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AUSTRALIA

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil, and Brandon Walters

Written and Directed by: Baz Luhrmann

Rated PG-13

By John Delia

At last, a true front-runner for the best motion picture Oscar for 2008, Australia. Filled with an emotional storyline, magnificent acting and cinematic grandeur the nearly three-hour film is marvelous yet untiring. If you like impressive period films that entertain, then Australia is your cup of tea.
Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) a British aristocrat goes to Australia to meet with her husband who has been working their ranch Faraway Downs. Arriving in 1939 with the South Pacific in turmoil over a possible world at war, she sets out to the backcountry with Drover (Jackman) hired by her husband to take her to the ranch. She arrives at Faraway Downs after a long a dusty trip and finds that her husband has been murdered. Torn by the news, and offered a shady deal for her land, Lady Ashley’s strength starts to dwindle. In one last effort to save her property, Lady Ashley, together, with Drover, a rag tag group of volunteers and a young half-cast boy Nullah (Walters) try to move 2000 cattle over undeveloped territory to the port city of Darwin. After a hazardous journey during which they face many hardships Lady Ashley arrives at her destination only to face even greater peril.
Although the love story was not as emotional as I would have liked, Kidman and Jackman have a great chemistry together in their portrayal of the tormented couple that choose to fight off their adversaries in an attempt to bring order to their lives. Getting into some very testy situations, the two prove their acting skills with excellent character development much like Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn in African Queen.
I loved the touch by Director Luhrmann of working with an all-Australian starring cast that is brilliant in their roles. The casting of Walters in the pivotal role of Nullah is also brilliant. The boy has the emotion and charisma needed to make the center of this tale plausible and sensational. His presence in the film shows the segregation of the half white, half black children that were taken out of society much like the ones depicted in Rabbit Proof Fence.
Direction by Luhrmann of the epic period piece is award winning. Dealing with hundreds of cast members and numerous scenes that require that extra effort, Luhrmann turns in a masterpiece that will last for years to come. Luhrmann who gave us Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom provides a film nearly equal to David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, A Passage to India and The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Cinematographer Mandy Walker creates an amazing backdrop for the saga that runs nearly three hours long. Focused on the bleak wilderness, unforgiving terrain and explosive attacks, yet intertwining a touch of beauty with softened highlights, the dramatic photography provides a poignant landscape for the dramatic storyline. Costumes by Catherine Martin are perfect for the period. I especially liked Kidman’s attire throughout the film.
The film has been rated PG-13 and contains violence, language, and a scene of sensuality so please be cautioned when deciding to bring youngsters to see the film.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Australia imparts a dramatic and visual satisfying film with magnificent acting and directing. (5 of 5 stars)

TRANSPORTER 3

Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, Francois Berleand, Jeroen Krabbe and Robert Knepper

Directed by: Olivier Megaton

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material

By John Delia

The Transporter series has been good up till now, but killing this sequel is the acting of Statham’s costar Rudakova and some major silliness. Much like the previous flicks, there are plenty of explosive scenes to keep your attention. If you like films that provide an adrenaline rush with stylized fights and absurd car chases, then Transporter 3 should kick you into high gear.
Frank Martin (Statham) has been pressured into transporting Valentina (Rudakova), the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev (Krabbe), the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for the Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi (Berleand), Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, agents sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger. Despite Valentina’s cynical disposition and his resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another.
The more they make films like Transporter 3, Crank, Hitman, Shoot Em Up, and Fast and Furious, the bar gets raised even higher to out do one another. Tranporter 3 however, misses the high jump by a mile. There are several scenes that make the film absurd including a fight between Statham and several bad guys where he uses almost every piece of clothing on his body as a weapon (I guess cloth is a weapon), bracelets that do not allow Frank and Valentina to go 75 feet form the car in which they are riding (except when you are riding a bicycle) and tilting his car so it can slide between two sixteen wheelers (there must have been a secret mechanism to get it to tilt).
Direction by Megaton was not his best effort. Either he was strapped with Rudakova or there must have been a breakdown between the two as her performance was slovenly at best. The scenes were she doesn’t talk are her most bearable, while those where she recites her lines are emotionless. Her wardrobe looked like it came courtesy of K-Mart and her make-up person should have covered up the thousands of freckles that distract from her beauty.
On the upside, Statham keeps his kick-butt attitude going in this installment and makes the weak script at least tolerable. The car landing on the train scene was really wacky and the wild bike chase radical.
The film contains some sequences of intense action and violence, some sexual content and drug material so immature children are not recommended as tagalongs.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Transporter 3 looses its energy with absurd scenes and mundane acting. (2 of 5 stars)

FOUR CHRISTMASES
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Jon Voight, Sissy Spacek
Directed by: Seth Gordon
Rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language
By John Delia
Vince Vaughn does his best to save Four Christmases from doom, but the nervous little comedy is too over the top to come out a winner. Trouble in the film includes overacting, a too predictable plot and a lot of overused comical banter. The film may have been a lot better had they used lesser known actors. If you like Vaughn so much that you have to have more of his glib humor, then Four Christmases will be your mistletoe of delight.
Brad (Vaughn) and Kate (Witherspoon) are an unmarried couple that has been avoiding spending the holiday with their dysfunctional divorced parents and going on a vacation instead every year. This year has not been any different, except when they get to the airport, they find out that there flight to Figi has been cancelled for at least a day. To top it off, a news crew spots the disappointed couple and they become the number one TV news item. With their plans revealed they decide to visit each of the four families in reckoning for their ill-fated plan. When they do, however, a lot more gets revealed about their lives then they want told.
The film has many problems, some of which could have been avoided with more directorial control. In addition, Four Christmases is void of imagination and so predictable that it becomes more of a stand up for Vaughn than a platform to show his genius. Some of the blame for the not so original script has to be placed on rookie feature film director Gordon who seems to let his high profile cast get away from him and take over the production.
Vaughn plays himself, the glib comic that doesn’t see his own faults except when they are pointed out to him. He seems to go off on tangents at times and Gordon allows Vaughn to dominate. Miscast Witherspoon seems to be trying to just keep up with Vaughn as he overshadows her overly abiding character. The topper comes with Favreau putting wrestling holds on his brother (Vaughn’s character) time an again until it isn’t funny anymore.
The film is not devoid of humor however, and contains some very funny scenes, including one with Witherspoon getting cornered by kids in a bounce house following a pregnancy test and another when she handles a puking child. Vaughn’s funniest involves him attending a church and volunteering to be Joseph in a Nativity play.
The film contains some sexual humor and language so be cautioned when deciding to bring youngsters.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Four Christmases gets a little too predictable with not enough original comical situations. (2.5 of 5 stars)