This Week in Australian Cinemas

Superman Returns, 2006, dir. Singer
Is it just me or (pun intended) does Superman not fly with anyone else? Am I mad for just not being that excited about this movie? The idea of a man who can fly (not my super power of choice. ever.) and can do everything just doesn't really excite me. I've never seen the original Superman movies and I don't particularly want to any time soon. Superman just doesn't intrigue me as others such as Spiderman and Batman and the X-Men have. I don't know why, he just doesn't. And so we now we have Bryan Singer's Superman Returns. I want to see it, and I look forward to it, but I can't say I expect to be blown away. A lot of critics have loved it (Leigh Paatsch gave it 4.5/5) while some have not (Roger Ebert, Dave Poland, David & Margaret). I look forward, most of all, to Parker Posey. And while Brandon Routh apparently has the personality of a tape worm, I can't wait to look at him for two and a half hours. I'm a bit upset that Superman is apparently really straight (I like to imagine otherwise, as you can tell), cause that could've been hilariously awkward. Oh well.

Junebug, 2005, dir. Morrison
It finally gets a release! Nearly a year after the US got the Oscar-nominated film (Amy Adams for Best Supporting Actress) it gets an extremely limited release - it's not even at CinemaNova and they usually get everything. Hopefully it'll be on DVD in no time at all.

Ten Canoes, 2006, dir. de Heer & Djigirr
Now this is the movie I wanna see this weekend (but it's not screening in Geelong so I can't). I consider Rolf de Heer a great director. He regularly makes films of quality with no fuss and they barely get talked about until they get released. Bad Boy Bubby, Dingo, Alexandra's Project, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, The Tracker... and now Ten Canoes. This film is very important actually, as it's the first film ever filmed in an indiginous language. It was filmed with the help of the Ramingining people of Armhem Land and features an all-aboriginal cast and was even co-directed by Peter Djigirr. This film tells two stories. One, filmed in black and white, shows a group of men going out for a traditional goose-egg hunt. During this hunt an elder tells the tale, shown in black and white, of a young man who bed his brothers' wives. Both feature Jamie Gulpilil, the son of actor David Gulpilil (who narrates the tale). It's actually a comedy and it looks very funny too.

I just love the look of this film, the ideas behind it (the goose-egg hunt story is inspired my photos taken by Donald Thomson of an aboriginal tribe's egg-hunt and the cinematography at times copies the photos exactly - most of the cast are actually relatives of the men in the actual photographs), and the fact that there has literally never been anything like this. I really want to see this and will definitely try to see it as soon as possible. It's gotten stellar reviews (Leigh Paatsch and David and Margaret) and won the Special Jury Prize in Cannes' Un Certain Regard. I have a real big feeling about this movie. Can't wait.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, 2006, dir. Winterbottom
Michael Winterbottom is back with something completely different! Last we heard of him he had Code 49 (belatedly released here last year) and 9 Songs (ya remember that one don't cha?) and this one at least looks better than those two! This one actually looks quite funny (Steve Coogan can be quite a hoot) and has a great cast - apart from Coogan, there is Naomie Harris, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, Kelly MacDonald and apparently Gillian Armstrong gives a wonderful cameo. I'll probably only see this on DVD though.

BOX-OFFICE
1. Click (1)
2. Over the Hedge (1)
3. Cars (3)
4. The Fast and the Furious 3: Tokyo Drift (2)
5. The Break-Up (3)
6. Stick It (2)
7. The Da Vinci Code (6)
8. X Men 3: The Last Stand (5)
9. Wah-Wah (1)
10. Take the Lead (5)

Click and Over the Hedge take over the top spots, however Click's average of $14,444 just about double's Hedge's average of $7,350 and grossed $1.5mil more (Click was on 281 screens compared to Hedge with 342. Other than that the chart ain't much different from last week. Cars holds 29% and Stick It holds better, only falling 21% and grossed the $2mil mark. New entry at #9 Wah-Wah makes the best of Richard E Grant's publicity tour and manages the second best screen average of the Top 10 (with $9,660 on 36). Outside the top 10, Aussie film Candy seems to have reached it's peak of $1.3mil, while Ten Canoes premiers with $79,000 in preview screenings. Only other new entry is Krrish, a Bollywood entry at #18 with a $10,000+ average. And at #20, Hidden finally passed the $1mil mark. This is very big, and aquates to it making $10mil in America (it only made $3.6mil).