Ladder 49

Ladder 49 is a film about firefighters starring the very talented Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta. It starts with Jack Morrison (played by Phoenix) lying on the floor in a pile of rubble, after his crew have attended a fire in a burning warehouse. He has hurt his leg but is trapped and his life is in danger. There are many flashbacks to his life throughout the film, such as:

His first day, 10 years ago, working for the Baltimore Fire Station and the tricks that are played on him – such as one firefighter posing as a priest and listening to his confession regarding sleeping with women, and not being a virgin.
The first time that he attended a fire and him being in charge of the hose of Ladder 49.
Going shopping in the local supermarket with his best friend and chatting up a couple of girls – one of whom was to become his wife.
The birth of his first child and his wife’s concerns over the daily danger faced in his job
Rescuing a man from a burning building by climbing the ladder on the outside and warning him to calm down or Jack will drop him.
Receiving a prestigious medal of honour.

After a period of unconsciousness, Jack is able to radio his colleagues for help but they are unable to get to him because of the burning inferno. His Captain, Mike Kennedy accepts the fact that he can not be rescued.

Ladder 49 is a touching story of everyday life for firefighters and shows the lengths that they put themselves to in order to extinguish fires and save lives. There are impressive effects and it is apparent that the cast and crew had plenty of training to ensure that the fire and rescue scenes were realistic.

Muriel’s Wedding

Muriel Heslop is a small town Australian girl, from Porpoise Spit, that just wants to get married. She’s the daughter of an over-bearing local politician, but she’s fat, frumpy, shy and out of work. She is the butt of her cynical ‘friends’ ire and her life is bad. The only thing that makes her happy is her love of ABBA, if only life could be as good as an ABBA song.

Muriel’s Wedding is a sparkly Australian comedy plotting her transition from frump to fame. Toni Colette plays the title role with wit and affection. Support comes from the great and good of the Australian film industry.

Muriel steals money from her father to go on a holiday with the friends that despise her, where they accuse her of stalking her. Bumping into an old school-friend, Rhonda, who is glamorous and popular, she has a soul-mate. Rhonda already has a hatred of Muriel’s tormentors and her confidence brings Muriel along.

The most telling scene in the film is when Muriel and Rhonda are miming to “Waterloo” as Agnetha and Annifrid from ABBA. Muriel begins as a stilted and nervous Agnetha, in white jump suit and blonde wig, looking completely out of place next to Rhonda’s confident Frida. As a fight ensues between her ex-friends over the infidelity of one with another’s now husband, Muriel brightens up and shines, putting on a sassy and sexy show. They win the talent contest as the other girls are finishing their scrap.

When Muriel goes back to Porpoise Spit the theft becomes apparent and she retreats to Sydney and Rhonda. Rhonda is wild and helps Muriel open up, as she changes her name to ‘Mariel’. However, disaster strikes on two fronts as Rhonda suffers from a tumour that stops her from walking and Muriel’s father leaves her mother to be with the local beauty consultant. When Rhonda questions Muriel’s reasons for sticking around and looking after her, she explains how she no longer listens to ABBA songs because:

“My life’s as good as an ABBA song, it’s as good as ‘Dancing Queen’”

Muriel gets an opportunity to help a South African swimmer, David, get Australian citizenship by marrying him. As all that she has ever wanted was a wedding she jumps at the chance, despite the reservations of her athletic beau. Mariel has her old ‘friends’ as bridesmaids and thoroughly enjoys her day but falls out with Rhonda who accuses her of deserting her as she goes back to Porpoise Spit. However, the death of her mother brings her closer to David but she recognises that it is not real and ends the relationship as he becomes genuinely fond of her.

Muriel (again) returns to Porpoise Spit as an elegant and urbane city girl, but only to patch up with her father and take Rhonda back to Sydney. This a genuinely delightful movie picking up on the power of true friendships and still Toni Colette’s finest performance.

The Stepford Wives

The Stepford Wives is a remake of the original film released in 1975 and it would be fair to say that it has more comedy than the original (which was more of a horror film). The remake was released in 2004 and stars Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick in the lead roles, as well as Glenn Close, Christopher Walken and Bette Midler.

Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman) is a high powered manager of a television network . During an arrogant presentation (reminding me of Tom Cruise’s portrayal of Frank T. J. Mackey in Magnolia), she is confronted by a guy whose wife rejected him on a programme called “I can do better”. He fires a gun at her andthankfully misses, but Joanna is sacked from her job.

Joanna goes on to have a nervous breakdown and her husband Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick), who also works for the network, suggests that they take a break from Manhatten to move to Stepford in Connecticut. They arrive with their two children to their new house – a spacious mansion and are greeted by Claire Wellington - perfectly presented in 1950s style fashions, hairdo and makeup.

She gives Joanna a mini tour of Stepford and takes her to the Day Spa where the wives perform their exercises fully clothed, as though they are starring in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Claire explains that the men spend their time at Stepford Men’s Club.

Joanna makes friends with Bobbie (Better Miller), a successful writer and Roger (Roger Bannister of ‘Desperate Housewives’) and they query why all of the women look so glamourous, never argue with their husbands, enjoy knitting and act as domestic goddesses. They attend a Square Dances and one of the wives dances out of control and collapses on the floor. The residents of Stepford close ranks and Joanna is horrified that no-one has called an ambulance. She becomes concerned that the wife – Sarah , has sparks flying out of her. Later the trio visit Sarah’s house and discover all is not as it seems (the Stepford Wife) is a robot.

The story continues with both Roger and Bobbie changed into being perfect Stepford citizens. Joanna, after pretending to be converted ,(Stepford wives normally have a series of microchips inserted into their brains and instructions sent to the) discovers the truth: Claire’s husband Mike (Christopher Walken) is in fact a Stepford husband and Claire was the brains behind creating the perfect community. The Stepford Wives was an enjoyable film but it did not have the same impact as the original

The Talented Mr Ripley

“The Talented Mr Ripley” is one of those films that you can watch many times and pick up something new from the storyline. The film was directed and written (screenplay) by Anthony Minghella, who won an Oscar for his film, “The English Patient” and also plenty of BAFTA and other awards for “Cold Mountain” and “Truly, Madly, Deeply”. “The Talented Mr Ripley” itself was nominated for 5 Oscars and it’s easy to see why.

The film is set in Italy in the 1950s and has stunning shots of Venice, Rome and Naples. It has an all-star cast featuring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cate Blanchett.

Tom Ripley (Matt Damon), after pretending to be a student at Princetown starts chatting to a wealthy businessman. He pretends to know his son – Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law), and is asked to travel to Italy to bring back the errant playboy. Tom Ripley is offered $1,000 to do this. He arrives in Italy and tracks down Dickie and his fiancée, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and quickly makes friends. They make fun of him a little because of his dress sense and his manner, but he is introduced to their wider circle. Tom Ripley becomes rather obsessed with the pair, particularly Dickie Greenleaf and the film makes you wonder if there is a hidden homosexuality to Dickie.

In one scene, Tom is caught by Dickie’s friend Freddie watching the couple making love below deck on a boat and earns the nickname of “Peeping Tom”. Slowly Ripley infiltrates their life , but Marge becomes suspicious of his motives.

On holiday with Dickie, Ripley professes his love for him but murders him on a boat and sinks it. He quickly assumes the identity of “Dickie Greenleaf” but manages to persuade Marge that Dickie has simply deserted her. However Freddie discovers the truth and the story continues with Ripley trying to avoid the police and the attentions of the heiress (Meredith Logue) (Cate Blanchett) who thinks he is Dickie.

There are many twists and turns to the plot, with a surprise ending.

Tom Ripley is not a “pantomime baddy” but a character that you learn to feel sorry for as he shows his vulnerability and is quite sad and lonely as well as obsessively in love. He has a great ,musical talent and is intelligent of nature However, he also yearns for Dickie’s lifestyle, is ruthless, calculating and secretive. This is Matt Damon at his acting best.

“Pay It Forward”

Every now and again there is a film release which sticks in your mind for all of the right reasons, funny, serious and with a great hidden message. “Pay It Forward” is one of these films, once seen never forgotten and likely to make you think about everyday life and how you can make the world a better place.

The film centres around a young boy and his school studies where his class are asked to think of a plan to make the world a better place and put a smile back on the face of society. He comes up with a plan whereby he does a good turn for people and then asks them to “Pay It Forward” by doing a good turn to three other people.

The plan takes off and before long the trend is taking over his local town the next town the next state and so on. Such is the support and passion for his new “Pay Back” system that he is soon courted by the media and made into something of a TV star. Determined to do his bit to make society a better place he continues to pursue his idea, touching all areas of society.

As you may expect from a film spreading good throughout society there is always a twist in the tale and unfortunately not all recipients of “Pay It Forward” appreciate the well meaning thoughts. The young boy soon becomes involved with a heavy drug taker, trying to help him turn his life around, but all does not go to plan in what has to be one of the saddest endings to a film.

For some time after its release this film spawned a lot of websites pushing the theory of “Pay It Forward” and became a trend amongst the young - not a bad results for a simple yet very well thought out idea.

The film has a great cast which includes Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment, Jay Mohr, James Caviezel and Sophie Jovillard.