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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 January 2006

Brokeback Mountain premiered in September 2005 at the Venice Film Festival and the buzz has been growing ever since.  It has won a “mountain” of awards and features on almost every U.S. critic’s top 10 list.  The film has received as much attention for its subject material as it has for its quality.  Labelled “the gay cowboy movie”, a handful of cinemas in the United States have refused to screen the film.  The funny thing is that this heavy media attention will only increase public awareness of the film.  As they say, any publicity is good publicity.

Those that go along to Brokeback Mountain are in for a treat.  It is the story of Ennis (Ledger) and Jack (Gyllenhaal), two cowboys who first met in 1963.  The pair spent the summer together herding sheep across the mountainous terrain of Wyoming.  At first, there was a friendship but then something deeper, more complicated developed between them.  Ennis and Jack became lovers and in the vast seclusion of the Wyoming landscape, they could be who they wanted to be.

The summer soon ended and both reluctantly returned to the real world they had forgotten.  They understood that their romance could not continue.  Cowboys have such a tough reputation and if anyone were to find out, they could be killed.  Ennis goes on to marry a sweet country girl named Alma (Williams) and Jack moves to Texas to marry a wealthy rodeo-girl named Lureen (Hathaway).

Love is a powerful force however and Ennis and Jack have never forgotten the summer of 1963.  Several years later, Jack tracks Ennis down and the two start going on fishing trips together.  Alma suspects the truth when the trips become more and more frequent and the pair never return with any fish.  It’s a shattering realisation for Alma who realises her marriage is a sham.

Based on a short story from E. Annie Proulx (The Shipping News), Brokeback Mountain is directed by the great Ang Lee (Sense & Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).  The film’s best quality is its lack of dialogue.  It’s a trait I love in movies – instead of listening to characters, we study them and wonder what is going on inside their heads.  The answers are not laid out plainly before us.

The film’s huge emotional impact can be attributed to the incredible performances of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.  Ennis is the quieter of the duo, trying hard to suppress his feelings.  Jack is more talkative and more open to the idea that they could be together forever one day.  They may have different personalities but they share the same heart-breaking problem – they cannot be with the person they love.

With its sweeping country vistas and a guitar-laced soundtrack from Argentinean composer Gustavo Santaolalla (The Motorcycle Diaries), Brokeback Mountain is one of the rawest, most honest romantic dramas seen in recent years.  Perhaps this is why it is connecting so resolutely with audiences.  As the front runner for this year’s Academy Award for best picture, it’s destined to be remembered.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 16 January 2006

His real name is Curtis Jackson but most know him as “50 Cent”.  The 30-year-old rapper is the star of the latest film from renowned director Jim Sheridan (In The Name Of The Father, In America).  There’s a similarity in this project with Eminem’s 2002 film, 8 Mile.  Both feature rappers in their acting debuts, both are based on true stories, both are about overcoming obstacles, and both have an acclaimed director behind the camera (Curtis Hanson directed 8 Mile).

On paper they familiar but in terms of quality, they are “miles” apart.  8 Mile was brilliant.  It was artistic, told a great story, featured strong actors and had a few unexpected twists.  Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ is terribly predictable and includes a stale performance from 50 Cent.  He can’t act but I don’t hold it against him.  It can’t be easy carrying a $40m motion picture with limited acting experience.  I blame the producers for giving this film a green light to go ahead.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ sees a kid named Marcus (50 Cent) grow up on the “wrong side of tracks”.  He never knew his father and his mother was murdered when Marcus was a young teenager.  Marcus turned to world of drugs and he was soon one of the leading traders in the ‘hood.  He now had wealth but there were many competitors trying to bring him down.

After a brief stint in jail, Marcus finds his conscious and wants to change his life for the better.  He becomes a rap singer and with the help of a manager (Howard), tries to find a record label to distribute his music.  Marcus also speaks out against the crime and drug-trafficking that is destroying the neighbourhood.  These actions are attracting a new group of enemies who want Marcus silenced at all costs.

I was tired after just half-an-hour.  The plot feels stretched and the cliché ridden dialogue did nothing to make the two hours feel shorter.   One of the worst parts is the “philosophical” narration from 50 Cent.  He’s trying too hard to get his message across.

Close to 5,000 people have graded this film on the Internet Movie Database and the film has scored an average grade of 2.3 out of 10.  This ranks it inside the bottom 100 films of all time.  It currently has a lower score than Battlefield Earth and Police Academy: Mission To Moscow.  I wouldn’t rank it in my own bottom 100 but it’s not far away.  Save your cents for another movie.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 January 2006

At the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and later killed by a Palestinian terrorist organisation known as Black September.  It was the darkest day in the modern Olympic movement.  Instead of celebrating athletic abilities and cultural diversity, the world was shock.  Many people will remember where they were when they first heard this news.

Steven Spielberg’s film is not a recount of the Munich tragedy.  It focuses on the aftermath and the revenge that the Israeli government sought.  Through their intelligence agency, known as Mossad, a team was secretly recruited to find and kill the Black September operatives who planned the events in Munich.

This team is led by a man named Avner (Bana).  He has been chosen because he is unknown and this will make it easier for him travel inconspicuously across Europe.  Avner has been provided an unlimited sum of money in a Swiss bank account to buy any information and any ammunition which the team will need.  This is a very important assignment.  The Israeli government needs to be seen as avenging the Munich killings.

Given its subject material, Munich is already stirring up controversy.  Spielberg has tried to make the film neutral but both Palestinians and Israelis have claimed the film paints them in a negative light.  I guess Spielberg got it right then.  The overriding message is that an “eye for an eye” methodology will never bring these two enemies closer to peace.  If they continue to retaliating against the actions of each other, nothing will come of it.  The events of Munich should not have happened but the subsequent assassinations of the Black September leaders was equally pointless.

Munich looks great with Spielberg shooting scenes in France, Hungary, Malta and the United States.  When retelling such an important story, it is important to get the facts right.  The screenplay has been written by Tony Kushner (Angels In America) and much of his material has been extracted from George Jonas’s 1984 non-fiction book entitled Vengeance.  Jonas’s book has been discredited by some.  Whilst the nitty-gritty details may not be 100% accurate, the major facts are true.  These revenge attacks did happen.

My gripe with the film is its massive length which is close to three hours.  I felt that they were “flogging a dead horse” by dragging it out and continually repeating its key messages.  At the 2005 Brisbane International Film Festival, I saw a film called Paradise Now about two Palestinian suicide bombers who try to spread their message by killing themselves in a crowed area of Israel.  The film is now screening at the Schonell Theatre here in Brisbane and has been nominated for best foreign language film at the Golden Globes.  Paradise Now was just 90 minutes long and left a much greater emotional impact on me.  It really got under my skin and I felt for its characters.  Munich is more like a history documentary - the facts are interesting but the emotion isn’t the same.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 January 2006

Chris Brander (Reynolds) was once an overweight teenager with a massive crush on his best friend, Jamie Palamino (Smart).  They spent plenty of time together but Jamie never showed an interest in anything more and Chris didn’t have the confidence to ask.  Finally deciding to reveal his feeling at their high school graduation party, Chris was left with a broken heart.  Jamie just wanted to be friends and everyone at the party had a good laugh at Chris’s expense.

Now living in Hollywood, Chris has slimmed down and has the image of success.  Ten years has passed since that forgettable night and Chris now works as a music producer in Hollywood.  His latest client is Samantha James (Faris), a ditsy, hyperactive musician.  Flying with Samantha to Paris, Chris’s past is about to come flooding back.  A problem with the plane sees it diverted to his home in New Jersey and they’ll have to spend the night.  At a local bar, he just so happens to bump into… Jamie Palamino.

For the next few days, Chris and Jamie’s friendship is rekindled.  They hang out together, talk about the past and everything is as it was ten years ago.  For Chris, he’s now faced with the same problem he had ten years ago.  He loves Jamie but is he stuck in limbo again?  How does she feel about him after all this time?  There’s no time to waste because another man from Jamie’s past (Klein) has reappeared and is proving to be stiff competition.

We’ve probably all heard the words “let’s just be friends” and on paper, this doesn’t sound like a bad idea for a comedy movie.  Sadly, there aren’t many laughs.  The two funniest characters are supporting – Anna Faris as Samantha and Christopher Marquette as Chris’s brother, Dusty.  We don’t see enough of them however with the film focusing on the tiresome couple of Ryan Reynolds and Amy Smart.

I appreciate that it’s not easy to make a good comedy but you need more material than this.  It’d be a funny skit on say, Saturday Night Live, but it can’t hold my attention for 90 minutes.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 January 2006

Our film begins with a pretty, young lady reading a magazine aboard a train.  She looks as sweet and innocent as any person could be.  That is until the train reaches its destination and a team of police officers come aboard.  They had been notified by an attendant who observed a red liquid oozing from the lady’s trunk, stored in the baggage cabin.  On opening, two bodies were found – that of the lady’s husband and his mistress.  Showing no remorse for her actions, the lady was sentenced to a mental asylum and was not to be released until she is no longer a threat to the community.

After this short introduction, we skip 43 years into the future and meet the Goodfellow family.  Reverend Walter Goodfellow (Atkinson) and his wife Gloria (Thomas) live in a small, peaceful town.  They have two children – a promiscuous daughter, Holly, and a shy son, Petey.  To help with the kids and the household chores, Walter and Gloria have hired a housekeeper by the name of Grace Hawkins (Smith).  Her strange arrival is just the start of a very unusual week for the Goodfellows.

If you put two and two together, you’ll see how the stories are linked.  I often criticise films for being predictable but only a small few are as obvious as Keeping Mum.  You could see the surprises coming from a mile away.  So noticeable were the “hints” dropped along the way, that I thought it was one giant hoax.  Were they just “red herrings” leading up to an unexpected twist in the end?  Nope.  It played out 100% as expected.

Even if you’re a fan of the ending, how could one not be disappointed by the thin storyline?  The jokes are overused and weren’t funny anyway.  How many times did I have to watch Gloria get annoyed by the barking dog next door?  How many times did I have to watch the next door neighbour enquire about the gardening society?  How many times did I have to watch Holly come home with a new boyfriend?

As unattractive as Keeping Mum sounds, it has attracted a quality cast including Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Maggie Smith.  All the actors are struggle though in roles which don’t suit.  Their idiosyncrasies are overdone and I would have preferred subtler, more believable characters.  The overall premise has merit but why make a black comedy with a screwball cast?  It doesn’t work.