Reviews
Boiler Room
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | Ben Younger |
| Written by: | Ben Younger |
| Starring: | Giovanni Ribisi, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel, Tom Everett Scott, Scott Caan, Jamie Kennedy, Ron Rifkin |
| Released: | October 12, 2000 |
| Grade: | A |
Money is all you need, well at least according to Seth Davis (Ribisi) it is. Determined to be encompassed by wealth, Seth has even gone to the trouble of setting up an underground casino in his own home which is open twenty-four seven. As easily as the money is pouring in, it’s still far from fulfilling his dreams and has cost him his relationship with his father (Rifkin), who as a State judge wants to distance himself from his son’s illegal activities.
Seth is introduced to Greg (Nicky Katt) by close friend Adam (Kennedy) who offers him a job at the New York stockbroking firm of J.T. Marlin. At the interview, Seth finds himself exposed to a world he only dreamed of. As employee Jim Young (Affleck) tells the budding hopefuls, you will make a million dollars within three years guaranteed.
It’s demanding but Seth fits straight in. He develops the knack for pressuring potential purchasers and convinces them to part with their hard earned money for stock recommended by the firm. Soon enough he’s rising up the corporate ladder but his intelligence senses that something is not quite right. Why are employees shredding documents after dark? Why is the boss setting up another organisation next door? Why is it that no one has heard of J.T. Marlin?
Boiler Room is a very slick and sharp thriller from first time director and writer Ben Younger. The story focuses not only on the firm but also its effect on the families of people affected, which offers a different perspective and creates feeling for them. There’s a great scene where Seth tries to convince a self-employed, married man to part with his $50,000 life-savings to invest in stock with no chance of rising in value. It’s heartbreaking to see the inner battle that both Seth and the gentlemen are going through - it’s a defining moment.
The ensemble is well cast with all of them young, arrogant entrepreneurs. It must have been a field day for the costumers and make-up artists preparing their picture-perfect looks (it reminiscent of American Psycho). A career performance was turned in by Ron Rifkin as the father who showed more than one dimension in a very realistic portrayal.
This film has a lot to offer and is edge of your seat stuff for its full two hours. Certainly different, Boiler Room provides not only entertainment value but also a lesson in the treachery and danger fraught with playing the stockmarket and the depravity that some will go to make their own personal fortune.
Reindeer Games
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | John Frankenheimer |
| Written by: | Ehren Kruger |
| Starring: | Ben Affleck, Gary Sinese, Charlize Theron, Dennis Farina, Issac Hayes |
| Released: | October 5, 2000 |
| Grade: | C+ |
It’s funny looking at the tangents the lives of best friends Matt Damon and Ben Affleck have taken. After rising through the ranks with Good Will Hunting, Damon took on the more challenging, dramatic roles of Saving Private Ryan, Rounders, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Legend Of Bagger Vance and All The Pretty Horses.
On the other hand, Affleck has chosen more high profile and action roles with Armageddon, Phantoms, Forces Of Nature and now, Reindeer Games. Personally, I think Damon has made a few better career moves and Affleck needs to exercise more thought when considering subject material such as this.
Rudy Duncan (Affleck) and Nick Cassidy (James Frain) are roommates in the slammer on the verge of being released. Nick can’t wait to get out because whilst in jail he’s met the woman of his dreams, Ashley (Theron), through a penpal program and after months of waiting, they can finally meet in the flesh.
However, Nick is stabbed and killed just 48 hours short of his release in a cafeteria brawl. Against the advice that little voice in his head suggests, Rudy decides that when released, he’ll pretend to be Nick to win the affections of the luscious Ashley.
Things go about as bad as they can go for Rudy when he his attacked by Gabriel (Sinese), Ashley’s brother, who threatens to kill him unless he helps with his scheme. He’s been reading Nick’s letters to Ashley and knows that he once worked in a casino and also knows the location of all the security cameras, trap doors and secret safes. Gabriel and his team, with Nick’s knowledge, are going to strike on Christmas Eve to make it a very merry Christmas. This of course is a problem to Rudy as he is not Nick and knows nothing at all about the casino...
The film started promisingly but the ending is total tripe. I’ve had a recent dig at “teen horror films” and how their endings are so ludicrous it makes them impossible to substantiate. Reindeer Games takes this to a new level with the most ridiculous twist one is likely to see. It make zero sense and if you watched the film a second time, you’d see just how perfect everything went to make the twist work. Total crap.
The performances aren’t worth raving about nor is the direction from John Frankenheimer who’s own career has deteriorated in recent years. If you need any more incentive not to see this film, just remember this fact - it’s from the director of The Island Of Dr. Moreau.
Urban Legends: Final Cut
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | John Ottman |
| Written by: | Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson |
| Starring: | Joey Lawrence, Matthew Davis, Jenny Morrison, Loretta Devine, Anson Mount |
| Released: | September 28, 2000 |
| Grade: | C- |
At 1pm on Monday, February 17, 1997, I went to the Birch Carroll & Coyle cinemas at Maroochydore and saw one hell of a film - Scream. It was sharp, witty, scary, original and worthy of the praise it received. However, if I was to know of the utter garbage it would spawn, I feel we’d all be better off if Scream had never been created.
Long ago I’d never heard the term “teen horror film” but now those three words make me cringe in my seat. I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, Halloween H20, Phantoms, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Disturbing Behaviour, Idle Hands, Urban Legend, Jawbreaker, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Cut, Final Destination, Scream 3, The Skulls... That’s a lot of movies in a three-year stretch and a lot of bad memories to go with them.
I have spoken of and written about all of the above films with contempt. I have used every negative adjective that both my mind and this computer can imagine and I have nothing left. There are no words that can express my feeling for this film so I feel the best thing is to just leave it at that. I know it stinks, you know it stinks, end of story.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. A girl at an exclusive film school comes up with an idea to make a movie - one about a serial killer who kills people based upon urban legends. So, she makes the movie and one by one, her crew are killed off and you’ll never guess how - by an actual serial killer who kills people based upon urban legends. Wow!
Now make sure you brace yourself for the big finale. Like most every other teen film, the ending defies all logic with a ludicrous motive created to make the killer seem like the last person you’d expect. There’s no thinking involved because the motive is so convoluted, it’s impossible to both predict and substantiate. I’m tempted to tell you right now who the killer was just to spoil the movie so you can avoid the trauma of having to see it.
If I can say one thing for the film - I enjoyed the interesting twist in the final 20 seconds. To save you the trouble, the movie ends with the killer being escorted around a hospital in a wheelchair by a nurse who happens to be Rebecca Gayheart (the killer from the first Urban Legend). A nice touch but it’s the only one.
This is as low as we can go. There is no coming back from here. This film has set filmmaking back so far, it must surely lead the demise of this genre. This is a farce.
Space Cowboys
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | Clint Eastwood |
| Written by: | Howard Klausner |
| Starring: | Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, James Cromwell, Loren Dean, Donald Sutherland |
| Released: | October 5, 2000 |
| Grade: | B+ |
Clint Eastwood is back in the director’s chair for Space Cowboys and he’s had no trouble assembling a stellar cast. It’s the story of four guys known as “Team Dateless” who in 1958 were to become the first Americans in space. However, after a long running feud with NASA head Bob Gurson (Cromwell), they were taken off the mission, replaced by a monkey and never flew again.
Some forty years later, NASA has a problem. A Russian satellite has developed a small glitch and will fall to Earth in 35 days. Should this happen, Russian communications will be thrown into chaos and so the U.S. has stepped in to fix the problem to help increase their relationship with the Russians. It so happens that the technology on the satellite is primitive and the only man capable of understanding its technics is Frank Corvin (Eastwood), the former leader of Team Dateless.
So we find ourselves in an interesting situation. Gurson, who is still chief at NASA, has to call upon the guy he screwed 40 years ago to come save the day. Frank says he’ll do it but on one condition - if all of Team Dateless gets to go up in the shuttle. Gurson gives him an ultimatum - they can go up but only if they pass the same physical and mental examinations set for all astronauts. And so, the training begins...
I have seen better storylines than that offered by Space Cowboys. We all know how things are going to pan out and the twists thrown at you are predictable. At the initial NASA meeting, two items are discussed - (1) how a Russian satellite has American technology aboard, and (2) what is actually on board the satellite? Neither question is answered at the time, which makes it painfully obvious that the answers will be given to us later, but if you connect the dots, you’ll know already.
What makes Space Cowboys such entertaining value is the awesome cast. The same script with a weaker cast would have not have worked and it’s the class of all these “elderly” stars that give the film its draw. It’s unfair to single out any character because they’re all so good. Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones have some dynamite dialogue. Donald Sutherland has put on a lot of weight for the role and is the funniest of the team. James Cromwell has the tough job of playing the villain and is surprisingly effective. My favourite had to be William Devane with his laid back portrayal of NASA mission director Eugene Davis.
Sure it’s popcorn stuff mixed with a dash of sentimentality but Space Cowboys has plenty going for it. It’s not breakthrough material but it is certainly above average when compared against the current crop of Summer blockbusters.
Battlefield Earth
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | Roger Christian |
| Written by: | L. Ron Hubbard, Cory Mandell |
| Starring: | John Travolta, Barry Pepper, Forest Whitaker, Kim Coates |
| Released: | September 28, 2000 |
| Grade: | C+ |
It was impossible to give this film a fair chance given the reviews that preceded it from the United States. Here’s some examples: "A million monkeys with a million crayons would be hard-pressed in a million years to create anything as pretentious as Battlefield Earth." (Washington Post), "A bloated sci-fi monstrosity...we are now spared the sleepless nights of wondering which gobbler will dominate the next Razzie Awards for worst turkey of the year." (Toronto Star), "[The script is] deeply dumb, depressingly derivative." (USA Today), and "In the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, Battlefield Earth makes Waterworld look like a masterpiece." (Los Angeles Times).
Where do I start? It’s based on a best-selling novel by L. Ron Hubbard that has quite a cult following. The problem with the film is not the storyline. In fact, there were moments I enjoyed which showed particular strength in the screenplay. It may be similar to the standard sci-fi thriller about saving mankind from alien domination but at least it was mildly amusing.
What is severely lacking is any direction and help from the cast whatsoever. Roger Christian has turned in one of the worst directing efforts I have been forced to witness. The action scenes are edited very quickly which is annoying for two reasons: (1) you can’t really see or understand what is going on, and (2) it’s a cheap way to cut corners. For example, when a guy’s head was blown off, the camera cuts away just as it’s about to happen and we see nothing.
The special effects are mind-blowingly unspectacular. I’ve seen Playstation games with better graphics. The first scene we see of the big dome and it’s enclosure is clearly a model and it’s a wonder how a film costing $73m could use such mediocre effects. Every shot I saw of an alien transport vessel was yet another reminder of the distraction the effects provided.
Why John Travolta was cast I will never know. Paying his standard $20m seems pointless given he’s hardly recognisable with make up on and that goes for the whole cast. Clearly he is used as the big-name drawcard appearing on posters and TV ads to lure the customer in. Based on its performance in the U.S., few people were sucked in. The film made $11m in the first 3 days of release before finishing with a grand total of $21m. That is a big loss.
Battlefield Earth is a sad tale where everything went wrong. It’s like a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle with 490 pieces missing. I think for everyone’s sake (especially Travolta’s) we’ll all just forget this ever happened and never speak of it again.
Bootmen
- Details
- Written by Matthew Toomey
| Directed by: | Dein Perry |
| Written by: | Steve Worland |
| Starring: | Adam Garcia, Sophie Lee, Sam Worthington, William Zappa, Lisa Perry, Anthony Hayes, Susie Porter |
| Released: | October 5, 2000 |
| Grade: | A- |
Sean (Garcia) and his brother, Mitchell (Worthington), are two popular guys who work at a Newcastle steelworks. Their mother has passed away and they still live at home with dad who’s a former Rugby League great and synonymous amongst the community. Both share a love for tap and have done so since they were kids but as time as matured them, little has been made of their talents.
On a spur of the moment decision, Sean decides to audition for a tap show in Sydney and his flair catches the eye of the talent scout who decides he’s the right material. At the same time, he meets and instantly falls for Linda (Lee) but Sean’s trip to the big city is eminent and they soon find themselves apart.
In Sydney, things don’t go as expected. Sean quits and heads back to Newcastle where things go from bad to worse. The steelworks are to be shut down and all the employees retrenched. So to help get the staff back on their feet and create a retraining program, Sean and his mates decide to put on a tap concert to help raise much-needed funds.
Bootmen is a very likeable film particularly for its fast pace. No scene seems wasted and the whole story flows at a rapid rate that heightens the interest and suspense making the surprises harder to anticipate.
Adam Garcia will boom onto the worldwide stage with this role continuing the world’s obsession with new Australian actors. Sophie Lee also shows that she can play more than a dumb blonde (as in Muriel’s Wedding and The Castle) with her subtle performance. The real stars of this film though are the tap dancers that have put on a fantastic show thanks to years of effort and practice.
Dein Perry is a newcomer to filmmaking although he knows a thing or two about the craft having been a member of Tap Dogs, the tap group from which this movie was inspired. He uses inventive camera angles and lighting to increase our appreciation for these entertainers. The film’s closing number is fantastic but the whole film is attractive as we see the demanding training and other hardships that went into pulling the dream off.
Bootmen is not to be missed. It’s a tribute to Australia’s super talent both on and behind the cameras. A touching, sentimental and uplifting film, Bootmen has all the right ingredients so take the time and go see it.