Let's try again: Global Warming needs a Chris Columbus to cast it in Harry Potter Comeback!

Ok, here's the theory.

Rosario Dawson, this hot chick who played Mimi in the musical Rent 
directed by Chris Columbus in 2005, she'll play a character called 
Climate Change in a movie called Two Degrees 2 Dooms Day.

She needs a hero, of course. Who's the hero? 
(Columbus directed Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 
and Harry Potter and the Sourcer's Stone. 
He's also produced the Night in the Museum flicks.) 

So Harry Potter? The museum attendant? 

Obama will do, I suppose. 

But he doesn't have much time to save the girl. 

But here's why he'll try....

If only there was a way. Wait!

Gamer. Mind control. Never send a man to do a boy's job.
Gamer comes out in September. 
But here's the link for the trailer: 

A boy controls an avatar in a first-person shooter, called Slayer, 
where the avatars are real people.

Now, if children and young people were controlling the 
players at Copenhagen who were deciding their future ... 
they'd save the girl - wouldn't they?
But to win they'd have to beat the system ruled by the 
Castles of the world (Castle is a character in Gamer
 played by Dexter's Michael C Hall - interesting casting, isn't it?)
Dexter is a TV show about a serial killer who's a cop.

Game over.

Scribbles: Inglourious Basterds reviewed in 10-minutes. Best Picture/Best Script 2010.

The last time I wanted to see a movie on the big screen twice was There Will Be Blood. 

It won Best Picture last year which makes me think that maybe Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds will win next year's Best Picture - and best script!
The storytelling is so elegant - the characters so well drawn that they remain real in my mind.

You'll see why he's cast Melanie Laurent as Shosonna in the scene at the window in the red dress.

"She's gorgeous and dangerous, like a snow leopard that can't be seen by her prey" - you can almost hear him say.
Tarantino's voice is distinct. 
He has painted her on film as Leonardo would've painted her on canvas.
Images flutter across the screen, unfolding the story - and you know, the fact that it's Brad Pitt leading the charge which changes the whole outcome of the Second World War don't matter a damn.

They'll talk about the basement bar room scene like they talk about the Russian Roulette scene in Deer Hunter.
Don't want to ruin it by giving too much away.

But my favourite line belongs to the villain: "Let's talk about ending the war tonight" (or words to that effect).
However, there's nothing that comes close to the astonishing beauty of Tarantino's Kill Bill fight in the snow fight:
I don't think anything will ever match this: 

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If Shakespeare has been reincarnated - he's Quentin Tarantino.

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Scriffles: Boys are Back. Film review. Scott Hicks new film starring Clive Owen

I think the lawnmower scene in The Boys Are Back is my favourite. 
You'll have to see the film because I'm not going to give it away.
It's so funny.
I interviewed Clive Owen once, just before he went to Hollywood. 
It was like interviewing a clam.
Yes and no answers were better than silence - try writing that up!
So when you see what he does with raw emotion on the screen as Joe Warr in The Boys are Back - it's amazing.

There's a scene on the phone when he has to break the news of his second wife's death to his son from his first marriage.
The camera is right in his face asking the big questions of him and he answers without words. Beautiful acting.
Trailer: 
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I think the only problem with this movie is that it relies a little too heavily on his performance and on the beauty of the South Australian landscape.
Maybe, the landscape is the only thing which can equal Owen's performance. 
Somehow it falls a little short because the moments of humour don't really hit the right notes. I didn't really like the casting of the children.
It's based on a true story based on a 2001 memoir by Simon Carr about raising two boys - from two different marriages - by himself.
His philosophy of child rearing: "Just say yes". It leads to what the boys call "Hog Heaven".
The thing about this movie is that it's about the experience of the majority - I think ABS statistics show that the happy nuclear family is a myth today.
Children grow up in broken families - even children in some nuclear families. 

It's worth a look - it is from the director of Shine after all.

Scriffles: The Invention of Lying. Movie Review.

Ricky Gervais. RG. Should have his own rating. Really Good.

The Invention of Lying translates so much of what we know is true which we can't put into words - without swearing. Or crying.
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Is Gervais having a go at "reality TV" here? 
I wondered halfway if he was trying to say that lying is a good thing, but no! 
What he's saying is that it doesn't count if you lie! 
It doesn't count if you lie. 
He tells lies to make people feel good about things: about dying, about living...
It's a strange movie in that the main character doesn't undergo a transformation.
The woman he's pursuing, played by Jennifer Garner, has the epiphany and the transformation.
She's supposedly vapid. He makes her happy. But she doesn't want short, fat, snub-nosed kids.
This is a love story.
She rejects her feelings for him. He's heart-broken.
He invents God - the Man in the Sky. She's intrigued but still doesn't want snub-nosed kids.
He can say whatever he likes and everyone, but everyone, will believe him.
(Don't you know people like this?)
But he's not evil.
He does use it to get what he wants. 
But does he use it to get her?
You'll have to watch and find out.
Love to know what you think.

Fantastic Mr Fox review.

I enjoyed storytelling of The Fantastic Mr Fox so much more than Avatar.
It's not 3-D, it's more exquisite collage brought to life with tickling humour, clear artistic vision and honesty. 
I looked around at the faces of the children in the full cinema at the Balmoral's 10.30am session today. 
They weren't laughing like I was laughing but their eyes were glued to the screen watching studiously waiting for the next turning point. I took my nephews, aged 9 and 4.  Cast rundown
The nine-year-old's read all of Roald Dahl's books. He wasn't disappointed with the movie.

Writer-director Wes Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach have modernized the characters - Mr Fox (George Clooney) uses his Walkman for an instant soundtrack to his adventures, just like you see everyone everywhere doing today.  The power of its charm is not only in the beautiful animation. The visual storytelling kicks it up a notch or two - you can't help but laugh when something finally makes Mr Fox's head spin and you see the same expression that's normally reserved for his chubby accomplice - a possum.

Kylie, this possum, has a trademark hypnotic spinning blank look in his eyes often - like when Mr Fox instructs him in the art of killing chickens.
Kylie, does quite unnatural things for Mr Fox who's a little like a scary charismatic leader of a sect in many ways.
Some of the funniest scenes are those where Mr Fox is challenged by the other animals - when they break out of their civilised human-like activities and behave like animals it's hilarious.
Giving the characters familiar 21st century mannerisms makes it easier for people to identify with the strange wild animals that walk around in suits and have express human desires and needs. 
I think my favourite scene is the first raid on the chicken farm with Kylie  (comedian Wally Wolodarsky)
The other highlight, apart from Kylie, is the young yogi cousin/nephew Kristofferson (Wes Anderson's brother Eric Chase Anderson).

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They dig deep and win. ;)

Scriffles: Avatar review.

Avatar's still packing them in. Full house morning session on Saturday a month after opening. It's high-end entertainment so maybe it's not so amazing that even the "attention-deficit" generation is able to get through three hours. The first time I saw it was in a tiny regional cinema - even without surround sound and 3-D it blew me away.

But it's a completely different experience with the full treatment - you'd need a much bigger screen for it to be a submersive experience.  Official Avatar Website

Avatar is the ultimate bush walk - James Cameron lets you breath Pandora in as the army grunt turns into a bleeding heart "greenie" because he falls in love with a native girl and her world.

Sully is the first warrior the "Sky People" have sent to the Na'vi world - he's a ring-in for his murdered identical twin brother.
He can fly the Avatar because twins have identical DNA.

The Na'vi are a warrior civilization  -  so Sully picks the right job description when they ask what he does. 
They have only met scientists until now - scientists run the Avatar program to study the planet and its people.
They use human and Na'vi DNA to create living-breathing Avatars which have nervous systems matched to their human pair.
When the Avatar sleeps the human returns to the real world and awakens lying in the green gel of a coffin-like contraption.

Little questionable conceits are easily swallowed because there's no lag in the story that allows for questions.

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Sully is put to the test by both sides - Sam Worthington is great but he does make an ugly Na'vi.
Is there a cowboy movie where the leading man joined the Indians?

This cowboy - who starts off with an American twang - doesn't end up talking in an "Indian" accent.
He makes the big "me warrior"/ "This is our land" speech in an Australian accent. I quite like that.
Touched my heart to see an Australian on Pandora  ;)
I just wonder whether Worthington meant to do that and whether James Cameron (master of detail) noticed.
Cameron not only wrote and directed - he co-edited as well. 
The personal hell Sully goes through shows in the expressions on the Avatar's face - his face changes as he becomes one of "The People".

Cameron is God of this world - nothing is less than it should be.
The only problem I had was thinking of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley instead of as Dr Grace Augustine - the big robot suits from Aliens didn't help.
He used an old idea and sold it off as a novelty reference. Post-Modernism lives.
It's as exhilarating as a wild fun park ride all done to a traditional American blockbuster script - it's "only" the special effects that make it different, that make it extraordinary.

Cruelty juxtaposed with beauty, awareness butted against ignorance makes it a "potent mix". 
But James Cameron draws a black and white moral universe - despite all the beautiful fluorescent colours of Pandora.
It's a magnificent environmental statement. 
Proof of absolute mastery - outstanding Mr Cameron.

Steven Lang does have the "best" fun playing that over-the-top evil military macho man who is a derivative of every menacing megalomanic you've loved to hate - Colonel Miles Quaritch. 
There are great lines - like when Sully has to pick his banshee ("outstanding") or when Dr Augustine finally sees the sacred tree.
And the last moment is perfect - so just when is the sequel out?

Scriffles: Bran Nue Dae.

First. Missy Higgins can't act but she gets away with it here because it's a kooky hippie chick she plays - and it's fun which is in keeping with the whole spirit of this film. 

Thank goodness they didn't make Geoffrey Rush sing though! (( Meryl Streep just-just gets away with this veteran actor turned singer business in Mama Mia ))

This film is good because it has an exuberant mix of youth and experience - at every level of production, by the looks of the credits at the end.
Some reviewers ask what kind of film is it: adventure, comedy, road trip ... it's a musical comedy! 

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Youngsters Jessica Mauboy and Phillip Rocky McKenzie are great as the love-struck teenagers and they are surrounded by a strong cast led including Rush, Ernie Dingo ( who's an amazing singer by the way ), and Deborah Mailman.

The amazing David Bridie produces the soundtrack ( http://davidbridie.com/wordpress/ ) but the original songs by Knuckles and Jimmy Chi such as I'd Rather Be An Aborigine and Bran Nu Dae are the life blood.  The musical theatre world has been scrambling for decades to find "the GREAT" Australian musical - well this is about as close as it gets folks. 

Broome playwright Jimmy Chi's Bran Nue Dae was first staged in 1990 at the Festival of Perth and he's now one of Western Australia's living treasures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Chi

The choreography is by Bangarra's Stephen Page. Leading writers such as Ray Lawrence and Tony Ayres were script consultants.
Not to mention the cinematographer is Oscar-winner Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings) who did Babe, King Kong, I Am Legend, The Lovely Bones and the upcoming Last Airbender.

This is the second Australian play that director-writer Rachel Perkins  ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0674034/ ) has adapted for the screen. The first was Louis Nowra's Radiance.
Radiance is a tough social drama dealing with family and racism - and adapting plays to the screen is tough. 

Which makes Bran Nu Dae surprising. Not only is it a play adapted for the screen - it's a musical! 
There's not a lot of dialog at all. It's a joyous celebration of the human spirit - the Aboriginal spirit.
And that may be it's greatest asset.

And then there's the Chooky Dancers: 

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Up In the Air - it's a bit of a downer.

Three quarters of the way through this film I find myself thinking: "This is hardly a George Clooney film".   I'm sitting in a cinema during an afternoon session filled with youngsters who are still on holidays. 
The camera goes from the Hollywood heavyweight's big brown eyes to the distraught faces of ordinary workers reacting to being sacked. 
The leggy girl in the seat on my left squirms and pulls her feet up onto her seat so she's in a fetal position sitting up.
The boys behind chat a little. They're watching older people's reactions to being sacked by a professional down-sizer, Ryan Bingham.
He's completely honest with people about what he stands for - friends and family only weigh you down. He likes to travel light.
The story unfolds as you'd expect until Ryan Bingham sister's wedding when we're blinded by glints of sunshine on honey sweet moments. Where's the razor's edge? The sting is right at the end.
This isn't a comedy at all - it's more a charming (it's George Clooney) light (light probably pays for the heavy stuff like Syriana) drama. 
This is not a movie that you'll never forget but it's one that lingers.
It's about the way people relate to the world and each other today.
And it's about being two-faced.

This guy's a fool - a fool in the old sense of being wise, knowing too much, seeing too much - and he's not actually what he pretends to be and that is an emotionally shallow "prick".
He's found a way to get surefire results - frequent flyer points get him what he needs.
It's much easier to pay for attention - hairdressers, hair removers, personal trainers listen because they are being paid to and they give the impression of "caring".

Ryan earns attention through his frequent flyer points - he's satisfied to be greeted by name and receive VIP personal attention at all the airports and hotels. They make him feel at home.
So this is where he focuses his efforts and this is his "major" relationship - when he puts his efforts into making real connections the results are unpredictable.
There's the rub. It's a sales relationship.
This is a caricature of what is happening to people in our society - it's extended into the digital world now. 

There's suspense and comic relief in the way focus shifts from people really listening to one another and when they're looking past the person who's speaking to them.

Ryan flies around the States sacking people for a living - but he tries to do it with as much compassion and understanding as possible because he knows these people are at their most vulnerable when he cuts them loose. He puts himself in their shoes - that's what he values.
This is the lesson he's teaching a young gunslinger who's just joined his company and the company likes her idea of saving money by centralizing business in Omaha - the place he calls home where he spends just 23 days of the year. She wants the company to keep its staff in the office and let them sack people over the internet. This is a good companion piece for Devil Wears Prada.

"What's it all about... ALFIE? Is it just for the moment we live?...."

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