War of the Worlds (without aliens)

By Jonathan Fisher, September 2nd, 2010


What a burden of responsibility lies on Stuart Beattie's shoulders. Tomorrow When the War Began is as iconic a piece of adolescent literature as Australia has produced, and seventeen years after its first publication, a big screen adaptation has finally been produced. As a film, Tomorrow Where the War Began is a perfect indicator of the strange place that Australian cinema is at. Gone are the days in which our staple productions were dark personal dramas. The new fare appears to be more populist, high-budget, and (for better or worse) action-oriented -- in other words, more American. There is a problem, though. We don't have the depth of young talent, nor the experience, of Hollywood. Most young Australian actors worth their salt are making a living on American silver screens or television. As a result, the cast of Tomorrow When the War Began -- while attractive and talented -- reads like a who's who of Australian soap operas.

Despite the perils of attempting such a large-scale, lavish action movie with this cast of young up-and-comers, Tomorrow When the War Began is a good film, even if it's clunky at times. The basic premise of the film is this: a group of teenagers from a small Australian town go camping for a weekend. While they are away, a foreign power invades Australia and, when the teens return, their once secure and stable society has completely collapsed.

Read the rest of this article >>

Encounters at the End of the Mind

By Jonathan Fisher, August 13th, 2010

When I first saw Inception a few weeks ago, I knew that for better or worse, this was the picture of the summer. I knew that well in advance of seeing it for the first time, which posed some problems. Before Inception had even been released in Australia (or, indeed, in the United States), a divide had grown in the critic community. Inception, it seems, is either the masterpiece of 21st century cinema thus far, or an overblown, over-hyped piece of garbage. If you listen to the internet (or rather, "the internetz" -- there is a distinction), there is no middle ground.

Read the rest of this article >>

Predators

Predators

By Jonathan Fisher, July 13th, 2010

Predators hits the ground running, which is just what you want from an action movie. The opening scene is an intriguing one -- a mercenary named Royce (Adrien Brody) gains consciousness several thousand feet above the surface of a mysterious, dangerous jungle. When he lands, he discovers that several other people have found themselves in the same predicament. Their occupations share common, violent ideals -- a Japanese Yakuza member, a death squad member from Sierra Leone, a Serbian soldier, a South American mercenary and a female American special operative. Eventually they come across a doctor (played by Topher Grace), breaking the pattern, but then without Grace, who would provide the movie's comic relief?

Read the rest of this article >>

It's That Time of Year again...

Rollie and I are circling the drain of the annual Pantheon Draft, wherein we utilize a highly advanced and complicated system of back-and-forths, averaging, compromising, and eliminating to create a hybrid list of elite "favorite" movies. Last year's list can be found here. The lists, after probably the first five, will be radically different. This is not because the movies have so fluctuated in quality over the course of a single year, but because the term "favorite" is abstract and fluid and impossible to approach consistently. I think of Ebert's definition - which movie do I want to see again right now, right this very moment (in preferential order from one to a hundred)? I think of Jonathan Rosenbaum's definition - which great film is freshest in my mind, right now, right this very minute? Even the slightest variation in approach to our "favourite" movies can alter the substance of our list radically. More than a collection of great movies (indeed the greatest), Ghost on Screen's Pantheon is more an illustration of the way that our personal tastes develop, change, evolve and, again, fluctuate. Expect the new list to materialize sometime by the end of the month.

Shrek Forever After

Shrek Forever After

By Jonathan Fisher, July 2nd, 2010

Shrek Forever After (or Shrek 4, which is what it really is) borrows liberally from Frank Capra's classic parable It's a Wonderful Life, as it posits the question: what would have happened if Shrek didn't rescue Fiona from her curse way back in the first film. Indeed, what would have happened if Shrek had never been born at all?

From a film buff's perspective this is what would have happened: we would have all missed out on one of the best of modern family films in the first Shrek, but we also would have avoided the horrendous third installment. Swings and roundabouts.

Read the rest of this article >>

Toy Story 3

Editor's note: I've written this review as if you've already seen Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Don't complain that you don't know who voices Woody or Buzz. If you don't know this, or (even worse) who Woody and Buzz are, shame on you.

Toy Story 3

By Jonathan Fisher, June 30, 2010

Toy Story 3 might be the first family film made with people in their early 20s specifically in mind. I was nine years old when the first Toy Story movie was released. Most of the current crop of children weren't even a lustful thought in their father's mind when the first two Toy Story films were made. How fitting it is that this sequel is, in part, about the painful transitory period from childhood to adulthood, a period in which we shed our dependence, our awkwardness, and -- most tragically of all -- our toys.

Read the rest of this article >>

Sex and the City 2, Legion, Creation, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Hello all, apologies that this one is a few days late... Alicia and I actually recorded it last week, but I've just been so flat out on my block prac for uni (teaching kiddies about Venn Diagrams and the true meaning of the football World Cup) that I just didn't have time to edit and upload it! Here it finally is. I'm done with my block prac in a week and a half, and then am on holidays for about 6 weeks, so prepare for the recent lull in activity on the site to be made up to you in spades. I have a truckload of interviews coming up in the next few weeks, as well as more print reviews and podcasts. In the meantime, enjoy this week's podcast, published below.

Read the rest of this article >>