June 2002 Volume 83 Number 6
"serving the protectors"
| June 2002 Volume 83 Number 6 "serving the protectors" |
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| Edited by John Ballantyne |
Spider-Man
This fun-filled action film is sheer entertainment and will appeal to people of all ages.
Unlike so many screen renditions of comic book characters, Spider-Man is a cleverly told tale about a flawed and complex hero.
Orphaned at an early age, Peter Parker (Toby Maguire) lives in New York with his beloved aunt and uncle.
The teenage Peter experiences the life of a normal student, working as a cadet photographer at the Daily Bugle.
On a school trip, during which Peter and his classmates are given a science demonstration on spiders, Peter is bitten by a genetically altered spider.
Soon afterwards, he discovers that he has unusual powers: he is endowed with the strength and agility of a spider along with a keen, ESP-like “spider sense”.
At this stage, however, Peter is not especially heroic.
When he has the opportunity to use his superhuman powers to catch a fleeing burglar, he fails to do so.
Moments later, the same burglar kills his beloved Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson).
As Spider-Man, Peter apprehends the burglar, but is tormented by guilt for not having been a hero sooner.
Meanwhile, megalomaniacal businessman Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) has undergone a hideous transformation, as a result of an experimental formula blowing up in his face.
He is now the Green Goblin, Spider-Man’s arch-enemy, who will put young Peter Parker’s vow to fight crime and help innocent people to the ultimate test.
Spider-Man has everything a movie-goer could desire in dazzling special effects; but also has a warm, human side, owing to Maguire’s appealing portrayal of the innocent superhero.
The Hard Word
The Hard Word is an Australian black comic thriller about three brothers and their careers in crime.
The Twentyman brothers are about to be released from prison on bail.
During their stretch, the eldest brother Dale (Guy Pearce, The Time Machine) has been quietly planning how to perform an armed robbery before they are back behind bars again.
The brothers are masters of the craft of armed hold-ups. But they are not without a code of honour. They adhere to a strict rule: no-one gets hurt.
Also trying to get his bread into the gravy is the Twentymans’ long-time criminal lawyer, the shifty Frank Malone (Robert Taylor).
He not only seduces Dale’s wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths), but also sets out to double-cross the brothers.
The idea of The Hard Word first came to writer/producer Scott Roberts from a real life true story about a gang of bank-robbing brothers who once operated from a New South Wales remand prison.
Told with deadpan humour, the film is as much about the characters of the story as their deeds, and about the curious bond of loyalty among the Twentyman brothers.
Dale – the brains of the Twentyman family – is nicely contrasted with his dynamic and charismatic younger brother Shane (Joel Edgerton), who, beneath it all, is a delicately wired time-bomb liable to go off at very odd moments.
Last Orders
Australian Fred Schepisi’s screen adaptation of Graham Swift’s prize-winning novel is a humorous and touching portrait of four working-class Brits, bound by years of friendship.
It brings together some of England’s finest actors in a powerful and deeply moving ensemble production.
After 40 years of warming the seats at their favourite pub, longtime friends and World War II veterans Ray (Bob Hoskins), Lenny (David Hemmings), and Vic (Tom Courtenay) are forced to face the loss of one of their own – London butcher, Jack Dodds (Michael Caine).
They meet to carry out Jack’s peculiar last wish: to have his ashes scattered into the sea.
Accompanied by Jack’s flashy, prodigal son (Ray Winstone), they set off on a nostalgic journey from London to the seaside town of Margate.
Absent from the group, however, is Jack’s long-suffering widow Amy (Helen Mirren).
Instead of accompanying her husband’s ashes, she travels to visit her autistic daughter in a painful journey of her own, which sheds light on her complex relationship with Jack.
The four men make their way to Margate, going from pub to pub, in an increasingly bizarre day’s outing.
They reflect on a lifetime of memories of Jack, which are recreated in a series of flashbacks that explore the delicate interweaving of their friendships: full of secrets, resentments and deeply rooted loyalty.
Last Orders cleverly but affectionately reveals the hidden depths of these men’s flawed and profoundly ordinary characters, but without ever being self-important or succumbing to sentimentality.
I am Sam
If you like a feel-good weepy, which lays on sentiment with a trowel, this is the film to see.
A mentally handicapped father Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) is fighting for custody of his young daughter Lucy (Dakota Fanning).
The child welfare board of his native Santa Monica, Los Angeles, has taken Lucy from him, worried that at eight years old she has already begun to pass him in intellectual development.
Sam has to convince a jury that selfless love is the most precious gift a father can give – even if he can’t help with the algebra homework.
Sam’s case is taken on by a stressed-out hot-shot lawyer Rita (Michelle Pfeiffer), who has her own hands full dealing with her rebellious son.
Sustained by his infectious love of the Beatles, the boundlessly enthusiastic Sam becomes a positive influence on Rita as he raises a lot of questions about what’s most important as a parent.
Special Movie Offer
For your chance to win one of 20 double passes to The Hard Word (valid until June 19), put your details on the back of an envelope and send it to The Hard Word Comp, SA Police Journal.
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