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Reviews
The Movers (1986)
An Armchair Ride Through History
Unusual pre-computer-SFX look at people experiencing and involved in a look at important different periods of history (courtesy of an armchair that moves through 'time'. Sure, 'Bewitched' and 'I Dream of Jeannie' have done it before, but not as interestingly.
Made by the director/writer of the Oscar-winning animated short 'Leisure', the acclaimed cartoonist Bruce Petty.
This telemovie has been put together by some of the best names in the business from Australia. The director, Gil Brearly has added some great artistic touches, and the production design by Brian Thomson is brilliant. As for the actor, the expert madcap antics of Drew Forsythe is on show, as is the sexy Lorna Lesley. Bob Baines adds great comedic value to the enterprise.
Added to this is a marvellous score, an early entry into the world of synthesizer/electronic scoring. This precedes most of the work in this area now commonplace in Hollywood movies, and this came out of Australia. in the mid-1980s.
The sad technical values are only seen for what they are in the context of the technology which it inspired. They are groundbreaking and laughable at the same time.
This was one of the few entries by Film Australia, the Commonwealth documentary-making arm, into the drama field, preceded by their AFI Award-winning 'Annie's Coming Out', winning the Australian Oscar for Best Film.
Snow Day (2000)
Lame kid's film and another dud for Chevy
Contains Spoilers One wonders how this no-brainer film script like this ever gets in to production. Is Chevy so in need of money that he needs to pick a script like this? How disappointing.
Even the ending with the nice guy, Hal, and never-noticed-her-before best friend-who-is-a-girl, Lane, is telegraphed from the first minute. Naturally the bodacious beauty he is after will never be attained. Besides which, in this genre, if she's so stupid that she goes out with her idiot jock boyfriend for 3-years and doesn't wonder if there is anything better in life, there is no way she will be worth having. Claire, played by Emmanuelle Chriqui, is nevertheless very cute (and a good diver apparently, her only other redeeming feature being that her favourite animal is a zebra) but this film needs to state in capital letters that beautiful doesn't mean intelligent.
It takes a more grown-up film like "Cruel Intentions" or "American Pie" to suggest that a mediocre bloke could get a beautiful girl, and they aren't monuments to great filmmaking either.
Other than a winning performance by our hero's little sister - and Zena Grey is terrific as Natalie - this admittedly good-natured film splutters all the way through to a predictable ending as weatherman Chevy finally makes his television opponent admit that he doesn't even know what makes snow snow. Well meaning doesn't equal funny, however.
The only thing that gives the film an energetic feel is the cartoon-like music score by well-known Danny Elfman orchestrator, Steve Bartek, who really adds a sense of adventure to the entire one-joke idea.
Annie's Coming Out (1984)
One of the under-rated Australian movies of all time
This very good 1984 film, known most often as "Annie's Coming Out", was based on a true story and won the Australian Best Film Award from the Australian Film Institute. It also won the Best Actress Award for Angela Punch McGregor as Jessica Hathaway, and was nominated for Best Music for its lyrical and enormously effective score by Simon Walker.
It tells the story of a young female social worker who begins work at a hospital for retarded children, and discovers that some of the psychological problems attributed to these children are incorrectly diagnosed. Proving this to be the case is difficult, however, as it is generally accepted that as those who are 'profoundly retarded' cannot communicate, therefore they cannot think.
In the case of Annie O'Farrell (Tina Arhondis), finding a way for her to 'talk', other than speaking or writing, finally shows that she is not only able to think, but is highly intelligent. The battle against the hospital to acknowledge this in a legal sense goes to court, as the psychiatrists try to hide their misdiagnosis.
The characterisations of the doctors and psychiatrists are often on the clichéd side. One or two performances are quite irritatingly portrayed. However, there much to praise. There is so much compassion in the other characters and the other actors' performances, that the film gets a real edge and emotional depth to it. The fact that the performances by Charles "Bud" Tingwell as the Judge and Simon Chilvers as the solicitor Warren Metcalf are so good, adds a real lift to the second half of the film.
Angela Punch MacGregor is fine as the terrier-like social worker, and Drew Forsythe's performance as the irritated, funny/angry boyfriend, gives the film some light relief. The stand out performance, however, is the brilliant Tina Arhondis, who suffers from a similar disability to the character she is playing. It is an absolutely astonishing performance.
Pulling all the elements of the film together, filling the scenes with genuine and realistic emotions, is the outstanding musical score by Simon Walker. Mostly it is unobtrusive, gently emphasising the different aspects of the film's emotional vicissitudes. At times though, it is dark and eerie, echoing the genuine threat of death, and adding depth to a sometimes cold, heartless hospital and staff.
This feature film is highly recommended for those who like thoughtful dramas which are a step above the American style TV Movie of the Week. Credit must go to writers Chris Borthwick and John Patterson who avoid a lot of the cliches in this genre. Their script is based on the book by the real-life two main characters, Rosemary Crossley and Anne McDonald.