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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 September 2001

Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Banderas and Gugino) were the best spies in the business until they retired, married and began a family nine years ago.  Their kids, Carmen (Vega) and Juni (Sabara) know nothing of their parents past and think of them as “uncool”.  Both have their own problems at school but they’ll prove insignificant when their parents come out of retirement for an old friend and are kidnapped by Fegan Floop (Cumming), a television star creating a robotic army to take over the world.

Carmen and Juni are transported to their parents’ secret hide-out where they learn how much has been kept from them.  Using the varied fancy inventions their parents have developed, the two know it is up to them to rescue them, stop Floop and save the day.

I was disappointed with the simplicity of Spy Kids.  Sure it’s a kids film but with a wide variety of stars (including Banderas, Cumming, Tony Shalhoub and Robert Patrick) I thought it’d have a more adult undertone.  There’s lots of cool action scenes with fun special effects but I’m sure more could have been made of the story (especially considering how impressive some recent family flicks have been).

So take the kids and prepare for hyperactivity (plenty of kids were jumping with excitement in my screening).  Don’t expect the same satisfaction from yourself.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 August 2001

When couple Paul and Amanda Kirby (Macy & Leoni) present Alan with a proposition, another nightmare is about to begin.  They offer to make a sizeable donation to his research if he’ll agree to be their tour guide as they charter a flight over the dinosaur inhabited island of Isla Sorna for their wedding anniversary.

An ulterior motive is exposed when the Kirbys break Cuban airspace laws and against Alan’s strong demands, set down on the island.  The plane is destroyed by a large carnivore and after managing to elude his hungry jaws, they’re left stranded with little hope.  It transpires that the Kirbys’ son, Erik (Morgan), and his step-father crashed a parasail on the island eight weeks ago and haven’t been heard from since.  Paul and Amanda have come to the island in a last ditched chance to find their son...

It’s a pretty flimsy screenplay but the cast do hold it together.  There’s some great improvisation between Leoni and Macy and 12-year-old Trevor Morgan shows how talented some youngsters are.  Sam Neill has one too many close ups and one too many tacky lines (such as “you know we’re probably not going to get off this island alive”) but some lightheartness on his part was a nice touch.

The one word I could use to sum up the film is - short.  Disregarding the opening credits, there’s only 80 minutes of film and for a $100m budget, that’s poor.  The ending is terribly weak and I’m sure a longer alternative was left on the cutting room floor.  Most cinemagoers will be surprised by the abrupt finale.

I’ve seen nothing but media reports talking about how realistic the visual effects are and how vivid the dinosaurs seem.  It’s a statement that can’t be faulted but hell, I don’t pay to just see good visual effects - I pay to see a movie and a movie includes a story.  What odds for Jurassic Park 4?

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 September 2001

Steven Spielberg was a long time friend of Kubrick and as a personal tribute to the legend, developed a screenplay from Stanley’s notes and took residence in the director’s chair for the first time since Saving Private Ryan.  Now showing in theatres, it’s clear that Kubrick’s influence has induced a departure from Spielberg’s commercial style.  The film is better for it.

A.I. offers a cold perception of the world in the “not to distant future”.  The polar ice caps have melted and many of the world’s great cities lie undisturbed beneath the ocean.  As expected, robot technology has advanced to incredibly precise levels with Professor Hobby (Hurt) an industry leader.  Robots (known as mechas) have become an integral part of life but their increased numbers and unlimited lifespan have many “organic” humans resenting their presence.

Hobby wants to take evolution a step further and develops a robot child that can “love”.  The prototype is placed in the home of company employee Henry (Robards) and his wife Monica (O’Connor) who still mourn following the loss of their own son five years ago.  Deciding to activate the mecha’s irreversible love capability, the robot is named David (Osment) and the line that separates fiction from reality has been crossed.

They soon learn that when you create a mecha with the ability to love you have also created a mecha with the ability to feel jealous, to feel threatened and to feel hate.  Monica and Henry reluctantly understand that David’s flaws will never allow him to fit in but faced with the alternative of returning him to Professor Hobby for destruction, they take him far from the home and leave him independent to make a life of his own.  Failing to compute the thought of being without his parents, David hears the story of Pinocchio and believes that if he can find the blue fairy, he will become a real boy and his mother will love and accept him again.

A film with the depth of A.I. is rarely witnessed.  It does not chastise the creation of robots nor spoon feed us the ethical clichés of “playing god”.  The film looks at the robots themselves and the aftermath in providing them with the ability to love and feel.  I hope audiences value Spielberg’s eerie conclusion in his view of the world 2000 years into the future.

A.I. is also an extremely dark film.  Compelling, strangely hypnotic and filled with dazzling imagery of a new world.  The soft music, simple story and minimal dialogue allow the actors’ simple movements and expressions to become the film’s most appreciable asset.  Haley Joel Osment’s performance is stunning.  We all remember him from The Sixth Sense and his subsequent Academy Award nomination but his dominating presence defies that fact he’s still just 13 years old.

The unconventional style and preconceived expectations will leave many unsatisfied but Spielberg has sacrificed his usual methods to help develop the future of cinema.  Change is difficult to accept but one day A.I. will find its place and will be truly appreciated.  Take the next step in evolution.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 August 2001

Spanning from the late 60s to the early 90s, the film is gold for the costumers and make-up crews.  We meet George as a youngster living in a house of poverty with his father (Liotta) and mother (Griffiths).  Dad warns him that money isn’t everything (hint hint) but when George moves to California and hooks up with local drug dealer Derek Foreal (Reubens), a new world opens up.

In an era where demand far exceeded supply, George’s business became a multi-million dollar empire overnight.  Within ten years, George owned houses, boats, airplanes and despite increased government surveillance, was smuggling up to 50kg of cocaine (otherwise known as “blow”) between countries.  He was the man.

Sure enough, it all came crashing down but according to screenwriters David McKenna and Nick Cassavetes, it was everyone else’s fault and this is Blow’s major flaw.  Few performances impress and Depp is a little too cool and glamorous for the role (you’ll see what I mean when you get a look at the real George Jung in the final scene).  Griffiths and Liotta are the cream of the crop but considering Griffiths is five years younger than Depp, is it really appropriate to have her play his mother?  Romantic “cameos” are provided from starlets Franke Potente (Run Lola Run) and Penelope Cruz (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin) but neither is particularly dazzling given the film’s focus is on drugs rather than romance.

The misleading trailers for Blow paint the flick as a slick, hip, comedy.  Yet, the lack of purpose and frustrating monotony have the film share more similarities with a two hour university lecture.  Perhaps the creators were sniffing a lit blow during production.  It would explain a lot but as I keep saying, it’s not an excuse.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 September 2001

The film doesn’t waste time nor propose to be something it is not.  Like Berke’s line implies, this isn’t a film that will win awards or receive acclamation.  It’s aimed solely at a younger audience and all things considered, is worth a look.  It’s a simple story (as I’ve described even more simply above) but it is evident from the start that Tommy O’Haver’s (Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss) direction and R. Lee Fleming’s (She’s All That) screenplay bring new elements to the tired genre.

Ben Foster is our leading man and in breaking with tradition, he isn’t the extroverted teen heartthrob.  Foster received much praise for his breakthrough performance in Liberty Heights (unreleased in Australia) but his solemn, laid-back style is quietly refreshing.  For once, we have a character we can relate and sympathise with and Foster deserves credit for changing the mould.

There’s an array of hilarious side-characters but Martin Short is in a class of his own.  As the play’s director, Dr. Desmond Forrest Oates, his stereotyped persona is wildly funny.  Whilst I said that a film like Get Over It will never reach lofty heights, if Hollywood’s heavyweights took the time to actually watch it, Short could easily kick-start a campaign for next year’s Oscars.

Admittedly, it’s tiring to see so many recent teen films borrow heavily from Shakespeare.  Baz Lurhmann started the fad in 1996 with the brilliant Romeo & Juliet (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes) but screenwriters are relying to heavily on the Bard’s works.  Last week in the States, a teen remake of Othello was released (called O and starring Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett) but the poor box-office take may finally give studio executives the impetus to try something new.

I can’t expect everyone to leave their computers and rush to the latest multiplex to catch Get Over It but with a mediocre crop of titles on offer, it’s something just that little bit different.  And hey, if you don’t like it then tough, get over it.