John Waters

Australian novelist Robert Carter adapted and directed his own novel for this low-budget Australian drama about a teen in therapy. Loner Harris Berne (Matt Day), age 17, develops a crush on divorced Helen (Rhondda Findleton) while baby-sitting her two children. But during play one day, the little girl hides in a refrigerator and dies. Harris is sent to a halfway house where he encounters incest victim Angela (Michela Noonan), mute by choice, and psychiatrist Sam Lejeune (John Waters), who helps Harris come to grips with his problems. Shown at the 1998 Karlovy Vary Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Twenty-five years after the cult-television hit "The Junior Defenders" was abruptly cancelled, the washed-up former child stars who played adolescent superheroes in the series are kidnapped by an obsessive fan and forced at gunpoint to act in a brand new episode. Back in 1978, "The Junior Defenders" beat out such small screen hits as Happy Days and All In the Family in the ratings to become a nationwide phenomenon. Then, seemingly out of the blue, ABS suddenly cancelled the series. The fans, a young Norman Nields included, were devastated. Twenty-five years later, Norman (Fred Hazelton) continues to fume about the cancellation - until one day when he hatches a crazed plan to get "The Junior Defenders" back on the air. After stealing a Winnebago, Norman sets set out on the freeway in a cross-country race to collect the four stars of the series and hijack a Hollywood soundstage in order to shoot a brand new episode of "The Junior Defenders" that he hopes will prove effective in launching a revival of the series. As the media catches wind of the scheme, the former child stars are thrilled to learn that they have achieved folk-hero status among fans who can't wait to see the spandex-clad crime-fighters back in action. Ally Sheedy, Brian O'Halloran, Justin Henry, and Jason David Frank star in a wild story of obsessive fandom featuring special appearances by Kevin Smith, Pauly Shore, and Bill Raymond, and narration by independent film legend John Waters. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Giordello (Andre Braugher) is upset when neither he nor his detectives are forewarned of the arrival of an asbestos-removal team. To get vital evidence on a gang leader's murder -- and to find out why the victim waited several days after his beating to get medical help -- Bolander (Ned Beatty) and Munch (Richard Belzer) fake out a witness with the old "polygraph-by-copier" trick. Under duress, Howard (Melissa Leo) confesses her attraction to Assistant State's Attorney Danvers. And Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Pembleton (Andre Braugher) suffer mightily while their respective partners try to give up smoking. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

What happens when baby-boom rock 'n rollers, having had their fleeting moment of fame and notoriety, grow up, get other jobs, and have children of their own? For one thing, if this movie is to be believed, they envy their children's musical abilities and, when the youngsters get involved in their own version of rebel-music, they re-create the famed "generation gap" all over again. Johnny (played by Australian actor John Waters) was a member of a 1960s band called the Chosen Ones and enjoyed the famed trinity of that era: sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. Now the middle-aged man is bored with his "straight" job and wants to see if he can't start a revival of his band's popularity, but his wife wants his career change to be more practical and suggests that they invest in a restaurant. At the same time, Johnny's much more talented son Paul is making waves in his own band. One highlight of this film is the surprisingly skillful music-making of the performers, none of them music pros. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

You don't become a playwright, at least a successful one, without having more than your share of sensitivities. In fact, a goodly proportion of the artists in present-day L.A. are too sensitive for their own good, which causes no end of problems. For Tom, an Australian-born playwright who has "made good" in la-la-land, his success has resulted in serious strains in his relationship with his wife and daughter back in Melbourne, and with himself -- strains which he eases with a succession of mood-altering pills. When a fresh young actress in one of his productions falls for him, he is so emotionally battered that he finds her attentions confusing and unsettling. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Not to be confused with the Hong Kong-filmed gangster thriller of the same name, the Philippine-produced True Colors is set during World War II. Noni Hazelhurst stars as a Frenchwoman who is appalled by the Nazi takeover of her village. Running up against indifference and collaboration, Noni struggles to rally her neighbors against the invaders. In lieu of a huge budget, director Pina Amenta concentrates on the personal impact of the war, and succeeds admirably. At 160 minutes, however, True Colors could use just a little snip here or there. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this melodramatic made-for-television romance, a Singapore financier falls in love with the daughter of a powerful smuggler. The film is a remake of a popular "B" movie from the '30s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this drama, an Australian professor, his bored wife, and their children find their lives disrupted when a male baby-sitter comes to call. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The "three" in the Australian Three's Trouble are a harried housewife (Jackie Weaver), her smug husband (John Waters), and her handsome male babysitter (Steven Vidler). To the husband, the fact that the sitter is better looking than he is does not bother him all that much. What does gall him is that the sitter is so gosh-darned knowledgeable and efficient. The husband is forced to reassess his own value in the family unit. Three's Trouble screenwriter David Williamson (The Year of Living Dangerously, Phar Lap) wisely treats his characters warmly as human beings rather than stereotypical cogs in a farcical wheel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

All the Rivers Run is a four-part miniseries set in the Australia of the early 1900s. Sigrid Thornton stars as Philadelphia Gordon, an English artist who undertakes a tragic move to Australia with her family. During their voyage to the new continent, a shipwreck occurs, killing all but Philadelphia and one of the ship's crewmen. She is then shuttled off to live with her aunt and uncle on their farm, and uses her inheritance to fund a paddleship business with the crewman from the vessel who saved her life. Philadelphia's life is forever altered when she meets handsome frontier paddleboat skipper Brenton Edwards (the Australian actor John Waters -- not to be confused with the iconoclastic American director of the same name). Our heroine marries Edwards, but the union begets trouble when their paddlesteamer catches fire, destroying the craft altogether and forcing Brenton to take another job. Later, an accident that renders Brenton lame forces Philadelphia to work hard and support the couple; she then decides to rebuild the vessel while doubling up her efforts as a painter. Scripted by George Miller (the director of Man from Snowy River), All the Rivers Run was released in the U.S. over the HBO Cable service; it first aired January 15 through 18, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Breaker Morant is one of the most acclaimed Australian films, telling a powerful tale of wartime betrayal and injustice. Henry "Breaker" Morant (Edward Woodward) is an Englishman living in Australia at the end of the 19th century. When war breaks out in 1899 between Britain and the Boers (descendants of Dutch colonists), Morant and a number of Australians volunteer for duty and are absorbed into the non-regular units of the British army. Acting under orders from his commanders, Morant oversees the execution of several Boer prisoners; it turns out that one of them was German, and in order to keep the peace with Germany, Britain agrees to courtmartial Morant and two other soldiers, sentencing two to death and one to life imprisonment. Based on a play by Kenneth Ross, Bruce Beresford's film is powerfully filmed and acted and has become a classic anti-war movie since its 1980 release; the script (co-written by Beresford) was nominated for an Academy Award. The final execution scene is nearly overpowering in its sense of tragedy and futility. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide