Nadine Garner Movies

The curious world of children's dance competitions is raked over the satiric coals in this comic mockumentary. Mr. Jonathan (Ben Miller) is a dance teacher and choreographer who is preparing a group of his current students to take part in the Sanosafe Troupe Spectacular, a major regional competition for pre-teen dancers. Mr. Jonathan has been frustrated in his effort to bring home a first-place trophy, in part due to his ambitious themes, as his young charges are forced to take part in his interpretive pieces on war, economic injustice, environmental issues and the like. Mr. Jonathan's strongest adversary is Miss Elizabeth (Jane Hall), who has a constant smile and a will of iron as she weeds the "fat, lazy and untalented" from her ranks. However, this year Mr. Jonathan is determined to defeat her, and Justine (Kerry Armstrong), an overeager stage mother who claims she almost passed the audition to become a Spice Girl, is more than willing to help, as long as her daughter Tenille (Shayni Notelovitz) is featured prominently in Jonathan's latest extravaganza. Mr. Jonathan suffers through Justine's "assistance" until Tenille loses her star billing to Grace (Clancy Ryan), a plucky youngster with more talent. Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance received its American premiere at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Fresh Air, which focuses on ordinary moments of everyday life, is an original hybrid of urban comedy and kitchen-sink drama. It is also a realistic depiction of relationships among lovers, friends, and family in the multi-cultural environment of a big city. The protagonists are three thirty-something housemates with artistic aspirations. They have no career, no children, and no substantial income, but they enjoy life. The question is: for how long? Jack is a third-rate filmmaker who has just lost his job, but he does not care because he never enjoyed it anyway. He dreams of being a hero: a fireman, a football player, or perhaps a guitarist in a rock band. He loves racing through town on his motorcycle. On the other hand, his girlfriend Kit is a conscientious pedestrian and an enthusiastic user of public transport. Kit plays the accordion and works part-time in an Asian deli to pay for her painting. Jack and Kit share their house with Kit's best friend E., a part-time student and musician without a job or a band. Director Neil Mansfield, who took six years to write the film, takes a humorous yet sympathetic approach to the dreams, doubts, and pleasures of the so-called Generation X. The use of jump cuts, photographs, and film fragments gives the film the structure of a collage. Fresh Air had its world premiere at the 1999 International Film Festival in Rotterdam. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

The one-upmanship of middle-aged men, bragging to one another that "when I was a kid, I was so poor that..." will never happen to Joe, even though the stories he could tell would put them to shame. In this melodramatic youth story, Joe lives with his demented father in a shanty, and he has been unemployed for a very long time. Eventually he gets a new job and, along with it, a social life of sorts. He would like to make some headway with either of the cute girls at work, but every time he tries, he finds his co-worker Dazey has gotten there ahead of him. Dazey does introduce him to the big teen sport of the region, and the two are soon involved in a keen drag-racing rivalry. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Christmas Visitor is an American/Australian coproduction geared for exposure on the Disney Channel pay-cable service. The scene is the Australian outback in the 1890s, where a drought threatens to wipe out a farming community. Holding out for a miracle, the farmers face a bleak Yuletide, until an ethereal stranger pays a visit. Christmas Visitor was directed by the "other" George Miller -- that is, the George Miller responsible for Man From Snowy River rather than Mad Max. In Australia, the film was telecast under the title Bushfire Moon. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Another effort from the prolific Australian firm of Crawford Productions, this weekly comedy-drama series focused on young Tam and Steve Henderson (Nadine Garner, Paul Smith) who (briefly) lived with their peripatetic foster father Walter Mullins (Michael Aitkens) in the town of Haven Bay. As Walter sought out a lucrative business in which to invest, the kids were left to their own devices, and their own circle of friends (and enemies). During the series' third season, the title was changed to The Henderson Kids II; having spent two years traveling all over Australia, the family again settled down, this time in the harbor town of Westport. Henderson Kids debuted in 1985, while Henderson Kids II first aired in 1987. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi