Matt's Blog

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 04 April 2011

	10.  Josh Hutcherson Best Recent Performance:  Bridge To Terabithia (2007) Other Great Performances:  The Kids Are All Right (2010), Winged Creatures (2008), Zathura (2005), Little Manhattan (2005)
	9.  Ryan Phillippe Best Recent Performance:  Flags Of Our Fathers (2006) Other Great Performances:  The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Stop-Loss (2008), Breach (2007), Crash (2004), Igby Goes Down (2002), Gosford Park (2001), Antitrust (2001)
	8.  Clive Owen Best Recent Performance:  Closer (2004) Other Great Performances:  Duplicity (2009), The International (2009), Children Of Men (2006), Inside Man (2006), Sin City (2005), The Bourne Identity (2002), Gosford Park (2001)
	7.  Christian Bale Best Recent Performance:  The Fighter (2010) Other Great Performances:  The Dark Knight (2008), I’m Not There (2007), 3:10 To Yuma (2007), The Prestige (2006), Batman Begins (2005)
	6.  Matt Damon Best Recent Performance:  The Bourne Supremacy (2004) Other Great Performances:  Green Zone (2010), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Departed (2006), Syriana (2005), The Bourne Identity (2002), Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
	5.  Robert Downey Jr Best Recent Performance:  Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) Other Great Performances:  Due Date (2010), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Tropic Thunder (2008), Iron Man (2008), Zodiac (2007), A Scanner Darkly (2006), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)
	4.  Leonardo DiCaprio Best Recent Performance:  Catch Me If You Can (2002) Other Great Performances:  Inception (2010), Shutter Island (2010), Revolutionary Road (2008), Body Of Lies (2008), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), The Aviator (2004), Gangs Of New York (2002)
	3.  Russell Crowe Best Recent Performance:  A Beautiful Mind (2001) Other Great Performances:  The Next Three Days (2010), State Of Play (2009), Body Of Lies (2008), American Gangster (2007), 3:10 To Yuma (2007), Cinderella Man (2005), Master & Commander (2003)
	2.  Philip Seymour Hoffman Best Recent Performance:  Capote (2006) Other Great Performances:  Doubt (2008), Charlie Wilson’s War (2008), Before The Devil Knows Your Dead (2007), The Savages (2007), Cold Mountain (2003), Owning Mahowny (2003), 25th Hour (2002), Red Dragon (2002), Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
	1.  George Clooney Best Recent Performance:  Michael Clayton (2007) Other Great Performances:  Fantastic Mr Fox (2009), Up In The Air (2009), Burn After Reading (2008), Leatherheads (2008), Syriana (2005), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind (2002), Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 29 March 2011

I’m back on deck after illness and a very busy week.  Plenty of things to do and plenty of movies to see.

I saw a couple of films last week that had me thinking “wow, she’s a great actress”.  I was referring to Rosamund Pike in Barney’s Version and Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go.  It has prompted me to update the list I keep of my favourite actresses.  The last time I did an update was back in October 2008.

This week, I’ve scoured through my reviews to come up with a current list of my 10 favourite actresses working today.  I started with a shortlist of about 25 and worked my way down from there.  It wasn’t easy.

When I create such a list, I’m looking at two key criteria – (1) the actress has a history of strong performances in great movies over the past 10 years, and (2) any new film starring this actress is likely to grab my attention.

New inclusions in this year’s list are Patricia Clarkson, Amy Adams and Rachel McAdams.  They sneak in at the expense of Laura Linney, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Connolly.

Honourable mentions this year have to go to Rosamund Pike, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sally Hawkins, Carey Mulligan, Michelle Williams, Helen Mirren, Marisa Tomei, Zooey Deschanel, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Marcia Gay Harden.

With that said, here then are my 10 favourite actresses.  For each, I’ve listed my favourite performances over the past decade.  Enjoy!

10. Rachel McAdams

Favourite Performances:  Morning Glory (2010), State Of Play (2009), Wedding Crashers (2005), Mean Girls (2004), The Notebook (2004)

9.  Natalie Portman 

Favourite Performances:  No Strings Attached (2011), Black Swan (2010), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), V For Vendetta (2005), Garden State (2004), Closer (2004), Cold Mountain (2003)

8. Amy Adams

Favourite Performances:  The Fighter (2010), Doubt (2008), Sunshine Cleaning (2008), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Enchanted (2007), Junebug (2005)

7.  Nicole Kidman

Favourite Performances:  Rabbit Hole (2010), Australia (2008), Margot At The Wedding (2007), Birth (2004), Cold Mountain (2003), Dogville (2003), The Hours (2002), The Others (2001), Moulin Rouge!  (2001)

6. Patricia Clarkson

Favourite Performances:  Easy A (2010), Cairo Time (2009), Elegy (2008), Good Night And Good Luck (2005), Dogville (2003), The Station Agent (2003), Pieces Of April (2003), Far From Heaven (2002)

5.  Julianne Moore 

Favourite Performances:  The Kids Are All Right (2010), Chloe (2009), A Single Man (2009), Children Of Men (2006), The Hours (2002), Hannibal (2002), Far From Heaven (2002)

4.  Kate Winslet 

Favourite Performances:  Revolutionary Road (2008), The Reader (2008), Little Children (2006), The Holiday (2006), Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Iris (2001)

3.  Meryl Streep 

Favourite Performances:  Julie & Julia (2009), Doubt (2008), Mamma Mia! (2008), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events (2004), The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Hours (2002), Adaptation (2002)

2.  Cate Blanchett 

Favourite Performances:  I’m Not There (2007), Babel (2006), Notes On A Scandal (2006), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), The Aviator (2004), Veronica Guerin (2003)

1.  Tilda Swinton 

Favourite Performances:  I Am Love (2010), Burn After Reading (2008), Michael Clayton (2007), The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (2005), Broken Flowers (2005), Adaptation (2002), The Deep End (2001)

I hope some of your own favourites made the list.  Next week, I’ll unveil my 10 favourite actors.  It’ll be an equally difficult list to put together.

In case you were interested, I updated the list of my favourite 10 directors in October last year.  You can check it out by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 March 2011

A Roarsome Effort!

To quickly move away from my usual film coverage…

I’ve only been to a few of the Brisbane Roar games this year (I used to have a season pass) but there was no way I was going to miss the A-League grand final in front of a sold out crowd of just over 50,000 at Suncorp Stadium.

The quality of the game was very good and even though it was 0-0 at full time, I wasn’t complaining.  The crowd were right into it too but you could sense their frustration when the Roar got near the goals and felt reluctant to “pull the trigger”.

Once the Mariners had gone 2-0 up half-way through the extra time period, the game was over as far as I was concerned.  We were actually debating amongst us how the crowd would react when the final siren blew.  Would they boo the Roar off the ground despite having gone undefeated 27 straight games?  Us Brisbane-ites are fickle supporters after all.

Someone at work left early and they said the buses outside were jam packed – that’s how many had actually given up and were on the way home.  I asked a friend why he’d left and he said he just couldn’t stand the suffering.  He didn’t want to be there when the Central Coast players started celebrating.

Fiction has to be believable.  Reality doesn’t.  Never has a truer word been spoken.  The Roar go 27 games without defeat and stand 2-0 down in the grand final with less than 4 minutes to go.  As if they could win from there?  What odds were they paying on Betfair?

I’ve watched the highlights about 10 times on the Fox Sports website and it still sends a chill down my spine.  The shock of the commentators and the image of Matt McKay looking up at the sky says it all.  The commentators said that fans were streaming back in from outside (those who hadn’t yet jumped on a bus I guess).

The shootout was also amazing.  It’s the first one I’ve seen live.  You always had a sense that the Roar would pull it off.  Momentum was on their side.  The crowd went bananas after the two saves and most hung around for the presentation.  A guy sitting in front of us summed it up best – “I’m not going to get drunk tonight. I’m going to get blind.”  Here’s out excited reaction just after the game - http://twitpic.com/492t09.

I’m still a sceptic when it comes to the A-League.  I think it’s very hard for a local league in any sport to take a foothold in this country when the best players compete overseas.  It’s like golf.  We struggle to get big names down here and the crowds / sponsors reflect that.  There are many clubs struggling in the A-League but hey, it’s lasted 6 years so far and that isn’t too bad I guess.

All I know is that what I witnessed on Sunday night will do the sport no harm.  It was absolutely incredible.

Alliance Française French Film Festival

The 22^nd Alliance Française French Film Festival kicks off in Brisbane on Wednesday night and runs for almost three weeks.  It’s a huge line up with 46 new films in total.  When I saw the list of stars, I was surprised by how many I actually knew.  France does have a great film culture.  You can see films starring Sophie Marceau, Isabelle Huppert, Marion Cotillard, François Cluzet, Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Cécile De France, Jean Reno, Virginie Ledoyen, Audrey Tautou and Kristin Scott Thomas.  That’s a solid list!

Here’s a quick look at a few films which have caught my eye…

Potiche

A captivating new comedy from celebrated director François Ozon, set in the 1970s about a glamorous but neglected housewife who unexpectedly finds herself running the family’s umbrella factory.

Little White Lies

Each year a couple host a gathering at their beautiful beach house where they commence their summer holidays with a group of close friends. Fun, fine wine and seafood mix with sun and sand as they all leave their city stresses behind. But this year, circumstances change, leading to simmering tensions, which threaten to shatter their idyll.

Love Crime

Against the sterile backdrop of a powerful multi-national company, two women – a young ingénue assistant and a senior executive - cross swords. At first they are friendly, but when the older woman starts to take credit for her younger colleague’s ideas, the ground is prepared for all-out war and a dangerous game begins to unfold.

The Clink Of Ice

An alcoholic and misanthropic writer comes face-to-face with a physical manifestation of his own personal suitwearing cancer in this taboo-breaking, intellectual romp from the politically incorrect director, Bertrand Blier.

Of Gods And Men

Set in the mid-1990s and based on a true story, this film follows a community of French Cistercian monks who live in harmony with the local Muslim population deep in the Algerian mountains until they become a target of Islamist fundamentalist rebels. Panic spreads among the inhabitants. The army offers to protect the monks, but they refuse assistance. Should they leave or remain, and if they stay, what will their decision cost them?

You can find out more on the Festival website at http://www.frenchfilmfestival.org/default.aspx.  Tickets are $17.50 for most sessions but there are a few showcase events that cost a little extra (some coming with wine and entertainment).  I’ll hopefully see you there!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 03 March 2011

Wasted On The Young is an interesting Australian film which was just been released in Australian cinemas.  I saw it at the Brisbane International Film Festival last November and I was excited to see it get a national cinema release in this country.  More than anything, I'm curious to see what the general public will make of it. The film did leave me with a few questions and so I took the opportunity to speak with the star of the film, Oliver Ackland.  Here’s what he had to say…

Matt:  I realise that you’ve been in the business for a little while now but how did you get started as an actor?

Oliver:  In high school we had a theatre sports competition.  I knew a few of the older guys who were in the theatre sports team and basically, they needed more to make up the numbers.  I guess I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time… or the right place at the right time… depending on how you look at it.

Matt:  It almost sounds like an accident?

Oliver:  Yeah.  It was something that terrified me and that kind of attracted me to it.  I needed to explore it because it scared the shit out of me. 

Matt:  If we go forward a few years, you were also the inaugural winner back in the 2009 of the Heath Ledger Scholarship.  Has that really helped you out as an actor?

Oliver:  Yeah, it did help.  It was a boost at the right time.  I was broke and couldn’t afford to get over to Los Angeles.  They flew me over, they gave me money and I was able to meet his parents.  It instilled a bit of “fearlessness” in me I think.

Matt:  Wasted On The Young is the new movie you’re promoting at the moment.  How did you land this role?

Oliver:  It was just through normal channels.  I did an audition and went back in and worked on it with the director.  They brought in other people they had in mind for other roles and we worked through a few of the scenes with the guys.  You walk away, you get back to day-to-day stuff and then after a while, they let you know if it worked out.

Matt:  Because one of the things that surprised me is that you’re much older than the high school teenager that you play in the film.  So how did you convince the director that you were able to play the teenager?

Oliver:  It’s funny.  A lot of the time, you miss out stuff that is your own age because you look a certain way, you look younger.  Finally, there was one that went in my favour because I did look younger. 

Matt:  When I saw this film I realised about half way through that there isn’t a single adult in the entire movie.  The story told entirely from the perspective of these teens.  Can you share with us – what was the director (Ben Lucas) trying to achieve by leaving out the adult angle of the story?

Oliver:  He’s trying to say, well, what’s the point of having adults in the film because they have no bearing on what these kids are doing anyway which is a valid point.  They’re in their own bubble.  We did shoot one scene with my character’s mum in the film and that was cut out.  I think it’s a really brave choice.  It leaves some people going “oh, I don’t believe that because there are no parents in the film” but I don’t think Ben ever set out to make a completely realistic kind of film.

Matt:  One of the film’s big strengths for me, is that I really hated some of these characters.  I mean that in a good way.  Your step-brother in the film, Zack (played by Alex Russell) – he really gets under your skin and you want to see him get what he deserves.  There’s one scene where you’re beating the living hell out of each other.  Did it get really intense on set during those moments?

Oliver:  Yeah, it does.  It’s hard to maintain your cool when you’re doing those scenes.  They yell “action” and you’ve got to go straight into it.  With those scenes, there’s definitely more of a hush around the set.

Matt:  Did you have to do a lot of shots with those or can you get it done in one take with the intensity of the moment?

Oliver:  We didn’t have much time for anything so most of the scenes were done pretty quickly.

Matt:  How long did you get to shoot the film?

Oliver:  About 28 days.

Matt:  The film paints a pretty bleak view of how tough high school can be for some teenagers and the stupid things that they get up to.  Do you think the film is a reflection of reality?

Oliver:  Definitely.  It reflects this “bubble” and this parallel existence that kids live in.  At that age, it does seem like things can be really bleak.  If you’re having problems, it can be really hard to come out the other side.

Matt:  Is there something that you hope people can take away from the film?

Oliver:  I think you simply want the film to be thought provoking.  You want it to challenge people and for people to go away, taking and arguing.

Matt:  A strong theme is the way that the school kids communicate these days through the social networking sites and text messaging.  They’re publishing everything for all and sundry to see.  They can spread lies, perpetuate rumours and cause trouble.  Do you think adults have a full sense of this type of stuff and the way affects some kids today?

Oliver:  I don’t think they do because they didn’t grow up with it.  While adults are still using Twitter and Facebook, I don’t think they’re as savvy as the kids are these days.  They’re also using it for completely different reasons.

Matt:  What’s it been like promoting the film?  I know you were at the Toronto Film Festival to start with which is pretty cool.  It’s the film festival I’d love to go to above any other.  Was that fun being over there?

Oliver:  It was a lot of fun.  It was our first international film festival and it was cool to see the response.  We did Sydney before that and people loved it but in the back of your mind you’re thinking it’s a “home town crowd”.  So it was great to take it overseas and have a really enthusiastic response.  It was a brilliant week with films, bars and restaurants.

Matt:  What kind of reaction did you get from the audience over there?

Oliver:  Really positive.  They all stuck around and asked interesting questions.  It had obviously got under their skin because the Q&A went on for a bit.

Matt:  I’m finish up by asking what’s next?  What have you got in the pipeline Oliver?

Oliver:  I did a little bit on Cloudstreet which is coming out soon.  I also just finished up working on The Slap (a new TV series) in Melbourne.

Matt:  Thanks for speaking with me!

You can read my review of the film by clicking here.