MOVIES RELEASED AUSTRALIA SEPTEMBER 2002

5 SEPTEMBER

Greenfingers (M): Selected, Syd/ Melb. Polyphony. UK. 91 mins. Comedy. Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, David Kelly, Warren Clarke, Danny Dyer, Adam Fogerty, Paterson Joseph, Natasha Little, Peter Guinness, Lucy Punch. D: John Hershman (Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me). Loosely based upon true events, this is the story of a group of British prison convicts at an experimental facility, focusing on Colin (Owen) and Fergus (Kelly), who take up gardening as part of their rehabilitation under the guidance of horticulture expert Georgina Woodhouse (Mirren), eventually going on to compete in the prestigious Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.   Based on a true story. 

Happy Times Hotel (PG): Selected, Melb. Fox. 96 mins. Comedy. China- Mandarin. Dong Jie, Dong Lifan, Zhao Benshan. D: Yimou Zhang (The Road Home). A small but broad Chinese language comedy about human nature when it comes to love and the pursuit of happiness. Middle-aged Ding Shikou visits a matchmaker to find a wife. Finally, she sends him the perfect one. Desperate to impress her, Ding promises her a far more extravagant wedding than he can afford, leading her to believe he is rich. Desperate for money, he tries a number of schemes to get the cash to keep the babe.  

Insomnia (M): Selected. 184 screens. Buena Vista. Thriller. 118 mins. Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Nicky Katt, Maura Tierney, Paul Dooley, Jonathan Jackson. D: Christopher Nolan (Memento). Brought in to investigate the murder of a young girl, a celebrated cop (Pacino) accidentally kills his partner and is blackmailed by a sadistic killer (Williams) who witnessed it.  He's also still got a murder to solve, in addition to the blackmail and framing of an innocent bystander being orchestrated by the man they were chasing. There's also a local detective (Swank) who is conducting her own personal investigation... of his partner's death.

Long Time Dead (MA): Selected. 81 screens. UIP. Horror. 94 mins. UK/ USA. Tom Bell, Joe Absolom, Lucas Haas, Lara Belmont, James Hiller, Alec Newman, Tom Bell.  D: Marcus Adams (debut).   A group of British students enbark on summoning spirits on a Ouija board after a night of clubbing. But someone breaks the link before they have finished and now a demon is trapped in their world and the only way to banish it, is for all the people who summoned it to die.

Ultimate X Games (G): Selected, IMAX. 30 mins. Buena Vista. Doco. D: Bruce Hedricks (debut). Made-for-IMAX documentary about the athletes of ESPN's Summer X games, including skateboarders, BMX riders, motocrosses, and street luggers.  In addition, the film will present the incredible stories of the athletes themselves, as they compete in the year's most important event in their sport. Ultimate X-Games chronicles all the breathtaking highlights and dramatic stories behind the 2001 X-Games in Philadelphia.  

12 SEPTEMBER

Beware of Greeks Baring Guns (M): Selected, Syd/ Melb. Palace. 90 mins. Comedy/ romance. Australia/ Greek. Partially subtitled. Lakis Lazopoulos, Zoe Carides, John Bluthal, Tasso Kavadia, Nonni Ioannidou, Tassos Palatzidis, Claudia Buttazzoni, Anastasia Malinof, Alexis Anthopoulos  D: John Tatoulis (Zone 39). Australian/ Greek revenge movie.  A woman, obsessed with tracking down the man who she claims killed her husband, targets her eldest grandson as her instrument of revenge. Originally released two and a half years ago in Greece.  

Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (PG): National. 179 screens. Fox. Comedy/ Adventure. 89 mins. Steve Irwin, Terri Irwin, Magna Szubanski, Lachy Hume, David Wenham, Steve Bastoni, Kate Behan, Andi Sue Irwin. D: John Staiton (debut).  The Crocodile Hunter movie. Aussie adventurer Steve Irwin aka The Crocodile Hunter has avoided the death-roll and nabbed another feisty croc, hoping to save it from poachers. What Steve doesn't know is that the crocodile has innocently swallowed a top secret US satellite beacon, and the poachers are actually American special agents sent to retrieve it. Crikey!

Fxxxland (M): Selected, Sydney. Level Four Films. Sep 12 02. Drama. Fabián Stratas, Camilla Heaney. D: José Luis Marquès (debut). 85 mins. Argentina. Subtitled:- Spanish. Fabián Stratas, an Argentinian, wanders around the Falkland Islands ("Fuckland," get it?) on a quest to impregnate the local women and thus reconquer the British territory for Argentina. Dogma #8.  Originally released in Europe in 2000 or thereabouts, nothing special about the reviews its been getting too. 

Heaven (MA): Selected. 25 screens. Buena Vista. Drama. 97 mins. Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, James Lloyd, Remo Girone, Max Giusti, Stefano Santospago, Mr. Vendice, Alessandro Sperduti  D: Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). A woman takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death, and finds herself not only under arrest for murder but falling in love with an officer. Filipina's (Blanchett) world gets turned upside down; she ends up getting arrested and oddly falls in love with a young police officer (Ribisi). 

Horses: The Story Of Equus (G): Selected, Sydney/ Mebourne. Worlds Biggest Screens. IMAX. Doco. 43 mins.  Narrator: Gabriel Byrne. Made by Australian filmmakers and filmed in Victoria. D: Michael Caulfield. Horses: the story of equus is the story of three horses who were all born on the same night but their lives take very different paths. One becomes a racehorse and her story takes us into that extraordinary world, where the ancestry of every horse can be traced back to 1791 and where their overwhelming instinct to run is highly valued. 

Till Human Voices Wake Us (M): Selected, Melb. Syd Sep 19. Becker. 101 mins. Drama. Australia/ USA. Guy Pierce, Helana Botham Carter,  Lindley Joyner, Brooke Harman,  Frank Gallacher,  Margot Knight.  D: Michael Petroni (Trespasses). A man returns to Victoria, Australia, where he grew up, and encounters the ghost of a woman he once knew.   He experiences a romance that turns tragic in his school years, and this has haunted him for the rest of his life.  Saving a woman from drowning, who initially is amnesiac, he realises there is something familiar about this woman..  

xXx (M): National. 300 screens. Columbia. 124 mins. Thriller. Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson, Asia Argento, Marton Csokas, Eve.  D: Rob Cohen (Fast And The Furious). xXx makes his questionable living by selling web videos of his outrageous, thrill seeking exploits, whether parachuting out of a stolen car as it plunges 700 feet [200 m] off a bridge, or other renegade activities which invite maximum adrenaline flow or, perhaps, a very early grave  .Xander Cage is an extreme sports athlete recruited by the government on a special mission - this gritty undercover cop takes down a crime ring.  "A New Breed of Secret Agent". 

19 SEPTEMBER 

Austin Powers In Goldmember (M): National. 329 screens. Roadshow. 94 mins. Comedy.  Mike Myers, Beyonce Knowles, Michael York, Michael Caine, Heather Graham, Eddie Adams, Seth Green, Danny DeVito, Evan Farmer.  D: Jay Roach (Meet The Parents). Dr. Evil and Mini-Me escape from a maximum-security prison and team up with another villain known as "another villain". Together they formulate a plan for world domination - a scheme that requires a large amount of time-travel and involves the kidnapping Austin Powers' father, England's master spy, Nigel Powers. As Austin chases Dr. Evil, Mini-Me and "another villain" through time, he stops in 1975 to "connect" with an old girlfriend, detective Foxy Cleopatra, and requests her help to track the villains and save his father.

The Cats Meow (M): Selected, Melb. 14 screens. Rialto. Thriller. 110 mins. Kirsten Dunst, Cary Elwes, Edward Herrmann, Eddie Izzard, Joanna Lumley, Victor Slezak, Jennifer Tilly. D: Peter Bogdanovich (The Thing Called Love). In November of 1924, a mysterious Hollywood death occurred aboard media mogul William Randolph Hearst's yacht. Included among the famous guests that weekend were, Charlie Chaplin, Hearst's mistress, starlet Marion Davies, the studio system creator, producer Thomas Ince, and feared gossip columnist, Louella Parsons.

Lilo And Stitch (G): National. Buena Vista. 85 mins. Family animation. V: Jason Scott Lee, Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, Chris Sanders, David Ogden Stiers. D: Dean Deblois (debut), Chris Sanders (debut). Project "Six-Two-Six" is deemed too dangerous by the "Grand Council." A hideous genetic creation from the lab of mad-scientist "Jumba," (David Ogden Stiers) project Six-Two-Six is put on board a space ship to be banished to a nice little deserted asteroid, where he can live out the rest of his days. On the way there, project Six-Two-Six takes over the ship, and then escapes using what looks like a space squad car. A Hawaiian girl adopts an unusual pet who is actually an notorious extra-terrestrial fugitive from the law.

So Close (MA): Selected, Melbourne. Columbia. Sci fi/ action. Shu Qi, Zhao Wei, Karen Mok, Ricardo Mamood.  D: Corey Yuen (The Transporter). Hong Kong- subtitled.  The fast and furious action tale of three tough, hard-hitting women who take on a powerful pair of computer moguls, the Hong Kong police, two deadly assassins, and... each other. Shu Qi and Zhao Wei play sisters whose family inheritances are a state-of-the-art computer surveillance system and an unresolved family vendetta.

Stuart Little 2 (G): National. 96 screens. UIP. Family Comedy.  Michael J. Fox, Geena Davis, Hugh Laurie, Jonathan Lipnicki, Nathan Lane, Melanie Griffith, Kevin Olson, Christopher Walken, Steve Zahn.  D: Rob Minkoff (The Lion King). Stuart (Fox) must journey through the city with a reluctant Snowbell (Lane) to rescue a new friend, Margalo (Griffith), from a villainous Falcon (James Woods). More top talking rodent action.

Yi Yi A One And A Two (M): Selected,  Melb. Essential Films. 173 mins. Taiwan. Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issey Ogata, Kelly Lee, Jonathan Chang, Hsi-Sheng Chen. D: Edward Yang (A Brighter Summer Day). Each member of a family in Taipei asks hard questions about life's meaning as they live through every-day quandaries...  NJ (Nien-Jen Wu) is morose; his brother owes him money, his mother is in a coma, his wife suffers a spiritual crisis when she finds her life a blank, his business partners make bad decisions against his advice and he reconnects with his first love 30 years after he dropped her.

23 SEPTEMBER  

The Powerpuff Girls (PG): National. (Capitals only: 23rd: Qld, Vic. 30th: Nsw, SA, Wa.). Roadshow. Animated. Cathy Caradini, Tara Charendoff, E.G Daily. D: Craig McCracken (No Neck Joe). Based upon: The popular show on the Cartoon Network that has also spawned a comic book, bed spread and a million pieces of merchandising crap.  The movie shows the origin of the Powerpuff Girls before the cartoon series.  And lots of corny jokes.  The rampaging Disney bonanza Lilo 'n' Stitchy has the superior film being relegated to the sidelines.. no regional release, and rumoured quick video release before Xmas.  Say it ain't so! 

26 SEPTEMBER

The Bourne Identity (M): National. 229 screens. UIP. 120 mins. Previews, including Sep 1. Thriller. Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Julia Stiles, Brian Cox.  D: Doug Liman (Swingers). A man who is near death and who has no memory is fished out of the sea. When he begins to recuperate, clues about his life suggest a dangerous past and he soon realises that assassins are hunting him. The first of a film trilogy from the novels by Robert Ludlum.

 (I just need more time to think of something witty for here.)

Clockstoppers (PG): National. 126 screens. UIP. Sci-fi/ Action. 94 mins.  Jesse Bradford, Miko Hughes, Michael Biehn, French Stewart, Julia Sweeney, Paula Garces, Robin Thomas D: Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: Insurrection). A scientist invents a mechanism that speeds up any target that it hits to 25 times their normal speed, effectively making it seem to that person like time is standing still. The race is on to find a way to reverse the effects when his son and a friend are zapped. 

Eight Legged Freaks (M): National. 121 screens. Roadshow. Horror/ sci-fi. David Arquette, Kari Wahrer, Scarlett Johansson, Matt Czuchry. D: Elloy Elkayem (Larger Than Life). The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of 4WDs. It's up to mining engineer Chris McCormack (David Arquette) and Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer) to mobilise an eclectic group of townspeople into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.

Nine Queens (M): Selected, Melb. 16 screens. Niche Pictures. Thriller. 114 mins.  Argentina- Spanish. Niche. Ricardo Darin, Gaston Pauls, Leticia Bredice, Ignasi Abadal, Oscar Nunez. D: Fabian Bielinsky (debut).  Early one morning, Marcos (Ricardo Darín) observes Juan (Gastón Pauls) successfully pulling off a bill-changing scam on a cashier and then getting caught as he attempts to pull the same trick on the next shift. Marcos steps in, claiming to be a policeman, and drags Juan out of the store. once they are back on the street, Marcos reveals himself to be a fellow swindler with a game of much higher stakes in mind, and he invites Juan to be his partner in crime

The Triumph Of Love (PG): Selected. UIP.  Comedy. 112 mins. Italy/ UK. Mira Sorvino, Ben Kingsley, Fiona Shaw, Igazio Oliva.  D: Claire Peploel (The High Season). Based on the famous Marivaux play first performed in 1973, The Triumph of Love presents the classic fairytale of a princess (Mira Sorvino) determined to restore her homeland's throne to its rightful heir, a young prince with whom she has fallen in love. Since the prince is under the protection of noted philosopher Hermocrates (Ben Kingsley) and his ebullient spinster Leontine (Fiona Shaw), she must infiltrate the philosopher's estate in disguise and employ a variety of alter-egos to gain access and trust.

Walking On Water (MA): Selected, Melb. 9 screens. Globe. Comedy/ Drama. Australia. 90 mins.  Vince Colosimo, Maria Theodorakis, Judi Farr, Nicholas Bishop, Ann Lise Phillips, Daniel Roberts.  D: Tony Aryes (Sadness). After the death of a friend, a household of long time friends and family are tossed into the myopic world of grief, where jealousy, betrayal and desire override more polite reactions to death.  At the end of the day, Charlie and Anna are forced to face the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and love.