February 2003 Volume 84 Number 1
"serving the protectors"
| February 2003 Volume 84 Number 1 "serving the protectors" |
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| Edited by John Ballantyne |
The Quiet American
From the classic 1955 novel by Graham Greene comes a murder mystery set in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1952, during the French Indochina war.
A middle-aged British reporter for the London Times, Thomas Fowler (Michael Caine), has been working in Vietnam, covering politics and enjoying the local culture.
He lives with a beautiful young Vietnamese woman, Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen).
When a young American doctor, Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), falls in love with Phuong, threatening to take her from Fowler, everything changes. Not only is Fowler’s romantic life put in danger, but he begins to uncover disturbing information about the US’s involvement in the war.
An intelligent, suspenseful and old-fashioned romantic thriller, with Caine and Fraser giving outstanding performances.
One Hour Photo
In this creepy thriller, Sy Parrish (Robin Williams) leads a lonely life, operating a photo lab in a department store.
He escapes his dreary routine through the family photos of Nancy Yorkin (Connie Nielsen) and her family.
His infatuation with the Yorkins becomes an obsession, as he styles himself as Uncle Sy to little Jake (Dylan Smith).
Sy’s judgement becomes unhinged by his unhealthy interest, causing him to lose his job of 11 years.
But, as his final day approaches, Sy comes across photographs revealing an indiscretion on the part of Mr Yorkin (Michael Vartan).
The mentally unstable and vengeful Sy now hatches a sinister plot to instill family values in the Yorkin clan.
This finely nuanced thriller, with a show-stealing performance by Williams, guarantees edge-of-the-seat viewing.
City by the Sea
This film tells the gripping story of a dedicated police officer who discovers that the chief suspect in his current murder investigation is his own son.
The story was inspired by a 1997 Esquire article, Mark of a Murderer, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike McAlary.
NYPD Detective Vincent LaMarca (Robert De Niro) is a respected veteran police officer whose professional success masks a troubled and isolated personal life.
When Vincent was aged 8, his financially desperate father Angelo kidnapped a baby from a wealthy family in order to collect a ransom.
In a terrible turn of events, the baby accidentally suffocated in the car while he was waiting for the money, and Angelo was sentenced to the electric chair.
Vincent is haunted by his father’s death, his own failures as a father, and the consequences for his own son.
About Schmidt
Sixty-six year-old Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has arrived at several of life’s crossroads all at the same time.
He has retired as an insurance actuary and feels utterly adrift.
Furthermore, his only daughter Jeannie (Hope Davis) is about to marry a boob, and his wife Helen (June Squibb) dies suddenly after 42 years of marriage.
Directed by Alexander Payne (Oscar-nominated Election), About Schmidt is a wryly observed slice of American life, in turns hilarious and touching.
With no job, no wife and no family, Warren is desperate to find something meaningful in his thoroughly unimpressive life.
He sets out on a journey of self-discovery across America in a 35-foot motor home.
He heads for Denver, where he hopes to patch up his relationship with his somewhat estranged daughter.
Unfortunately, he takes an instant dislike to the groom-to-be (Dermot Mulroney), a mediocre, under-achieving waterbed salesman.
Gangs of New York
Director Martin Scorsese revisits New York City’s notorious gangland past with this dazzling historical drama.
Gangs of New York is set in the mid-1800s, when the streets of lower Manahttan were teeming with tension and violence.
Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the son of a revered Irish gang leader (Liam Neeson).
As a child, Amsterdam witnesses the murder of his father at the hands of William “The Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), the maniacally driven ruler of the city’s most powerful gang.
Sixteen years later, Amsterdam is finally released from the orphanage that raised him.
Determined to avenge his father’s death, Amsterdam gradually infiltrates Bill the Butcher’s camp and earns the crazed gangster’s respect.
But he must also contend with the tumultuous, but beautiful, Jenny Everdean (Cameron Diaz).
Gangs of New York brilliantly explores the period leading up to the Civil War when the shape of modern America was being forged in the streets.
By the 1850s, the Irish were fleeing the potato famines and arriving at Manhattan at the rate of 15,000 a week in pursuit of the American dream.
What they encountered, however, was terrible sectarian prejudice and violence from the descendants of the New York’s original Protestant Anglo-Dutch settlers who opposed the influx of Catholics.
Horseplay
There are rumblings in the air as the race that stops a nation, the Melbourne Cup, approaches.
Max MacKendrick (Marcus Graham) has hit rock bottom. A reckless schemer, Max’s attempts at “living the dream” have landed him with a life-long ban from the track, an empty bank balance, and his socially obsessed wife Alicia (Tushka Bergen) being dropped from the A-list.
Max in desperation stakes everything on a lunatic scheme. If he can’t train the Cup winner, then why not fix the race and cash in big-time at the betting ring?
This offbeat Aussie comedy also stars Jason Donovan and Bill Hunter.
Special Movie Offers
For your chance to win one of five About Schmidt prize packs (each containing a double-pass, cap and T-shirt), put your details on the back of an envelope and send it to Movie Comp, SA Police Journal (168).
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