Reviews

Baz Luhrmann has done a great job with 'Australia'. While cliché's and political agenda runs rife, this is set nicely into an historic, epic story in three distinct acts.

Great casting - Hugh Jackman was what the role needed, and he played the role very well. Nicole Kidman, while being rubbished by several critics, appeared somewhat typecast in her role, but that style was exactly what the role needed, and I think she did a great job at pulling it off. However, I think that the standout performances actually came from Brandon Walters (in his first film), Jack Thompson (in a minor role) and David Wenham who brought 'aussie sleaze' to a new level. Unfortunately, I had trouble believing in Ben Mendelsohn's character of Captain Dutton, but seemed to finish on a high, pulling the 'British stiff upper lip' thing fairly well.

Luhrman's epic was long, and had the full gamut of Luhrmanesque style, which we've come to love through his films. Stylised backgrounds, unique, visual approaches, and a sense of humour that is truly Luhrman, flood the film bringing a rich Australian environment.

'Australia' presents to the world, perhaps a very different Australia to what a lot of people think. While the fictional characters and some of the style is very reminiscent of "Gone with the Wind", the historical Darwin during the 'Stolen Generation' era and the impact of World War Two on Australia's doorstep may be a new insite to many.

I enjoyed 'Australia' a lot. While it wasn't the best film I've ever seen, I definitely think it's worth looking at - even if it's just to see what Baz Luhrman has done.

"Nothin' happened the way it was supposed to happen." The amazing thing about this film, is that that quote sums up a lot about how this film came to be. Based on the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson, Warner Brothers took hold of the rights in 1970 and produced "The Omega Man" in 1971 with Charlton Heston in the lead role. "I am Legend" was then attempted by director Ridley Scott (American Gangster, Gladiator) and was due to star Arnold Schwarzenneger but fell through when the budget blew out. Michael Bay (Transformers, Bad Boys) then tried to make it in 2002 with Will Smith playing the lead, but then decided to do Bad Boys II instead. Finally, Director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) picked it up and ran with it, also with Will Smith, this time finally coming to the big screen.

The film is set in a post-cataclysmic New York where Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the sole survivor of a cancer cure which turned everyone into blood-thirsty, zombie-like creatures of the night. Neville tries to find a cure for 'the cure' while trying to find anyone else who may have survived like himself. Filled with 'flashbacks' to let us catch up to the present story, I found this method to be effective and while they occurred often throughout the film, didn't appear to be overdone.

Will Smith took the role of Robert Neville, and while he was portrayed as a tough warrior, Smith also brought to it an extremely emotionally damaged side, brought on by the fact that his character had been alone for over three years - a pleasant relief considering the usually generic characters in this genre of film.

I suspect that Will Smith and supporting cast member Alice Braga probably brought their own talent as actors and required minimal direction - but I feel that Francis Lawrence's direction lacked somewhat when it came to the two children's roles who tended to look very much staged and "non-natural". This could primarily be to Lawrence's relative newness to movie direction.

The set designers did a fantastic job, transposing the real New York city into a life-less, big city wasteland. No detail was overlooked, from the hundreds of weeds growing through the main roads in New York, down to the houses and apartments left in disarray as the victims of the 'cure' died.

Screenwriters Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman did a great job, bringing some comic-relief to break up the suspense. Both are familiar with the disaster-film genre having been associated with the 2006 production of "Poseidon".

The CG effects were pretty good, but at times, slightly too "computerised", especially with respect to the zombie-type characters, who seemed too computer generated. At times, I found myself thinking of them more like orcs from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, rather than humans who had deteriorated into sub-human form.

I wasn't and expecting Academy Award winning effort - after all, it is a disaster film. However, it kept me on the edge of my seat at times, made me feel upset and annoyed at others, made me laugh every now and then, and over all, kept me thoroughly entertained - just as a movie should. I really enjoyed I Am Legend, and will no doubt watch it again and again in future.

"A successful black man like yourself? You represent progress. A progress which will un-glue their world." American Gangster is based on the true story of Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington), a black drug king who operated out of Harlem in t...(read more)he 1960s and 1970s and Detective Richie Roberts (played by Russell Crowe) who brings him down.

This film is long. Two hours and forty minutes long. But other than being distracted by people walking past in the cinema to go to the bathroom after drinking their upsized soft drink in the cinema half-way through, this wasn't an issue. The script is solid, the characters very well-played out and the direction by Ridley Scott is excellent.

Washington's portrayal of Lucas was excellent. His character flipping between loving family man, then violent drug importer was handled very well, and made me emotionally concerned for the other characters, not knowing when he might suddenly fly off the wall. It was a strong, believable portrayal. Crowe's characterisation of Roberts was also excellent - but my attention was drawn more toward Washington.

Small part appearances by Cuba Goding Jr (Boyz In The Hood, Jerry Macguire) and Carla Gugino (Sin City, Entourage) were also excellent choices, playing their roles as Nicky Barnes and Laurie Roberts respectively, very well.

I was also impressed with the cinematography by Harris Savides. While nothing extra-ordinary stood out, this was actually why I was impressed. The storyline of American Gangster does not need anything special, or overdone - and this was achieved. Being such a large film, I'm sure the temptation would have been there to experiment, but Savides didn't - resulting in a fantastic cinematic result.

Co-Written by Steve Zaillian, he was the perfect writer for the job, having had already been proved with realistic, historical and 'intense' films such as Clear and Present Danger and Schindler's List, the dialogue, characters and historical scene settings are fantastic.

If detailed story lines and long, sometimes a little slow, films are not your thing, then you probably won't be a big fan of American Gangster. But if you enjoy historically-based, cop and crime stories, then American Gangster will be right up your alley.

"And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty. And it stayed its hand from killing. And from that day, it was as one dead."

Weighing in at a whopping 187 minutes in length, King Kong is big in both cinematic scale and movie reel length. Peter Jackson's latest incarnation of the classic is extremely entertaining and very well done.

Set in the depression in New York, the storyline revolves around struggling comic actress Ann Darrow (Watts) who meets a film producer Carl Denham (Black) on the run from his financial backers. He talks Ann into agreeing to star in his film and shortly after they are on a ship to supposedly Singapore. Carl has other ideas though, and takes the ship to legendary Skull Island, where they meet Kong.

King Kong is very well cast: Naomi Watts is excellent as Ann Darrow, soft, feminine and lovable enough to convince us that a giant ape would want to love and protect her; Jack Black (of 'Tenacious D' and 'Rock School') is very impressive as Carl, bringing forth the desperation associated with greed and fame; Adrian Brody plays Ann's love interest and script writer Jack Driscoll. Add to this the talents of Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in Jackson's Lord of the Rings Trilogy) as the 'voice' of Kong and Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as the young Jimmy.

Peter Jackson's direction was very well done - all characters are neatly packaged and slot very well into the film and the situations presented.

Interaction between computer generated scenery and characters, versus real-life actors was generally very good. The 'that just doesn't look right' thought presented in my mind a couple of times (especially during the 'stampede' and 'row boat' scenes), but over all was fairly neat and tidy.

Kong is an impressive beast. The CG presentation of the giant creature is almost flawless - the actions and animal behaviour appear accurate and plausible.

Screenplayers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh (both of whom worked on Lord of the Rings, and Fran has actually worked on almost all of Peter Jackson's projects) have put together a very good script. The only criticism I could make is the couple of 'dead end' situations that occur, that have the same 'get out of jail free' cards associated with them. Their interpretation of the relationship between Ann Darrow and Kong is touching and believable - which in my humble opinion is the crux of what King Kong is all about.

If you are interested in seeing it in all its glory, I suggest you see it on the big screen. while it will transfer well to your television, there is nothing like seeing this 'big' film on the 'big screen'. Sure the film is long, but it honestly doesn't feel like goes for as long as it does. I really enjoyed King Kong.

I had heard a lot of hype prior to watching this film, unfortunately, most of it was negative – so when I watched this film I tried to block out the hype and see what I thought for myself. Unfortunately, I found a lot of it justified. I usually start my reviews with a quote from the film, so it's very unfortunate that none stuck out enough as being memorable.

Its storyline focuses on Frannie (Ryan), an English teacher who is fixated with poetry and language slang, who ends up getting caught up in a serial killer case when a severed head is found in her New York apartment garden. She meets Detective Malloy (Ruffalo) who is investigating said case and ends up having a steamy, sordid relationship with him while trying to avoid her ex-boyfriend (Bacon) who appears to be stalking her.

In The Cut is a modern 'who dunnit' film, but instead of dropping some hints to the audience to have them suspect one or two characters, Director Jane Campion throws obvious references in your face to make you think everyone did it. While I have nothing against the characters in the film per se, and the acting of these characters throughout the film isn't too bad, I think this film just boils down to a bad storyline. I kind of liken this film to Basic Instinct with its likeness of a 'sexy serial killer flick' - and although the sexual content of the film is due to the character archetypes, it seems as if it was directed and presented for the sole purpose of creating a marketing furore and social controversy. I cannot help but think that Meg Ryan took this role to kick start her slowing career, as did perhaps Campion – who both appear to have had slight hiatuses in their respective careers at the time of production. Oddly enough, Nicole Kidman was slated for the lead role, but turned it down, preferring to stay as a producer instead.

In summary? The sex is explicit, the nudity is constant, the gruesome violence is mostly done off camera, and the storyline is nothing special.

"Magnificent. The boy is gone. In the last 30 seconds... you became a grown-up." It's probably quite important to inform those who perhaps do not know anything at all about Finding Neverland, that it is not the actual story of Peter Pan – it is the story of Sir James Matthew Berrie who created Peter Pan.

After writing a theatrical flop, Berrie (Depp) heads down to the local park to ponder new ideas for a play, where he meets Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet) and her children – one of whom is Peter (Highmore). Peter is a young boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death and immediately bonds the closest to Barrie. Barrie spends more and more time with Sylvia and her children, causing issues within the 'polite society' as he spends more time with Sylvia than his own wife (Mitchell), and even more time with the young boys. Berrie encourages the children to use their imaginations and takes them all on adventures – the basis of which would become Berrie's next play 'Peter Pan'.

I really enjoyed Depp's performance as Barrie, and Winslet's performance as an ill widow trying to raise her children in the hardest of circumstances was fantastic. Melbourne girl Radha Mitchell was extremely good as the lonely wife who has lost her husband to his work and perhaps another family, but the most surprising performance for me, came from Freddie Highmore, who I found not only took, but ran, with the highly emotional character of Peter Llewelyn Davies. Johnny Depp obviously admired the eleven year old Highmore, as he requested Tim Burton to cast him as Charley, in the up coming remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Director Marc Foster (Monster's Ball) did a great job, and while it did take me a little while to get into this film, once in, I found it to be a wonderful piece of work, which I would love to watch again.

'So many people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you - not anymore.'

'Saw' is the project of James Wan and Leigh Whannell; two Melbourne boys who between the two of them wrote, directed and starred in a psychological thriller that has made the big-time in Hollywood. Shot on a budget of a little over one million US dollars and shot in only eighteen days, this dark, grungy and bloody film is a true testament that the Hollywood dream of nobodies turning into somebodies overnight can come true – with the film currently grossing over US$53,000,000 and being screened world-wide.

The film opens with Adam (Whannell) and Lawrence (Elwes) waking up in the dark, only to find that they are chained in a filthy bathroom with a dead body between them, a tape recorder, two hacksaws, a gun and one bullet. It is the beginning of a game by a disturbed serial killer who asserts that unless Lawrence kills Adam by six o'clock, his wife (Potter) and daughter will be killed. With that said, we now historically backtrack through the killer's games he has played with other victims, and follow the exploits of Detective Tapp (Glover) as he attempts to apprehend the violent psychopath.

Whannell's performance, with the exception of occasionally slipping back into an Australian accent, was very good – much better, unfortunately than Elwes performance – whom I think was mis-cast. James Wan's feature film directorial debut is excellent - very horror noir-ish – with most of the violence implied rather than shown – although you still feel quite uneasy during many of the flashback scenes despite not actually seeing the gore.

During an interview, Wan mentioned that he was limited due to timing constraints rather than budget constraints, and that the idea for the film was deliberately produced as a low-budget film. He said that what you see in the film is only about thirty percent of the vision he had for the film – having said that, I'm not sure if I could handle his full hundred percent and found the thirty to be plenty for me.

I did enjoy this film and absolutely adored the ending – with the exception of one spoken clichéd line of script at the very end – which, if you go and see this film, will find out what it is.

If you're after a violent storyline, don't get turned off by a bit of blood and loved films like Se7en, then Saw will probably really appeal to you.

'I tattooed 'survive' on my hand the night before I went away to prison. And I did. We do what we have to do to survive.'

I don't think I can remember a film that has put me more on an emotive level with the main character as this film has. Edward Norton plays Monty Brogan – he's not the nicest of people by anyone's standards – and certainly no one you should feel sorry for. But having said that, I have never felt so sorry for the bad guy as I did watching this film. We watch the anguish of Monty during his last 24 hours on the 'outside' before he must go to prison for seven years, knowing completely what is in store for him on the 'inside'.

Set in post 9/11 New York City, we are constantly reminded of humanity and the need to bond together and to make the most of the little time we have; as do Monty's friends, including Jacob Elinsky (Hoffman), a confused and self-tortured school teacher who has strong feelings for one of the students in his class, Mary (Paquin – of X-Men and The Piano fame). Although not about to die, Monty's world is about to turn severely bad, and there's nothing he can do about it. Norton's performance made me feel nervous and quite scared on his behalf, almost to the point of feeling nauseous. It made me want to forgive him, forget about his crimes and let him go (he seemed sorry for what he did – he was no longer a drug dealer – he was trying to make an effort). His performance worked. He had successfully transformed the criminal figure into your best mate and buddy, perhaps even yourself, and you genuinely feel sorry for him.

Director Spike Lee's films usually deal with African-American themes, so it came as a surprise to me to find that this film was something very different – proving that Lee's talent extends across multiple genres and styles.

I highly recommend 25th Hour, not just for the brilliant story, but for the emphatic feelings the film imparts on the viewer.

'Welcome to the United States of Depression, welcome to the Prozac Nation'

Prozac Nation presents a raw painting of a girl suffering from major depression in the 1980s and is based on a novel by Elizabeth Wurtzel who wrote the novel of the same name based on her own life. Christina Ricci plays Wurtzel during her days at the prestigious Harvard University, dealing with sex, drugs and alcohol and forcing her friends and mother (Lange) away through her ongoing battle with depression, most likely founded by her parent's separation. Wurtzel's paranoid and almost psychotic mood-swings paint a very unflattering, raw and honest view of a person battling depression. When her psychiatrist (Heche) prescribes Wurzel with Prozac, she is able to calmly see things from the outside – which eventually turns to anger and frustration when she realises how reliant she is on the drug in order to appear 'normal'.

Ricci's performance of Wurtzel was fantastic, as was Lange's performance of her closet-smoking and slightly unhinged mother. Jason Biggs plays Ricci's boyfriend Rafe, in love, but eventually driven away by Wurtzel's constantly changing nature. It was certainly interesting to see him play a different role than his type-cast American Pie-style character but I wasn't moved one way or the other with regard to his acting in this film; it wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't anything special either.

I found the film to deal with more than just the stereotypical portrayal of someone suffering depression, dwelling rather heavily on the frustration of being depressed, rather than moping around itself. Wurtzel knew how she should handle a situation, but found herself unable to stop from handling it incorrectly; leading to further frustration and deeper depression; the cycle starting over again. All in all, I did thoroughly enjoy this film. There was no 'Hollywood ending', but on the other hand I wasn't left feeling in a state of depression myself. If you do like happy movies, then this is certainly not the film for you – but if you like contemporary dramas and films that deal with real-life issues, then Prozac Nation should be right up your alley.

Set in a female psychiatric institution, Gothika tells the story of Dr Miranda Grey (Berry), a criminal psychiatrist who suddenly finds herself as in inmate of the institution she works at, with no memory of a murder that she is accused of committing. Her world is flipped upside down with her work colleagues become her captors and her patients become her equals. She is armed with her knowledge of psychiatry, which appears to make her more hostile to the doctors and psychiatrists around her; making it much harder for her to find out exactly what happened to her. Figuring that no one else is going to help her, Grey finds that she must work through her memories on her own, and unlock the events that occurred.

Gothika is a dark film, both in storyline and visual display; often raining, giving an easy way to impose clichéd thunder and lightning in poignant moments. Add to this the buzzing and flickering of florescent lights within the tiny psychiatric cells gives you an also clichéd, but very effective 'dirty' and uncomfortable feeling – very reminiscent of B-Grade horror movies.

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (who played the role of 'Nino Quincampoix' in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'Amelie'), Halle Berry's portrayal of her character is well done as is the performance by Penelope Cruz who plays Chloe, Dr Grey's abused patient. Robert Downey Jnr doesn't really stand out in this film, reminding me more of his portrayal of Larry Paul in Ally McBeal than anything else.

I found Gothika to be a good film; supernaturally scary in the right places and gruesome in others. Although quite a violent film in terms of storyline, it is for the most-part left to your imagination, although there are certainly sections that warrant the MA rating.

`Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see...'

Bringing Out The Dead is not your normal film. It tells the story of a paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) who is losing faith in his career choice. He hasn't saved anyone's life for some time, and everyone he seems to help, dies. He works the summer `graveyard shift' in New York with a variety of paramedic partners (John Goodman, Ving Rhames & Tom Sizemore) becoming more and more depressed each night he works – haunted by the memories of the people he has been unable to save. He meets Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette) – a psychologically abused ex-junkie - when her father suffers a heart attack and Frank is called to assist. They form a bond from their constant meeting at the hospital as she waits around for news of her father.

This film portrays a New York night as a seedy underworld, filled with drugs and alcohol and overflowing hospital emergency rooms. It portrays paramedics as people on the edge – traumatised by the many things they have seen; lives that no one would want to live.

Martin Scorsese's direction is good – the actors' successful portrayal of their characters really makes you feel like you are there. The cinematography is very different to the majority of other films – images sped up, strange camera cuts during dialogue scenes; it reminded me a lot of the mish-mashed collage-style images seen in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers. So I was not overly surprised when I researched the cinematographer (Robert Richardson) of this film and found that he was also the cinematographer on Natural Born Killers.

Nicholas Cage's performance is very much Nicholas Cage from a variety of other films – his portrayal of a depressed paramedic would no doubt have come easy for him as his character Frank is a lot like many other of Cage's previous roles.

This film has a very strong black comedy feel to it. It is rated R for it's adult themes rather than gross-out factor, to which there is very little. It is a very intense film and you certainly don't go away feeling in high spirits – but you don't seem to go away feeling sombre either. You see a glimpse of hope for the characters and think that maybe, just maybe – everything will be alright.

`Most men, they'll tell you a story straight true. It won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either.'

Director Tim Burton's films never follow traditional guidelines. His past films include Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow, to name just a few – all of which have imaginative storylines and wonderfully strange characters, of which Big Fish is certainly no exception.

Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor as the young Ed Bloom / Albert Finney as the senior Ed Bloom) is a man who has always told amazing stories to his family, friends, and anyone who would listen to them. His son Will (Billy Crudup) is frustrated by his father's stories; unable to work out what was real and what was made-up about his father's life. When he finds out his father is dying, Will returns home to try and find out the true story of his father's life. What follows is a tantalising and colourful journey along one man's life as a travelling salesman, seeking the woman that he loves and having an adventure on the way.

Big Fish is rated PG and while children may find this film hard to follow with regard to storyline, they will be entertained by wonderful visual imagery and colourful characters; the latter including a Circus Manager known as Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito), a famous unimaginative poet called Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi), a giant called Karl (Matthew McGrory), a pair of Siamese performers known as Ping and Jing (Ada Tai & Arlene Tai) and a witch with a glass eye (Helena Bonham Carter) that bears prophetic messages, mermaids and of course: big fish.

It is so hard to write a review on this film – not due to lack of detail, but because I want to tell you everything (and I mean everything) about it – but if I were to do that, it would dampen your experience of the film – so without wanting to do that, I'm not actually going to tell you much more than what I have already.

Go see it…. I don't see how you couldn't enjoy it.

Johnny Depp stars as Captain Jack Sparrow, in this film that was created from Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean amusement at Disney World in Florida.

Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film tells the story of Captain Jack Sparrow, a humorous, egotistical, unpredictable pirate, who is attempting to catch the ‘Black Pearl' – a pirate ship `with black sails that's crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil, that hell itself spat him back out'. After saving the Governor's daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) from drowning, Sparrow is arrested as a pirate and taken to jail where he awaits the gallows. In search of lost Cortez gold, the Black Pearl and a motley crew of pirates (led by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush)) raid the town and kidnap Elizabeth. The blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), in love with Elizabeth springs Sparrow from jail in return for his help in tracking down the Black Pearl and saving Elizabeth.

Depp's own quirkiness brings Captain Jack Sparrow to life, continuing his tradition of portraying rather unusual roles. Bloom and Knightly play their roles wonderfully, while Rush, so versatile in his character portrayal, presents himself as an enjoyable ‘bad guy' to watch. Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the black pearl was filmed on location around St. Vincent and the Grenadines, providing a spectacular backdrop of crystal clear blue waters and picturesque islands. The special effects were created by Industrial Light & Magic and as usual, blend into the live-action seamlessly. Merge all of this together with the wonderful musical score by Hans Zimmer (who created the music for Gladiator and numerous other films) and you have a really enjoyable experience.

Obviously you can't have a film about cursed pirates without a little horror, and although most violence is implied and not shown in this film, this is the first Disney film ever, to be rated PG-13 in the United States, and M in Australia. This film is definitely a fun, adventurous family film, but some children under fourteen may find the occasional scene within this film disturbing.

"I feel this great, great pressure - coming down on me. It's just constantly coming down on me. Crushing me."

Burr Steers' (co-writer of `How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days') film 'Igby Goes Down' is a black comedy set in New York around an 'almost 18 year old' boy named Jason ‘Igby' Slocumb Jnr. (Kieran Culkin).

Igby is a deeply troubled boy; constantly barraged and insulted by his overpowering, overbearing, drug-filled, cancer-suffering mother, Mimi (Susan Sarandon) who has already driven his father Jason (Bill Pullman) schizophrenic after a nervous breakdown. Igby's brother Oliver (Ryan Phillipe) is a neatly groomed scholar who always manages to somehow taint any little successes that Igby derives – causing Igby to suffer further.

Getting to know Igby doesn't take long. He is a drug taking, smart-mouthing and yet surprisingly innocent adolescent - displaying the only behaviour that seems to help him survive his surroundings and neurotic family. His god-father D.H. (Jeff Goldblum), a wealthy professional developer, takes Igby under his wing in a half-hearted attempt to groom him into something which Igby will never become.

Along the way, Igby meets Rachel (Amanda Peet) who gives him a temporary room to stay and Sookie (Claire Danes) who provides him with a bit of temporary sanity through her care and advice.

Culkin's performance exceeded any expectations I had; but with the exception of Jeff Goldblum, the actors in this film seem to have been stereotypically cast, which, surprisingly, is very effective in this instance. The audience, who has no doubt seen the cast before in other films, is given a small amount of stability in an otherwise unstable film.

This film will not be everyone's cup of tea; it is raw in many ways and is certainly not a happy film – but it is a wonderfully told story with rich characters played almost flawlessly by a string of great actors.

Shot in beautiful Switzerland, Stille Liebe tells the story of Antonia (Emmanuelle Laborit), a deaf and mute nun who meets Mikas, a deaf pick-pocket while travelling to the homeless shelter where she assists in the kitchen. Antonia's relationship builds with Mikas to a point where she is torn between her faith and the man she has fallen in love with. Among some of the other characters is Mother Superior Verena (Renate Becker); a wonderfully loving, yet very disciplined woman who takes Antonia under her wing in the Convent.

While the cinematography is nothing extra special, it is the audio track that captures your attention. Dialogue scenes between Antonia and Mikas have no audible speech and what you are left with is just the soft ambiance of the surroundings. The audio track itself is very soft for the majority of the film - thus any breach of this softness is reserved for very poignant events.

Co-written by director Christoph Schaub, this film is unique in the way it portrays a deaf character. Of course the usual communication issues exist, but we see more of need and desire to be among people who are similar. The communication issues can always be resolved, but the desire to be among your own people, people who are like you, people who don't have the need for things to be explained to them... this is what really drives Antonia in the decisions she makes throughout the film.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film.

Rarely do sequals meet their original, however I feel that American Pie 2 has done that. Although there were the likenesses all the way through the film to the original, it was different enough to keep you enteretained. Certainly a "no-brainer" film that does not require any extra brain-power to understand, American Pie 2 was very entertaining and extremely funny. The usual crassness is there, but without it, it wouldn't be "American Pie." I loved it.

With a great cast, I really did expect a hell of a lot better from the film... although the cast did the best with that they could... they couldn't bring the film back to life. With its horrible soundtrack (including a Hammond Organ solo), bad make-up (Gary Sinise's eye liner) and average special effects (the alien! what the hell was that?! And those 2D cardboard-cutout backgrounds! Eeek!)

I can see why this video was on rental for $0.50 cheaper than the others . The only saving grace was that I didn't pay to see it in the cinema.

If you're expecting The Castle, then you will be in for a rude shock. The Dish, based on the true story of the Apollo 11 space flight and subsequent moonwalk is very funny, but it very different humour to what is seen in The Castle.

The film details how Parkes a country town in New South Wales, Australia became the talk of the world when it's satellite dish (complete with neighbouring sheep) was used by NASA to broadcast man's first walk on the moon.

A feel-good humorous film and a must for any person fascinated by space.

Right up until the ending, I had been enjoying this film. It's dark humour and well defined characters brought together by a great cast. It was very interesting to watch Michael Biehn play someone very different to his usual characters.

The only (and unfortunately, quite a major) drawback to this film was its ending, which made it look like the writer ran out of ideas and after deciding they were bored, quickly slammed on a hurried ending.

I gave this film a 6/10 (because mainly, the ending killed the whole film for me).

This film had some good action scenes. Jackie was Jackie (naturally great!) but everyone else forgot to take acting lessons. The bad script just made things worse. It was all downhill... you'll see what I mean in the first 5 minutes - I honestly thought that it was a send up or a "television show" within the movie at the beginning. My heart fell when I saw it was actually the real movie itself. And to think I spent $6 to see it. Can I get my money back please?