Father Geek here with the latest from Downunder, soooo here's Latauro...

Vacant, with a hint of sadness. Like a drunk who's lost a bet.

AICN-DOWNUNDER

Well, the Coalition has been re-elected to serve another three year term in a surprisingly large landslide (it was over about half an hour into the counting). So, what does this mean for the film industry?

The Liberal's policies can be read right here, but it doesn't say much. Basically, slightly more funding will be given to various film bodies, with a lot more power being given to the FFC (is that a good thing? Answers on a postcard). Many in the industry are saying that the policy is disappointing, and doesn't address the real problems that the Australian film industry is experiencing. Private investment has slipped by 50% in the past two years, and will not improve unless the taxation provisions are overhauled.

In the meantime, we can enjoy three more years of Prime Minister John Howard (or less if he decides to retire - something he refused to deny at any point during the campaign) and, most likely, a film industry that will continue to decline.

(On a side note, last week while I was chuckling away to myself at all the people who didn't "get" my CATWOMAN review, somebody pointed out to me that Senator Bob Brown's answer to "What is your favourite movie?" was HOWARD'S END. I failed to make the connection to Prime Minister John Howard. Seems obvious now, doesn't it?)

NEWS

* There's a lot of back-and-forth on EUCALYPTUS, with Dark Horizons reporting that Russell Crowe is off the project and it's all going down the drain, and then that he's still on and all is well. Apparently, the controversy stems from the casting of the female lead. The production is looking for an unknown, and the rumour was that Crowe wanted to go in a certain direction and the production didn't. I have some (frustratingly tight-lipped) sources close to the production, and can tell you that Crowe has been going over the tapes of a short-list of unknowns. I'll try to get the word on who he picks in the coming weeks...

* Some more info on THE PROPOSITION from reader "Benito". The Nick Cave-written/John Hillcoat-directed project stars Liam Neeson, Guy Pierce, Ray Winstone, and Emily Watson. Tom Budge was recently cast as the younger brother, "a sociopath who when he's not killin and rapin... sings beautifully". Sounds interesting.

* Is Bert going to be in THE PRODUCERS? Bert Newton is an Australian TV presenter who has been around for decades. He's bloody funny, everyone on Australian TV cites him as a massive influence, and he played Franz Leibkind in the local production. Mel Brooks is talking about casting him in the movie version, which would put him up against Will Ferrell for the role. My pick? Newton. I love Ferrell, but ol' Moonface suits the role so much more. And it would be so cool to see him in the film.

* New Zealand-shot film RIVER QUEEN is back on track, with Samantha Morton recovered from her bout of influenza. Keifer Sutherland is returning to finish his scenes.

* There's a lot of speculation that Aussie girl Melissa George ("Alias", MULHOLLAND DRIVE) may play SUPERGIRL. Despite the fact no script has been written, the rumour mill has already identified someone recognisable enough to genre fans, but unknown enough to be considered an actual choice. The script will be written by (drum roll) Akiva Goldsman. I tried to find the link to a treatment he allegedly wrote a couple of years back, but couldn't find it. If anyone can find it, post the link in talkback; it's good reading.

BOX OFFICE

See? Nobody ever listens to me. I told you all not to go see SHARK TALE, and you ignore me. This is what happens when you fight a stranger in the alps. Meanwhile, AVP sucked people in, and the rom-com WIMBLEDON drew crowds. Speaking of which, did anyone else find it really funny that the trailer used the song "Everlasting Love" for a film about tennis?

So here's the Top Dogs this week...

• 1. SHARK TALE
• 2. ALIEN VS PREDATOR
• 3. WIMBLEDON
• 4. GARFIELD
• 5. THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT

RELEASED THIS WEEK

The sequel everyone wanted returns without internet poll-favourite Frank Welker, crazy Hong Kong shit finally comes out, a lone voice suggests that Fox News may not be completely middle-of-the-road, a movie not many AICN readers will have heard of gets a very wide Aussie release, and ticket sales for the new Alexa Vega film drop off severely following Operation Auxin.

And here's what's new...

• ANACONDAS 2: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID
• THE EYE
• OUTFOXED: RUPERT MURDOCH'S WAR ON JOURNALISM
• SHAUN OF THE DEAD
• SLEEPOVER

REVIEWS

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS

I saw this at least a month ago, and only realised in the past week that it hadn't come out anywhere else yet. So now I've got to dig deep into my memory and try to figure out what the hell the film was...

Basically, the film follows Gabriel Van Helsing, a man bitten by a spider whose house is now owned by Ben Kingsley. When he gets his memory erased, he finds that everyone thinks he slayed a shark, and that's why he wanted George W. Bush removed from office.

Er, sorry.

The one thing I'd heard about this flick is that the performance from Rush is great even if the film isn't.

Well, I think the film is great. And Rush is great. And while it's not the best film I've ever seen, or the best biopic-on-film, it is the best biopic I've ever seen. What the fuck, you ask? I'm not saying it's a perfect film, but in terms of being a story about someone's life, it succeeds in spades.

I have a massive problem with biopics. I find the idea of compacting someone's life into two hours to be asking for failure. Imagine if you had to edit the most important parts of your life into that time. Can you do it? Probably not. Now imagine you've done something phenomenal enough to warrant someone else making a film about you. Even harder, isn't it? Then you have something like A BEAUTIFUL MIND, easily one of the worst films I've ever seen, which was a massive wank-fest for the writer. But if I start ranting on the crapness of ABM, we'll be here for an eternity.

No, LADOPS succeeds because it doesn't attempt to squeeze in all the important events. It doesn't try to present this as the definitive account of Sellers' life, but a treatise on what he himself was like as a person. Or wasn't like.

Rush's performance is phenomenal. I was against the casting when I first heard it, but I'm completely sold now. His Goon show voices are nearly perfect, and his Clouseau is phenomenal (making me wonder if Rush shouldn't have played the role instead of Steve Martin in the upcoming version). But it's more than that a great imitation; it's a great performance. There's no weak link in the film. The entire support cast is dead-on, and Stephen Hopkins nails the thing start-to-finish. It's good to see Hopkins emerging from the quagmire with this and "24". He's really talented, and he's now on projects that make use of that talent.

I'm not sure what sort of release they're looking at for international distribution, but catch it in whatever form you can.

NEXT WEEK

- The FFC decides the best way to get the Australian film industry back on track is to greenlight CROCODILE DUNDEE MEETS BARRY MACKENZIE

- When this fails, the FFC decides the best way to get the Australian film industry back on track is to greenlight Yahoo Serious's new film CRAZY YOUNG MAN WHO IS ACTUALLY CAPTAIN COOK IF HE WAS ALIVE NOW

- When this fails, the FFC decides to make a quirky comedy about a bunch of crazy family members who live in the outback

Peace out,

Latauro

AICNDownunder@hotmail.com