Dean Spanley (2008)

Film review: Dean Spanley (2008), directed by Toa Fraser

Set at some time in the past, when the motor car and electric light were newfangled ideas, we meet Mr. Fisk Junior (Jeremy Northam) who meets with his elderly father, Mr. Fisk Senior (Peter O'Toole), every Thursday. The older Fisk is a grumpy old man who likes a strict schedule and will only allow the poor housekeeper (Judy Parfitt) to make him a hotpot for his tea.

One day, after seeing an advertisement in the newspaper, the Fisks go to see a talk on "the transmigration of souls" by a Swami Nala Prash (Art Malik). Junior is very taken by the idea of reincarnation, but his father sees it as nothing but "poppycock!". At the talk, they meet a conveyancer, the "colonial" (read: Australian) Mr. Wrather (Bryan Brown, always a treat), and the dean of the local church, Dean Spanley (Sam Neill), who strikes Junior as a particularly interesting character with a surprising wealth of knowledge on the subject of souls, the transmigration thereof.

The Fisks then bump into the Dean a second time, at their local gentleman's club, and find out he's particularly fond of a particular Hungarian wine, Tokay. After bumping into the man a third time, Junior decides to invite the Dean for dinner one night, luring him there with the promise of a very rare bottle of Tokay. And thus begins Mr. Fisk's talks with Dean Spanley, who under the spell of the golden liquid starts recalling a previous life ... as a dog.

Australia (2008)

Film review: Australia (2008), directed by Baz Luhrmann

As I was at home one Monday, having come down with something dashed inconvenient the night before, I decided to catch up with my V+. I tend to record movies that I want to watch, but there’s getting the time to try and actually watch them - especially when they're exceedingly long, like this one. (Gladiator is another one waiting for me to have 3½ hours to spare.)

In Australia, we start out in good old Britannia just before the Second World War, with Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), who is tired of her husband always being away in Australia when he could be at home and not lose most of his money on a blasted cattle ranch on the other side of the world. She decides to go there herself and sell the darn thing. Travelling across the globe is a doddle. What she encounters when she gets there is a whole other matter.

In Down Underland, King Carney (Bryan Brown) is the king of cattle - he owns big parts of the Northern Territory and he wants to buy the Ashleys' farm. He also wants to get his hands on a big contract, to supply the military with beef. Carney is the main antagonist of the film, if you will. Another one is Neil Fletcher (David Wenham), a less than sympathetic bloke at the farm.

Along Came Polly (2004)

Film review: Along Came Polly (2004), directed by John Hamburg

Along Came Polly begins with a wedding - Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) is marrying the love of his life, Grace Adler Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing). They go on a honeymoon to St. Barts, and meet a handsome, French scuba-diving instructor (Hank Azaria - long hair, Speedos ... say no more!). Reuben works in risk assessment for an insurance company for a living, so he likes to live his life in the safest way possible, and besides, he gets seasick easily. Lisa goes by herself, and has a go at scuba diving, and ... handsome instructors.

Heartbroken, Reuben cuts the honeymoon short and goes back home. By chance, when his vulgar, obnoxious pal (Philip Seymour Hoffman) brings him to an art exhibition, he meets a woman he used to go to middle school with - Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), and they start dating.

Oh yeah, girlfriend's practically drooling already

The thing about Polly is that she's a carefree commitment phobic who doesn't mind eating with her hands at Moroccan restaurants, or mixed nuts from a bowl at the bar. And, of course, Reuben hates spicy food and likes everything about his life to be safe and predictable. Can the two find a life together or is their relationship doomed from the start? And when Lisa comes back from St. Barts and wants her husband to take her back, what do you do?

You know what this movie reminds me of?
Dharma and Greg.

Ben Stiller gives consistently good performances in comedies, and Jennifer Aniston was great too. I really didn't see her as "Rachel from Friends", she was just "Polly". The funniest character of all, though, has got to be the one played by Bryan Brown. The man is already considered a comic genius in his native Down Under, and I can't help but see why. He plays a daredevil businessman trying to get insured by Reuben's company, but he's so into extreme sports that he's technically uninsurable. He really made me giggle. Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the friend who is known for having played a character in a successful film as a kid and then nothing else, but who still tries to convince himself and everyone else that he's a great actor. Seymour Hoffman actually is a great actor, so it's fun to see him play such a crazy character. Oh yes, and I was reminded that if I make one of those "weird crush" lists, he's going on it!

It's a funny film with a few giggles, with some hot salsa dancing and Hank Azaria's sixpack. Not hysterically funny, but a romantic comedy that works, even if the ending reminds me of Four Weddings and a Funeral. Ratings-wise? Maybe 3½ out of 5. Pretty average.

Sam Neill films - minute reviews E-H

Enigma (1983)
Sam is: Dimitri Vasilikov

Sam in a fur hat. Enigma was a coding system used by the military, and people want to get their hands on it. It's about spying and cold war and Martin Sheen is in it. It's a good old movie.

Event Horizon (1997)
Sam is: Dr. William Weir

Infinite space... infinite terror. Sci-fi horror. Ship vanishes - ship returns - people sent to investigate, finds ship evil. Ship makes it's creator (Sam) goes insane, as his mind is corrupted by ship. Well-made, quite gory, and indeed scary. W00t!

Sam Neill films - minute reviews A-D

Aside from celebrating Sam Neill's birthday, I'm also trying to get rid of my old wiki site in favour of a different style of website, which means I'm trying to migrate things, but this, I believe, is better off here than on the new site. :) Very short reviews of various films that have Sam Neill as a common denominator! Can't for the life of me remember when they were written, but it wasn't exactly yesterday, I know that much. :)

A Cry in the Dark (1988)
Sam is: Michael Chamberlain

"The dingo stole my baby!" Based on a true story, it's Meryl Streep as a woman whose youngest child, a baby, is taken by a dingo when the family's on vacation at Uluru. Sam's the dad. Big trial, a country torn in two - "guilty" and "not guilty". Very good movie, and good from the point of how vulture-like journalists are. Has two or three people from The Flying Doctors in it, which is always a nice bonus for, umm, me.

Bicentennial Man (1999)
Sam is: "Sir" Richard Martin

Family father Sam buys a robot (Robin Williams) in the not-too-distant future. Robot wants to be human and eventually gets a makeover to look human. It's a good film, but I think you either like it or you don't. Besides, Robin Williams is always a treat!

The Blood of Others (1984)
Sam is: Bergman

Sam as a Nazi, or should I say, shop owner, who falls in love - in his own special way - with Jodi Foster, who is an annoying seamstress there. The Résistance use her as a spy, as her boyfriend is one of them. Good movie, but like I said, Foster is annoying.

The Brush-Off (2004)
Sam was the producer

This is the follow-up to Stiff (2004), again based on books by Shane Maloney. Sam's not actually in this, but he directed it. Murray's boss is moved from being the Minister of Ethnic Affairs to being the Minister of Art and Water. And people die. I dunno, I think I preferred Stiff, but this is good entertainment as well, and Wenham is a great actor, so always good to watch. AFI nomination for Best Direction in Television.

Children of the Revolution (1996)
Sam is: David "Dave" Hoyle, a.k.a. Agent "Nine"

Sam in uniform. Communist Australia, woman (Judy Davies) gets to go to Soviet to meet her idol - Stalin (F Murray Abraham). They spend the night together, which prooves to be Stalin's last... and she's pregnant. Stalin's bastard son (Richard Roxburgh, who I do believe is the Duke in Moulin Rouge) is raised as an Australian, not knowing who his real father is. It's funny, but I thought it would be funnier.

Country Life (1994)
Sam is: Dr. Max Askey

An Australian adaption of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, set in the outback in the 1920s. And the rest I grab off IMDb as I don't remember what it was about myself: Man with niece run family farm to support brother-in-law as a (supposedly brilliant) literary critic in London. Action begins when the brother-in-law returns with his beautiful young wife (Greta Scacchi), revealing himself as an arrogant failure and wanting to sell the farm out. Sam is a doctor with the hots for Scacchi. Quite uneventful and will past most people by wondering what on earth it was actually about. Has Maurie Fields (The Flying Doctors) in a small role, as well as Sam, and there are some cute kittens too, so that's enough to keep me happy.

Dead Calm (1989)
Sam is: John Ingram

Early on in Nicole Kidman's career, she did this little thriller. Kidman and Sam are a couple, who lose their child in a car crash. To overcome this, they get a sailing ship and go on holiday in the sundrenched waters outside Australia. They find a man in the water - Billy Zane, who proves to be not-so-sane, and in fact, a murderous psychopath. (Zane as a nasty bugger on a boat was repeated, of course, in Titanic some years later.) Great nail-biting stuff. Also, both guys have their shirts off and flaunt some abs during the course of the film.

Death in Brunswick (1991)
Sam is: Carl Fitzgerald a.k.a. Cookie

The trailer had be laughing, but the movie as a whole I didn't think was as funny. Don't get me wrong, it's funny and well worth a watch. Sam's a bit of a loser type guy, who starts working in the kitchen of a pub. He falls in love with a Greek girl who is a bartender... she just happens to be about, oh, half his age? Then someone gets stabbed to death, and they have to hide the body and get out of the way of bad guys. Great fun!

Dirty Deeds (2002)
Sam is: Ray

Bryan Brown, Toni Collette and John Goodman in an Australian gangster comedy, with great cinematography. Sam is with the police... and likes bribes. A bit retro in the look, but it's good entertainment all in all.

The Dish (2000)
Sam is: Cliff Buxton

In a sheep paddock in Australia is a big radio telescope, that played a significant part in the Apollo 11 moon landing mission of 1969. That's what this movie is about. Sam, in a cardigan, is the telescope boss and was nominated in two different awards for Best Actor and Most Inspirational Movie Acting. This is a warm Aussie comedy that will charm you, and was a huge success in it's native country. The whole town is moon landing mad, the whole world is watching and dependent on their "Dish", and... there's a power outage and all calculations are lost. What do you tell NASA? "Tell them what... that we lost Apollo 11?"

Doctor Zhivago (2002)
Sam is: Victor Komarovsky

Re-make of the old movie, but now as a miniseries, starring Hans Matheson and Keira Knightley, with Sam as the evil bloke who seduces both Knightley and her mum. Oh, also has Kris Marshall (Love Actually, My Family) as the one Knightley ends up marrying. Odd to see him in a serious role, but he does pull it off well. I haven't seen more than about 5 minutes of the old movie, so I can't say how well this compares to it, but from a Zhivago novice point of view, it's definitely watchable.