2007 Movies Reviews & Articles |
 WALL-E: A Robot with a Heart
Released in Australian Cinemas around 18th September 2008
 G (General)
by Angela Walker
Christian Cinema.Com
One of the most memorable and romantic characters on film so far this year is a little robot named “Wall-E” (Wast Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). Aside from a seemingly indestructible cockroach, he is the last functioning entity left on earth.
Though the first 30 minutes or so are completely without dialog, there is enough humor and visual action to keep everyone engaged with the story. In addition to this unusual beginning, Pixar utilizes some amazing new animation technology, and, in a first for this studio, includes a live person in the story (Fred Willard).
Wall-E’s original purpose (along with thousands of other robots) was to clean up the planet that humans turned into a huge garbage dump with their materialism. In fact, Earth became so trash-bound that humans were sent on a luxury space cruise intended to last only two years. More than 700 years into that journey, humans have become big blobs without muscle mass, dependent on robots to serve them, and Wall-E has become a hopeless romantic.
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 The Interior Design of Sex and the City Reflects a Culture in Ruins
 MA 15+ (Not suitable for people under 15. Under 15s must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian) ... Consumer Advice: Sex Scenes
“Women have the right to behave every bit as badly as men” is not a claim made by the big-screen version of the television hit Sex and the City – it is the film’s presupposition. In the world of Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte, women are every bit as callous, petty, unforgiving, and sexually promiscuous as any man. It’s not an aberration, the film reveals, it’s just the way things are.
I have a confession to make. I am not familiar with the television series. But I assume that I am not alone in seeing the film version of Sex and the City as a stand-alone experience. The filmmakers go out of their way to make sure that I am all caught up on the storyline before the opening credits are finished. The world into which I am ushered is one of tremendous financial privilege and faint moral obligation..
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Fantastic Epic Adventure: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN
 (Frequent Battle Violence)
By Dr. Ted Baehr, Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE®
Special to ASSIST News Service
PRINCE CASPIAN is a very exciting, fantastic epic in the tradition of LORD OF THE RINGS. Right up front it needs to be noted that the book has been re-imagined to make the movie. In most cases, this re-imagining has helped the drama considerably.
Better yet, the filmmakers have kept the integrity of and even highlighted the theological points C.S. Lewis was trying to make. One would hope that C.S. Lewis would be happy with the cinematic changes, although he was very critical of movies in general.
There are, however, a few minor divergences where media wisdom is required. So, don't expect to see the book when you come to the movie. Expect to see a wonderful movie that retains the faith of the book.
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Behind The Scenes of 'Prince Caspian'
Keeper of the Sacred Trust: An Interview with Douglas Gresham
When a cherished book becomes a movie, the book fans usually cringe. Yet, three years ago, THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE burst onto the screen, satisfying even the most ardent fan of C.S. Lewis' literary classic.
The man most responsible for keeping the integrity of the initial book
MOVIEGUIDE® recently chatted with Douglas Gresham.
In his eloquent and affable manner, he gave us insight into the upcoming movie.
Considering himself to have a “moral, sacred duty to protect the essential messages of the books,” Gresham has worked hand in hand with director Andrew Adamson to make sure that the spirit of the book will make its way onto the screen. Gresham says that, during production of the first movie, he had a steep learning curve due to his ignorance of the filmmaking process. Gresham credits Adamson with being the “world’s best teacher.” This time around, the learning curve has not been as steep for Gresham, but he said they found PRINCE CASPIAN presented unique challenges not found in the previous book and movie. . |
Bella
 (Mild Themes)
It’s not very often that a drama comes along that literally sweeps you off your feet and leaves you feeling deeply impacted in such a life affirming way. Bella is such a film. We are thrilled to be working with Hopscotch Films to introduce Bella to you.
Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival, Bella is a beautiful story from The Producer of Braveheart and The Passion of The Christ – Steve McEveety.
Steve’s thoughts on Bella are summed up well in his quote …
“The Passion showed how Christ died for us. Bella shows us how we should live for others.”
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 The Greatest Story Ever Told -- through the eyes of a woman
New Film about Jesus released to U.S. audiences on dvd - not yet classified or available in Australia
(last checked July 08)
A new film about the life of Jesus has been produced by the same people who have turned the movie JESUS into the most-translated film of all time.
With the U.S. release of the film Magdalena: Released from Shame, the JESUS Film Project has begun distributing a unique new view of Jesus' life through the eyes of Mary Magdalena.
Instead of a new translation into a different language, this film uses a new perspective to tell the Jesus story -- a female point-of-view.
Magdalena: Released From Shame is the story of Mary of Magdala, also known as Mary Magdalene, and what she may have experienced walking with Jesus of Nazareth during His public ministry. Through her eyes, this film portrays how Jesus values women by focusing on historical accounts of His interactions with them. |
 Saving Sarah Cain, a movie to watch out for!
By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service
January 2008 - Released on DVD in the US, not yet classified or available in Australia
Sarah Cain is not quite at the top of her game. She is, in fact, a journalist in danger of losing her column to a particularly bad case of writer's block.
Her harried, high maintenance lifestyle is interrupted one evening with a phone call from her niece Lyddie informing her that Sarah's sister has died, leaving Lyddie and four siblings orphans with only one living relative -- Sarah herself.
Michael Landon, Jr., and Brian Bird, who produced The Last Sin Eater, have teamed up again to create a film that first premiered on the Lifetime Network.
Based on the best-selling book by Beverly Lewis "Saving Sarah Cain" (the novel is "The Redemption of Sarah Cain"), the film tells the story of a newspaper reporter from Portland, Oregon who suddenly gains custody of her sister's 5 children who were raised in an Amish community.
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Plugged In Online Reviews - External Links
Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to help equip parents, youth leaders, ministers and teens with the essential tools that will enable them to understand, navigate and impact the culture in which they live - the Plugged IN Magazine subscriptions can be purchased through Link-Zones - contact admin@Link-Zone for more information - or click on the MAGAZINE link above |
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Journey to the Centre
of the Earth
Due in Australian Cinemas mid to end of September
Rating TBC
An exciting adventure based on the classic Jules Verne novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D stars Brendan Fraser (Crash, The Mummy) as a science professor whose untraditional hypotheses have made him the laughing stock of the academic community.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Due in Australian Cinemas end of August - Rating TBC
From within the ranks of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Development, Hellboy (Perlman) must assemble a super-team to fight an other-wordly threat which threatens to eradicate life as we know it.
PLUGGED IN
REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Meet Dave
Due in Australian Cinemas
10th July
Infrequent Violence
& crude humour
A crew of miniature aliens
operate a spaceship that
has a human form. While
trying to save their planet,
the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship
becomes smitten with an
Earth woman (Banks).
PLUGGED IN
REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Hancock
Due in Australian Cinemas
July
If cities drafted superheroes like athletes, Hancock would be a surefire first-rounder. He flies. He's impervious to bullets. He could bench press Milwaukee. Physically, Hancock's the biggest deal since Superman—superherodom's very own Michael Jordan.
But here's the thing: Hancock pairs his altitude with attitude. Bad attitude.
PLUGGED IN
REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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The Hulk
Due in Australian Cinemas
July
He's big. He's strong. He's foul-tempered. And he owes his fame to dubious performance-enhancing substances.
No, no, I'm not talking about a certain major league baseballer. I'm referring to the Hulk—the 9-foot-tall green behemoth who growls "Hulk smash!" and regards it as a promise. Sorta Superman eternally trapped in his "terrible twos," Hulk tosses forklifts like Frisbees and smashes buildings into talcum powder like nobody's business.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers |
Dr. Seuss' Horton
Hears a Who!
Due in Australian Cinemas
April / May
"On the fifteenth of May in the jungle of Nool, in the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool," and right smack in the middle of page one of Dr. Seuss' classic book—that's where this story begins. Horton is a friendly talking elephant whose afternoon swim is interrupted by a speck of dust that floats by and ... screams.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers |
Indiana Jones and
the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull
Due in Australian
Cinemas
April
"It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage."
Indiana Jones was practically a pup in 1936 when he
rattled off that line in Raiders
of the Lost Ark.
As Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens—21 years afterwards, Indy time—it's pretty clear the odometer of our fedora-wearing hero has long since flipped.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Iron Man
Due in Australian
Cinemas
April
It figures. Just when everything's going your way, something comes along and messes things up. For some people, it's an unexpected illness, an overdrawn bank account or a traffic accident one block away from work. For Tony Stark, it's being shot at and abducted by terrorists.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Jumper
Due in Australian Cinemas
February
Coffee in Paris. Lunch in the Maldives. Kicking back in the afternoon ... on the forehead of the Sphinx. It's all in a day's "work" for David Rice, a "jumper" who has only to visualize his final destination to teleport there.
It all started the day David accidentally plunged through thin ice on a river in suburban Michigan. Instead of drowning, he suddenly found himself at the Ann Arbor public library. "Did I just teleport?" he wonders amid the stares of startled bookworms. Soon he masters his power ... and embraces a world of endless possibility.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers |
Kung Fu Panda
Due in Australian Cinemas
July
Po loves to play with action figures of the legendary Furious Five—Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey. He dreams of being in their ranks as a true deliverer of kung fu awesomeness. But, alas, he is only a chubby, stumble-footed and easily winded panda, not a lightning-fast, disciplined martial artist. So he's stuck in the family noodle business.
When word goes out that a Dragon Warrior will be chosen to fulfill legend and defend the Jade Kingdom from the dreaded martial arts master Tai Lung, Po can't contain his excitement.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Nim's Island
Due in Australian Cinemas
April
Nim and her dad, semi-famous marine biologist Jack Rusoe, sailed around the world twice by her fourth birthday and landed on a wonderful island paradise. There they live a 21st century Swiss Family Robinson kind of life—with solar powered lights and satellite Internet connections. Life is good.
Jack can spend his time focusing on an ocean full of nannoplankton. And 11-year-old Nim can commune with her sea lion and bearded dragon buddies, making tasty stews out of vegetables, tree roots and squirmy little mealworms. If that isn't entertainment enough, every few months a supply boat brings another exciting book by her favorite author, Alex Rover, an Indiana Jones-type man of adventure.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers
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Don't Mess with the Zohan
Due in Australian Cinemas
April
We all have dreams. Some of us dreamed of being fighter pilots or ballerinas or world leaders. I always dreamed of being an NFL wide receiver—a fantasy that faded due to my complete lack of talent and unseemly affection for bacon cheeseburgers. The Zohan has a dream, too. He wants to be a hairdresser.
Oh, some would say he has a pretty glamorous gig already. He's an Israeli counterterrorist—a man so skilled and lethal as to make James Bond look like a tax accountant. He kicks through walls, catches bullets with his nostrils and outraces jet skis with a svelte-yet-powerful butterfly stroke. "You're like Rembrandt with a grenade," his father exclaims.
PLUGGED IN REVIEW
May contain spoilers |
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