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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 January 2003

Having seen the film, I can tell you that Mr Grant plays George Wade, a multi-millionaire living in New York City.  His companies, which he owns with his brother, are a city leader in construction.  He lives in a luxurious suite atop The Grand Hotel, which he also owns.  His business success seems inversely related to his romantic successes.  Divorced more than once, he has a habit of hiring female staff purely on looks.  This formula has forced him to let many staff go due to incompetence (but not before sleeping with them).

Ms Bullock is Lucy Kelson, an attorney who likes fighting for social causes.  She’s always performing legal aid but gets little financial reward herself.  Lucy also fights to keep many of New York landmark buildings and save them from demolition.  Most of these buildings have been bought by Wade’s corporations and redeveloped into apartments and other such inferior replacements.

When the local community centre is marked for destruction, Lucy heads to George’s office for a confrontation.  But it so happens, that George has just fired his legal adviser and on his brother’s advice, is looking for someone with intelligence this time.  Two and two come together, George convinces the reluctant Lucy to work for him and in return, he guarantees the community centre will remain intact.

Working for George turns out to be much more demanding than Lucy anticipated.  It’s not that he’s a slave driver, but becomes increasingly reliant on Lucy’s advice for everything.  He’ll call at 2am in the morning for a chat.  He’ll call her out of a best friend’s wedding to ask what clothes he should wear.  He’ll use her to write all his speeches.  It’s a “seven days a week, 18 hours a day” job and something’s gotta give.  So Lucy hands in her two weeks notice and the subliminal romantic tension between them looks set to boil over.

Overall, it’s a bland romantic comedy that is difficult to become deeply involved in.  Despite the obviously intentions to have the audience like him, I found George Wade to be nothing more than a snobby rich playboy.  There’s little leeway in Lucy’s character either – she’s the ultimate nice-girl who we are forced to feel sorry for because her lack of trust has seen her remain single.  It’s very black and white.

As a plus, it is a nice choice of role for Sandra Bullock.  Always criticised (by me), she gives some life to her cardboard character.  The dialogue is written by Marc Lawrence, who has written for Bullock before in Miss Congeniality and Forces Of Nature.  In the director’s chair for the first time, Lawrence makes sure we don’t miss the New York setting with many (probably too many) glorious fly-overs and panoramic background vistas.  If you can’t tell, we’re leaning towards schmaltzy chick-flick territory.  Perhaps the poster might have been more appropriate if it was Bullock was smiling and Grant was disinterested.  A more realistic impression of an audience’s reaction.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 December 2002

If you’ve paid close attention to the trailers, The Tuxedo was made by Dreamworks Studios.  I’m a huge fan of this Steven Spielberg founded company, as they set a standard of producing quality films.  Since opening in the late 90s, they’ve churned out such Oscar winners as American Beauty, Saving Private Ryan, Almost Famous, Shrek and Gladiator.  So despite my reluctance towards the casting of Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt, my fingers were crossed in hope of a pleasant surprise.

Luck wasn’t on my side as The Tuxedo disappointed in amazing fashion.  The premise is that agent Clark Devlin (Isaacs) has a billion dollar tuxedo that can do almost anything.  With it, he has no trouble capturing the bad guys and saving the day.  His recently hired limo driver is Jimmy Tong (Chan) who sees his boss badly injured in an attack on both their lives.  In his final words before slipping into a coma, Devlin tells Jimmy to wear the tuxedo.

Clothes make the man and for Jimmy, this is the ultimate outfit.  Back at the agency’s head office, a new agent is appointed to work along side Devlin, Delilah Blaine (Hewitt).  As she’s never met the real Clark Devlin, and with Jimmy going along with the charade that he is Clark Devlin, the two go in chase of a villain who is threatening to poison the country’s water supply.

Delilah’s character astounds me.  She’s supposed to be a secret agent and yet is brilliantly smart in some scenes, and unbelievably dumb in others.  The longer it went on, the more frustrated I became with her.  Chan’s opportunities to perform stunts are limited.  I hope it wasn’t director Kevin Donovan intention to rely on Chan’s acting abilities.  When actual fight sequences do take place, the film is edited so quickly, it’s impossible to tell what’s going on and who’s doing what.

On the dawn of the Oscar season, and with Christmas holidays in full swing, this is a substandard release.  There’s no need to get dressed up for this one.  In fact, there’s no identifiable reason to go at all.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 28 December 2002

Set in Vietnam 1952, Thomas Fowler (Caine) is a journalist for the London times who reports on Vietnam’s plight to be liberated from France.  He enjoys his work but seems more interested in his much younger mistress, Phuong (Hai Yen).  Fowler wants to take Phuong back to London when he completes his time in Vietnam but his wife, waiting back in London, is refusing to give a divorce.  Phuong’s sister sees there’s no hope in their relationship and begs for her to find a younger, more eligible man.

Alden Pyle (Fraser) then arrives as an aid worker from America.  He meets Fowler at a cafe and the two become friends and draw from each other’s experiences.  But Pyle too has become smitten by Phuong and is not afraid to hide his affections.  The softly-spoken Fowler is having his world shaken.  He get a call from the London office asking him to return home, a letter from his wife refusing a divorce once and for all, and a close friend is walking off with his true love.

In a last ditched bid to stay in Vietnam, Fowler gets word of trouble in the north.  Using his experience to uncover this story, he hopes London will grant him an extension of time to stay (and fight for Phuong).  They allow his request but Phuong will become, at least momentarily, a lesser priority as Fowler’s realises the importance of the story he is exposing.  Trouble is brewing in Vietnam...

The Quiet American is actually the first mainstream Hollywood film to be shot in Vietnam.  Directed by Australian Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence), it immaculately captures the setting and feeling of the time.  Michael Caine digs deep and delivers a career-defining performance which already has everyone talking.  The underrated Brendan Fraser will admit to making a lot of garbage, but as both this film and Gods And Monsters showed, he can pull it out when he has to.

Bottom line, it’s great storytelling.  The love triangle between Fowler, Pyle and Phuong is unconventional yet seems more realistic.  The destinies of these characters are not trivialised by a typically drawn-out ending.  Importantly, it doesn’t preach nor praise any actions of Americans.  In fact, there’s very little that’s “Hollywood” about The Quiet American and therein lies the appeal.

The film is lucky to have been released.  Financed by Miramax, studio head Harvey Weinstein didn’t feel appropriate to release the film so soon after the September 11 terrorist bombings.  Having seen the film, Weinstein should be institutionalised for coming to such a conclusion.  After lobbying from Noyce, Weinstein backed down but was aiming for an early 2003 release date so it wouldn’t clash with other Miramax Oscar contenders such as Gangs Of New York and Chicago.  Sigh.  Critics then intervened.  Columnist Jeffrey Wells saw the film and launched a huge campaign for it to be released in time for the Academy Awards.  Miramax finally conceded, the film has been released, and regardless of whether Oscar glory awaits, at least people now have the opportunity to see a very important film.

One of the most engrossing films of the season, one should be anything but “quiet” about spreading the word for The Quiet American.  Powerful.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 December 2002

It’s a daunting task to condense the huge novel into three hours and significant changes have been made.  The heart of the story is still there and those in love with the books need to be wary that not everything will unravel as they expect.  At the end of The Fellowship Of The Ring, the characters were separated and rather than focus on one story, The Two Towers needs to show three.

Unlike the first film, which was “Frodo central”, our main story here is that of Aragorn’s (Mortensen).  Together with the dwarf Gimli (Rhys-Davies) and the elf Legolas (Bloom), he goes in search of the hobbits Pippin (Boyd) and Merry (Monaghan) who were captured by Orcs.  The travel to the land of Rohan where the king, Theoden, has become hypnotised by a spell from the evil wizard Saruman (Lee).  With the help of an old friend, the spell is broken and Theoden realises that Saruman is sending a massive army to obliterate his kingdom and “to destroy the world of men”.  Theoden orders his people to flee to the Rohan stronghold where the best stand a chance of defending themselves.

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin have escaped danger and found their way into an enchanted forest.  There, the trees come alive and speak to the curious duo.  These mysterious beings, known as ents, are a dying breed but they also have their part in Middle Earth and won’t be a witness to their own destruction at the hands of Saruman.

Throughout this, Frodo Baggins (Wood) and Samwise Gamgee (Astin) set off for Mordor but discover they are being followed by a mysteriously unknown creature known as Gollum.  As hinted at in the first film, Gollum once held the ring of power but lost it to Bilbo Baggins.  They sense Gollum wants to steal the ring back but surprisingly, Gollum is happy to show them the way to Mt Doom, the only place where the ring can be destroyed.  Samwise is doubtful but Frodo, with the ring taking an increasing hold over him, feels Gollum can be trusted.

There’s no let up in the pace and the three hours flies by in an instant.  With the introductions aside, there’s opportunity to explore more storylines and more characters.  Aragorn’s story dominates more than half of the film, as it should.  As is common knowledge, all three films were shot together.

Therefore, every item of praise I awarded The Fellowship Of The Ring needs to be reiterated here.  The special effects, the cinematography, the editing, the acting, the music, the directing, the writing… all awesome!  Is there a bad word that can be said?

It is an amazing production but would never work without the depth of the story.  These are richly developed characters and whilst being a world of fantasy, Tolkien’s themes about power and corruption apply to any world, including our own.  Some of the romantic themes needed a little more work but the climactic action scene is something to behold.

Now, we await the grand finale and the jewel in the crown for director Peter Jackson.  The cast have hinted the third film, The Return Of The King, will be the greatest.  I don’t doubt them for an instant.  365 days to go and counting…

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 28 December 2002

Well if think that’s creepy, check out Robin Williams.  He is Sy Parrish and for 11 years has been the department manager of the photo development section at the Sav-Mart shopping complex.  Living alone with no wife or kids, Sy’s demeanor is placid and inconspicuous.  He’s the last person you’d expect of anything remotely wrong.

But there’s a lot more to Sy than anyone knows.  As regular customers during his entire service, Nina Yorkin (Nielsen) has always brought her family’s prized images to Sy to developing.  Nina is happily married to Will (Vartan) and they have a nine-year-old son, Jake (Smith).  To Sy, they are the perfect American family.

Over time, his fascination has become a very bizarre obsession.  He keeps copies of their pictures to hang on his walls and put in his photo frames.  He fantasises about being part of the family.  He’s now started stalking them by following them around town and watching them in their home from across the street.  His increasing closeness to the family is about to reach boiling point when two events flip his warped world upside down.  A meeting with his boss and a reel from a new customer will force Sy to take action to keep his dream alive...

Such an original film can only come from a first-time director who is yet to be corrupted by Hollywood dollars.  Mark Romanek’s film was debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and had it’s first screening outside the United States at this year’s Brisbane International Film Festival.  The bland colours and slow, simple dialogue simple give the film a low-budget art-house feel but it’s the perfect setting to add an element of unpredictability to Sy and his fate.

Robin Williams is almost unrecognisable.  With bleached hair, glasses and considerable make-up, he is not called upon for his usual overexhuberant comedy.  His character is docile and a complete departure from any role Williams has tackled before.  Assisted by his character’s gradual development through the screenplay, Williams keeps us guessing to the very end (and beyond).

Maintaining the intrigue of the build up, the conclusion does offer a slightly unexpected twist.  However, the resolution of Sy’s character seemed insignificant and the lack of clarity did take the gloss off this final print.  More was expected.  Incidentally, the music score from Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek is great and perfectly in tune with the eeriness of the story.

Make sure you allow a little more than an hour to see this film develop.