Feast of Film

Joss Whedon's film sequel to the axed Firefly TV series gives both fans of the show and newbies a chance to join the ship and its crew on their ultimate adventure. The plot: The crew of the Firefly class freighter Serenity are a mix of former rebels (Captain Mal Reynolds played by Nathan Fillion, and Zoe Alleyne played by Gina Torres), a gun for hire (Jayne Cobb played by Adam Baldwin), a priest (Shepherd Book played by Ron Glass), a sparky engineer (Kaylee played by Jewel Staite) and fugitives (Simon Tam played by Sean Maher and his sister River played by Summer Glau). Serenity stays in business by engaging in various types of nefarious activity, usually harming only the Alliance (think the Northern states of the Union, only malevolent) or bad guys. For the feature film, though, Whedon brings what I imagine are the core secrets he was holding for the TV series to climax on the big screen. The story centres on River Tam and the reasons why the Alliance is hunting her so unrelenti

Walk the Line is a tremendously powerful and extremely well acted biopic of the life of Johnny Cash. The plot: The life of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, based on Cash's autobiographies. From his life as a young boy on an Arkansas cotton farm, scarred by the death of his older brother Jack, we see Johnny Cash grow up to become a troubled man, saved in the end by the love of a woman whose voice he loved from his earliest years. As a boy Johnny Cash listened intently to the girl June Carter signing on the radio. He tours with the greats like Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holly, Elvis is handing out the pills and Waylon Jennings doesn't pay his phone bill one month. In summary: We see the key to why Cash was the man in black and, to a degree, why he struggled with the demons he did and grew into the powerful presence that he became. The Casablanca comparison: Pretend that Rick is married and when Ilsa and Victor come to Casablanca she falls in love with Rick, who has loved her

Let me start by saying that Team America has generated some of the most laughable commentary from film reviewers that I have ever seen. I'll use David Stratton, formerly of SBS's Movie Show and now with the ABC, as the perfect example. He was appalled by the film, or more accurately, he was appalled by the film when it wasn't lampooning the Americans. His co-host, Margaret Pomeranz was more even-handed about it and liked the film. Stratton was incapable of seeing a genuine lampoon of both sides of politics - dirth of a sense of humour on the left. TA is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. I was laughing myself stupid for the entire film, almost without rest. The film mercilessly attacks Americans' lack of knowledge of the outside world, critiquing wanton destruction without any cultural sensitivity, and contrasts this with mindless repetition of talking points on the left and the incredible hubris of actors to think that just because they play the President on

The beginning of Harrison Ford's reign as Jack Ryan, which would last for only 2 films: Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger . Ford never fit the Jack Ryan mould and Clancy was famously unhappy with him getting the role. I don't know why Alec Baldwin didn't continue on, although his famously left-wing views might have clashed too strongly with the Republican Clancy's more conservative novels. Another aspect of Ford's tenure was the gutting of Clancy's plot lines and resultant weaker stories and conclusions. The directing by Philip Noyce didn't help either. The plot: The film begins with Ryan saving the life of the Queen's nephew Lord Holmes, his wife and child from an Irish terrorist group that are a rogue offshoot of the IRA. He kills the younger brother of one of the terrorists (Sean Bean), who vows to make him pay. The group's leader, played by Patrick Bergin, is more dispassionate. Needless to say, the terrorists escape and make an attemp

Sean Connery as a Soviet submarine captain with a Scottish accent? At least Sam Neil adopted the Russian accent and Alec Baldwin didn't need to change his. Best-selling author Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October is one of the most engrossing novels I have ever read. The vast scope of the novel was well translated to film, the depth of the characters sufficient and the suspense of the plot gripped me until the very last page of the novel and reel of the film. The plot: Set in 1984, with the Cold War in full swing Marco Ramius, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain in their newest, super-quiet ballistic missile submarine Red October, violates orders and disappears from its prescribed route, instead heading towards the United States Atlantic coastline. Is this a madman with nuclear weapons about to start a war, or is he trying to defect with a wealth of technology and secrets? Alec Baldwin plays US naval historian and CIA analyst Jack Ryan (the hero of a long line of C

M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to the wildly successful The Sixth Sense , Unbreakable also stars Bruce Willis . Robin Wright Penn and Samuel L. Jackson join Willis in what I found to be a film every bit as enjoyable as The Sixth Sense . The plot: David Dunn (Bruce Willis) is an unfulfilled man in an unhappy marriage to Robin Wright-Penn, until the day he meets Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson). One day on his way to a job interview interstate, David is involved in a horrific train wreck - all the other passengers on the train are killed, but he walks away without a scratch. Elijah, a man born with extremely brittle bones and taunted as 'Mr. Glass' by other children when he was growing up, then presents David with an interesting idea - that he, David, is unbreakable to the same degree that Elijah is fragile. Initially wary of Elijah's motives, David begins to believe him, using his superhero powers to detect and foil a home invasion, saving the lives of 2 children. It

Wasted my money. No more to say, except don't waste yours. Play the computer game instead.

When I hear the word Munich I think of Nevile Chamberlain's sell-out of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, dooming that democratic nation and later the world to a bloody global war. Did Steven Spielberg think of that when he named his film, based on the George Jonas novel, Vengeance - first adapted for the screen for Michael Anderson's 1986 film Sword of Gideon starring Steven Bauer, Michael York and Rod Steiger? I don't think his historical memory stretches those few years further back past the Holocaust represented in Schindler's List . Munich refers to the 1972 Olympic Games city that saw Palestinian terrorists belonging to the Black September movement hold hostage and then kill 11 Israeli hostages. German authorities completely botched their rescue attempt. The 3 terrorists arrested were later released when Palestinian hijackers took control of a Lufthansa jet out of Damascus. Israel decided to strike back with targeted assassinations of the planners behind 'Munich'

Who can forget The Sixth Sense ? If you haven't seen it, for heaven's sake stop reading this review, rent it and watch (I give away the twist in the following sentences). This was Shyamalan's masterpiece - and it's all been downhill from there. It's not so bad being a one-trick pony, as Shyamalan clearly is, as long as it's a good trick. The revelation that Bruce Willis was a ghost in The Sixth Sense was a shock. Shyamalan had drawn everyone along the path extremely well. The secret of the movie was kept faithfully by the hordes that went to see it. This triumph was followed by Unbreakable , also starring Bruce Willis. This time the twist was not that Bruce was the 'unbreakable' superhero, but the 'Mr Glass' was the arch-villain. Ok, so I'm a trusting soul, and went along and put myself in Shyamalan's hands yet again. He surprised me again and I came out thinking it was a cool ending. The same couldn't be said of Signs , his effort w