Vince Poletto Movies
- 1999
- NR
A group of Australian wiseguys of Italian descent go into business with near disastrous results in the comedy Spank!. After a three year exile in Italy, where he spent time in a monastery, Paulie (Robert Mammone) returns home to Adelaide, where he discovers (to his dismay) his friends Nick (ario Gamma) and Vinny (Checc Musolino) haven't changed a bit. Nick is still a layabout, Vinny still works for his parents with his girlfriend Tina (Lucia Mastrantone), and both are still talking about opening their own cafe without actually doing anything about it. Enter Rocky (Vince Poletto), a self-styled gangster obsessed with Sylvester Stallone who is very free with his father's money. Rocky offers to put up the cash for the cafe, but just when it looks like their big plans may be getting off the ground, Paulie finds himself falling for Rocky's girlfriend, Jo (Victoria Dixon-Whittle). Jo is tired of living under Rocky's thumb and likes Paulie's company, but fooling around with your financier's girlfriend is usually not a good way to do business. Spank! was the directorial debut for former cinematographer Ernie Clark. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mammone, Vince Poletto, (more)
A young girl takes it upon herself to stop a vicious rumor about her new best friend in the comedy Sally Marshall Is Not An Alien. Pip (Helen Neville) is a 12-year-old girl living with her family in Adelaide who isn't like the other kids she knows -- she's smart, serious and likes to watch the skies with her prized telescope. She's also a bit shy and doesn't know what to do about Ben (Glenn McMillian), a neighborhood boy who seems to like her. Rhonnie (Thea Gumbert), a mean-spirited girl in the neighborhood, doesn't much like Pip and doesn't care who knows it. However, Rhonnie discovers someone who bothers her even more when Sally Marshall (Natalie Vansier) moves into town. Sally wears dark glasses, reads grown-up books, likes to hang upside down and doesn't have an Australian accent. Sally is obviously not from around these parts, and Rhonnie is convinced this means Sally is a visitor from outer space. Pip finds this ridiculous and accepts a challenge from Rhonnie -- either prove conclusively that Sally isn't a space alien, or lose her telescope. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Neville, Nathalie Vansier, (more)
Mr. Nice Guy opens on a darkened Australian warehouse full of seedy criminal types who have gathered to make a large-scale drug transaction. When it goes horribly wrong and bullets start flying, the hoods flee in different directions -- until one realizes an investigative reporter (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) has caught the whole episode on video. If she gets the chance to air it on her top-rated news show, it could bring down a powerful crime family. As thugs begin chasing her, the reporter runs into a mild-mannered TV show chef named Jackie (Jackie Chan), whom her pursuers mistake for a cohort. After several thrilling escapes, the tape has accidentally changed hands, unknowingly swapped with a children's video Jackie was bringing to a family friend. As the criminals, dispatched by mob boss Giancarlo (Richard Norton), seek out both Jackie and the reporter for the tape, Jackie's visiting girlfriend (Miki Lee) and his assistant (Karen McLymont) get mixed up in the chase. Meanwhile, the bad guys will stop at nothing, including confronting Jackie on the set of a live cooking show and trying to blow up his apartment. An English-language Hong Kong import, Mr. Nice Guy was filmed after Chan finally earned stateside success with Rumble in the Bronx, but before he was recruited to Hollywood and the Rush Hour movies. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Chan, Richard Norton, (more)
