href="mailto:merrick@aintitcool.com">Merrick here...

Lautauro's been a very busy person the lasty few days (HERE, HERE, and HERE), but he still found time to send in some entertainment news from Downunder! Which...we very much appreciate.

Here's Latauro...

If I wasn't a transvestite terrorist, would you marry
me?

AICN-DOWNUNDER

It's weird. I really thought MIFF would take it out of me, but I find
jumping from cinema to cinema is actually quite invigorating. I really can't
get enough, and could probably double the number of films I'm seeing without
too much hassle. That said, I had my first indication of possible
over-saturation the other night. Coming out of SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE,
some friends and I were discussing the incredible mastery of Park
Chan-Wook's direction, and I almost cited a scene from BREAKFAST ON PLUTO
(the Neil Jordan film I saw that morning) as an example. Why did I think a
fantasy sequence involving Cillian Murphy and perfume had taken place in the
Korean revenge film I'd just seen? In fairness, the PLUTO scene might
actually have worked in LADY VENGEANCE without too much tweaking, so I have
that going for me.

With MIFF taking up all my time, nearly all of the news items below
are recycled from this site, other sites, and corrugated
cardboard. So most of the below will be stuff you've already read, but with
a bit of imagination and mutual role-playing, we can pretend it's all new
and exciting. Yes, it's another AICN-Downunder column!

NEWS

We mentioned this last week as a rumour, and it's been widely reported
as fact since, but for the sake of saying things, Heath Ledger IS the Joker!
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS -- which will almost certainly get a name change
when a nervous exec realises they're making a Batman film without "Batman"
in the title -- will see Ledger falling into a vat of very realistic acid
and turning into Crown Prince of Clime... or something. Personally, I think
this is an awesome choice; partly because I fantasise about this series
lasting for the next three or four decades, and Ledger's just the right age
for that, and partly because the guy has an exceptionally broad grin that
we've almost never seen in his films. Oh, and he can act good.

Australian actress Melissa George has been in a lot of films, but by
far the coolest thing thus far was playing the "Jenny" that Terence Stamp
was yelling about in THE LIMEY. In my subjective opinion, anyway. But more
interestingly, George has just been cast opposite Josh Harnett in Sam
Raimi's upcoming vampiric flick 30 DAYS OF NIGHT. George plays wife to
Hartnett as they try to protect their northern Alaskan town from the
vamps.

The final cast list of James Mangold's 3:10 TO YUMA has settled out to
Christian Bale and local troublemaker Russell Crowe. There seemed to be some
confusion over the casting initially, when, for a brief period, there was
some suggestion that Crowe would be joining compatriot Eric Bana and
compcrazyperson Tom Cruise in the film. Turns out Crowe is taking over
Bana's role and Bale is taking Cruise's. So that's that sorted. In the film,
a rancher (Bale) is forced to look after an outlaw (Crowe) as they attempt
to catch a train (locomotive).

CAROUSEL is being remade with hoofer Hugh Jackman in the lead role. In
Rodgers and Hammerstein's light-hearted musical, a hot-tempered wife-beater
is killed during a botched robbery and gets stuck in purgatory. He's given
one day to return to Earth and fix the problems he left behind. Expect lots
of laughs.

Nicole Kidman's going to play the villainous Mrs Coulter in THE GOLDEN
COMPASS, based on the Philip Pullman novel. That is all.

Has HARD DRIVE been wiped? Does my ability to write that sentence get
ensure I get a job at a local tabloid? HARD DRIVE is a New Zealand film that
was to feature many a car chase stunt, until financial woes caused
pre-production to shut down. Silverscreen Films has apparently left up to
one million dollars in debt across Queenstown, and it looks highly unlikely
that the film will recover. It was to be helmed by Australian director Bill
Bennett, who actually has a pretty decent filmography behind him. Guys:
contact Universal and get them to put THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS in front of
the title, and your budget woes will disappear! Originally appeared on href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3751154a1860,00.html"
target=_blank>Stuff, target=_blank>Black Magic and href="http://www.archivesearch.co.nz/default.aspx?webid=ONF&articleid=22281"
target=_blank>Onfilm.

As someone who recently went through the throws of a quarter-life
crisis (I bought a toy ferrari), I expect SLOVENIA AFTER SIX -- a "comedy
about the anxiety of what you're going to do with your life when you are in
your twenties" -- to speak to me, or at least have a marketing campaign
pitched at me. The New Zealand-made indie has, interestingly enough, been
getting a significant amount of interest from its namesake country;
interesting given the film has nothing to do with Slovenia beyond the title!
The film has a trailer up as of last week, so head to href="http://www.sloveniaaftersix.com/"
target=_blank>www.sloveniaaftersix.com and take a look. The film's
producer and co-writer, Jonathon Rayner-Burt, claims he's been a fan of AICN
"since dial-up was $6 an hour", which sounds great. (What the hell is
"dial-up"?)

Everyone's getting into the podcast thing these days. I happen to like
this trend, as it brings back the old-fashioned art of listening to things
on your iPod. target=_blank>Black Magic, the New Zealand film news site I'm forever
culling news from, has its first podcast ready for downloading, featuring a
rundown of all the latest NZ industry news. The first episode is a bit
rough, but name me a first episode that isn't. You can subscribe to the
podcast by doing a search for "Black Magic" on iTunes, or by href="http://www.black-magic.co.nz/podcast/" target=_blank>going
here.

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

2006 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Toronto seems to be where it's all happening at the moment. Hot on the
heels of the announcement that BLACK SHEEP will have its worldwide premiere
at the festival, a whole slew of other Australian and New Zealand films have
been added to the playlist. Geoffrey Wright's MACBETH (read our exclusive
world-first reviews here!) will also have its world premiere in Toronto,
participating in the inaugural Vanguard program. SUBURBAN MAYHEM and 2:37
(both currently playing at MIFF) will play in Vanguard alongside MACBETH. So
what is Vanguard? Apparently, it's designed to "hit audiences with a raw,
pulsating aesthetic that speaks to sexual, cultural and cinematic freedoms".
Kiwi film OUT OF THE BLUE will feature in the festival's Discovery section
(which I've decided will "gently tickle audiences with a mostly-cooked
aesthetic that speaks to buttoned-down, industrial and theatrical
restrictions"), where it will also have its world premiere. BLUE is a day in
the life of coastal town Aramoana, when one of the residents by the name of
David Gray "runs amok, with tragic results". If it's the popular Irish
singer-songwriter David Gray, consider my ticket already bought. Hell, his
song "Flame Turns Blue" can easily be adapted to become the title track!
I'll be quiet now.

12TH INDEPENDENTS' FILM FESTIVAL

Last week we reported that the Australian indie film WIL will premiere
at the Rhode Island Film Festival. Well, next on the agenda is the
curiously-acronymed IFF, which will take place in Florida this September.
The film will then
screen at the 17th Washington Jewish Film Festival, whose opening night
speaker will probably not be Mel Gibson. Zing!

BOX OFFICE

The US had PIRATES topped by a Michael Mann film. Over here, it's
toppled by bloody YOU, ME AND DUPREE. This is list is sure to piss off
Steely Dan, who are now consulting with their lawyers in regards to their
hit songs "A Sequel To Pirates of the Caribbean" and "That Fishing Trip We
Took When We Saw That Dead Chick".

1. YOU, ME AND DUPREE

2. target=_blank>PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

3. target=_blank>THE LAKE HOUSE

4. JINDABYNE

5. MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND

RELEASED THIS WEEK

Michael Apted proves he's at least forty-two years ahead of PepsiCo,
Martin Freeman embarrasses himself (er, I meant his character), another
Australian film tries to sneak out without anyone noticing, Red Riding Hood
goes all "Law and Order", and George Nolfi adapts an airport novel where all
the stuff that made sense has been removed and replaced with vomit.

49 UP

CONFETTI

FOOTY LEGENDS

HOODWINKED

target=_blank>THE SENTINEL

REVIEWS

48 SHADES

Sitting in the screening room at 10am, realising I was probably the
youngest person there, feeling too old to be reviewing a film like this
anyway... it occurred to me how subjective this whole critic thing is. I
mean, most films seem to be pitched at adults given they're the ones making
them, and even children's films have the parents in mind. But even when
we're talking about kids' films, we still feel able to judge them on their
very specific merits (is it pretty to look at? are the characters likeable?
what's the moral? etc). Films made solely for teenagers are nearly
impossible to properly review once your memory of your own teenage years
begins to fade; the emotions and priorities that you have when you're a teen
are so completely different from any other period of your life, it's almost
like they're in another world.

48 SHADES (adapted from the popular novel "48 Shades of Brown" by
Daniel Lapaine) is unashamedly aimed at teenagers. It's also, mercifully, a
story that doesn't talk down to its audience. You don't necessarily get a
deus ex machina punishment for drinking or smoking or having sex; it's just
a part of life. That was the first thing that grabbed me about the film,
which isn't exclusively good news as it only hit me twenty minutes
in.

The first twenty minutes are something of a drag. Not a lot happens,
shots go on longer than they should, you sink further into your seat, and
you wait for a story to present itself. The best thing about most movies is
usually the opening, so I was surprised when it actually pulled itself up at
the twenty minute mark and became an interesting film.

The film follows Dan, who has just returned from a year in Zurich. His
family stayed behind, but Dan, wanting to complete his schooling back in
Australia, is sent to stay with his aunt. His aunt is a cigarette-smoking
20-something Uni student who plays guitar in a band called Gazoonga Attack.
Almost immediately, Dan is smitted with their housemate Naomi, a
free-spirited blonde-type, also of University age.

The film's plot doesn't deviate much from the idea that Dan is in love
with Naomi, and you get the feeling that something may have been lost in the
translation. An inner monologue, a more detailed description of those
awkward moments, something like that. Still, the film picks up as it gains
momentum, and you find yourself liking all of the characters (including the
ones you may have found slightly annoying early on). The big party the film
is working towards
is the highlight of the film, and contains some very, very funny
stuff.

Dan is played by Richard Wilson. He looks about fifteen in the film,
and plays it with a suitable level of awkward innocence, so I was shocked
when I discovered he'd played Guy Pearce's younger brother in THE
PROPOSITION. The kid has range. He also manages to carry the film without
becoming irritating or unlikeable, and for that he deserves props. Emma Lung
is the object of his affection, and she's perfectly cast. Rather than being
the folicle-perfect girl we usually see in these films, you believe that
anyone who meets her could easily fall for her within moments, but she never
loses her attainability. It helps us buy into Dan's belief that he can
actually get her, which is essential. Robin McLeavy is his aunt, Jacq, and
is also someone to look out for in the future. McLeavy is a natural; Jacq is
not too mothering, not too self-centered, but exactly as I imagine someone
in her position to behave. Nick Donaldson plays Dan's sleazy best friend
Chris, and is the comic heart of this film. His comic timing is brilliant,
and he gives what I believe may be (Note: I feel this is as good a time
as any to point out that I'm actually very good friends with Nick Donaldson,
but I assure you it will have absolutely no impact whatsoever on this
review) the greatest performance ever given in the history of time and
space. Seriously, he's very good, as is Michael Booth (Phil the landlord)
and Victoria Thaine (Imogen). Films like this one live and die with their
casting, and 48 SHADES lives life to the fullest. It builds up a lot of good
will via its characters and the actors who portray them.

After starting out wishing the film had been a bit more brutal in the
editing room, I was pretty much won over by the time it reached its
non-cop-out conclusion. I don't know how many of you are going to rush out
to see this (I honestly have no idea what this column's demographic is), but
after the shite that Aussie teens have had to pass for local product
recently (like, say, DECK DOGZ), it's nice to a decent film come out in the
genre. This is a film I think I'd love if I was sixteen, but as a one
hundred and seventy year old, I simply like it... but like it quite a
lot.

BREAKFAST ON PLUTO

This was another one of those films I'd heard the title of many times,
but knew little else about it. Turns out it's a Neil Jordan film that
features Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson and Stephen Rea.
According to the calculator on my Mac, it's only one Farrell, half a Meaney
and a pinch of Gabriel Byrne away from being the most Irish thing that ever
existed.

Cillian Murphy plays Patrick (or Patricia, or Kitten), a
cross-dressing Irish lad who gets into a lot of trouble with the IRA and
English police in his quest to find his birth mother. And if that doesn't
sound like a Friday night out at the movies, then I don't know what
does.

Aside from the touching story masterfully told by Jordan (who is, I
suspect, now running at the absolute height of his game), the reason to see
this film is Cillian Murphy. I'd always liked him in things like 28 DAYS
LATER, BATMAN BEGINS and INTERMISSION, but this film really showed me what
he is capable of. The guy is a chameleon, and he pushes himself so far into
the character that even his trademark impossibly-perfect bone structure is
barely recognisable.

The film is a tad lengthy at 129 minutes, but to be fair, it never
outstays its welcome. It's one of the few two hour plus movies that can
sustain its running time, and it does so by mixing some pretty serious
scenes with some hilarious sequences that seem to come out of left field. It
helps that the main character is someone who despises the fact that everyone
else in the world is so damned serious, and he usually finds something to
amuse himself with. It's what keeps BREAKFAST from being a solemn, gritty
drama, and keeps it consistently entertaining. Hell, it even made me laugh
out loud at several points, and the entire cinema had less than ten people
in it! (My point being that I try not to be too noisy in small crowds, as it
can be a tad embarrassing.)

I won't go on too much longer (the constant MIFF reviews are taking it
out of me), but I predict this will be something of a hit on the local
arthouse circuit. It's got just the right level of drama, humour, and
excellent thespians all kicking arse (including an unrecognisable Ian Hart,
and two superb child actors by the names of Sid Young and Conor McEvoy) to
ensure its success.

NEXT WEEK

- Warner Bros. casts doubt over whether anyone there saw Park
Chan-Wook's JSA when it signs Brandon Routh and Christian Bale for the
remake

- Charlie Sheen and Schuyler Fisk to star in the sadly-free-of-irony
sequel BADLANDS: THE NEXT GENERATION

- Paris Hilton goes for her first Oscar nomination in Larry Clark's
thoroughly-inaccurate and somewhat-unfortunate interpretation of Vermeer's
GIRL WITH A PEARL NECKLACE

Peace out,

Latauro

href="mailto:AICNDownunder@hotmail.com">AICNDownunder@hotmail.com