor Vince who plays a trumpet player aboard the boat named Max.

Designed as a film that will appeal to pianists and classical music enthusiasts, The Legend Of 1900 is a dreary tale that doesn’t really know where it’s going.  Most disappointing.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 08 June 2000

As if all those previous successes weren’t good enough, Norton has branched out with his directorial debut in Keeping The Faith, based on a screenplay by Stuart Blumberg.  We are introduced to Jake (Stiller), Brian (Norton) and Anna (Elfman) as 6th graders and “bestest friends”.  That is until Anna moves away with her family during the 8th grade.

Ten years pass and both find themselves in a career neither expected - Brian is a catholic priest and Jake is rabbi.  Both are still best friends and are setting up a karaoke bar for senior citizens as their gift to the community.  They are also very popular at their respective congregations and life is running smoothly.

Enter “Anna Banana” who returns to New York on business and wants to rekindle their friendship.  Anna is still as beautiful as ever and stirs feelings Brian and Jake had long forgotten.  Something is going to give...

Keeping The Faith is a very entertaining romantic comedy and gives the genre new life.  The most positive aspect of the film are the performances and connection between Norton, Elfman and Stiller.  They work wonderfully together, create many humorous moments and in a rarity for romantic films - they talk like real people.  Check for some smaller cameos from Anne Bancroft, Holland Taylor and even Milos Forman (the director of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus and The People Vs. Larry Flynt).

This is also a credit to the screenplay and Norton’s direction which shows just how talented he is.  The New York backdrop is beautifully captured through the camera lens (particularly in a scene between Stiller and Elfman on a riverside pier whilst at dinner).  Norton also uses close ups of characters to great effect.

Clocking in at just over two hours does hurt the film.  The final 30 minutes could have been summed up in less than half that time and been better for it but given there are so many wonderful moments in this film, I am willing to forgive.  There are so many “laugh out loud scenes” that start right from the opening credits and don’t let up.

Have you ever heard the one about the priest and the rabbi?  If you haven’t, make sure you do - it’s a good laugh.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 May 2000

Think about past movies and TV shows that have dealt with alcohol problems.  This film offers no new material.  Before proceeding just guess at what you think transpires in 28 Days and see if it agrees with the plot detailed below.

Gwen (Bullock) and Jasper (West) are a couple that enjoy getting out on the town and spend most of their days drunk, hungover or stoned.  Gwen’s problems reach boiling point at her sister’s wedding when in a drunken state, she badmouths the husband, destroys the wedding cake and steals a limousine which she promptly smashes into the front porch of a neighbouring home.

Sentenced to 28 days in a rehabilitation clinic, Gwen is initially apprehensive and is caught by her councillor (Buscemi) after sneaking out and getting plastered.  Threatening to send her to jail, Gwen decides to get serious, adapts to the program and kicks her habit.  In the process she wins the friendship of everyone at the clinic, changes many of their lives, suffers from the death of a patient who cannot cope and dumps her boyfriend when she realises he is nothing more than a drunken idiot.

It is evident that this film has had more cuts than a head of hair.  So many of the characters are flaky and don’t make much sense.  Viggo Mortensen plays a baseball player who is admitted to the centre, develops a semi-love interest with Gwen but nothing is resolved.  Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays a very minor role that I cannot understand given her Oscar nomination three years ago and Steve Buscemi is hardly seen at all.  The most ridiculous character has to go to Gerhardt (Alan Tudyk) who plays some sort of idiot whose stupidity attracts most of the film’s laughs.

A sole high point in the film was its use of a fictitious soapie named Santa Cruz which is watched by characters throughout - its stab at current US shows is very funny.  Sandra Bullock is on cruise control and appears like most other characters she has played but at least she seems more relaxed.

The final two scenes in this film are disgraceful and the ending is surely one of the worst I have witnessed.  The film ends in unusual fashion with a freeze-frame shot suggesting there was more afterwards but it was edited out at the last minute.  In the final shot, Gwen hugs Gerhardt at a plant store suggesting that everything from then on in will be all right.

I could suggest a more interesting ending.  How about some final words just before the credits role - “Gwen went on the bender to end all benders and checked in and out of rehab until she died of a drug overdose at the age of 38”.  It doesn’t really have the making of a Sandra Bullock movie does it?  Given her recent track record however, it could only be an improvement.

My name is Sandra Bullock and I pick bad movies.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 June 2000

Whilst on vacation in Sydney, Ethan is drafted for another “save-the-world” assignment.  A trusted agent, Sean Ambrose (Scott) was given the assignment of guarding a scientist who had a very valuable chemical concoction in his possession.  When Ambrose kills the scientist and takes off with the luggage, Hunt is called in.

His mission (if he chooses to accept it, of course) is to track down Ambrose, discover the importance of the concoction and deal with it accordingly.  He can select two agents to work with him but a mysterious seductress by the name of Nyah Hall (Newton) must accompany him.  Her significance is revealed when Ethan is told that she is a former flame of Ambrose and will be used a bait to lure him from hiding.

I won’t spoil much more of the thin plot for those who do care what happens.  In similar vein to the original, the script for Mission Impossible 2 defies all logic.  It’s hard to believe that someone was paid for putting these words on a page.  Their perfect prose and poise had all the marks of a Shakespearean performance.  The characters have take themselves way too seriously with the exception of Hopkins (who is hardly seen).  If you’re going to have such a zany plot, at least a few laughs could have been thrown in.

There is a scene where no less than 6 men fire upon Hunt in a relatively open laboratory for a period of fifteen seconds and yet he cannot be hit.  Why can’t someone come up with something more interesting than that?  This raises two questions.  Firstly, if Ethan is the world’s leading spy, how does he put himself is such a dangerous situation?  Secondly, if Ambrose is one of the world’s leading villains, why can’t he hire henchman with some experience is shooting a gun in an accurate fashion.

Irrespective of the story, the action scenes in the film are shot and edited brilliantly.  Cruise and Scott performed a great deal of there own stunts and the blend between what is really them and what is a stunt double is unnoticeable - a credit to director John Woo (Face/Off).  However, the final action scene is flimsy and looks strikingly similar to the fights I see watching WWF wrestling on TV.  A very ordinary film score was turned in from Hans Zimmer which is a surprise having praised him last month for Gladiator.

Sydney was used as the backdrop for the film with the familiar landmarks of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and even Royal Randwick racecourse receiving exposure.  Even AMP got a nice plug for appearing on top of Centrepoint Tower during the film.  Could it be any more commercial?

For me, the most irritating aspect of this mission (and there were a lot of them) was most every scene between Cruise and Newton.  There is clearly no romantic connection.  Cruise plays some sort of tough, smart-arse who knows everything and Newton does nothing more than wear revealing outfits and walk slowly around like a spaced out mute with a pole shoved up her.

There was a rumoured fall out during the film between Woo and Cruise and after seeing the finished product, I understand why.  Despite appearances, I feel both aren’t happy with what’s currently screening at cinemas across the globe.  It’s a far cry from the original TV series and it’s time this series is put to rest in the grave it has already dug for itself.