Vengeance or death! Preferably vengeance.

AICN-DOWNUNDER

ZOMG! A new column!

NEWS

Inside Film Magazine is reporting that Sue Brooke (director of JAPANESE STORY, a film I really liked) will next helm SUBDIVISION, a comedy starring Gary Sweet, Steve Bisley, Bruce Spence, Brooke Satchwell, and Kris McQuade. Yes, apparently the film was cast in the late 1990s. Nevertheless, the film will shoot in Hervey Bay in Queensland as of this month.

The newly-formed Screen Australia has just appointed its interim chief executive, Lyn Maddock. Just who is Lyn Maddock? No, seriously, I'm asking. I suck at research. Oh, wait, here's something: she was the deputy chairwoman of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, and was apparently very good at it. So there you go. There'll probably be a new and more permanent exec as of August, which we'll report to you in, I don't know, November. Hey, AICN-D has a reputation to maintain.

Just by the by, buried in an article in The Australian newspaper is what appears to be a quote from George Miller who says he's working on the game for MAD MAX IV (which we knew), which will coincide with the film MAD MAX IV (which I think we knew), JUSTICE LEAGUE: MORTAL (which we definitely knew), and HAPPY FEET 2 (which I don't remember knowing). So if you didn't know any of that, you sure do now.

The trailer for NOTHING BUT THE STRUTH, a documentary about the state of the Australian film industry, has just put its trailer online. The film features interviews with many notables (George Miller, Cate Blanchett, James Hewison), as well as many unnotables (me). Check out the trailer here. (I'm wedged between Dr George and Cate. Forgive the Bono-esque sunglasses, it was a very bright day.)

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

2008 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival is this year partnering with the Australian Film Commission (also the UK Film Council and Canadian Film Centre, but you can read AICN-England and AICN-Mountie for more on them). I'm sure there are lots of benefits to this, but all I can see is that Leah Purcell (BLACK CHICKS TALKING) and Bain Stewart (NETBALL) are being flown over to partake, so good for them! Furthermore, NEWCASTLE, the Aussie surfing drama with Shane Jacobson (KENNY), Barry Otto (COSI), Anthony Hayes (LOOK BOTH WAYS) and Andrew Johns (rugby) will premiere at the festival, which begins on April 23 in Lower Manhattan.

2008 MELBOURNE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL

Hats off to MQFF, which broke its own record with an audience of 25 000. Winners included SHELTER (Audience Choice for Best Feature), LOVE IS BLUE (Selectors' Choice for Best Film), I KNOW THAT I AM (Audience Choice for Best Documentary), PAGES OF A GIRL (Audience Choice for Best Short Film), and MY LAST TEN HOURS WITH YOU (Audience Choice for Best Australian Short).

2008 ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL

Hey, 'tis the season. This year, SKFF turns twenty-five, and will celebrate by doing what it does: screening Australian's top one hundred short films from the past year. I'm yet to see evidence that we've made more than on hundred short films this past year, but I'll take them at their word. (I kid. Everybody I meet/know is a short filmmaker. My friend Dan produces a high-end short film every few hours.) The festival begins on May 6.

AUDI FESTIVAL OF GERMAN FILMS 2008

German films are awesome. Want proof? Go to this year's German film festival, in Sydney (16-27 April at the Chauvel Cinema and Palace Norton St), Melbourne (17-27 April at the Como and the Palace Brighton Bay), Perth (18-20 April at the Cinema Paradiso), and Brisbane (23-27 April at the Palace Centro).

V 48HOURS

I love this, and have always wanted to try it. You have forty-eight hours to create an entire short film from scratch. If you're a filmmaker, you're in New Zealand, and you want to do amazing things, keep the weekend of May 16 free, and go to www.48hours.co.nz.

BOX OFFICE

Um... yeah.

1. HORTON HEARS A WHO

2. STEP UP 2 THE STREETS

3. NEVER BACK DOWN

4. DRILLBIT TAYLOR

5. ST TRINIAN'S

RELEASED THESE PAST WEEKS THREE

Michel Gondry tries his hand at remakes, Ethan Hawke gets il-Lumet-nated (you can use that), this year's Bangladeshi-woman-arrives-in-1980s-London movie hits the multiplexes, Owen Wilson plays a slacker, I have absolutely no idea who either of these girls are, filmmakers utterly destroy their remake of Leni Riefenstahl's HEIMLICH HEARS A JEW, Ryan Gosling stars alongside a plastic dummy, filmmakers utterly destroy their remake of THE NEXT KARATE KID, I have no joke here, Will Ferrell attempts to play a manchild, I never realised "2" could mean a number and a word!, and Joan Sims spins in her grave.

BE KIND REWIND

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD

BRICK LANE

DRILLBIT TAYLOR

HANNAH MONTANA AND MILEY CYRUS: CONCERT 3D

HORTON HEARS A WHO

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

NEVER BACK DOWN

NIM'S ISLAND

SEMI-PRO

STEP UP 2 THE STREETS

ST TRINIAN'S

REVIEWS

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES

You'll need to hang onto something, because I have some shocking information for you: THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES doesn't suck.

I roll my eyes as much as anyone when a new post-HARRY POTTER fantasy kids film comes out with twelve subtitles all designed to imply a barrage of sequels and merchandise... but when I sat down to watch SPIDERWICK, I had no idea that this was going to be the exception that proved the rule.

I'm actually going to keep this exceptionally brief, because I don't feel the urge to say much beyond how good the cast is (I heart Mary-Louise Parker, I'm an old school David Strathairn fan, and Freddie Highmore was so good, I didn't realise he was playing both twins until about halfway through... seriously) and how directer Mark Waters -- who has, to put it politely, an eclectic filmography behind him -- did a really good job on it.

Yes, the vast number of recent fantasy films have blown chunks, but SPIDERWICK isn't one of them. A surprisingly good watch.

DRILLBIT TAYLOR

(Wow. I really do take a while to write these columns. I saw this film and wrote the review before it came out anywhere. Now, it's almost left cinemas. God, our turnarounds are far too quick. Anyway, redundant or not, here are my thoughts...)

I suppose the spell had to break at some point. The string of Apatow hits that we on the net seem unnaturally occupied with couldn't last forever, and this is perhaps where the bough has broken.

That shouldn't be the narrative, by the way. I know I should be focusing more on the film itself, and I will, but for my money, a not-insignificant-number-of-films streak has ended, and it is noteworthy.

DRILLBIT TAYLOR isn't a bad film, but nor is it a classic on par with SUPERBAD or 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN. I suppose those films, SUPERBAD in particular, really had an effect on my pre-conditioning for DRILLBIT, and I think I expected something a little less... standard.

DRILLBIT TAYLOR spends a bit of time setting up the high school movie archetypes. The skinny geek, the fat geek, the bully, the girl next door... and then proceeds to perpetuate them. There's no real dissemination of these stereotypes, and in an age where we're all so damn self-aware and conscious of these things, this seemed like a bit of an oversight. We need a bit more edge to our archetypes than this film offers.

But it is funny. There's no denying that (there might be some denying that for others), but it's funny in a disposable, half-grin sort of way. I laughed out loud at a number of points, but not consistently the way I did in SUPERBAD.

One of the problems is that Drillbit himself isn't that likable. The character himself isn't a guy you like, and they seem to be countering this with the casting of Owen Wilson. Wilson is automatically likable, but what the film needed was a Billy Bob Thornton. Someone who can make him so incredibly unlikable, he's at least entertaining. With Wilson in the lead, the not-unexpected twist where he actually comes to like the bullied boys who have hired him, occurs with little effect. It's actually something we saw in scene one; a result of Wilson really just coming off as a nice guy.

The kids are cast really well; these guys come off as genuine cast-outs, not male models with big glasses and woolen pullovers. That's probably the strength of the movie, the discovery of the central three kids.

However, by the time you get to the end of the film -- after the film denounces violence as not being the answer, violence eventually solves their problem (and having somebody note it doesn't get you out of this) -- you'll probably wonder if it was really all worth it. An okay film, but not a really good one.

GLOBAL HAYWIRE

A decent documentary by Australian political cartoonist Bruce Petty. It's a little bit of a mishmash... having watched it, I'm still not entirely sure what the film was trying to say. It seems to be a complete history of the last couple of hundred years, an indictment of political and financial systems the world over, with the central message "We ruin everything".

Whether you like this film or not will depend a lot on how you feel about the film's conceit of historical figures coming together to form a committee on, well, everything. Virginia Woolf is there, Ghandi is there, a couple of random caricatures are there, and, for some reason, Robyn Nevin and Barry Otto. This structure ties the thing together, but it never exactly works, at least, not for me. I found it a little too self-consciously cute, though that would have been forgiven if I'd had a clearer idea of what the overall argument was.

Segments of the film, however, are very interesting. Interviews with Noam Chomsky and Gore Vidal are fascinating, and I think we could have had more of that. In fact, most of the interviewees have something interesting to say, so even if you don't dig the cartoons, there'll still be something for you to enjoy.

Narration is by Tom Baker, whose sultry enunciations will distract fans of "Doctor Who" and "Little Britain", but whose tones suit the film's style pretty well. High school students can look forward to this substituting end-of-term double history periods within the year.

GONE BABY GONE

There's always a certain level of frustration for film fans waiting for a largely-delayed movie that's been lauded in its original release. It was something I remember being acutely aware of as a child, with my imagination deciding that Americans got to see every single film about five years before we did. Much has changed, partly because of digital distribution, but mostly because the internet. We talk about these films. Everyone's aware of films that have just hit big in the States, or are about to come out. There's no international secrecy any more. Everyone knows.

We've come to accept the idea that a film's delay means it's just no good. In many cases, that is true, but slippery slope the other way, and you find movies that are going to be slaughtered when the critics get to them receiving simultaneous releases worldwide in order to stave off poor word-of-mouth. Likewise, many Oscar films are delayed until closer to the ceremony in order to cash in on the free press. Bottom line is a film's delay will mean it's either very good or very bad... and you can take that to the bank.

Stress not. GONE BABY GONE is more than worth the wait. In fact, the lengthy wait has all but dissolved in my mind now that I've seen the film.

I've always liked Ben Affleck, unpopular as that may be. I enjoy his work as an actor, even if I don't always enjoy his choice in projects, but holy crap can this guy direct. Where did he get that from? I mean, whose style was he studying? Michael Bay? John Woo? Kevin Smith? I love Kevin, but in terms of directing style, Affleck's brought something to the table that don't recall his favourite director's mannerisms the way Clooney and Gaghan recall Soderbergh. This is not the work of an actor in search of a different gig; this is the work of an auteur who knows exactly what he's doing.

Meanwhile, Casey Affleck continues to prove that he's got a long career ahead of him in front of the camera. The entire cast, in fact, is top notch, with Ed Harris giving a career-defining performance that rivals his work in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE.

More impressive than anything else, however, is the lack of easy answers. There's a big, morally-ambiguous conflict at the end of this film, with no obvious answer. The script, the direction, and the acting all handles this conflict with extraordinary grace, ending on the most bittersweet of images.

I hope you've noticed that I've given nothing of the plot or setup away. Antipodes who have not yet read or seen anything about this film, do what you can to avoid having any of it spoiled. Just go see the film.

NEXT WEEK

- Jamie Foxx remakes his 1997 comedy whilst still keeping the credibility he gained from SYRIANA, in the poorly-thought out Pakistani political comedy BHUTTO CALL

- New Line attempts to get itself back in the black with another Tolkein spinoff, signing Adam Sandler to fantasy-comedy YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ROHAN

- Michael Douglas reunites with Kathleen Turner in the third part of their adventure trilogy that comes up with an excellent explanation of why they both look the way they now look, in NECROMANCING THE STONE

Peace out,

Latauro

AICNDownunder@hotmail.com