MOVIES RELEASED AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2002

AUGUST 1

About A Boy (M): National. UIP. Comedy. 101 mins. Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Annabelle Apsion, Isabel Brook. Victoria Smurfit.  D: Paul & Chris Weitz (American Pie). The story of Will, a rich, child-free and irresponsible Londoner in his thirties, who in search of available women, invents an imaginary son and starts attending single parent meetings.  As a result of one of his liaisons he meets Marcus, as strange 12 year-old-boy with problems at school.  Gradually, Will and Marcus become friends and, as Will teaches Marcus how to be a cool kid, Marcus helps Will to finally grow up.

Deli Yurek (M, 2001): Selected, Hoyts.  Action. 123 mins. Turkey, subtitled. D: Osman Sinav (Superdad). "Here is Mesopotamia! Fighting is at the same age here with the History." Aka: Deli yürek: Bumerang cehennemi. "But instead of showing real motivations of 'supposed' American intrusion into Turkish politics, the boss of our hero is constantly mumbling mythological nonsense, about Mesopotamia and that here Kane killed his brother Abel and that this blood-stained country will never be peaceful."
Festival In Cannes (M): Selected, Brisbane. UIP. Drama. 99 mins. Anouk Aimée, Maximilian Schell, Greta Scacchi, Ron Silver, Jenny Gabrielle, Zack Norman, Peter Bogdanovich, Camilla Campanale.  D: Henry Jaglom (Deja Vu). Thankfully not a doco of sycophantic frogs but a drama about a filmmaker and his experiences. 

Metropolis (PG, 2001): Selected, Brisbane. Columbia Tristar. 108 mins. Animated. Japan. D: Rintaro (X). In a future city called Metropolis a celebration is occurring. A celebration of the Zigguraut. A huge building that will hold the leader of the world. As the celebrations are occurring a private eye and his nephew Kenichi are trying to find a man named Dr. Laughton. Dr. Laughton is working on a robitic simulation of Duke Red's dead daughter Tima.

Osmosis Jones (PG): Selected, Syd/ Melb. Roadshow. Live action/ animated comedy adventure.  95 mins. Voices:- Chris Rock, David Hyde Pierce,  Chris Elliot (acting), Joe C, Bill Murray (acting), Brandy Norwood, Ron Howard, Joel Silver, Laurence Fishburne, William Shatner, Molly Shannon (acting).  D: Peter & Bobby Farrelly (Live action: There's Something About Mary), Tom Sito & Piet Kroon (animation). A white blood cell and a cold tablet must protect the city of Frank when he catches a cold. Co-directed by the Farrelly brothers who can't seem to score a hit now. Its been out on American DVD nigh on 12 months by now. 

Out Cold (M): National. Buena Vista. 90 mins. Comedy. Flex Alexander, A.J. Cook, David Denman, Lee Majors, Victoria Silvstedt. D: Brandon & Elliot Malloy (debut). Rick is the leader of a group of prankster snowboard employees at Bull Mountain, Alaska whose lives change for the better or worse when a hotshot land developer, named John Majors, arrives with the intent to buy out the owner, Ted Muntz, and turn Bull Mountain into a money laundering, tourist theme ski park while Rick deals with Majors' daughter Anna, who was the former love of his life and who abandoned him some years back, Casablanca style.

Windtalkers (MA): National. Fox. Action. 134 mins. Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, Christian Slater, Noah Emmerich, Emily Mortimer, Frances O'Connor, Peter Stormare, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt.  D: John Woo (Face/ Off). Que much action, doves and meaningful pauses with more gunfire than you can poke a stick at. During WWII, the Navajo language was used for encoding top secret messages because it was a code that the Japanese did not have the resources (like Navajo speakers) to break. So this movie is about one translator and the soldiers assigned to protect him. 

AUGUST 8

Birthday Girl (M): National. Roadshow. Romantic Thriller. 93 mins. UK. Nichole Kidman, Ben Chaplin, Vincent Cassel, Mathieu Kassovitz, Kate Lynn Evans. D: Jez Butterworth (Mojo). A thirtysomething bank clerk from St Albans has his small-town life exploded by the arrival of his Russian mail-order bride.  Now that's a decent present.. why don't I get anything like that?  The beautiful and sexually charged woman leads to things turning ugly when her two friends arrive and force him to rob his own bank. 

Dragonfly (M): National. Buena Vista. Thriller. 104 mins. Kevin Costner, Joe Morton, Ron Rifkin, Linda Hunt, Susanna Thompson, Kathy Bates, Jacob Vargas.  D: Tom Shadyac (Patch Adams). Costner plays a grief-stricken doctor who becomes obsessed with the idea that his late wife is trying to contact him through the near death experiences of her past patients.  This eventually leads him on an adventurous journey to the rainforests of Venezuela where he discovers the answers to his obsessive quest delivered in the form of a unique plot twist.

The Navigators (M): Selected, Syd, Brisb Melbourne August 15. Niche. UK/ German/ Spain. 92 mins. Drama. Dean Andrews, Tom Craig, Joe Duttine, Steve Huison, Venn Tracey, Sean Glenn.  D: Ken Loach (Riff Raff). The Navigators follows the fortunes of a group of railway workers based at a South Yorkshire depot during the privatization of British Rail.

The New Guy (M): National. Col Tristar. Comedy.  Comedy. DJ Qualls, Lyle Lovett, Eddie Griffin, Eliza Dushku, Zooey Deschanel, Parry Shen, Laura Clifton.  D: Ed Decter (debut). A high school senior branded uncool in the ninth grade gets himself expelled so he can change his image to a cool kid at the town's other high school. Stars that really skinny guy from Road Trip.  Much delayed. 

The Tracker (M): Selected, Syd, Melb, Bris, Adel, Perth, Canb. Becker. Australia. 98 mins. David Gulphilil, Gary Sweet, Damon Gameau, Grant Page. D: Rolf De Heer (The Quiet Room). Australia's Mountain Rangers, 1922.  The fanatic (Gary Sweet) leads the tracker (David Gulphilil) in pursuit of a fugitive. Murder & a million questions follow. 

Trojan Warrior (M): Selected, Adel/ Melb. Triple Three Films. 99 mins. Australia. Stan 'The Man' Longinidis, Arthur Angel, John Brumpton, Danielle Barht, Dermet Brereton,  Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Doug Hawkins,  Sam Kekovich,  Mark Brandon Read (as Eric Bana), Naomi Robson. D: Salik Silverstein (debut). Meet Ajax and his cousin Theo. Theo is a small time criminal on the fringes of organised crime. He's a loveable rogue, and fancies himself irresistible to women, which is important with a runaway libido like his.

AUGUST 10

Kids World (G): Selected, Sydney. Family. 

AUGUST 15

Jason X (MA): National. Roadshow. Horror.  Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Peter Mensah, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Yani Gellman, Kristi Angus, Jonathan Potts, Melyssa Ade. D: James Isaac (House 3). Jason returns with a new look, a new weapon (but with the same old slice first, ask questions never attitude) in the 25th Century on a spaceship.  400 years later, technology is still no match for old fashioned terror. 

My Mother India (PG, 2001): Selected, Brisbane. Ronin Films. Sydney August 29. Australia.  52 mins. Odile Le Clezio, Lech Mackiewicz, Dean Vassallo, Lynne Porteous, Scott Garry, Yanna Black, Sam Picker, Georgia Brown.  D: Safina Uberoi (debut). 

Shadow Play (M): Selected, Melbourne. Doco. 

Shooters (MA): Selected. UIP. UK. 91 mins.  Adrian Dunbar. D: Glenn Dunford, Colinn Teague. 

Signs (M): National. Buena Vista. Sci-fi/ Thriller. Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, Cherry Jones, Patrica Kalember, Jose L Rodriguez. This film is the latest from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan (Unbreakable) is described as a supernatural thriller that takes place in Shyamalan's native Pennsylvania. The story is being kept top-secret, naturally, but Variety reports that the film is set in Bucks County and revolves around the sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found mysteriously carved into the crops of a farm family.

AUGUST 16

Jaani Dushman: Erkanokhi Kahani (M): Selected, Sydney. 

AUGUST 22

Atanarjaut The Fast Runner (MA, 2001): Selected, Syd. August 29:- rest of Aust. Essential Films/ Palace/ Sharmill.  168 mins. Canada. Natar Ungalaaq, Sylvia Ivalu, Peter Henry Arnatsiaq, Lucy Tulugarjuk, Madeline Ivalu, Paul Qulitalik, Eugene Ipkarnak, Pakkak Innushuk. D: Zacharias Kunuk (debut).  The telling of an Inuit legend of an evil spirit causing strife in the community and one warrior's endurance and battle of its menace. An evil shaman divides an Inuit community.. twenty years later two brothers try to set things right. 

Black Chicks Talking (M): Selected, Melb. Doco. Australia. 

Divine Secrets of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood (M): National. Roadshow (Warner). Comedy. Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Ellen Burstyn, Maggie Smith, Shirley Knight, Fionnula Flanagan, James Garner, Cherry Jones, Matthew Settle, Angus MacFayden. D:  Callie Khouri (debut). "Mothers. Daughters. The never-ending story of good vs. evil." Siddalee, tired of her mother's eccentric behavior, moves away and doesn't invite her mother to come to her wedding. Later, she gets in the mail her mother's diary, chronicling her memories from the 30's.. 

Mr Deeds (M): National. Columbia. 96 mins. Comedy. Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Peter Gallagher, Jared Harris, John Turturro, Steve Buscemi, Alan Covert.  D: Steve Brill (Little Nicky). When a man (Sandler) inherits US$20 million, everyone wants a piece of it. Basically a remake of an old black and white classic, while Sandler movies are known for being classic turkeys comedies he'll fit right in. Or not. 

Orange County (M): National. UIP. Comedy. 87 mins. Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Schulyer Fisk, John Lithgow, Catherine O'Hara, Kyle Howard, Harold Ramis, RJ Knoll, Chevy Chase, Lily Tomlin, Mike White.  D: Jake Kasdan (Zero Effect). A guidance counselor mistakenly sends out the wrong transcripts to Stanford University under the name of an over-achieving high schooler. Wackiness ensues.  

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodhunt (M): Selected, Syd. Madman. 102 mins. Animated horror. 

A Wedding In Ramallah (M): Selected, Melbourne. Documentary. 

Y Tu Mama Tambein (R): Selected, Melb/Syd/Bris. Drama. Dendy. Mexico- Subtitled. 105 mins. D: Alfonso Cuaraon (Great Expectations). Maribel Verdu, Gael Garcia Benal, Diego Luna, Marta Aura.  Two teenagers and an older woman hit the road for the trip of their lives:- and discover love, friendship, sex and themselves.  Sounds good practice for the directors upcoming Harry Potter movie. 

AUGUST 23

Maine dil Tujkho Diya (M): Selected, Sydney. India. 

AUGUST 29

Australian Rules (MA): National. Palace/ Beyond. Comedy/ Drama.  Australia. 95 mins. Nathan Phillips, Luke Carroll, Lisa Flanagan, Tom Budge, Simon Westaway, Celia Ireland, Tony Briggs.  D: Paul Goldman (debut). In Prospect Bay, a remote outpost on the South Australian coast, two communities, the Goonyas (whites) and the Nungas (blacks), come together on the one field they have in common, the football field. But the underlying racism and class warfare threatens to make the team's greatest victories irrelevant.

Sum Of All Fears (M): National. UIP. Thriller. 123 mins. Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Jamie Harrold, James Cromwell, Jason Antoon.  Ben Affleck in the Jack Ryan role.  D: Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams). Terrorists plot to blow up the Super Bowl with a nuclear bomb.  Based on the best selling novel by Tom Clancy.  The President of Russia suddenly dies and is succeeded by a man about whom little is known.  Tension increases as old fears ignite new paranoia so CIA Director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst from the Russian desk, Jack Ryan, to supply insight and advice.  Eh? Wasn't he an old cobber in the last few films? 

WillFull (MA): Selected, Syd, Melb, Adel, Can. Latent Imagine Productions. Comedy. Australia. 96 mins.  Drama. Anna Lise Phillips, C Thomas Howell, Anne Looby, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, John Gaden, Jennifer Claire, Ellesha Dobbs, Felix Williamson, Christopher Stollery, Ted Cahill, Ken Cameron (II), Charlie Hooke, Nick Atkinson, Nicky Wendt.  D: Rebel Renfold-Russell (debut). Cat is a motivational speaker working with her lover, who's like a Tony Robbins. Her mother Katya, a free spirit, has just died of cancer; they're relationship was rocky at best. Cat has returned home to Sydney for a speaking engagement. Katya starts appearing and hitting Cat's buttons all over again.