GERMAN CINEMA - VIBRANT AND VARIED Vibrant and varied, German cinema is riding a wave of popular and critical success - and this festival is a showcase to some of its offerings, ranging from the Opening Night comedy Whisky With Vodka about an actor in crisis, through the Oscar winning and astringent The White Ribbon to the sensuous relationship drama of unlikely love, in Aimée and Jaguar. And then there is young Adolf ....  Andrew L. Urban reports. Aimee and Jaguar ...

FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL 2010 AUSTRALIA – PREVIEW   Festival dates: Sydney: March 2 -21 Melbourne: March 4 – 21 Canberra: March 18 – 31 Brisbane: March 17 – 31 Perth: March 17 – 31 Adelaide: March 18 -31   PLENTY TO CHEW ON, MON VIEUX The French have a reputation and a tradition unmatched in globally successful cinema, except perhaps by Hollywood, and the 21st Alliance Française French Film Festival giv...

Movie reviews by Urban Cinefile courtesy Andrew and Louise: PRIME MOVER (Aust, 2009) Stars Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Dorman, Emily Barclay, William McInnes. "Big dreams, harsh reality and a quirky fantasy make up the engine of David Caesar's likeable new film, in which a prime mover is the prime motivation of his pie-in-the-sky protagonist," says Louise. "Prime Mover deals in the everyday lives of recognisably Australian characters in a way that makes their journey...

SYNOPSIS:In 1898 - 1902 Texas, prospector Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) scratches the soil and digs deep holes looking to find his fortune in whatever form there is. Sure enough, he finds it - oil; but as he begins to harvest it, an accident kills one of his workers, leaving behind a baby boy. Daniel brings up the orphan HG (Dillon Freasier), as his own, as he buys up ranches where oil may be found - including the Sunday family ranch, where the young Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) is exciting the ...

SYNOPSIS:In the English summer of 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister Cecilia's (Keira Knightley) lover, Robbie (James McAvoy), a servant's son, of a crime he did not commit. The trauma follows them through World War II. Review by Andrew L. Urban:Ian McEwan's Booker-listed novel provides the kind of high value romantic drama as did The English Patient (which won the Booker). This comes...

HAIRSPRAY SYNOPSIS:Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion - dancing. Her dream is to appear on The Corny Collins Show, Baltimore's most popular teen dance party in 1962, sponsored by a hairspray company. Her plus-size figure has always set her apart, of which she is reminded by her loving but overly protective and oversized mother, Edna (John Travolta). After wowing Corny Collins (James Marsden) at her high school dance, Tracy wins...

SYNOPSIS:On the 4th July weekend, the entire computer-controlled US infrastructure starts closing down in what appears top be a major hacker attack. Security Chief Bowman (Cliff Curtis) orders a crackdown on hackers, but most of them are already dead. NYPD Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis), who is in the neighbourhood of one hacker, Matt Farrell (Justin Long), while having another dispute with his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). McClane is asked as a favour to bring Farrell in. The ...

SPIDER-MAN 3 SYNOPSIS:Just as Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) finds the balance between his love for Mary Jane Watson (Kirstin Dunst) and his responsibilities as heroic Spider-Man, fate steps in and delivers Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), with exceptional superpowers - and a link to the murder of his uncle Ben. But before Peter can track down the murderer, a mysterious black substance turns his suit black - and begins to draw out the dark side of Peter's persona. The blackness also affects a rival ...

SYNOPSIS:In 1984 the German Democratic Republic (GDR) maintains power via the ubiquitous surveillance operated by the Stasi, the State Secret Police, and their vast network of informers. Their goal is to know everything about the lives of its citizens. Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) is assigned by his boss Grubitz (Ulrich Tuker) to set up surveillance of famous playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), who lives with celebrity actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). Dreyman is one o...

THE BUG, THE MURDER, THE MONSTER & THE SUICIDE BOMBER For Cannes 2006, Directors’ Fortnight has compiled an eclectic mix of 22 films from 19 countries, ranging from Bug, by the 70 year old William Friedkin, who famously directed The French Connection (1971) and Rules of Engagement (2000) to Jindabyne, by Australia’s Ray Lawrence who famously directed Bliss (1985) and Lantana (2001). Andrew L. Urban and Louise Keller report on the selection. From its inception in 1969 by the French Direc...

THE BUG, THE MURDER, THE MONSTER & THE SUICIDE BOMBERFor Cannes 2006, Directors’ Fortnight has compiled an eclectic mix of 22 films from 19 countries, ranging from Bug, by the 70 year old William Friedkin, who famously directed The French Connection (1971) and Rules of Engagement (2000) to Jindabyne, by Australia’s Ray Lawrence who famously directed Bliss (1985) and Lantana (2001). Andrew L. Urban and Louise Keller report on the selection.From its inception in 1969 by the French Directors Gu...

The synopsis.In World War II England, the four Pevensie siblings - Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Peter (William Moseley) - are sent to the safety of the rural home of elderly professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent). While playing hide-and-seek, they accidentally enter the world of Narnia through the magical wardrobe in a spare room. In Narnia, the children discover that the once charming land, inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs and giants, ...

URBAN CINEFILE AUDIENCE AWARDS, SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2005AUDIENCES PICK STRONG CINEMA A stirring, low budget Australian love drama, Blacktown, and a powerful Danish family drama, Brothers, have won the Urban Cinefile Audience Awards for Best Feature in the Sidebar Program and World Cinema respectively, concluding a strong Sydney Film Festival, in which Mad Hot Ballroom from the US was the undisputed favourite of the docos, winning in both sections, after screening at both the State Theatre and a...

Sydney Film Festival launches new Audience Awards with Urban Cinefile52nd SFF, June 10 – 25, 2005: Sydney Film Festival President Cathy Robinson has welcomed the establishment of the Sydney Film Festival Urban Cinefile Audience Awards - a new awards program that will further enhance the profile of Australia’s premiere film event internationally. The Urban Cinefile Audience Awards comprises six categories across the two main Festival streams – World Cinema and the Sidebar Programs.“The Ur...