ScreenWize

Review of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Simon — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:15:51 +0000

There’s nothing quite so nostalgic as going back in time – remembering what could have been, where life’s turning points happened, recalling old loves and best days. The idea of someone starting life old and living life backwards – getting younger each day – seems a strong premise for a film, and it’s the core of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a tale of Benjamin (Brad Pitt) born in strange circumstances in 1918 as a baby old man with arthritis and blotchy skin. (more…)

Review of “Slumdog Millionaire”

Simon — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:40:52 +0000

Occasionally – far too occasionally – a film comes along that once again reminds you of the power of the cinematic experience: how movement, composition, light, colour and music can be stunningly shaped to create the most exquisite drama. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Millions) is no stranger to style and has never been shy of driving his film stories along at a cracking pace. Slumdog Millionaire is his best yet – a sensory rollercoaster ride through the grime and chaos of urban India, shot beautifully using dramatic camera angles, cutting between extreme close ups and wide shots of impossible richness, and bursting with the desperate energy of life on the street. (more…)

Review of ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’

Simon — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:06:28 +0000

One of the most prodigious filmmakers of the last forty years, Woody Allen has had as many misses as hits in his long career – particularly in the last ten years. He churns out his films – one a year – and more often than not writes himself into the story, playing some version of the same self-obsessed comic neurotic. What makes Vicky Cristina Barcelona so fresh and accessible is that Allen has absented himself – both as actor and through the writing. It’s definitely the Woody Allen film to see if you don’t want to see Woody Allen. (more…)

Interview with Philippe Claudel

Simon — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:36:10 +0000

Philip Claudel’s debut feature film I’ve Loved You So Long had its Australian premiere at the Canberra International Film Festival last month and was ranked the second most popular film of the festival, no doubt thanks in part to the performance of Kristen Scott-Thomas as Juliette, its troubled central character. Now the movie is about to have its general release across Australia and Claudel himself is on a whirlwind tour of the country to help with its promotion. (more…)

Review of “High School Musical 3″

Simon — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:19:22 +0000

Those of you with no children or teenagers in the house, or the houses of anyone you have ever met, may have missed the phenomenon that is High School Musical, the 2006 made-for-TV movie from Disney that broke all sorts of sales and viewing records, and spawned a fairly average though equally lucrative sequel in 2007. This time around, we join the regular cast in their final year at East Side High (and you know this is Disney when you see how immaculate and well-equipped this school is). Teen angst abounds as lovers Troy (Zac Ephron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) realise their differing college plans probably spell the end of their relationship, and as Troy considers disappointing parental expectations that he play scholarship basketball. (more…)

Interview with Alan Finney

Simon — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:42:35 +0000

There have been cries, in this the 50th anniversary year of the Australian Film Institute (AFI), that it hasn’t been a very good year for the Australian film industry, and if box-office is the measure you use to judge success, then something is clearly amiss. The combined takings for the four Australian films nominated in the Best Film category at the 2008 AFI awards ceremony (The Black Balloon, The Jammed, The Square and Unfinished Sky) add up to less than the gross box-office for the Australian run of Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The Australian film industry’s bite is a great deal less than its bark. (more…)

Review of “Australia”

Simon — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 13:03:02 +0000

About fifty years ago, Twentieth Century-Fox came to the Australian outback to make a film called Kangaroo – a lavish epic in the Western tradition, and the first movie to be shot in Technicolour in Australia. It was an epic tale of an English adventurer, an evil plan to take control of a drought-stricken cattle ranch, a beautiful woman, Aboriginal corroborees, and the mustering of cattle. Despite the huge budget and the stars involved (Maureen O’Hara flew in from Hollywood to take top billing) the film was neither a box office nor a critical success. (more…)

Review of “Fugitive Pieces”

Simon — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:38:05 +0000

With Bond’s action to the left of you and Baz’s epic to the right, you might want to take a dip into this thoughtful and intimate portrait of a man slowly warming to the beauty of life as he shakes off the ghosts of a family lost in the Holocaust.

Based on an award-winning novel by Canadian poet, Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces opens with Jakob – a small boy (Robbie Kay) - hiding in a house in Poland watching secretly as his family is dragged away by barely-seen Nazi soldiers. The moment is forever etched in the young boy’s mind, along with a handful of warmer memories of childhood – playing piano with his sister Bella & cooking with his mother. (more…)

Review of “My Blueberry Nights”

Simon — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:52:54 +0000

Chinese director Wong Kar-Wai is well known for his lush stylistics, and the opening sequence of My Blueberry Nights is an exercise in texture, with deeply layered, slow shutter cinematography shot through glass and fabric, all in a glow of reds and oranges and neon blues. Lost in the steam bath of colour and light is Elizabeth (Nora Jones), unlucky in love, who’s come to a small café in New York run by Jeremy (Jude Law) in case her ex might drop by. Of course he doesn’t, and she gets talking to Jeremy who always has a slice of blueberry pie left at the end of the night for a hungry soul. (more…)

Review of “Quantum of Solace”

Simon — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:10:47 +0000

The back-to-basics reimagining of the James Bond franchise that producer Barbara Broccoli began with Casino Royale in 2006 continues to pay off with Quantum of Solace. Showbusiness industry newspaper Variety reports the film scored the biggest ever opening weekend for a Bond film, taking in US$70.4M, a whopping 74% up on predecessor Casino Royale’s 2006 opening weekend, and easily beating the next Bond opening weekend, when Die Another Day scored US$47.1M on its 2002 opening. While these figures say much about the global need for escapist fare in tough economic times, they also confirm that Bond fans have more than accepted both Daniel Craig as Bond, and the producers gamble in rebooting the franchise. (more…)