Father Geek here marking the welcome return of LATAURO, our one and only outback editor, the master of the keyboard who keeps us up-to-date on filmic events deep in the Australian bush. Soooo here he is once again with coolness from our future... for as Asimov noted...

"Yesterday, a thousand years from now, it was will be the same."

Sic vic pacum para bellum.

AICN-DOWNUNDER

Hey y'all. Another Semester of Uni is done with, so sleep is again on the agenda. Also, films. I actually managed to see one of 'em again (review below). In the meantime, here's what's been happening with the local film industry in the past week...

NEWS

* Parents: in case you were wondering, it's now OKAY to take your small children to the new HARRY POTTER film. The Office of Film and Literature Classification almost landed the film with an M rating (which, to our American readers, is basically a PG-13 rating). It's now a PG (which, to our American readers, is literally a PG). So, basically, it's the exact same film but with a different rating.

* Chris Noonan (BABE) has adapted Russell Banks's book RULE OF THE BONE, for producer Barry Mendel (THE LIFE AQUATIC, SERENITY). The film will have a budget of US$15 million.

* Yves Stening (GREAT FALLS) will direct the drama/documentary feature HOUSE OF DREAMS for producer Martin Brown (MOULIN ROUGE!). Russell Boyd (MASTER AND COMMANDER) will shoot, and Richard Tognetti (also MASTER AND COMMANDER) will score.

* Simon Wincer (PHAR LAP) will helm the $33 million production of CLANCY OF THE OVERFLOW, based on the poem by Banjo Patterson (screenplay by Patrick Edgeworth). Producer Michael Edgley, who brought that other Patterson poem THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER to the big screen, said the film will begin shooting in March of 2005 with a big name actor in the lead role. He said they've already talked to Hugh Jackman (who is serving as one of the producers on the project), as well as Russell Crowe and Eric Bana. The film will lens in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, with the studio shoot likely to take place in Melbourne's Docklands Studios.

* Australian director Unjoo Moon (SORROW'S CHILD) is developing the Mary Chase children's book THE WICKED, WICKED LADIES IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE alongside cinematographer husband Dion Beebe (THE GODDESS OF 1967, CHICAGO).

* Ron Howard's upcoming adaptation of airport novel THE DA VINCI CODE is searching for a lead actor. Alongside George Clooney and Tom Hanks, local boys Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman are up for the lead role. Crowe is a favourite, having worked twice now with Howard on crapfest A BEAUTIFUL MIND and the upcoming CINDERELLA MAN.

* Producers Chris Noonan and Doug Lodato are teaming up with The Henson Creature Shop to make fantasy feature CRASH DUMMIES: ADVENTURES IN THE FAR-GONE. Yes, it could suck, but it could also rule the planet. Anyone with info on this project, write in! It sounds fascinating.

* Brett Leonard, the director lucky enough to claim LAWNMOWER MAN and VIRTUOSITY on his CV, will follow up comic book adaptation MAN-THING with NIGHT MARCHERS, a film he'd been planning before signing onto the Marvel flick. No details as of yet, but are we excited? Are we? Anyone? Hello?

* Tony Krawtiz will direct from his script, JEW BOY, this August in Sydney. The film follows a young man trying to find his place in the world.

* ASDA winner Paul Currie (scroll down to Awards and Festivals for details... wait! Read this first!) will follow ONE PERFECT DAY with a $15 million romantic drama set in Ireland.

* Shekar Kapur is looking to follow up ELIZABETH with a sequel (not ELIZABETH II, as my dickhead of a housemate suggested). GOLDEN AGE will again star Cate Blanchett as the Virgin Queen, and will concentrate on her battles against Spain.

* THE ORDER, a low budget thriller by first-time filmmaker Luke Polti, will start shooting this July.

* Some awesome news for all Aussie film geeks. "Croaky" dropped a line to let us know that VOLCANO HIGH is finally coming to Region 4 DVD on June 25. If you want to order it, go to http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/227269 and follow the prompts.

* More on the "reclassification" of IRREVERSIBLE (a title that's becoming less apt by the day): the hearing, which was to take place this week, has been postponed to late June. Lawyers for Accent Film Entertainment have drafted a letter condemning the decision to review the R18+ rating given to the film. Pending the decision, IRREVERSIBLE will come out on DVD this July.

AWARDS AND FESTIVALS

7TH SHANGHAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Screening at this year's festival (or screened, depending on the playlist) are Australian films GETTIN' SQUARE, THE HONOURABLE WALLY NORMAN, DIRTY DEEDS, NED KELLY, THE TRACKER, SWIMMING UPSTREAM, and the film Lat considers to be the best Aussie film ever made, Clara Law's brilliant 2000 flick THE GODDESS OF 1967.

AUSTRALIAN SCREEN DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION AWARDS

Earlier last week, Sue Brooks was given an award for her work on JAPANESE STORY, whilst Paul Currie received Best Direction of a First Feature Film for his work on ONE PERFECT DAY, and Curtis Levy won best documentary for THE PRESIDENT VERSUS DAVID HICKS. The Outstanding Achievement Award was presented by Peter Weir to Ray Lawrence (LANTANA, JINDABYNE).

51ST SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

On the heels of the news about the original GODZILLA screening this year, SFF has scored the recently-restored THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE. Considered the most important Australian silent film ever made (although wouldn't that honour have to go to the original silent version of the Ned Kelly legend, the world's first ever feature film?), Raymond Longford's 1919 adaptation of C. J. Dennis's brilliant poem is a definite must-see.

ST KILDA FILM FESTIVAL

Mark Robinson's short AND ONE STEP BACK took out the top prize last week, winning the writer/director $10 000.

TAC COMPETITION

Want to make films, but worried that your social conscious will guilt you into doing something more meaningful? The Transport Accident Commission is again running a competition whereby two filmmakers will be granted a $12 000 budget and an industry mentor to make a two minute film. The theme is "Your mate's life is in your hands". To enter, go to www.taxsafety.com.au and follow the prompts to the entry forms and creative brief. Entries close June 18.

BOX OFFICE

Just as crazy scientists predicted the change in weather (wait for it), everybody predicted DAY AFTER TOMORROW would take top spot at the box office (I'm the king of segways, baby). And it did. So there. Meanwhile, SUPERSIZE ME beat the record held by BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, taking the largest ever opening week for a documentary. Though it will undoubtedly be beaten when the not-controversial-at-all FAHRENHEIT 9/11 opens. How much does that Mike-and-Dubya-hold-hands poster rule?

So the leaders are...

• 1. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
• 2. TROY
• 3. VAN HELSING
• 4. TWISTED
• 5. THUNDERSTRUCK

RELEASED THESE PAST TWO WEEKS

A remake does for shopping malls what EVIL DEAD did for shacks in the middle of nowhere, Stephen Friers imports Audrey Tautou, Puberty hits Hogwarts, Colin Farrell puts on an Irish accent, Marvel completely misses the irony of its latest title, Kate Hudson stars in a sitcom pilot, the next Broomfield/Moore releases his McDocumentary, and German twins get separated at birth.

Annnnnd here are the fresh ones...

• DAWN OF THE DEAD
• DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
• HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
• INTERMISSION
• THE PUNISHER
• RAISING HELEN
• SUPERSIZE ME
• TWIN SISTERS

REVIEWS

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

I really don't want to rag on Christopher Columbus, because I think he did a good job. Though there are some faults with the first two films (some big ones), I think they were well-directed.

But 'well-directed' doesn't seem to be good enough for Alfonsu Cuaron. He's filled PRISONER with so much creativity and originality, you can't help but wish he was doing all seven. But I'll come back to that.

Watching these films is like tracking the progress of a student filmmaker. Watching Steve Kloves adapt these scripts (though not literally watching him; I've already been slapped with a restraining order from Aaron Sorkin) is interesting, watching his steep improvement. He's getting better at knowing what to cut and what to keep. A lot of people say that "Prisoner" is a better book than "Goblet of Fire", yet I get the impression that the script for GOBLET will garner the most praise of the adaptations so far. Particularly if he keeps going the way he's going. I don't feel he's quite there yet with this script, but it's so far and away more concise and relaxed than the previous two efforts that he deserves the kudos.

The same applies to the kids. They're relaxing into their roles nicely, and it'll be a crime if they don't see the entire series through. David Thewlis was excellent casting, though we didn't get to spend as much time with him as we perhaps should have. Gary Oldman was perfect, and if the rest of the film had sucked it still would have been worth it to watch Oldman face off against Alan Rickman. We don't spend a lot of time with any of the other professors, and while I do miss the Trelawney storyline from the book, I like the fact that they are, to some extent, window dressing. Maggie Smith is there to remind us that Professor McGonnagall is still a teacher there. Snape reminds us that he's still a scary teacher. For the sake of the overall series, this is important stuff. It's selfless on the part of the actors (though the paycheque would surely help), but helps create an essential sense of continuity. I worry when I read the producers always talking about the supposedly inevitable recasting of the kids in the future.

As much as I loved the wand-under-the-sheets at the beginning, I think Cuaron's biggest hat tip to those who were nervous at how sexually-charged he'd make the series was in the scene where the kids believe they witness the execution. Is it just me, or were Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe posed in the exact same way as Diego Luna, Ana Lopez Mercado and Gael Garcia Bernal in Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN's climactic scene? While we're on the subject, the filmmakers seem quite certain that it's Ron and Hermione who will end up together at the end of the series, despite the fact that, at book five, we're still uncertain at how it will play out. Anyway, that's semantics.

I worry about GOBLET OF FIRE. I don't think much of Mike Newell as a director (I like some of his films *despite* his directing), and wonder why the producers are now treating the series like James Bond (a new director for every outing). Was Cuaron offered it? Did he turn it down? What the process? I ask because AZKABAN is a sensationally-made film with more imagination than I realised the film series was capable of. Post-LOTR, the big question is whether any blockbusters can deliver. This one does.

NEXT WEEK

- Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich announce a slew of sequels to their previous films; ID8, THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and GODZILLA VS THE PATRIOT

- Robert De Niro signs on to WACKY COMEDY for director Peter Segal, in which he will finally play against type and send up his hard man persona

- Parisian producers sue Steve Martin and Curtis Hanson for their unauthorised respective remakes of French language films LA STORY and LA CONFIDENTIAL

Peace out,

Latauro

AICNDownunder@hotmail.com