John Tatoulis Movies

Marc Gracie's Australian comedy Take Away concerns a business rivalry between fast food entrepreneurs. Starting with a segment that shows the birth of fast food, the film quickly establishes the relationship between Tony (Vince Colosimo) and Trevor (Stephen Curry). The anal Tony runs a fish and chip stand more or less right next to the free-wheeling Trevor's more exotic stand that offers calamari burgers. The two have known each other forever, as their fathers owned a restaurant together. They had a falling out and the feud has been passed down to the sons. After they learn that a large fast food corporation, Burgies, is coming into the area, Tony and Trevor work together to stop them. John Howard portrays the head of the Burgies company. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

A box-office hit in Greece, this comedy stars incredibly-popular Greek TV personality Lakis Lazopoulos in a dual role as twin brothers, one, a pacifistic school teacher; the other, a lazy sloth suffering from testosterone poisoning. The story begins in 1943 on the island of Crete, where pro- and anti-fascists are trading blows. One victim of the fighting is Alexandros, who, after being mortally wounded by Vasilli Philipakis (Alexi Anthopoulos), dies in the arms of his wife, Maria (Noni Ioannidou), who promptly vows vengeance on her husband's killer and raises her sons -- and later twin grandsons -- to continue her vendetta. When Vasilli resurfaces in the present day as a prosperous businessman, Maria is notified, and her elder grandson, Manos, is told that he must kill Vasilli. Manos, however, is not a killer, so he takes off for Melbourne, where he meets up with old family friend Stephanos (John Bluthal). Stephanos' daughter, Nicki (Zoe Carides) used to be in love with Manos, and finds her attraction being reawakened while her daughter, Katerina (Claudia Buttazzoni), begins to suspect that Manos may be her long-lost father. While old connections are being re-established, George, Manos' loutish twin brother, shows up and proves himself more than willing to step in and kill Vasilli. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

This thoughtful Australian sci-fi film was shot on location on a spectacular dry salt lake at Woomera, where the Australian military used to test its rockets. The story is set in an environmentally ravaged, desolate future. For the first time in 40 years the warring New Territories and the Federal Republics have reached a tentative peace thanks to the secret machinations of the Central Union, a powerful group comprised of industrialists from both sides. As part of the deal, Central Union is allowed to monopolize all communications. Anne, the pregnant wife of New Territories army training officer Leo Megaw, works for CU as one of their leading security coders. To prove her prowess, she one day decides to prove to her skeptical boss that she can crack his supposedly uncrackable security code. In so doing she learns that an outer security zone has suffered a terrible accident resulting deadly contamination. Not long after her discovery, Anne "accidentally" dies under suspicious circumstances. Leo is devastated and nearly succeeds in killing himself. Eventually, he masters his grief enough to allow his pal Seton, a CU worker, to send him to isolated Zone 39 to man a lonely outpost to guard the border. He is ordered to shoot anyone moving into the zone and to carefully monitor the activities of the Federal Republics guard Pagett. It is an unpleasant duty and Leo's predecessor killed himself. People do wander into the zone, and all of them are "classified," and contaminated by something. When not on duty, Leo takes small comfort in a drug that allows him to converse with his wife. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Heat, both climatic and erotic, imbue this Australian thriller from first-time directors Colin South and John Tatoulis. The film takes place in mid-summer in the sweltering city of Melbourne and concerns a love affair between Wendy (Santha Press), a jazz singer, and Mack (Hugo Race), a knife-wielding punk who wants to be a rock star but is planning to rob a bank. Wendy's younger sister, 15-year-old JoJo (Rebekah Elmaloglou), has moved in with Wendy, and she is rapidly becoming sexually aware, because she is secretly observing her sister and Mack as they make love. Meanwhile, two cops -- Dinny (Dominic Sweeney), an inexperienced rookie, and Milas (John Flaus), a weary veteran cop -- are following Mack because he has an audiotape in his possession that shows evidence of government corruption. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi