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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 January 2002

These are ordinary people which makes what happens to them all the more extraordinary.  What transpires, I cannot tell you.  In a sudden twist, a tragedy strikes the Fowler tragedy.  Then, just when you come to grips with the changed scenario, a second twist takes the film on a tangent much removed from the way it started.

As the parents, Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek deliver unbelievable performances.  Spacek now has a trophy cabinet full of awards (including a Golden Globe) but Wilkinson is equally as good and hopefully will receive admirable acclaim before the award season winds down in March.  They play a long married couple for whom the communication process has completely broken down.  They still love each other but there’s too much water under the bridge and something has to give.

Marisa Tomei is an easy target amongst film buffs.  Many consider her the worst Oscar winner in history (she won for My Cousin Vinny) and that presenter Jack Palance read her name by mistake on the award podium.  After almost a decade in the wilderness, she returns with a strong role and perhaps the urban legend can be put to rest with another Oscar nomination when announced in two weeks.

These characters are real which is why the film is so passionate and moving.  Expecting another strong Thomas Newman score, I was shocked to see such minimal music in the film.  Aside from the opening and closing credits, the film has a very quiet backdrop and with many scenes containing little dialogue, the silence is literally deafening.  It makes an awkward situation even more awkward and some scenes were very difficult to watch.

Actor turned director Todd Field has broken out with beautifully subtle direction.  He doesn’t fall victim to Hollywood commercialism and is happy not to rush the story or use familiar techniques.  I must be careful not to reveal too much but the story doesn’t preach the lessons it tells.  It’s a simple story and it’s up to you to decide whether right or wrong has been done.

In The Bedroom arrives in Australian cinemas during peak award season and deserves to be seen by any serious filmgoer.  It’s a reinvigorating look at how movies can have value and leave you thinking emotionally.  With Mulholland Drive also released this week, it’s a pleasant change from the standard “popcorn and coke” flick.  So what are you waiting for?

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 January 2002

During their standard mission, they accidentally fly off course and into Bosnian territory which has been declared off limits by NATO.  There’s currently political unrest in Bosnia and NATO does not want the tentative treaty it has orchestrated to become unbalanced.  Burnett stumbles across Serb soldiers up to no good.  They fire on his plane and both he and Stackhouse are forced to eject.

Stranded behind enemy lines, Burnett goes for higher ground to use his radio while Stackhouse remains in the valley with nasty injuries.  Suddenly, the Serb soldiers appear, Stackhouse is shot and they’re coming after Burnett.  Back on the aircraft carrier, Reigart wants to launch an immediate rescue mission but is being prevented by his Captain for fear of ruining any chance of peace in the hostile territory.

Without further adieu, let me declare this film an absolute piece of shit.  The entire story is far-fetched and has been told many times before.  The Americans are portrayed as super-heros who always make the right decisions and judgements.  This time, it’s the French and the Serbs who get the bum wrap at their expense.  At the end of the film, Reigart acts against military orders to save his man.  Why is it whenever someone breaks from the strict military regime, it always turns out favourably (ala Gene Hackman again in Crimson Tide)?  It’s a very tired formula.

The film is also an insult to those in the air force.  From the trailers, I expected a worthwhile war flick but instead got Armageddon 2.  Answer me this question.  How is that a man can survive when he is standing in the open and being shot at by 60 men from 50m away?  Disgraceful.  Following the film’s finale, we get the obligatory words on the screen detailing what became of our two leading characters.  This is also appalling as it tries to justify that the completely fictional story has a point and a meaning.

Gene Hackman does very little and unfortunately Owen Wilson is left to carry the entire film.  He may have “nose” for comedy (Zoolander, Meet The Parents, Shanghai Noon) but he’s no action hero and his cocky demeanour doesn’t play well here.  Let me also note we have another over-the-top Bond-like villain with David Keith playing Captain O’Malley.  Just like Dr. Evil but without the sarcasm.

There are no redeeming features in Behind Enemy Lines that can justify any stance from the one I have taken.  With nothing more than a heap of loud bangs and people blowin’ up stuff, one can’t see any satisfaction being derived from any audience member with an IQ of 3 or higher.  Bad films are always made but when you take a serious issue and transform into cheap crap, you have to question your own ethics and morality.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 January 2002

Her last book, Jackson’s Dilemma, was written as dementia set it and critics sensed something amiss.  One particular paragraph had the term “then suddenly” appear three times.  Following its publication, Murdoch’s mind began to fade fast and her devoted husband, Professor John Baley could no nothing to help her.  One of the world’s most radiant minds could no longer string a sentence together or recognise any face.  After years of struggle, Murdoch was placed in a home in Oxford where she died in 1999.

Alzheimer’s disease is a tragic condition that is perfectly depicted on screen in Iris.  It is estimated that 50% of all those over the age of 85 have some form of the disease.  It is important to remember that the disease is not a normal part of aging.

Oscar winner Judi Dench plays the pivotal role with an amazingly gut-wrenching performance.  Jim Broadbent won a Golden Globe last Sunday for his portrayal as her husband who tries to come to grips with the realisation that the woman he’s always loved now has the mind of a 3-year-old.  Short flashbacks from when the couple first met are creatively woven into the story but not enough is made of these scenes (a small weakness).  Kate Winslet plays the young Iris and Hugh Bonneville (who looks strikingly similar to Broadbent) plays the young John.

Dench, Broadbent and Winslet are all touted for Oscar noms next month but the film itself is receiving little other attention.  I guess the story’s quietness and simplicity has seen it swamped by other more “meaningful” releases.  Don’t be petered - it’s a touching emotional drama made more significant by the realisation that this is a true story.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 January 2002

Mallrats (1995) was his first commercial effort and very much a disappointment.  Chasing Amy’s (1997) look at love and relationships helped rediscover my enjoyment for Kevin Smith.  Dogma (1999) was his boldest project but the heavy religious aspect was a little too much.  And so, we have arrived at film five - Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back.

It’s fruitless recommending this film to anyone not familiar with Kevin Smith.  It reunites characters from his previous four films and pokes fun at Hollywood and the recent trend of bad scripts.  The story revolves around two characters who have appeared is his past works and a cult icons.  Jay (Mewes) is a foul-mouthed hormonal “kid” and Silent Bob (director Smith) is his sidekick who never says a word.

If you saw Chasing Amy, you’ll remember that a comic book was created based on the lives of Jay and Silent Bob.  It was called Bluntman & Chronic and in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, the rights to the film have been purchased by Miramax executives and production is set to begin in three days time.  Jay and Silent Bob have only just learnt of this and are introduced to a new technological marvel called the “internet”.  Scanning a movie gossip website, they’ve found their names trashed by those around the world who think the Jay and Silent Bob story is crap and shouldn’t be made into a movie.  To save their image, they set off for Hollywood to make sure the movie never gets off the ground...

The plot is not important but the jokes certainly are.  The film’s essence is the way it mocks everything about Hollywood and its film industry.  There are eight million cameos but without spoiling all of them, I had to admit a scene involving Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek rivaled anything I’ve seen in a long term in terms of hilarity.  Smith fans will pick up on many of the subtle (and not so subtle) jokes that carry forward from his past films.

A bold project but not everything works as expected.  A subplot involving four young ladies who steal diamonds isn’t particularly funny and too much is made of it.  It’s strange that Smith has come up with jokes that are so good and yet others that are so bad.  Every person has a different sense of humour and no matter how hard you try, you can’t make someone laugh at something that they won’t find funny.

Details

Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 January 2002

The film begins with a lady (Harring) about to be shot in a limo high on Mulholland Drive.  A car from the opposite direction then crashes into the limo.  Shaken, the lady makes her way down the mountain and after spending the night in a garden, sneaks into a swanky apartment the next day.

The same day, an actress named Betty (Watts) moves into the apartment and finds the lady in the shower.  Betty asks what she is doing but the lady does not even know her own name.  Making up the name Rita, she can only recall a car accident on Mulholland Drive.  Checking her handbag for identification, she finds $50,000 cash and a blue key.  How did that money get there and what is it for?

Terribly frightened, Rita then remembers a name - Diane Selwyn.  They track down her name in the phone book and decide to pay a visit to see if Diane can identify who Rita actually is.  En route, Betty stops at an audition and makes a dazzling impression on the casting agent.  She’s only just moved to Hollywood from Ontario because she’s always “dreamt” of becoming an actress.

When they reach Diane Selwyn’s house they find her dead.  They then return to Betty’s apartment and make passionate love.  Rita then wakes at 2am and the two travel to a nightclub where they witness a bizarre show.  Finding a mysterious blue box in Betty’s handbag, they again return to Betty’s apartment to unlock the box with the blue key from the handbag.  And from there, it goes nuts...

I’ve read varying reports on the web to help understand the final third of the film.  To avoid revealing secrets, please do not continue reading this paragraph if you don’t want it spoilt.  Here’s my interpretation.  The film doesn’t begin until the final 40 minutes.  Betty is actually Diane Selwyn, a struggling actress who wants to be a star but lacks the talent.  She is sleeping with a Hollywood starlet named Camilla Rhodes who manages to get her small parts in some of her films.  Camilla then leaves Diane for the director of her latest film, Adam Kesher (Theroux).  Feeling her career is finished, she hires a hitman and Camilla is killed.  Regretting her actions, she then masturbates and creates her dream world - one in which she is the starlet and where Camilla is still by her side (this is the first two thirds of the film).  Following this, she takes her own life.

My great simplification in describing the film doesn’t do it true justice.  Director David Lynch (Twin Peaks) originally made this film as a pilot which would become a television series.  The TV series was rejected (probably because the executives couldn’t understand it) and so Lynch chose to release it as a movie.  On its initial screening, the film won best director at the Cannes Film Festival.  Since then, it’s picked up awards from the critics society’s of Boston, Los Angeles and New York.  It also won best picture from the National Society Of Film Critics and was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Australian actress Naomi Watts gives the best performance of the year as Diane/Betty.  Some audience members failed to recognise both roles were played by Watts which is the ultimate tribute to any actor.  Lynch hasn’t used a well-known cast but has certainly drawn wonderful performances from them to suit his mind-blowing script and direction.