Film Screening 25th September, 2008

Poster for The X-Files: I Want to Believe

The X-Files: I Want to Believe 

8:00 PM, 25th September, 2008

  • M
  • 114 mins
  • Unknown
  • Chris Carter
  • Frank Spotnitz, Chris Carter
  • David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly

Unfortunately at the time of writing this review, this film has not been released. But does it really matter what I write? Any true X-Files fan will be foaming at the mouth to see this no matter what I say.

If you are hardcore like me, you have seen all the episodes and tried to make sense of the convoluted storylines that happened over the years when the multiple writers seemingly didn't follow the story so far. You may even have the action figures (cough, cough)...

Fortunately this is a stand alonestand-alone story so you don't need to have followed the twists and turns over the years. For the benefit of those who are checking it out for the first time, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are FBI agents who investigate the unusual and the paranormal. Mulder believes in virtually everything while Scully is sceptical of virtually everything (to the point you want to shake her sometimes).

What we X-philes will be keenly watching is the chemistry between Mulder and Scully. I mean, we won't have the "will they get together or won't they" tension that they managed to string us along with for years. Will the Cigarette Smoking Man make an appearance? (Yes, yes I know he's dead but since when has that mattered in sci-fi?)

I want to believe that this film will be as awesome as the series!!! I'll be there!! Don't leave your mobile phones on during this film or you will be X-terminated...

Kathy Bakewell

Poster for Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom 

10:02 PM, 25th September, 2008

  • MA
  • 113 mins
  • Unknown
  • David Mich((ocirc))d
  • David Mich((ocirc))d
  • Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver

Josh (James Frecheville) has to move in with his grandmother and uncles after a family tragedy. This is a family of hardened criminals, run by the almost-incestuously affectionate matriarch 'Smurf' (Weaver). The brothers are; Darren (Luke Ford), the young naive one; Baz (Edgerton), who's trying to think of ways of getting out of the family business; Craig (Sullivan Stapleton), a psychotic drug dealer; and 'Pope' (Mendelsohn), the leader of the lot, who's on the run from the cops. When pressure is put on the young nephew by cop Leckie (Pearce) things start to crumble, and Smurf proves willing to do anything to protect her boys.

Australian films are so under-rated in this country, but every Noughties year there's been at least one great home-grown film (well, except for 2008, but there were two the year after that, so it balances out). But people don't go to see them, stating "Well, it's Australian". And yet, in a bizarre case of reverse snobbery, they will happily fork out money to see a film that the marketing people tell them to go and see. Well, I urge you to reverse the trend and come and see the classic Aussie film for this year. It's full of surprises, it's intense and you'll walk out knowing you've seen the best cinema has to offer. Don't miss it! (Oh, and don't be late, as the opening scene is one of the best, and it really sets the mood for everything that comes afterwards).

Travis Cragg

Poster for There's Something About Mary

There's Something About Mary 

10:04 PM, 25th September, 2008

  • MA
  • 119 mins
  • Unknown
  • Bobby Farrelly & Peter Farrelly
  • Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Peter Farrelly & Bobby Farrelly
  • Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Chris Elliott

"They've tried to set him up with Tiffany and Indigo... but there's something, about Mary, that they don't know..."

Ted (Stiller) never really got over 'the one that got away', Mary Jenson (Diaz). As a nerd in high school his one opportunity to take out the beautiful, popular Mary ended painfully (especially for the men in the audience) and he never had the courage to try again. But there is something about Mary that he can't let go of and after 13 years he decides to track her down. Enter private detective Pat Healy (Dillon), who Ted hires to find his long lost love. And track her down he does, only to fall for her himself. Let the battle of Mary's admirers (of which there are many) begin.

The Farrelly brothers shot to fame with the crude, hilarious, Dumb & Dumber and this film was a return to form for them. At times it is crass, disgusting and just downright wrong but at its heart it has... well... a lot of heart. It's a romantic comedy really ((ndash)) it's just a romantic comedy that was written by four blokes.

Stick around for the sing-along at the end and you're guaranteed to leave the theatre smiling.

Pedr Cain

Poster for Quiet Chaos (Caos calmo)

Quiet Chaos (Caos calmo) 

10:06 PM, 25th September, 2008

  • MA
  • 107 mins
  • Unknown
  • Antonello Grimaldi
  • Nanni Moretti, Laura Paolucci & Francesco Piccolo
  • Nanni Moretti, Valeria Golino, Alessandro Gassman, Isabella Ferrari

Pietro Paladini is a successful executive, who is married with a 10-year old daughter, Claudia. On the day that Pietro saves the lives of two women who were drowning at sea, he returns home to find the dead body of his wife.

On Claudia's first day of school since suffering the loss of her mother, Pietro drops her off but decides to wait for her until the end of school. Thus begins Pietro's new routine: dropping his daughter off to class and waiting for her return in a park outside the school. Pietro spends his days either sitting in his car, walking through the park or having coffee at the park's caf((eacute)). Soon, Pietro's bosses, work colleagues and relatives visit him expecting to console him. However, in amongst his quiet calm, they all end up confiding their own pain and difficulties to him instead.

The film also enjoys the distinction of having a notorious, graphic, reportedly unsimulated and surprisingly gratuitous sex scene! Regardless, Quiet Chaos is a wonderfully simple movie that was first screened in Canberra during the 2008 Canberra International Film Festival. For those who missed it, it is highly recommended!

Luke McWilliams

Poster for Knight and Day

Knight and Day 

10:08 PM, 25th September, 2008

  • M
  • 109 mins
  • Unknown
  • James Mangold
  • Patrick O'Neill
  • Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Maggie Grace, Peter Sarsgaard

When June Havens (Diaz) is chatted up by a suave stranger on her flight to Boston, it never crossed her mind that that same stranger would be fending off gun-toting assassins on board mere minutes later. She probably also didn't imagine that she'd soon be on the run with him from the FBI, assassins and even, at one point, bulls. For Roy Miller (Cruise) however, it's just another day on the job.

You see, Miller just so happens to be a superspy who is being hunted by the very people he works for as he tries to protect a revolutionary new power source. They claim he's gone rogue and is mentally unstable, but he claims he's being set up (can you see why Cruise picked the role?). Either way, June has little choice but to rely on Miller as she discovers that, in the world of espionage, nobody is who they seem to be.

Cruise turns the charm up to eleven as the unhinged Miller, nimbly running, jumping, fighting, shooting, grinning and talking his way through increasingly perilous situations. Say what you will about the man, there's no doubt he knows how to entertain. His Vanilla Sky co-star, Diaz, plays the fish-out-of-water role aptly, with her trademark bubbly effervescence a perfect match for Cruise's charisma.

Together, they make Knight And Day a tremendously fun and exhilarating ride. So unless you're on the run with your own secret agent, you really have no excuse not to come and see this film.

Adrian Ma