Reg Evans Movies

Following their feature debut, Road to Nhill, in 1997, screenwriter Alison Tilson and director Sue Brooks team up again for the Australian drama Japanese Story. Toni Collette stars as Sandy Edwards, an ambitious geologist who is most comfortable when working alone. She also runs a software design company with a business partner, Bill Baird (Matthew Dyktynski), and she doesn't get along very well with her mother (Lynette Curran). While trying to sell their software products, Bill asks for her help in catching a prospective client. Sandy reluctantly meets the quiet and reserved Japanese businessman Hiromitsu (Gotaro Tsunashima) in order to make a sale. After he requests that she take him on a driving tour, the odd couple find themselves stranded in the Pilbara desert for a night -- one of the most remote places in the Australian outback. During this time together, their relationship quickly escalates and both parties are changed by the experience. Japanese Story premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

In this drama, a daughter defends her aging father against scandalous accusations. Joseph Mueller (Max Von Sydow) was born in Germany but emigrated to Australia shortly after the end of World War II. Joseph is happily spending the autumn of his years doting on his two grandchildren and giving friendly business advice to his daughter Anne Winton (Carol Drinkwater) and son-in-law Bobby (Steven Jacobs), who have inherited the hotel that Mueller founded. One morning, as Joseph walks his grandchildren to school, he discovers that a camera crew is following him from a distance, led by reporter Leah Zetnick (Julia Blake). A few days later, Leah broadcasts a report alleging that Joseph is in fact Franz Kessler, a former member of Hitler's S.S. and a war criminal responsible for the death of Leah's parents, among many others. Suddenly besieged by the media, Anne and Joseph go into hiding after authorities issue an indictment against him. Joseph eventually steps forward to stand trial, defended by attorney George Coleman (Tom Robertson). After George calls Leah's credibility into serious question in court, Joseph is cleared of all charges, and a seriously distraught Leah commits suicide in front of Joseph and Anne. But Joseph's casual reaction to Leah's shocking act makes Anne wonder if Bobby's suspicions about her father's past might have a basis in fact. Max Von Sydow and Julia Blake both won Australian Film Institute awards for their performences. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This psychodrama is set in New Zealand during the 1880s and is based on the true story of an orphaned 18-year-old who marries a cruel, much-older man. He constantly abuses her and keeps her under his thumb until she snaps and using hypnotism, kills him. Later she is tried in court. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The miners strike in the Australian coal fields during the 1930s provides a factual basis for this drama. The organized miners protest against the use of scab labor and the dreadful working conditions. But nothing is resolved and the tension climaxes with the miners, some of them members of the Communist Party, building a blockade and stranding themselves in a mine shaft. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Donald Crombie directed this frothy yarn taking place in Sydney, Australia during the 1920s. Liddy Clark stars as Kitty, an innocent young bride who becomes the owner of the raucous Top Hat nightclub with the assistance of a crooked cop. The story revolves around waterfront crime queens Kitty and Big Lil Delaney, and their attendant pimps, lovers, and "bagmen" (corrupt cops who are middlemen between the police and the crooks). The two adversaries engage in spirited dock side brawls, hair-pulling fights, street shoot-outs, and frenetic car chases. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

The first of two consecutive films to see director Peter Weir team with Mel Gibson (the other being The Year of Living Dangerously), Gallipoli follows two idealistic young friends, Frank (Gibson) and Archy (Mark Lee), who join the Australian army during World War I and fight the doomed Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. The first half of the film documents the lives of the young men in Australia, detailing their personalities and beliefs. The second half of the movie chronicles the ill-fated and ill-planned battle, where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps is hopelessly outmatched by the enemy forces. Gallipoli was the recipient of eight prizes at the 1981 Australian Film Institute Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

This stunning, post-apocalyptic action thriller from director George Miller stars Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a policeman in the near future who is tired of his job. Since the apocalypse, the lengthy, desolate stretches of highway in the Australian outback have become bloodstained battlegrounds. Max has seen too many innocents and fellow officers murdered by the bomb's savage offspring, bestial marauding bikers for whom killing, rape, and looting is a way of life. He just wants to retire and spend time with his wife and son but lets his boss talk him into taking a peaceful vacation and he starts to reconsider. Then his world is shattered as a gang led by the evil Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) murders his family in retaliation for the death of one of its members. Dead inside, Max straps on his helmet and climbs into a souped-up V8 racing machine to seek his bloody revenge. Despite an obviously low budget and a plot reminiscent of many spaghetti Westerns, Mad Max is tremendously exciting, thanks to some of the most spectacular road stunts ever put on film. Cinematographer David Eggby and stunt coordinator Grant Page did some of their best work under Miller's direction and crafted a gritty, gripping thrill ride which spawned two sequels, numerous imitations, and made Mel Gibson an international star. One sequence, in which a man is chained to a car and must cut off a limb before the machine explodes is one of the most tense scenes of the decade. The American version dubbed all the voices -- including Gibson's -- in a particularly cartoonish manner. Trivia buffs should note that Max's car is a 1973 Ford Falcon GT Coupe with a 300 bhp 351C V8 engine, customized with the front end of a Ford Fairmont and other modifications. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

An undercover cop named Stone (Ken Shorter) infiltrates an outlaw biker gang called the Grave Diggers, only to discover that he has more in common with the two-wheeled warriors than he previously though after a professional assassin attempts to set them up for a big fall. A prominent environmental activist has just been assassinated, and the police suspect that the Grave Diggers are withholding crucial information relating to the killing. Realizing that the Grave Diggers will never speak to regular policemen, the cops recruit Stone to ride with the gang and find out what they know. Accepted into the fold after saving the life of a grateful Grave Digger, Stone begins to respect the Undertaker (Sandy Harbutt) and his crew due to the fact that they operate by their own unique code of ethics. Later, as the Grave Diggers prepare to strike back against a rival motorcycle club, Stone suspects a set-up and attempts to convince them not to fall for it. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Stone was correct. When the violence finally erupts, no one is safe from the bloodshed that threatens to destroy the Grave Diggers, and consume Stone in the process. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi