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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 May 2005

Birth opens with a lengthy shot of a man running in a snow-filled park.  He reaches a tunnel, slows his pace, then collapses on the ground.  These are the final moments in Sean’s life.

Ten years have now passed and Sean’s wife, Anna (Kidman) is set to remarry.  She never truly recovered from the loss of her husband but has finally been persuaded by her new suitor, Joseph (Huston), to marry him.  Wedding preparations are underway.

At a birthday party in her upper-class apartment, a 10-year-old boy lets himself in.  He tells the guests that he wants to speak with Anna.  Taking her into the kitchen, this eerily docile child introduces himself as Sean, her husband.  Believing it to be a cruel joke, Anna wants nothing to do with the boy and has him removed from the premises.  But when he appears again the following day and reveals intimate details of their marriage, Anna starts considering the impossible…

I never expected it but Birth has become a film I will not easily forget.  It is the first film of 2005 that has forced me to think and explore outside of the theatre.  For some, the crux of the film will be whether Sean truly is a reincarnated version of Anna’s late husband.  If you’ve seen the movie and think you know the answer, think again.  It’s open to a wide interpretation and I have read over 20 different opinions on the internet.  It isn’t in the same class but the film’s greyness reminds me of my favourite film of 2003, Mulholland Drive.

I’ve debated whether the ambiguity is a result poor scripting or whether it’s a direct decision on the part of the writers not to reveal all.  I’m happy to support the later theory when you consider the film has been co-written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, the man responsible for the awesome Sexy Beast (with Ben Kingsley).  There’s a great film if you haven’t already seen it.

Glazer’s direction is confronting but well suited.  There are many awkward silences and intense close-ups.  When the music does arrive, it’s a beautifully chilling piano melody from French composer Alexandre Desplat (Girl With A Pearl Earring).  Having been impressed with the cinematography, it came as no surprise to see Harris Savides (Elephant) credited with the work.  I’d love to have him work on any film of mine!

Nicole Kidman is stirring in the role and delivers a much better performance than that in The Interpreter.  Also powerful is the presence of 12-year-old Cameron Bright (Godsend).  It must have been a difficult decision by his parents to let him star in a film featuring such adult content.  The media has unnecessarily surrounded the film with controversy as there is a scene in which Kidman and Bright share a bath together.  Don’t be perturbed and think this is a showcase for paedophiles.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.

With many layers and much to talk about, Birth is a treat for moviegoers.  What you take away from it, is up to you.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 April 2005

As an advertisement salesman, 51-year-old Dan Foreman (Quaid) and his team have just had their best ever year for Sports America.  As good as he is at his job, he’s about to learn a key rule in business – don’t take anything for granted.  Sports America has just been taken over by a corporate giant who plans on doing a little “restructuring”.  Dan has been demoted and now leading the ad sales division is 26-year-old Carter Duryea (Grace).

Carter is supremely ambitious but also inexperienced.  One of his first assignments is to cut staffing costs and many loyal employees are shown the door.  This isn’t as easy as Carter hoped it to be.  He’s been trained to put the “bottom line” above all else but there’s a growing maturity in him that has him doubting this mentality.  To further make things difficult for Carter, his wife of just 5 months has left him and his long work hours leave no hope for reconciliation.

Dan knows that it’s not easy for a man of his age to find a new job.  He sticks around at Sports America and tries to keep his objections to a minimum.  He’s not pleased but he needs the dollars.  Carter on the other hand, soon realises he’s in over his head.  He turns to Dan as a mentor and a friendship develops.  It’s about to become even more complicated when Carter starts courting Dan’s daughter, Alex (Johansson). 

Being a young man who works in an office environment, I could very much relate to this film.  The film explores some interesting issues such as aging employees, long work hours and the effects of a restructure.  The work element though is secondary to the story of the bond that grows between Dan and Carter.  That said, I’m not sure the film is perfectly balanced.  The screenplay tries to skirt some of the darker issues to try to keep a more upbeat tone.

Star Topher Grace made a cameo in Ocean’s 12 where he makes a reference to this particular film and how he “phoned in” his performance.  It was the funniest joke in Ocean’s 12 and I admire that Topher has a sense of humour about it.  There’s nothing sub-par about his efforts here and I enjoyed his fast-talking and quirky mannerisms.  As their characters do in the film, Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace work very well together.

In Good Company is written and directed by Paul Weitz.  I’m a fan of his work and his knack for creating great feel-good flicks which aren’t soppy or sentimental.  Weitz directed the first American Pie film and both directed and co-wrote About A Boy.  If you haven’t seen either of this films yet, get to the video store at once.

It’s taken a while for In Good Company to reach Australian cinemas.  After its January release in the States, the film was to be released here back in March.  It was pulled at the very last minute which came as a surprise to many.  None more so than Brisbane’s leading newspaper, The Courier Mail.  Critic Des Patridge’s review was printed despite the fact the film wasn’t even showing!  Thankfully, the film is now on show and deserves his good review.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 May 2005

I save my worst grade for those films which truly deserve it.  XXX: The Next Level is one of those films.

The film doesn’t go into much detail but the previous XXX was killed.  I find this hard to believe since Vin Diesel managed to avoid every unbelievable situation put in front of him in the previous film.  Anyway, Agent Augustus Gibbons (Jackson) is looking for a new XXX and believes the man for the job is Darius Stone (Ice Cube).

The problem is that Darius is currently serving a 20-year sentence in the slammer.  Not a man for paperwork, Augustus helps Darius escape from the prison.  The finale to the escape is ludicrous.  Darius jumps blindly from the prison roof (after being shot at repeatedly) and manages to grab hold of the side of helicopter which just happens to fly by.  He wasn’t even looking when he jumped!  This is fortunate for the audience because if Darius were to jump one second later, the film would have been 80 minutes shorter.

Now that the new XXX has been recruited, the focus turns to saving the world.  The American defence minister, George Deckert (Dafoe), isn’t happy that the President is cutting the defence budget.  So to get back at him, he’s going to kill both the President and the Vice President so that he can seize control of the country.  Of course, the CIA, FBI, etc are unknowing of this and are powerless to Deckert.  The only man who can stop him is the escaped convict, XXX.

Action, action, action is then the focus (if it wasn’t already).  There’s an array of expense stunts performed by stunt doubles.  The most unrealistic involves XXX riding a speed boat up a construction ramp which then precisely lands on top a police car on the bridge.  The police car explodes and the officers duck for cover.  This allows XXX to save a friend and escape undetected.

If this sounds like your idea of a good night’s entertainment, don’t let me stop you.  XXX: The Next Level is an action showcase.  Then again, if you’re like me and prefer your action films to have a story, forget it.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 April 2005

When it comes to documentaries on the big screen, you probably can’t call me a critic.  That’s because I give every one a great review!  My top 10 list from last year features 5 awesome docos.  I’m not sure whether I’m biased to the genre or it’s just that it’s a golden era for documentary filmmakers.  I’d like to think it’s the later but I’ll understand if you’re sick of my raves and wish to read no further.

DiG! is a brilliantly put-together documentary which follows two American rock bands trying to breakthrough in the mid 1990s.  Courtney Taylor started The Dandy Warhols and Anton Newcombe founded The Brian Jonestown Massacre.  The two bands were once quite close and hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes footage was recorded on hand-held cameras.  With amazing editing, this random footage has been collated into 105 minutes of infotainment.

The Dandy Warhols found success.  It wasn’t easy at first and their early attempts to crack the American markets were a failure.  The record companies said they’d support them fully but balked as soon as the first album didn’t crack the charts.  Taking their music to Europe, The Dandy Warhols discovered their audience.  Over the next few years, they released a variety of albums (including Welcome To The Monkey House and Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia) and often performed in front of 100,000 screaming fans. 

The Brian Jonestown Massacre found failure.  They had incredible promise but it was never realised.  As talented as Anton was as a song-writer, his eccentric behaviour cost his band any chance at fame.  Anton’s anger and drug problems saw him ruin relationships with managers, record labels and the band members themselves.  In the end, fans came to Massacre concerts just to see if Anton would flip out.

I’m not a musician and in terms of music knowledge, I’d be in the bottom 1% of the country.  I knew a couple of The Dandy Warhols’ songs (one was used in the Sideways trailer) but that’s about it.  Yet my admiration for this film proves that anyone can take pleasure from it.  My favourite angle of the film was its look at the greed of major record labels.  Not only do they lack the courage to support new talent (unless it’s commercial), they try to destroy internet sites such as Napster and Kazaa to stop these same musicians from sharing their artistry in an attempt to find a fan base.

I’ve hinted at it already but DiG! deserves huge raves for its editing.  The fact that there’s hardly a dull moment is a tribute to the editor and director of the film, Ondi Timoner.  It could easily have been longer and I sense there’s some other great behind-the-scenes stuff we didn’t see.  I don’t know if this documentary was always planned but the amount of footage is extraordinary.  It’s as if every major decision or action of both bands was videotaped.

So yep, another documentary and another big rave.  If you don’t want to see it though, it’s your loss.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 May 2005

Unfortunately for the citizens of Earth, they have just a few minutes to live.  Their planet has been scheduled for demolition to make way for a galactic super-highway.  Fortunately for Arthur Dent (Freeman), he’s just found out that his best friend, Ford Prefect (Def), is an alien and will help them both escape.  Ford has the universe’s top selling book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.  It’s a must have when traversing across the vast emptiness of space.  It tells about every planet, every culture and every creature you are likely to encounter.

Hitching a ride on an alien spacecraft, Ford meets an old friend named Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell) who just so happens to be the President of the Universe.  They join him on a journey to find the question to the ultimate answer.

I expected big things from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy but was incredibly disappointed by the end result.  It’s little more than a disjointed mismatch of unfunny sketches.  What I mean is that there isn’t much story and the writers have tried to win the audience over with repetitious comedy.  There’s a depressed robot named Marvin who is voiced by the underrated English actor, Alan Rickman.  Marvin’s boring, tiresome dialogue left me frustrated beyond belief.

I can’t say much about the rest of the cast.  American Sam Rockwell is miscast as Beeblebrox.  Not one of his jokes hits the mark.  The only glimpse of promise in the whole production comes from his girlfriend, played by Zooey Deschanel.  I have been a fan of Deschanel since her performances in Almost Famous, All The Real Girls and Eulogy.  She is destined for big things and Hitchhiker, for those who waste their time and go see it, will give her great exposure.

I haven’t read the famous novel by Douglas Adams but went along with a friend who had read the book many times.  His comments were that the best parts of the book were overlooked.  Like any major book adaptation, there will always be a difference of opinion as to what should and shouldn’t be included.  All I say is that if you’ve enjoyed Adams’ book, don’t necessarily think you’ll enjoy the movie.

It may have been filmed and produced in the UK but The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy has fallen victim to the US summer blockbuster syndrome – where films are all hype with no quality.  Judging from other reviews and opinions on the internet, I think 50% will agree with me and 50% will not.  If you’re on my side, it’s definitely time to panic!