Graham Burke Movies
In the world of the emperor penguin, a simple song can mean the difference between a lifetime of happiness and an eternity of loneliness. When a penguin named Mumble is born without the ability to sing the romantic song that will attract his soul mate, he'll have to resort to some fancy footwork by tap dancing his way into the heart of the one he loves. Directed by Babe mastermind George Miller, Happy Feet tells the tale of one penguin's quest for love, and features an all-star cast of vocal talent that includes Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, and Brittany Murphy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, (more)
- 2005
- PG
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Director Tim Burton brings his unique vision and sensibility to Roald Dahl's classic children's story in this lavish screen interpretation. Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) is the secretive and wildly imaginative man behind the world's most celebrated candy company, and while the Wonka factory is famously closed to visitors, the reclusive candy man decides to give five lucky children a chance to see the inside of his operation by placing "golden tickets" in five randomly selected chocolate bars. Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), whose poor but loving family lives literally in the shadow of the Wonka factory, is lucky enough to obtain one of the tickets, and Charlie, escorted by his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), is in for the ride of a lifetime as he tours the strange and remarkable world of Wonka with fellow winners, media-obsessed Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), harsh and greedy Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), and ultra-competitive Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb). Over the course of the day, some of the children will learn difficult lessons about themselves, and one will go on to become Wonka's new right hand. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory also stars Christopher Lee, James Fox, and Noah Taylor; the book was famously adapted to the screen before in 1971 under the title Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder as the eccentric candy tycoon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, (more)
Shelved for almost a full year, the feature-film debut of acclaimed music video director Joseph Kahn, Torque is an action thriller set in the fast-paced, high-adrenaline world of biker gangs. Martin Henderson (The Ring) stars as Cary, a biker who is framed for the murder of a gang leader Trey's (Ice Cube) brother by Henry (Matt Schulze). Now, Cary finds himself on the run from both Trey's gang and the FBI, headed by the wise-cracking Agent McPherson Adam Scott. From Neal H. Moritz, producer of The Fast and the Furious and XXX, Torque co-stars Jaime Pressly and Monet Mazur. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, (more)
The personal turning points of a family in crisis are portrayed against the backdrop of one of America's most tumultuous summers in this drama. In 1969, Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) is spending the summer at a resort in the Catskills. Married to TV repairman Marty (Liev Schreiber) and the mother of two children, respectably middle-class Pearl feels trapped by domestic life and inwardly lusts after a traveling salesman named Walker (Viggo Mortensen). When Marty is called back to the city one weekend, Pearl impulsively arranges to meet Walker at a music festival going on in nearby Bethel, New York -- The Woodstock Music and Art Fair. However, Pearl doesn't realize that her teenage daughter Alison (Anna Paquin) has secret plans of her own, and when mother and daughter meet in the midst of hippiedoms's most celebrated moment, both have a lot of explaining to do, to each other and to Marty. A Walk On The Moon was produced in part by Dustin Hoffman, and premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diane Lane, Liev Schreiber, (more)
Based on the testimony of survivors, this historical drama recounts the WWII heroism of female prisoners of war. (Glenn Close) stars as Adrienne Partiger, a society doyenne who flees Singapore with other expatriate women, mostly the wives of servicemen, when Japanese forces invade in 1942. When their gunboat is sunk in an air attack, the survivors wash ashore on Japanese-held Sumatra. The women are interned in a grim POW camp where punishments for even minor infractions are extreme. With the help of a missionary (Pauline Collins), Partiger corrals the women, including a tough American (Julianna Margulies), an Australian nurse (Cate Blanchett) and a young wife (Jennifer Ehle) into a musical group. Since singing is not allowed, the a cappella chorus dubs itself "a vocal orchestra" and is tolerated -- if barely -- by their Japanese captors. Though living conditions are squalid, food is scarce, and a thin sliver of soap inspires a shower brawl, the music keeps spirits uplifted and a Jewish-German doctor (Frances McDormand) provides some medical aid. Writer-director Bruce Beresford interviewed real-life participants in similar POW musical groups. Some provided, from memory, sheet music of the pieces they performed, which were used in the film. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Glenn Close, Pauline Collins, (more)
- 1996
- R
A man tries to win the hand of the love of his life -- which is an uphill battle, since she's about to get married -- in this romantic comedy from Australia. Seventeen-year-old Stephen (Simon Bossell) first sees Melissa (Saffron Burrows) across the room at a party, and from that moment on, he's hopelessly in love with her. However, as he's crossing the room to introduce himself, who should get there first but his fraternal twin brother Rick (Alden Young). While Stephen is the brighter of the two, Rick is more attractive and outgoing, and Stephen quickly realizes that he doesn't stand a chance with Melissa if Rick is his competition. Ten years later, Stephen is doing quite well as a stockbroker, though his love life remains a disaster, while Rick is the manager of the Hotel de Love, a cheesy honeymoon resort complete with heart-shaped bathtubs for two and artificial indoor waterfalls. While Stephen is paying his brother a visit at the hotel, who should check in but Melissa, with her bookish fiancé Norman (Peter O'Brien) in tow. While Melissa is surprised to see her former flame Rick, she has no idea that Stephen still carries a torch for her after all these years. Stephen tries to win Melissa away from Norman, which given his romantic ineptitude is no easy task; he seeks advice from Alison (Pippa Grandison), Rick's girlfriend, who works as a fortune teller at the hotel, though the results are not what anyone expected. Meanwhile, Stephen and Rick's quarrelsome parents, Jack and Edith (Ray Barrett and Julia Blake), have come to the hotel for a second honeymoon, and they hope to patch up their marriage. Hotel de Love was the feature debut for writer/director Craig Rosenberg. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Simon Bossell, Aden Young, (more)
The first superhero ever, created by Lee Falk in 1936, gets another shot at movie stardom 60 years after achieving fame in comics and serials. Billy Zane stars as Kit Walker, who discovers that he's the 21st in a line of purple-clad African superheroes known as "The Phantom" or, to superstitious Bengalla Island natives, "the Ghost Who Walks." When he's not fighting the evil Singh Brotherhood with his faithful wolf Devil and white horse Hero, the Phantom lives in the hidden Skull Cave. Kit discovers that Xander Drax (Treat Williams), a slimy industrialist, is plotting to take over the world by uniting the three long lost magical Skulls of Touganda. So he travels to New York, where he finds allies in crusading newspaper publisher Dave (Bill Smitrovich) and his niece, Diana (Kristy Swanson), who's also Kit's ex-girlfriend. Kit and Diana tackle Drax's forces, including the conflicted Sala (Catherine Zeta-Jones), in a quest for the Skulls that brings both sides back to Bengalla for a showdown. The Phantom's mixture of elaborate stunts with liberal doses of tongue-in-cheek humor was characteristic of screenwriter Jeffrey Boam, whose previous films included Innerspace (1987) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, (more)
Seven years after his comedy Earth Girls Are Easy (1988), former music video director Julien Temple returned to feature films with the direct-to-video crime melodrama Bullet (1995), which featured a fine supporting cast. Mickey Rourke stars as Butch "Bullet" Stein, a Jewish junkie from the mean streets of Brooklyn who is paroled after eight years in prison. Butch rips off a runner for local drug dealer, Tank (Tupac Shakur), and is soon right back into his old habits of snorting coke and shooting up heroin with his best friend Lester (John Enos III). Enraged by Butch's affront and already determined to get revenge on him for a past wrong, Tank sets about getting even with his old enemy by hiring a hulking brute, Gates (Ray Mancini) to beat Butch. When the confrontation occurs, however, Gates breaks his hand on the battle-hardened Butch. Besides Lester, the only people in Butch's corner are his two brothers, the mentally-unhinged Vietnam War veteran Louis (Ted Levine) and aspiring artist Ruby (Adrien Brody), neither of whom can be counted on to help him in the inevitable showdown. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mickey Rourke, Tupac Shakur, (more)
In this humorous Western, Aussie Paul Hogan plays a cowboy running from the law. Lightning Jack Kane is a member of the notorious Younger Brother gang. He is the only member to survive their last shoot-out. Fortunately, he was only a minor member of the gang and escapes notice. Jack decides to rob a bank. He gets away with a small amount of cash and a mute, Ben, as a hostage. Unfortunately for Jack, Ben wants to be an outlaw so Jack is stuck with him. Eventually the two become grudging friends. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paul Hogan, Cuba Gooding, Jr., (more)
- 1993
- PG
Following up his debut, Young Einstein (1988), Yahoo Serious wrote, directed and starred in this broad comedy as the titular hero, a modern-day, fictional descendant of a real-life Australian Robin Hood, Ned Kelly. Carrying on the family tradition of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, Ned crosses the wealthy Sir John (Hugo Weaving), who arranges the sale of Kelly's coastal property to a Japanese buyer. Forbidden by the Kelly family code of honor from stealing to profit himself, the motorcycle-riding Ned decides to raise the money needed to save his lands by going to America. Stateside, his bank robbery scheme falls through, but he finds stardom as the lead in a Hollywood motion picture that might give him the money to foil Sir John's greedy plans. Ned also encounters romance with a teller, the appropriately named Robin Banks (Melora Hardin). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Melora Hardin, (more)
Elements of Orwellian science-fiction and old-fashioned prison dramas are combined in this futuristic action film, as an unjustly imprisoned couple attempts to escape from a high-tech jail known as The Fortress. The Fortress is the tool of a repressive government, an imposing, computerized hell, featuring lasers for cell bars, robot guards, computerized brainwashing, and the like. Still, some things never change, including the presence of an evil warden, who harasses the pretty wife while her husband frantically searches for a way out. The special effects and design work are effective, particularly in comparison to the film's modest budget, but the story will undoubtedly seem disappointingly predictable to many viewers. Nevertheless, the film's blend of competent (if unoriginal) action and technology proved enough of a draw to make the film a financial success internationally, though it received little notice in the United States. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Lambert, Loryn Locklin, (more)
- 1992
- PG
Somewhere in the Northeastern U.S., Alma (Olympia Dukakis) is a 60-year-old recent widow who has never been on her own since her early marriage to a domineering husband. Her son tries to immure her in a dowdy apartment in the basement of his house and showers her with perfunctory and thoughtless shows of public affection while preventing her from having any sort of life of her own. Her other child is a socially ambitious woman married to an ambitious Australian politician. Offended by the patronizing and heavy-handed attentions of her son, Alma flies off to see her daughter in Australia but swiftly discovers that she is not wanted there. In fact, she overhears her daughter and son-in-law talking about how to get her to leave. Rather than stay where she is unwelcome, she buys a vintage-model Chevy and charges off into the countryside, contemplating suicide -- or at the very least, kicking over the traces. She runs into Dutch (Derek Fowlds), a cantankerous but generous man about the same age as she is, and the two of them begin an impromptu tour of the glories of Australia. For the first time in her life, she has a romance between equals, and it takes her some time to adjust to it. While her daughter is worried that her neglect of her mother will reflect badly on her in public life and is anxious to track her down, Alma is having the time of her life and is discovering that she's a pretty spunky, capable woman in the bargain. This quiet little gem of a movie sparked little interest at the box-office but has done well in televised showings, and is available on tape. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Olympia Dukakis, Sigrid Thornton, (more)
- 1992
- R
In this grim docu-drama an Australian photojournalist leaves her children to cover the story of Vietnamese boat people in a Malaysian refugee camp. There she becomes friends with a Vietnamese streetwalker who has married a diplomat and together they try to do something about shocking conditions suffered by the people there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greta Scacchi, Joan Chen, (more)
John G. Avildsen, director of Rocky and The Karate Kid, adapts Bryce Courtenay's compassionate novel about the coming of age of a white anti-apartheid activist during the years of World War II in South Africa. Avildsen cumbersomely grafts Courtenay's tale of fighting apartheid onto a Hollywood-style fight-for-the-championship bout. Seven-year-old P.K. (Guy Witcher) is a white South African raised on his family's farm by his Zulu nanny. When his mother takes ill, he is sent away to an Afrikaner boarding school, where he is picked on and nearly killed by the school bully during a pep rally for Hitler. P.K. survives and is sent to live with his grandfather. He befriends Doc (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a jailed German musician, and a black inmate (Morgan Freeman), who teaches P.K. how to use his fists for some quick boxing moves. At 12, P.K. (now played by Simon Fenton), witnesses black inmates being cruelly humiliated by their racist white jailers. Taking note of P.K.'s fluidity for languages, his black mentor spreads the word that P.K. is the incarnation of the mythic Rain Maker, a messianic liberator who is destined to unite all the African tribes. By the time he's 18 years old, P.K. (now played by Stephen Dorff) is becoming the Great White Hope for the black Africans, boxing his way into their hearts and minds. He joins up with an old boxing foe (Alois Moyo), who is now a township activist, and takes up the apartheid struggle. But things get confusing when P.K. falls in love with the daughter (Fay Masterson) of an apartheid leader. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Dorff, Morgan Freeman, (more)
In 1945, a tribunal was held to investigate atrocities committed by the Japanese upon Australian soldiers during World War II. At an internment camp, 1100 Australian soldiers were tortured and killed by the Japanese, with only 300 survivors. This horrible event was not known until a terrible discovery of decapitated corpses was made at a grisly site on Ambon Island in Indonesia after the war. Stephen Wallace directed this courtroom drama based on the incident and follows the intrepid investigator who uncovers the truth behind the missing Australian soldiers. Bryan Brown plays Captain Cooper, the prosecutor of the case, in which 91 Japanese officers and soldiers are accused of murdering the Australian prisoners-of-war. The chief defendants are camp commander Takahashi (George Takei) and Captain Ikeuchi (Tetsu Watanabe). Takahashi denies knowing anything about the atrocities, as does Ikeuchi. Nevertheless, Cooper presses on to undercover the truth. But standing in his way is the American delegation, led by Major Beckett (Terry O'Quinn). They don't want a case to go forward that would reflect badly on the Japanese high command, since General MacArthur wants to reinstate many of the Japanese officers in a new postwar Japanese order. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, George Takei, (more)
Adapted from true events, this Australian production concerns a nurse (Linda Blair) who works at a psychiatric hospital. She gradually discovers the grisly truth about a head doctor (Tony Bonner) who performs rather suspect operations on comatose patients. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Blair, Tony Bonner, (more)
This silly Australian slasher film concerns a psychopath strangling students at an elite Catholic girls' school run by a strange married couple. Myles and Virginia Sheffield have sexual problems, and the viewer is led to believe that Myles is relieving his impotence by garotting the nubile students with barbed wire. There's also a nun, who disapproves of her girls getting friendly with the boys of the nearby Winchester school, and some hostile townies who are feuding with the prepsters. When a townie boy and a schoolgirl fall in love, the reactions from all quarters are such that there are suspects aplenty. Since the murders are all pretty much the same, at least the viewer can take interest in the mystery, right? Wrong. In fact, Alec Mills' direction is so clumsy and Robert Brennan's script so obvious that one is hard-pressed to find any reason at all to watch this film. At least Mills' follow-up -- the equally weak Dead Sleep -- had Linda Blair. This film has nothing!, but actually played theatrically in its home country to widespread apathy. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leon Lissek, Christine Amor, (more)
- 1989
The time is the mid-1950s; the place is a small, conservative town in Australia. Brownie (Charlie Schlatter) and Lola (Kylie Minoque), both well under the age of consent, fall in love. Their parents are dead set against this relationship, and do everything in their power to break it up. Because no one will leave them alone, Brownie and Lola rebel against their elders and embark upon a life of petty crime. Delinquents is based on a novel by Criena Rohan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kylie Minogue, Charlie Schlatter, (more)
The life of legendary scientist Albert Einstein is re-imagined as a slapstick farce in this comic fantasy. Changing Einstein's country of origin from Germany to Tasmania, the film shows the scientist's eventful youth as he creates rock & roll and discovers the secret of splitting the beer atom. Director and star Yahoo Serious loads the film with slapstick comedy, absurd sight gags, and even sneaks in a romantic subplot in which Einstein courts Marie Curie. The film was a huge hit in its native Australia but a major box-office disappointment in the United States, where audiences largely ignored the display of nonstop silliness. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Odile Le Clezio, (more)
