The movie by renowned SA film director, Scott Hicks, is a beautifully crafted adaption of the best selling 1995 novel of the same name by David Guterson. It is set in the north west of America, and deals with the story of the death of a fisherman (Carl) in what appears to the townspeople to [...]

This is ‘Jaws’, set in a placid lake in the mountains. Credibility is stretched to breaking point, as you’d expect. Does Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda) really fit the bill for a surgeon cum paleontologist? How on earth did crocs find their way to a mountain lake in Maine? It’s a ‘Saturday arvo at the flicks’ [...]

There is no ‘plot’, as such. The story is contained within a single 24 hour period – ‘a day in the life of…’ The film is a snapshot of nine individuals, some of them family groupings. Some of the lives intersect – in love, in hate. Some seek reconciliation and relationship, others turn away or [...]

The Miss United States Pageant, hallowed and revered home of American beauty for the past fifty years, has received a death threat from a ‘unabomber’ type criminal. The FBI plans to get one of their agents into the pageant, undercover, as a contestant and fix the judging so she’s on stage right to the end [...]

Michael Keaton plays the role of Doug, the man with too much to do and too little time (sound familiar?). From the opening shot of the busy freeways, and the stress at work and home, the viewer will identify with Doug, caught in the modern dilemma of spiralling demands and pressures. The film is essentially [...]

This is a fairly decent cinematic portrayal of C.S Lewis’ story of the children’s first visit to Narnia through the magical wardrobe in the house of the professor. There are a number of differences between the film and the story, but many of the differences can quite easily be overlooked. My first observation is that [...]

Anna Scott (Julia Roberts) is a beautiful, American actress visiting London. She wanders into a bookshop in Notting Hill owned by William Thacker (Hugh Grant). After this first meeting, they meet again by accident and begin a relationship. The central theme developed in the movie is, can the most famous film star in the world [...]

Don’t take your 8 year old to this movie, it’s my opinion that each of the books are written for a different age range, and as a result each of the movie are also written for an older group. If you took your 14 year old to see the last Potter movie then it’s probably [...]

Two words… Romantic comedy. Will Smith is Hitch, a “Date doctor” he will help any man gain the skills and confidence to meet, ask out and date the woman of their dreams, for a price. But don’t get him confused, he’s only willing to help those who are truly in love, an idealist he will [...]

Based on H.G. Bissinger’s book, which profiled the economically depressed town of Odessa, Texas and their heroic high school football team, The Permian High Panthers. Yes, this is another “American Football as a metaphor for life” movie, but it’s much more than that. This is the story Gary Gaines’ first season in coaching the Panthers, [...]