Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 November 2001

Malena Scordia (Bellucci) is a model of beauty in a small Sicilian town.  World War II has begun and Italy is now involved.  Malena’s husband, Nino (Aronica), has been sent off to war.  With such an attractive woman living alone, everyone is whispering.  Men talk of her splendour and fantasise of being her lover.  Women are crazy jealous and spread rumours of her unfaithfulness to her husband.

12-year-old Renato Amoroso (Sulfaro) is coming of age and Malena is the object of his desire.  He knows he’s too young but he keeps a constant eye on the luscious Malena and spies on her through a small hole in her home’s second story window.

Word arrives that Nino has been killed in combat and Malena is left with nothing.  Her pension is cut off, the women of the town have abandoned her and no one is willing to help.  The quiet and unassuming Malena is now being undeservedly punished for the beauty she was born with.

In Australia, we don’t see many foreign language films but many will see the similarity with Life Is Beautiful - a romantic comedy set against the tragedy of war.  In comparison, Malena’s total lack of substance makes it inferior.  The story is too simple.  Subplots are raised but never developed.  Renato’s bizarre relationship with his parents was more interesting than the love story but this element of the story was given little film time.

Malena was nominated for two Oscars earlier this year and there’s no denying the deservedness of Lajos Koltai’s cinematography and Ennio Morricone’s music score.  I love the way Koltai softly moves the camera during many scenes.  It gives a wider perspective and is a change from the simplicity of keeping a camera in one spot and zooming in and out.  Morricone’s peaceful music is ideal and is sure to find a place in my soundtrack collection.

All the elements are present but the story just doesn’t work.  It’s very sexual in looking at Renato’s pubescent development but the jokes are too silly and cute to create emotional feeling.  Malena’s story is tragic but I had little respect for either her or Renato.  It’s not easy trying to mix comedy and drama and Tornatore doesn’t get the job done.

In a time when few foreign language films are seen in this country, it’s a shame we’re given a weak entry when many other acclaimed foreign pics can’t find distribution.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 08 November 2001

Often made a mockery of in movies, ghosts and the supernatural are the perfect elements, that when used effectively, can send a chill down your spine.  The Others is proof of that.

Grace (Kidman) and her two children, Anne (Mann) and Nicolas (Bentley) reside in a large English mansion.  On their doorstep arrive Bertha, Edmund and Lydia looking to fill the vacancy as the house’s servants.  Grace warns Bertha not to listen to her children’s “ideas” as their wild imagination often gets the better of them.

Anne believes she sees ghosts – a man, a woman, an old lady and a boy called Victor.  Grace punishes Anne for speaking such nonsense and for frightening her brother but soon she has suspicions of her own.  Strange noises come from the house that cannot be explained.  Doors open and close of their own free will.  Her fierce denial to believe in the supernatural has her on the brink of madness.  There must be an explanation…

The Others is an impeccable illustration of how to make a great thriller.  There is little music and the tiniest sounds are amplified to keep the audience in a dead silence.  Then, the director shocks us, the music intensifies and we all jump and start whispering.

The screenplay is always the difference between a good and bad thriller.  In this instance, it’s well developed, has few holes and makes sense.  We’re become accustomed to haunted house movies (especially those of the teen variety) but this is fresh and different.  The noticeable religious elements also contribute to the absorbing plot.

Nicole Kidman is wonderful.  Following Moulin Rouge, I hope the Academy isn’t split in deciding which performance deserves acclamation.  She’s yet to receive a nomination but hopefully that’ll change come next February.  The children and also terrific and help add to the movie’s suspense.  They could easily be mocked but are quite frightening as the strange happenings continue.

The Others has been a sleeper hit in the States.  On a mere $17m budget, it’s made almost $100m to date.  Kidman isn’t an actress who takes tackles simple roles and I’m sure the intriguing screenplay attracted her to this production.  It’s great stuff.  For the first time since The Sixth Sense, we have an honest thriller that’ll give you a legitimate “chill down your spine”.  Be afraid.  Not only by the film itself, but by the fact that Hollywood for once got it right.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 November 2001

Ray does the admirable thing and marries Beverly but everyone’s lives and plans have turned upside down.  Beverly wanted to go to College and become a writer but is forced to drop out of school to care for her son.  Her father (Woods) won’t talk to her for disgracing the family name.  Her husband isn’t proving to be quite the supporting man she hoped for.  And her best friend, Fay (Murphy), has also fallen pregnant and faces a similarly disenchanting future. 

Screenwriter Morgan Ward has chosen to tell the story by way of flashbacks.  We are introduced to Beverly as a 35-year-old travelling in a car with her son, Jason (Garcia), who is now 20.  Then in a serious of length scenes, we look back on the defining moments of the last 20 years.  It’s an unoriginal style which I guess suits the unoriginal screenplay.

It is boring.  It’s obvious that a female audience is targeted but I’m sure even they will be as disinterested as I.  Despite the magic of make-up, I was disappointed in their ability to age characters over time.  Drew Barrymore at 15 looks much the same as Drew Barrymore at 35 - the only difference is her hairstyle.  And I couldn’t believe they cast Adam Garcia as her son.  Do you realise he’s actually two years older than her in real life!

Melodramatic is the perfect word to describe Riding In Cars With Boys.  What more do you expect from a film directed by Penny Marshall?  I’m not consciously discriminating against her but she takes sentimentality to unnecessary levels.  Credits include Awakenings, A League Of Their Own and The Preacher’s Wife.

Save yourself the trouble.  If you do happen to be “riding in cars with boys”, make sure you’re not heading in the direction of the local cinema to see this film.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 01 November 2001

How can I possibly describe how bad this film was?  Carey plays Billie Frank, who we meet as an 8-year-old being abandoned by her mother and sent to an orphanage to be raised.  When she grows up, she gets a job as a dancer in a club with two friends where she is discovered by producer Timothy Walker looking for three girls to work as back up singers for his girlfriend.

Along comes DJ, Julian “Dice” Black (Beesley), who sees Billie’s undiscovered talent and buys her from Walker for $100,000 to produce himself.  She becomes an instant success and the two fall in love.  Billie discovers that fame isn’t all it cracked up to be with pressure from the record company to remove Dice as her producer and it’s putting a strain on their relationship.  Further, Walker is still chasing Dice for his money and doesn’t plan on waiting much longer…

It is a farcical to think that Glitter could actually be made.  Mariah Carey can sing (although that’s also the subject of debate) but she is the worst actress I have ever, ever, ever seen.  She pauses before every line and speaks in the same soft monotonous voice.  Making her look even more pathetic is the obvious miming she does during the film’s major singing scenes.

The script and dialogue are disgraceful.  Whilst the story is apparently based on aspects of Mariah’s own upbringing, I couldn’t give a shit whether Billie became a huge star and/or rekindled her love for Dice.  Frankly, it would have been more interesting if she developed into a drug addict.  Whilst the film still would have been terrible, it might have saved it from every worst film list across the country.

Every minute plays like an hour and this is filmmaking’s lowest ebb for some time.  Last week I punished Ghosts of Mars but this is a far worse crime.  This is sheer torture.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 November 2001

Jake Hoyt (Hawke) is a young army officer who wants to become a detective to fight battles closer to home.  He’s been assigned to assist Detective Alonzo Harris (Washington) but Jake must satisfy Alonzo’s criteria in a rigorous first “training day” if he’s any chance of making a career.

Jake’s inexperienced to the biz but he’s certainly not blind sighted by his surroundings.  Soon realising that things aren’t done per the manual, he’s abruptly forced to evaluate his own ethics in a life defining moment.  Is it worth bending the rules if better justice can be served?  Does the means justify the end or should the end justify the means?

Training Day begins as a very interesting exploration of corruption and the theory of justice but is ruined but a ludicrous ending that I should have expected.  Without revealing too much, there’s an absurd plot twist involving Jake in a bathtub that sends the film into a downward spiral.  The bloody yet laughable finale, manufactured to satisfy the audience, contradicts the seriousness of the issues explored.

Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke are accomplished actors and I loved the lengthy character development between the two during the early scenes.  Both are intrigued by the other for different reasons and their conversations seek to suss out their true motives and intentions.  The disappointing conclusion lets both actors down in forcing Washington to overplay his role and Hawke to miraculously transform his persona.

Senseless violence is employed to add gravity to the situation but only serves as a distraction.  Screenwriter David Ayer was also responsible for last year’s WWII submarine drama, U-571, and this year’s smash, The Fast And The Furious.  I’m surprised Ayer gets credit since all three scripts had major flaws and a lack of substance.

There’s a pitiful running gag throughout the film where Alonzo tells his targets “do you want to go to jail or do you want to go home” in an endeavour to get them to confess and avoid police involvement.  I could ask a similar question.  Do you want to go to see Training Day or do you want to go home?  It’s a rhetorical question.