Inception....

RELEASE DATE: 22nd July 2010.

- If Leo's your leading man of choice, then you will enjoy this film.

Inception is the new film from British director Christopher Nolan who was responsible for creating the darker Batman character, played by Christian Bale in "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight".

Inception has a star studded cast with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead role of "Cobb" along with Ellen Page of "Juno" fame, Joseph Gordon-Levitt of "60 Days of Summer", Academy Award winning actress Marion Cotillard from the film "La Vie en rose" and seminal actors Michael Caine, Pete Poselthwaite and Tom Berenger.

Up and coming British actor "Tom Hardy", who also features in the film, manages to steal the limelight from others through his sheer charisma and that British accent!  He is best known for his starring role in the film "Bronson" which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2009.

This film takes us on a journey which can be likened to that of the film "The Matrix", where reality and the subconscious become blurred. Leo appears to be attracted to the idea of reality and our skewed perceptions of it as his role in the film "Shutter Island" took a similar turn.

Casting in this film is similar to that of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, with a couple of  key character such as Leo's "Cobb" and Ellen Page's "Ariadne" supported by a cast of pretty young things and acting stalwarts Michael Caine and Pete Poselthwaite.  This film is enjoyable although perhaps a little too long (it seems lately the running time of each film has to be a minimum of 2 hours).  A thinking man's/woman's action/adventure!

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LA Zombie...

LA Zombie the film by American director Bruce LaBruce which was supposed to screen as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) but was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board, is now being shown as part of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF).

MUFF Director, Richard Wolstencroft is said to be screening the film on August 29th as a public protest against the classification standards and in support of 'Freedom of Speech'.

So for those who dare, support this screening and what it stands for!

Charisse-MovieRevue
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Upcoming Film Festival's

For those interested, the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) begins on the 20th August - 28th August and film's will be screening at the 1000 Pound Bend, Classic Elsternwick and Open Channel, Shed 4 @ The Docklands.

http://www.muff.com.au/index.html

Australia's Silent Film Festival in Sydney will show classic film's from the silent era on the following dates: September 11, 16, 18, 23 and 25 at various locations in Sydney.

For more details: http://www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au/index.asp?IntCatId=14

The Italian Film Festival is presented by Palace Cinemas and will be showing film's nationally.

In Melbourne the festival will run from Wednesday, 22 September - Sunday 10th October.

More details to come...

Air Doll........

"Air Doll" is a Japanese film by director, Hirokazu Koreeda which featured at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) for 2010. This film is based on the Manga series about an inflatable sex doll that finds a soul and falls in love.

This film stirred up mixed reviews by many of the viewers as some commented on how slow it was and others found it too unbelievable. I would argue those that found the film unbelieveable would be taking it too literally. The film is a social commentary on the isolation and loneliness that many of us are faced with today and it has been reported this is particularly the case for youths living in Japan.

Apart from the obvious details such as the representation of the inflatable doll coming too life, I felt the film stayed true to its comic book origins with certain scenes shot as though they were taken straight from the comic book, albeit less stylised than director Robert Rodriguez in his version of the graphic novel, "Sin City". One final scene in the film captures such a moment where "Air Doll" is viewed from above sprawled between some rubbish bins on an abandoned street.

- A melancholy and romantic film.

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MOTHER OF ROCK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LILLIAN ROXON

RELEASE DATE DVD: 2011

Mother of Rock: The Life and Times of Lillian Roxon is another film featuring at the Melbourne International Film Festival and supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund.

The film is a documentary about the life of Lillian Roxon (Aunt of our current health minister, Nicola Roxon), who was seen as Australia's first feminist and noted by others as a "Bitch" and a "Gossip". A liberated woman, Lillian moved to New York early in her career, employed as a New York correspondent for "The Sydney Morning Herald" and working under "shock jock", Derryn Hinch.

Lillian became very influential in the underground music scene via her time spent "hanging out" at the infamous Max's Kansas City club, where all the rising stars rock stars congregated and came to be "seen". Lillian was also known for her promotion of other famous Australians and played host to them when visiting New York. It was with humour that many of her peers had recollections of Lillian promoting her newest Australian visitor as the "best" in their field. Lillian famously played hostess to Germaine Greer early in her career and at a time when Germaine was gaining notoriety in Australia.

Lillian had a fascination with rock music and she believed it to be a powerful influence on society, which at this time was unrecognised. As homage too the importance of "rock" music, Lillian wrote and published the "Rock Encyclopedia", an A - Z of all the influential musicians in the music scene of this time and why this was so.

The doco itself is peppered with interviews from Lillian's peers such as Germaine Greer, Danny Fields and Iggy Pop, in an attempt to understand this early pioneer of rock journalism.

- Knowing little about this character, this was an entertaining and informative doco.

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