Urban Cinefile
 The World of Film in Australia - on the Internet Updated Monday September 9, 2010 - Edition No 704 
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  GAME ON 2008 – PLAY IT AGAIN MAN
Game On Exhibition – Thursday 6 March – Sunday 13 July, 2008, ACMI Screen Gallery, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Federation Square, Flinders Street, Melbourne. Tickets: Full $15 / Concession: $10 / Family (2 Adults, 2 children) $44.
GAYS IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMA GAYS IN AUSTRALIAN CINEMA
In this post-Mardi Gras essay, PETER LOWNDES explores the treatment of gays in Australian cinema, from 1938 on, and finds that it’s not if, but how. (Pic: Priscilla)
  GEORGE LUCAS - KID WITHOUT TOYS
The man who single handedly made movie tie-in merchandise as successful a franchise as McDonalds, George Lucas has not one furry ewok, fuzzy wookie, stormtrooper uniform or mock lightsabre, at his Skywalker Ranch, reports Katherine Tulich in the latest issue of Australia’s DVD monthly, Region 4 magazine.
  GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2005 – PREVIEW
Is it by coincidence that this year’s Festival of German Films again includes a major new work about Hitler, this time the Oscar nominated Downfall? Following last year’s Valkyrie, about the plot to assassinate him, Downfall meticulously recreates his last days in the bunker. It will cast a strong shadow over the festival program, reports Andrew L. Urban.
  GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2007 – PREVIEW
Strange bedfellows and forbidden relationships it appears have been occupying the minds of German filmmakers if this year’s Festival of German Films (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, April 19 – 29) is any indication. The festival includes the unlikely pairing of an elderly music teacher with a prisoner in for murder, who is also a gifted pianist, in Four Minutes; a German nurse with an English pilot in Dresden; and a glamorous model with a car park attendant in Valerie.
  GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2009 – PREVIEW
Marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, this year’s German Film Festival includes six films from the former GDR among its program of 30 films, as well as sex-traffic drama, Trade, one of three films in the program - his first in English - by Marco Kreuzpaintner. Andrew L. Urban reports.
  GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2010 - PREVIEW
Vibrant and varied, German cinema is riding a wave of popular and critical success – and this festival is a showcase to some of its offerings, ranging from the Opening Night comedy Whisky With Vodka about an actor in crisis, through the Oscar winning and astringent The White Ribbon to the sensuous relationship drama of unlikely love, in Aimée and Jaguar. And then there is young Adolf …. Andrew L. Urban reports.
GERMAN FILMS FESTIVAL 2004 - PREVIEW GERMAN FILMS FESTIVAL 2004 - PREVIEW
Operation Valkyrie, a fresh look by German filmmaker Jo Baier at the attempted assassination of Adolf Hitler in July 1944, is a highlight of this month’s Festival of German Cinema, in which the moral status of Lieutenant Claus von Stauffenberg and other high-ranking army officers is reappraised. Baier is one of the special guests of the Festival, as Andrew L. Urban reports.
GHOST DOG GHOST DOG
There are no heroes or villains, no classifications of "good" or "evil," only characters, sampled DJ-fashion through historic and cultural references, says American film critic CRISSA-JEAN CHAPPELL, as she explores Jim Jarmusch's latest film, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.
GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD GHOSTS... OF THE CIVIL DEAD
Re-released on video this month, Ghosts . . . of the Civil Dead is one of Australian cinema’s most confronting and disturbing feature films, and one that has received relatively little attention in the list of our movie achievements. Is it too shocking, asks Andrew L. Urban.
GIANT: THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM ANY MORE GIANT: THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM ANY MORE
Featuring three great stars at the peak of their careers – Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean - and a legendary director – George Stevens - who won an Oscar for the film, Giant (1956) is now available on DVD (with a disc-full of extra features). Nick Roddick gets all nostalgic about a movie that really is like they don't make 'em any more.
GIRLS NIGHT GIRLS NIGHT
Girls’ Night is a film about friendship. And, with Julie Walters and Brenda Blethyn starring in their first movie together, the laughs are plentiful. But the story has another, sadder theme - one that films, let alone comedies, rarely deal with. By Jo Nicholas.
GLADIATOR - FICTION WITH FACTS GLADIATOR - FICTION WITH FACTS
A word or two by Oscar Hillerstrom * on the historical accuracy of Gladiator - it's not a true story - nor does it claim to be - but it is authentic and reveals much that is factual about the old Romans and their society.
GLADIATOR - RUSSELL THE MUSCLE GLADIATOR - RUSSELL THE MUSCLE
Starring in Gladiator as Maximus, Russell Crowe has gone from playing a paunchy, middle-aged man in The Insider to a Roman gladiator; "not bad," quips director Ridley Scott. "In other words, he's a real actor. Russell has an uncanny way of internalising a role, and he's naturally very physical, which was a perfect combination for the part."
GLASS PHILIP: KOYAANISQATSI GLASS PHILIP: KOYAANISQATSI
Composer Philip Glass and filmmaker Godfrey Reggio are collaborators in creating wordless movies (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, Anima Mundi) that haunt you forever; now, the Glass Ensemble is accompanying Koyaanisqatsi live on stage in Australia. ANDREW L. URBAN reports.
GO THE NET! FILMMAKERS WANTED GO THE NET! FILMMAKERS WANTED
In response to our story last week about the growing demand for content on the internet, Mark Muggeridge, Head of Film & Video Production at Brainwaave Interactive (pictured with Puppet newsreader), says it’s a great new medium for filmmakers.
  GODFATHER, THE – THE COPPOLA RESTORATION
We walked up the black carpet towards the ornate marble lobby of Sydney’s State Theatre, each of us clutching a single red rose – just like the mourners at the funeral of Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather. But this was no funeral: it was more like a resurrection, a celebration of the restoration of one of cinema’s crowning glories, The Godfather Trilogy. Andrew L. Urban reports on the world premiere screening of the restored 35 mm print of the 1972 Best Picture Oscar, marking the release of The Coppola Restoration.
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 1998 - WINNERS GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 1998 - WINNERS
Paul Fischer reports on the oft maligned, sometime influential, always nerve-wracking (for Oscar hopefuls) Golden Globe Awards – 1998 presentations.
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2001: THE WINNERS GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2001: THE WINNERS
The 89 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are clearly collectively delighted with the quality of competing films this year, spraying major awards around like confetti: Gladiator, Almost Famous, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Traffic, Cast Away, O Brother Where Art Thou and Erin Brockovich all take home one big award. See below for full list of movie award winners.
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002 - THE NOMINEES GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002 – THE NOMINEES
The Golden Globes may as well be renamed the Gold ‘n Greens this year, with several Australians prominently nominated in key categories; but let’s not get too nationalistic. What matters most is the quality of the work, not the nationality of the nominee, writes Andrew L. Urban.
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002: WINNERS GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2002: WINNERS
In the lead up to this year’s Golden Globes, at least two mass circulation newspapers in Sydney questioned the credibility of these awards; just who are the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are they susceptible to influence? But, argues Andrew L. Urban, credibility is not the point. Perception is.
  GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS 2010 – WINNERS
James Cameron’s Avatar won the Golden Globes Best Drama, but there were several other highlights to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s NBC telecast presentation, including standing ovations for Cecil B. De Mille winner Martin Scorsese, Foreign Language Picture Award presenter Sophia Loren, and Best Actor (Drama) Jeff Bridges – plus a funny and quirky speech by Best Actor (Comedy) winner, Robert Downey Jnr. Andrew L. Urban reports.
GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS - 2005 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS – 2005
With all the quirks and illogicalities of these Awards intact, the Nominees for the 62nd Golden Globes (January 16, 2005) are ready to be pored over during the Christmas break, as Hollywood and the rest of the movie world shifts through the lists for portents of more bright things to come. In the absence of LOTR for the first time in three years, the fields are wide open and the hills are alive … reports Andrew L. Urban.
  GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS – 2005
The Hollywood Foreign Press throw a good party, but in what is admittedly a tough year – with excellent competitors in several categories – it has surprised most of us in the business of watching the film industry by awarding the Best Supporting Actress Award to the beautiful and talented Natalie Portman; instead of the beautiful and talented Cate Blanchett. And it’s not the only surprise, reports Andrew L. Urban.
GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS: JAN 99 GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS: JAN 99
"I thought my heart was going to stop . . . I thought there must have been some mistake…" - Cate Blanchett after winning her Golden Globe award. At the 56th Golden Globes, Cate Blanchett won the award for Best Actress (drama), for her role in Elizabeth. Shakespeare in Love and Saving Private Ryan were the big winners, taking out the awards for Best comedy/musical and Best Drama. See list of winners
GOLDEN GLOBES 2003 - THE WINNERS GOLDEN GLOBES 2003 – THE WINNERS
The movie critics of the foreign press in Hollywood – and that includes a couple of Australians working there – have voted The Hours Best Drama, with Nicole Kidman Best Actress, and Chicago Best Musical/Comedy in the 60th Golden Globes, rewarding Nicole for not being afraid to tackle Virginia Woolf’s hook-nosed, grumpy, unsociable and suicidal character. Andrew L. Urban reports.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2005 - NOMINATIONS
Hollywood’s Foreign Press have nominated both Russell Crowe (for Cinderella Man) and Heath Ledger (for Brokeback Mountain) in the Best Actor category, but that’s the toughest category this year.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2006 – NOMINATIONS
Clint Eastwood is nominated twice for Best Director for his duo of WWII films, and Leonardo DiCaprio twice as Best Actor for Blood Diamond and The Departed – while two of the nominees in the Foreign Language category are in fact US films: Apocalypto (Mel Gibson) and Letters from Iwo Jima, giving Clint Eastwood his third nom. George Miller’s Happy Feet is a nominee for Best Animated Film and Cate Blanchett is up for a Supporting Actress award for Notes on a Scandal… And The Queen reigns.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2007 – WINNERS
Plenty of disagreements at post-Globes parties are guaranteed by this year’s results in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s awards, although not at Martin Scorsese’s party, where the veteran director no doubt has the winner’s smile firmly in place as Best Director, although Babel was voted Best Film. Andrew L. Urban reports.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2008 – NOMINATIONS
Atonement is much admired by the 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who have voted it for seven awards including Best Drama, where the category has been expanded to seven nominations. Andrew L. Urban reports.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2008 – WINNERS
Atonement has converted each of its seven nominations, including Best Drama, into a Golden Globe at last weekend’s 35 minute announcement no-show*; and Sweeney Todd; The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was voted Best Musical/ or Comedy, while Julie Christie was a sentimental (surprise) winner for Away From Her, 32 years after her last GG nomination (for Shampoo). But Cate Blanchett did win Best Supporting Award for I’m Not There. Andrew L. Urban reports.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2009 - NOMINEES
Two of the five nominated directors and three of the five nominated writers are British in this year’s nominations for Hollywood’s Golden Globe awards – but the anomalies within the categories makes nonsense of the drama/comedy split. Andrew L. Urban chuckles in the glow of the Globes.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2009 - WINNERS
They’re going nuts in Mumbai, said producer Christian Colson as he accepted the Golden Globe for Best Drama, as Slumdog Millionaire won its fourth award for the night, the film set and shot in Mumbai and made with many of the crew hired in that city. And earlier, the Hollywood Foreign Press stayed true to expectations and awarded Heath Ledger the award for Best Supporting Actor, for his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight.
  GOLDEN GLOBES 2010 – NOMINATIONS
You could say the Hollywood Foreign Press has picked its top 10 films of the year with its nominations for best film in drama and musical/comedy categories, and it’s hard to argue with their votes, at least in mainstream cinema for 2009, says Andrew L. Urban.
  GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2004 – NOMINATIONS
Cold Mountain has been nominated in eight drama categories in the Golden Globes, but is in the company of heavy competition for Best Drama with The Returns of The King, Master and Commander, Mystic River and Seabiscuit; and Lost in Translation has five in the Best Musical or Comedy category
  GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2004 – WINNERS
Peter Jackson and Bill Murray were the stars of this year’s Golden Globe awards presentation, the former showing he can accept the night’s major award with more grace and composure than many of the actors, while the latter gave a hilarious deadpan performance with barbed wire lines; Michael Douglas, honoured with the de Mille Award, also stood out. And the conflict of the night goes to …. Finding Nemo / Lost in Translation, both deserving but in different categories.
  GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS 2006 – WINNERS
The biggest surprise in the Golden Globe Awards for the films of 2005 is that Walk the Line and The Squid and The Whale are both categorised as Musical or Comedy, the former, a biopic of Johnny Cash but certainly no musical, winning the award, with Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix also collecting Globes. Can categories be so flexible, asks Andrew L. Urban, while applauding Brokeback Mountain’s Award for Best Drama.
GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS 2002 GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS 2002
It’s hardly news that in the Golden Globe awards for 2002 The Two Towers is a Best Drama nominee, or that Chicago is a Best Musical nominee; what IS news, however, is that the universally dissed theme song from Die Another Day by Madonna is among the nominated movie songs; maybe there weren’t enough to choose from?
GOLDEN GLOWS? (2001) GOLDEN GLOWS? (2001)
Luisa Browett reviews the Golden Globe Awards presentation and finds that black is back (so is fruit), but the young ones are notable by absence, while golden oldies dominated the telecast.
  GOMORRAH – THE SYSTEM ALWAYS WINS
The title Gomorrah is a play on the name of the ill-fated, decadent and lawless city of the bible and the Italian word, Camorra, meaning ‘system’, and the label by which the Naples criminal organisation – said to be bigger and more powerful than Sicily’s Mafia - has become known. Andrew L. Urban reports.
GONE WITH THE WIND: COMES WITH THE TIMES GONE WITH THE WIND: COMES WITH THE TIMES
Here's a date movie that hasn't dated; but why, asks ANDREW L. URBAN.
GOSSIP GOSSIP
Our New York correspondent, Jeff Sipe, gossips about the press junket for the young cast of the teen thriller, Gossip, and finds it an intriguing experience.
  GRAINGER, PERCY ALDRIDGE: FACT SHEET
  GRAYDON, NOEL – OBITUARY
Obituary by Noel’s colleague and friend Michael Ney.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS GREAT EXPECTATIONS
When veteran producer Art Linson and Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón took on Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations for Twentieth Century Fox, they discovered a 19th-century classic with 20th-century appeal. Helen Beck reports.
GUY GROSS - THE GUY WITH THE MUSIC GUY GROSS - THE GUY WITH THE MUSIC
Guy Gross has composed music for animated childrens films and sophisticated black comedies - and even for exotic fountains in casinos. He got his start in his father's film studio, but has carved his own track in the years since.





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