AICN-DOWNUNDER: TERMINATOR 4, STATE OF PLAY, And Charles "Bud" Tingwell!

Two day old coyote. It's better than three day old coyote.

AICN-DOWNUNDER

CHARLES "BUD" TINGWELL: 1923 -- 2009

It's more of a shock than it should be: Australian actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell passed away a fortnight ago at the age of 86. To those who don't know him, 86 must sound like a reasonable age, but he's one of those actors you half-expected to live forever. He's always been there, and having an Australian film and television industry without him is... well, it feels quite hollow at the moment.

You could fill volumes talking up Bud's achievements. I don't even know where to begin. From a personal standpoint, I remembering him being my first celebrity encounter. I was about seven years old, and he was sitting in the back yard of my house talking to my father and his friend about a short film they were making. I brought them out drinks, then went back inside to excitedly tell my mother that the man from BUSHFIRE MOON was in our yard! And that's the thing: he was everything to everyone. The man's longevity meant that every generation had their own version of Bud. That's what happens when you have a career spanning seven decades.

Bud was a World War II veteran, having flown Spitfires in overseas reconnaissance missions. He'd been based in England, and returned to Australia to marry his childhood sweetheart Audrey. In 1946, he won a role in SMITHY as a Control Tower Officer, largely, he claimed, because he already had a WWII uniform he could bring to set! From there, though, he was unstoppable. He went from Australian films such as THE GLENROWAN AFFAIR and 1952's KANGAROO, to Hollywood: in 1953, Robert Wise cast him alongside Richard Burton and James Mason in THE DESERT RATS, a film about the notorious Rats of Tobruk. This film also starred Chips Rafferty, the legendary Australian actor. Chips and Bud had become fast friends, and starred in numerous films together.

Despite frequent film and television roles in England (including a recurring role as Inspector Craddock in a series of Agatha Christie movies, a voice-over artist on "Thunderbirds", and at least one Hammer horror), Bud preferred Australia, and returned here permanently in 1973. Over four years, he played Inspector Reg Lawson in the TV show "Homicide", from there appearing in just about every film and television show in production.

Then, in the early 90s, the D-Generation cast him in their late night comedy show "The Late Show". A brilliant recurring sketch called "Charlie the Wonder Dog" featured a golden retriever as a sort-of Lassie/Skippy type character. At the end of each episode, Bud would appears as "Gramps" and impart some horribly cliched -- and always hilarious -- wisdom. It was such a popular segment that he became famous all over again, with a generation of teens and 20-somethings who might not have seen his earlier work, all now fans.

When his wife Audrey passed away in the late 90s, he credited his role in the amazing 1997 comedy THE CASTLE as key in helping him move on. However, the success of THE CASTLE meant he was in demand more than ever. The following decade saw him busier than he'd ever been, with roles in INNOCENCE, THE FISH, "Changi", "Something In the Air", NED KELLY, IRRESISTIBLE, JINDABYNE, THREE BLIND MICE, SALVATION, and a starring role as Winston Churchill in 2008's MENZIES AND CHURCHILL AT WAR. And that list is selective, by the way, not comprehensive.

Late last year, I was honoured to have him on my show twice. The first time was a skit lampooning the opening of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, which was naturally called "Tingwell Predicts". He was an amazing person to be around; a gentlemen in the truest sense. He would feign being ornery, which had the crew in fits of laughter, but the twinkle in his eye (cliche though it may sound) always betrayed him. At 85 (as he was at the time), he was more lucid than most people a quarter of his age, and more than eagre to participate. The second time he was on the show, we interviewed him about his body of work. That interview, which I believe might he the final one he ever recorded, can be seen here. When we arrived at his house, we discovered that he'd just received a large script from the ABC, a script he was preparing to learn; the man simply never stopped. And a good thing too.

He was a remarkable actor, an amazing presence, and arguably the most beloved of any Australian actor in history. He will be intensely, fondly, lovingly missed.

NEWS

It seems that every time we mention a successful Australia director or star, we are compelled to point out they weren't actually born here, and thus, the credit for their talent is completely undercut. [Greece-born] AUSTRALIAN director Nadia Tass (MALCOLM, THE BIG STEAL, MR RELIABLE) has returned to making Actual Films, after a truly bizarre sting on American television. Currently, she's filming her untitled project (along with regular collaborator David Parker), which is described as a family drama. This could mean that it's about families, or for families, or both. I don't want to speculate. Just kidding, speculation is all I want to do. The cast includes Jacinda Barrett (LADDER 49), James Nesbitt (the brilliant UK series "Jekyll", which I guarantee is better than either version currently being prepped in Hollywood), Yvonne Strahovski (who is simultaneously shooting I LOVE YOU TOO, also in Melbourne), Richard Roxburgh (MOULIN ROUGE), and the in-demand Kodi Smit-McPhee (ROMULUS MY FATHER, THE ROAD). Given the phrase "family drama" can be something of a turn-off, this premise actually sounds quite interesting: a mother discovers her son has Leukemia, just as her philandering husband is preparing to leave her. In the hope that she'll find a matching bone marrow donor, she goes through her husband's past mistresses to find an illegitimate offspring that could save her own son's life. It's a premise that could result in the greatest or worst drama ever made. Can't wait!

Andrew Traucki, who made the terrific crocodile thriller BLACK WATER, has secured funding for his follow-up THE REEF. Said Traucki in a group email: "Very, very exciting, looking forward to diving with 15 foot White Pointers." Traucki doing sharks? I'm so there.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE director Hugh Hudson will direct CATALONIA, an adaptation of the George Orwell novel from a screenplay by prolific Australian writer Bob Ellis. The story follows Orwell and his wife during the period they were involved in the Spanish Civil War. Colin Firth will play Orwell, with Kevin Spacey as Anarchist brigade commander Georges Kopp.

It's a good time to be called "Hemsworth". For the sake of thoroughness, Chris Hemsworth (STAR TREK, CABIN IN THE WOODS) has been cast as Thor in Kenneth Brannagh's latest literary adaptation, whilst younger brother Liam has been cast as Miley Cyrus's love interest in Disney's THE LAST SONG. Come on, Luke, get the lead out!

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

62nd Cannes International Film Festival

With every five star review of SAMSON AND DELILAH, there would be an accompanying criticism from someone who had never seen the film, claiming that we critics were all just being kind because it's an Australian film, giving it a free pass and so on. Their words have hopefully been sewn into the lining of their hats so they can eat both simultaneously. The film picked up the Camera d'Or at this year's Cannes, with the jury calling it "the best love film we've seen for many a year". Personally, I think that painting it as love story is marginalising it a bit, but I'm just happy that the film is getting the recognition it so richly deserves. Have you seen it yet? If not, why not? It's better than WOLVERINE and TERMINATOR combined, and you paid/will pay to see those. Go on, hurry up.

16th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film

Speaking of Australian movies I love that deserve to win awards, MARY AND MAX won the AniMovie section in Stuttgart two weeks back. If next year sees an Academy Award Animation category with MARY AND MAX, UP, and PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA competing against each other, the definition of Awesomeness will have been solidified.

58th Melbourne International Film Festival

The other day, I received a text message from a film journalist friend who'd previously proclaimed SAMSON AND DELILAH to be the best film of the year, now telling me that BALIBO had just edged out in front. That gels with the buzz I've been hearing about the film, which is based on the true story of a group of Australian journalists caught up in the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The film is directed by Rob Connolly (director of THE BANK and THREE DOLLARS, and producer on THE BOYS and ROMULUS MY FATHER), and will be the opening night film of this year's MIFF. The opening night will serve as the film's premiere, and will also mark an important date: the tenth anniversary of East Timor's independence. The closing night film will be BRAN NUE DAE by Rachel Perkins, yet another film that's getting some very strong word-of-mouth. The festival begins on July 18, with the full line-up announced on July 7. I seriously cannot wait for this festival.

12th Shanghai International Film Festival

Supernatural thriller CRUSH, which I'll confess I've not heard of until now, has been selected for the Focus Australia section of one of this year's SIFFs (it's a common festival acronym) in June. The film stars Chris Egan (ERAGON), Emma Lung (THE JAMMED), and Brooke Harman (NED KELLY). The film seems to be a teen FATAL ATTRACTION with ghosts, a description I just made up after warping the press release to me own designs. Looking forward to seeing it, though.

BOX OFFICE

Does it depress anyone that the most original (technically) film on this list is THE GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST? Or is it more depressing just looking at the list without that piece of information? Nonetheless, aside from TREK, the top five was a depressing affair. More exciting was the steady business that SAMSON AND DELILAH has been doing, now boosted by news of its Cannes win (see above).

1. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2
2. ANGELS AND DEMONS
3. STAR TREK
4. X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
5. THE GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

RELEASED THESE PAST WEEKS FEW

The titular sequel to WESTWORLD is released sans Yul, Tom Hanks cashes a cheque, a documentary about WWII Australian Prime Minister Ben Chifley reveals that he lived on Busby Street, SAMSON AND DELILAH continues to inspire Biblically-themed titles, I'm so happy not knowing what this is, the Soviets do a little Polishing, painfully self-aware "B-movies" continue to flood in, what is sure to be my teenaged cousin's new favourite movie continues the Bollywood invasion, Sarah Watt follows up the terrific LOOK BOTH WAYS with a film I have to admit I didn't love (sneaking that one-line review into this paragraph instead of writing a full piece on it!), if this film is as good as its trailer then it undoubtedly causes penis cancer, Seth Rogen totally rips off PAUL BLART (kidding!!!), HOT SHOTS! fans: Valeria Golino is in this, a fascinating-looking Canadian documentary about copyright in the information age will probably be on Bittorrent soon, Russell Crowe beats Nicolas Cage for Most Ridiculous and Distracting Hair Cut in a Movie, and Robert De Niro reviews his career over the past decade.

ADVENTURELAND
ANGELS AND DEMONS
CHIFLEYS OF BUSBY STREET
GOMORRAH
JONAS BROTHERS 3D
KATYN
LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS
THE MERCHANTS OF BOLLYWOOD
MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2
OBSERVE AND REPORT
QUIET CHAOS
RIP: REMIX MANIFESTO
STATE OF PLAY
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

REVIEWS

TERMINATOR: SALVATION

Australian/NZ release: June 4, 2009

There's a strong justification for the Gonzo-esque style of reviewing movies. (ie: "My car broke down, my foot was set on fire, and my seat was rickety, so I really wasn't in a good mood when the film began...") Everyone is biased when they go to see a movie, and copping to those biases, whether they be a childhood relationship to the source material, or a series of unrelated crappy events that put you in a certain state of mind when the curtain went up, is the only honest way to frame your opinions. Saying a film is brilliant or terrible without qualifying your approach suggests, falsely, a degree of objectivity. We are, not one of us, objective.

The best type of film experience is the positive anticipatory one. The best example is probably RETURN OF THE KING. We already knew the first two films were brilliant, we'd been waiting a year for the third one, and the excitement could not have been bigger (for the vast majority of us). Then, when the film lives up to those expectations (as with ROTK), it's even better. But those moments before the film are crucial, and as much a part of the experience as anything else.

The flipside of that is the lowered expectation. Lowered expectations are powerful things, because they can allow you to enjoy things you might not have otherwise enjoyed. I submit to you that the best way to go into TERMINATOR: SALVATION is with the lowest possible expectations. I suspect that was a large part of the reason I enjoyed the film so much.

The other part is that I don't feel any emotional connection to the original films. I saw the first two in my late teens, and though I thought them both to be brilliant films, I wouldn't cite them as being a formative part of my cinematic education. I haven't revisited the third TERMINATOR film since I saw it in the cinema, not because I disliked it, but because I really, really liked it, and a part of me wonders if I'd still like it on a second viewing. (I'll take a happy memory over a disappointing re-watch any day of the week.)

Of course, now that I've spent four paragraphs setting up my own biases and feelings on the series, I find I don't have an awful lot to say about the film. It's well shot, well cast, and largely avoids all the pitfalls I'd assumed it would plunge head-first into. This isn't some direly boring re-telling of the Machine Wars we'd heard about but had no desire to actually see. There's a decent story in here that revolves around Sam Worthington's character. Sure, his opening scene setup is one of the poorest character introductions I've ever seen (and limpest movie openings in a long time), but once you get past that, there's a fairly interesting character behind it all. Or, at any rate, the potential for a fairly interesting character. And even then, I'll take that over Generic Action Hero Cutout #15.

The world that Worthington's Marcus inhabits is an interesting one; post-apocalyptic, but not quite the same MAD MAX-inspired vision we've seen on loop. I mean, it comes close, but there are enough differences for it not to feel like a retread. Anton Yelchin's Kyle Reese doesn't have a whole lot of depth to his story, but Yelchin's performance makes up for it. The trinity of testosterone-fuelled characters is rounded out by Christian Bale's John Connor, a fairly redundant figure given the character's prominence. The story I was told immediately before the screening was that Bale was only supposed to appear as a voice on the radio, or a character discussed by others. He would only show up towards the end of the movie, though this was all done away with when Bale signed on and demanded his role be beefed up. Now, I don't know how much of this is true and how much is movie gossip, but this is one of the few times I'll give an airing to such a rumour. The reason I'm mentioning it is that Connor would have been hugely effective as a Harry Lime character; one who is a constant presence in the film, but only physically appears in the third act. That would have made all the difference to the movie, and pushed it closer to "memorable" status. As it stands, it's a solid film, but one I doubt we'll be talking about in five years unless another film gets made. You know, the same way nobody talked about RISE OF THE MACHINES until SALVATION was greenlighted.

I had no overwhelming desire to see another TERMINATOR film, and I'm not a slave to the source material, but this is a decent film. Sure, it's got a myriad of flaws, mostly based around underwritten or underdeveloped characters, but as a large-scale science fiction action film, you could do a whole lot worse.

STATE OF PLAY

Australian/NZ release: May 28, 2009

If you like brilliant writing, directing, and acting, then the original 2003 "State Of Play" mini-series isn't just good; it's pornography. It's written by Paul Abbott, one of the best writers working today; it's directed by David Yates (who most would know from HARRY POTTER), who takes an amazing script and adds a significant amount of depth in his interpretation of it; and its cast (John Simm, David Morrissey, James McAvoy, Philip Glenister, Kelly McDonald, Amelia Bullmore, and Bill Nighy) is so perfect, it's embarrassing.

That said, I was not expecting the film to be any sort of carbon copy of the series. Like I said above in the TERMINATOR review, expectations are an important part of the film watching experience. You would expect a fan of the "SOP" mini-series to be constantly judging the movie against its originator, and though I sometimes did this inadvertently, it would have been unfair for me to load the adaptation with too many caveats. Adaptations are called such because they're adapt the source material; they don't supplant it. It's why getting worked up over a bad movie made from your favourite book is a bit pointless. The fact that CHOKE wasn't a good movie doesn't take anything away from the book. It's disappointing that such a huge opportunity was messed up so badly, but it's not worth losing sleep over.

So, does the film version work, or not? Mostly, it works. Sometimes, it feels a bit muddled, and those moments come from a vain attempt to be faithful to its original source. One element in particular -- an affair between two of the main characters -- worked perfectly in the series, but in the movie, it feels forced. It also creates a whole lot of questions about character inconsistencies, undercutting some potentially interesting and believable characters.

Conversely, the film seems to work best when it's doing its own thing. The plot now centres on the privatisation of the American military, the outsourcing of defence contracts, and that works. It really works. It gives the story an immediacy and relevancy that it would not have, had it maintained a more fidelious approach to the series. Similarly, the spectre of the Death of the Newspaper Industry hangs over the film, though it's never directly referenced. Changing Della Smith's character to a blogger also worked well in a way I wouldn't have suspected had I discovered that fact before going in.

If the film has a major problem, it's in its casting. As much as I want to like Russell Crowe, I find that nine times out of ten, I don't believe him in his role. It's all too self-conscious and forced. Though he's satisfactory as Cal McAffrey, it's one that would have been owned by a more salient piece of casting. The same, sadly, must be said of Ben Affleck. I'm a big Affleck fan, and I think he's great when he's in the right role, but sadly this isn't it. He's just doesn't have enough years on him, and though there are probably Congressmen his age, he still looks like a movie star playing a politician. Helen Mirren is unsurprisingly good as the editor Cameron Lynne, but -- and this is the part where I give in and, unfairly to the movie, compare it to the series -- I couldn't shake my memory of Bill Nighy, who gave one of the most gloriously brilliant performances ever captured on the small screen.

It's not a ringing endorsement, but then, this is week for it. I'll echo my TERMINATOR sentiment here; it's not brilliant, it's not unforgettable, but as far as political thrillers go, it's quite good, and you could do a whole lot worse.

NEXT WEEK

- Russell Brand to narrate the cat/dog live action adventure sequel, 2 MILO 2 OTIS

- Bowing to pressure from gay advocacy groups, Marvel adjusts the characters of Iron Man and Spider-man by retroactively canonising WONDER BOYS

- Baz Luhrmann announces Ewan McGregor will star alongside Naomi Watts in the musical sequel KHMER ROUGE

Peace out,

Latauro
AICNDownunder@hotmail.com