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April 06
Edition

Pages in PDF

Regular
Features

› The Fat Lady
  Sings
  with JoAnn
   Pacholli

› Front Page
  Article

› In Tents Thawt
  with Mick Pacholli

› Sid's Comments
  with Sidney
  Somerville-Smith

› The Lie Detector
  with Mitchell
   Faircloth

› Fab's Ravings

› Technology
  with Chris Jacobs

› People's Views

› Are You
  Puzzled?
  with
  Narelle Stegehuis

› Family Issues
  with
  Marilyn Brideson

› Gallery Gazing

› Planet Clare

› Lovatts
  Crossword

› Social Scene
  with Ken James

› Live Theatre
  with Blair Edgar

› Movie Scene
  with
  Charlie Alexander

› Entertainment
  with Gary Turner

› Grazing in the
  Suburbs
  with Mick Pacholli

› Fab's Travel

› Talking Manure
  with Mick Pacholli

› Furry Friends
  with
  Dr Graeme Smith

› Racing
  with Ted Ryan

› Rant & Rave
  with
  Paddles Hackett

› Bowls
  with Mick Pacholli

› Motoring
  with Garry Fabian

› Short Cuts
  Writers
  Competition

› Competitions

Sex and Violence,

Violence and Sex

[by Charlie Alexander]

A History of Violence

Tom Stall is a simple man of few words, with a simple life, a loving wife, two children and a diner that makes enough to pay the bills.

Tom is well respected in a town that welcomes nice people, though there are undercurrents of unrest.

Tom’s son is bullied at school, and his daughter is too young to think beyond her own needs. When two stone killers on the run arrive in town one night they choose Stall’s Diner to obtain some cash.

Entering at closing time, they quickly intimidate the staff and customers and as one of the killers moves to prove their willpower, Tom explodes into action.

Moments later the killers are dead or dying and Tom is wounded and in shock.
Celebrated as a town hero, Tom reacts with disinterest saying he wishes to forget the moment and that anyone would have done the same.

When a black car starts following the family about and three men from Philadelphia appear asking Tom about the incident and referring to him as Joey, Tom’s quiet life is suddenly in upheaval. The family members all try to process the situation and the impact of the history of violence.

Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings) is impressive as Tom Stall, both in action and out of it. His struggle to maintain the life he has loved and to keep his family together is moving and dramatic.

His wife, ably played by Maria Bello, is brilliant in her role as the sexy wife, the defensive mother and the torn lover as her situation devolves from simple and well defined to madly out of control.

As protagonists Fogherty (Ed Harris) and Richie (William Hurt) are both entertaining and just creepy enough to give the impression of the casual violence that follows the hard men of organised crime

Absolutely brilliantly constructed, Director David Cronenberg has once again delivered a controversial and involving movie.

Although the pace of the film is not as rapid as the title might suggest, there has been little put to waste in showing us intimate changes in the personas of the characters as their circumstances begin to change.

Portraying both strong violence and sex scenes this movie won’t suit everyone, however the story and way in which it is portrayed make it a must see for 2006.

Aeon Flux

Aeon Flux is based on the original MTV cartoon series created by Peter Chung, which was groundbreaking in its approach as a cerebral mind game rather than as a visual style such as Manga.

The movie opens with a brief history of how this last pocket of humanity, having survived the ravages of an industrial virus that destroyed 99% of humanity, has lived for the past 400 years.

Feeling stagnant and that something indefinable is wrong with the current regime, a resistance has sprung up calling themselves the “Monicans’.

The Monican resistance seeks to overthrow the Goodchild family regime and conducts acts of terrorism designed to counteract the secret actions of the police state and destabilise their power.

Aeon Flux is the best agent that the Monican rebels have, though when her sister is killed by the State, Aeon’s will resolves and she trains for the day she will be asked to assassinate the Chairman, Trevor Goodchild.

With a utopian setting and technology that is far beyond what we have today, being largely cellular and plant based, Aeon Flux has a very different setting from most science fiction movies.

Using this technology to advance the plot in a well paced manner, Director Karyn Kusama has weaved a series of plots and counter plots that we se unravel as the film progresses. As the titular agent, Aeon, Charlize Theron is well cast.

Aeon is a powerful and singular minded woman with a perverse sense of humour and extremely strong politics who ultimately will have the choice of the direction humanity takes.

Well paced and filmed, Aeon Flux gives the otherworldly feeling that made the MTV cartoon series so popular.

The film has not departed from the premises of the cartoon series but rather expands on a few of those more sinister features and seeks a resolution for the viewers, which Karyn Kusama has presented very well.

Aeon Flux will appeal particularly to anyone who enjoyed the MTV cartoon series, but also stands alone very well in it’s own right. Thought provoking and action orientated, Aeon Flux is certainly an entertaining movie.

On general release

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