Bogdan Koca Movies

An eccentric but brilliant early 19th Century scientist attempts to convince the Prime Minister that the world will end in 2008 in director Rolf de Heer's silent, monochromatic tribute to the slapstick classics of Mack Sennett and Hal Roach. Dr. Plonk (Nigel Lunghi) may be living in the year 1907, but he has recently discovered that mankind's time on planet Earth is about to expire. As Dr. Plonk's mute assistant Paulus (Paul Blackwell) lumbers around the lab doing his best to keep the various experiments moving along, Mrs. Plonk (Magda Szubanski) drives her overworked maid (Phoebe Paterson de Heer) to the point of exhaustion and the family pooch does his best to simply stay out from under everyone's feet. Upon discovering that the world will end in exactly 101 years, Dr. Plonk makes an unsuccessful attempt to convince unbelieving Prime Minister Stalk (Wayne Anthoney) that something must be done before it's too late. In a desperate bit to back up his findings, Dr. Plonk constructs a time machine that will allow him to travel into the future and bring back irrefutable evidence of mankind's ultimate demise. Though their misadventures through time at first find Dr. Plonk and Paulus appearing in the free-love era and nearly turning up as dinner for a tribe of hungry cannibals, the pair eventually gets it right and makes it to Adelaide of 2007. Though the public at large seems hopelessly clueless about the impending destruction that's plain to see for anyone willing to open their eyes, Dr. Plonk beliefs himself fortunate when he scores an exclusive one-on-one with 21st Century Prime Minister Short (South Australian Premier Mike Rann). Unfortunately for Dr. Plonk, and perhaps all of mankind, clueless officials immediately deem the genius time traveler a terrorist suspect and attempt to capture him for questioning before he makes the leap back to 1907. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Ghosts...of the Civil Dead is an Australian prison picture, ironically coproduced by a company calling itself "Correctional Services". The prison in question is a cruelly repressive institution, with a set of rules bordering on the Draconian. The inmates finally rebel in violent fashion against the regimented sadism of their captors. With its limited setting and its small cast, Ghosts...of the Civil Dead should have been easier to follow. The unnecessarily cluttered screenplay was written by the film's director, John Hillcoat. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anthony LaPaglia, who's probably played more cops than Pat O'Brien, Edgar Kennedy and Fred Kelsey combined, dons brass and blue once more in The Custodian. LaPaglia plays a frustrated Australian policeman who decides to take on departmental corruption in a most unorthodox fashion. When he's not wrestling with bureaucracy and the good-ole-boy network, the policeman must contend with his unhappy marriage. All of the protagonist's various travails come to a head in the offbeat finale. The Custodian cannot be recommended for children, so pop it in your VCR after the little darlings are snuggled in bed. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

"Paradise" is actually Australia, where this made-for-TV adventure was filmed. Raquel Welch stars as a rich, spoiled socialite who is shipwrecked on a desert island. Her only companion is boozy, unkempt Aussie Jack Thompson. Before the film has a chance to turn into Lina Wertmuller's Swept Away (or even Gilligan's Island), Welch and Thompson are up to their necks in intrigue. Trouble in Paradise originally floated to shore on May 16, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two people trying to leave ugly memories behind them find life and love anew in Australia in this made-for-television adaptation of the novel by Nevil Shute. Carl Zlinter (Michael York) was a doctor who was drafted into the German Army during World War II and forced to serve the Axis war effort. After the fall of the Third Reich, Carl becomes a displaced person and in time emigrated to Australia, where he tries to build a new life for himself and forget his horrific past. Jennifer Morton (Sigrid Thornton), meanwhile, is a woman from Great Britain who has her own grim memories of the toll the war took upon her nation, and has decided to visit Australia in search of sunshine and fresh scenery. Carl and Jennifer meet, and they soon fall in love, but it becomes obvious that they must reconcile their very different pasts if they are to make a future together. Originally produced for Australian television, The Far Country first aired as a two-part miniseries. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi