Ron Falk Movies

The second prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy takes place ten years after the events depicted in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. Now 20, young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is an apprentice to respected Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Unusually powerful in the Force, Anakin is also impatient, arrogant, and headstrong -- causing his mentor a great deal of concern. The pair are ordered to protect Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), the former queen of the planet Naboo, now representing her world in the Galactic Senate. Someone is trying to assassinate her on the eve of a vote enabling Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) to build a military force that will safeguard against a growing separatist movement led by mysterious former Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). After another attempt on Padme's life, Obi-Wan and Anakin separate. The young Jedi and Padme fall in love as he escorts her first to the security of Naboo and then to his home world of Tatooine, where the fate of his mother leads him to commit an ominous atrocity. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan travels to the secretive planet Kamino and the asteroid-ringed world of Geonosis, following bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his son, Boba (Daniel Logan), who are involved in an operation to create a massive army of clones. A vicious battle ensues between the clones and Jedi on one side and Dooku's droids on the other, but who is really pulling the strings in this galactic conflict? In late 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 120 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Classical music DJ John Hargreaves neglects his wife Wendy Hughes, who responds by entering into an illicit romance. Upon finding out, Hargreaves leaves Hughes, but doesn't want to tell his parents; they'd never liked Hughes, and he isn't in the mood for a chorus of "I told you so"s. What is already painful for Hargreaves is amplified when his dying father, suspecting that something's wrong, lectures his son on the sanctity of marriage--even a bad one. Director Paul Cox used the Australian My First Wife as a kind of catharsis, to purge himself of ill-will concerning the bust-up of his own marriage. The film won three Australian academy awards, including one for the reluctantly revelatory Cox. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Melanie (Angela Punch McGregor) is a television talk-show hostess who is missing the excitement of a new romance in her life -- and has been in that state for a few months now. When she and her good buddy Tom (Graeme Blundell) get together for a dinner at her place to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their friendship, they have enough wine to accidentally end up together in her bed, and nature takes over from there. When they wake up in the morning, Melanie wants to forget everything and go back to their easy-going friendship, while Tom disagrees -- he rather likes the new situation. It does not take long for Melanie to discover that her solitary slip-up has gotten her pregnant. She wants the baby but is definitely averse to marriage, while Tom wants to make the baby legitimate. In the end, the two compromise by moving in together -- though the truce does not last for long. As their relationship bounces back and forth, Melanie -- in her sixth month -- agrees to get married. But then the couple have a dust-up on the night before the wedding and they split -- will that be for good? Will their final choice be marriage or friendship or a steady animosity -- or all three? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi