Category: Trailers

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my Australian friends, the most important of all is that it’s a country that does have its own ideas and ideals, and has a unique identity and cultural touchstones that I will only begin to understand.

My friends’ ensuing glee over this trailer is proof-positive of this:

The official synopsis of the original novel by John Marsden goes like this:

Australian teenager Ellie and six of her friends return from a winter break camping trip to find their homes burned or deserted, their families imprisoned, and their country occupied by a foreign military force in league with a band of disaffected Australians. As their shock wears off, the seven decide they must stick together if they are to survive.

The film was adapted by Stuart Beattie (Collateral, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) who will also be making his debut as a director. The lead character in the book, Ellie Linton, will be played by Caitlin Stasey who is best-known for a long-running role in “Neighbours,” an Australian soap opera.

Now, before all of you readers in the U.S. start screaming, “This is a Red Dawn rip-off!” I do have to point out that there are 9 novels in what’s known as the Tomorrow series and its spinoff The Ellie Chronicles, and that an entire generation of young adults who devoured the books have been waiting almost two decades for this adaptation. Besides, Beattie already addressed this concern back in June 2009 when his involvement was first-announced:

“I don’t want to make Red Dawn, ” said Beattie, though he admits to liking the movie that MGM is in the process of remaking. “Do you remember when The Full Monty and Striptease were coming out together? They came out within months as the exact same premise—the parent strips for money so they can see their kid. But completely different. One was all flash and rockin’ body, and the other was completely the opposite, of total insecurity about getting up onstage. We’re more like the Full Monty version.”

Tomorrow will be released on September 2 in Australia and New Zealand; no word yet on any other foreign distribution dates.

Philippine director/screenwriter Dante Nico Garcia is getting his shot at the big time thanks to the special committee of the Film Academy of the Philippines which has chosen his first film Ploning to be the island nation’s official entry into the running for the Academy Awards Best Foreign Picture award. (Source: Variety)

From the very long-winded synopsis on the movie’s official website, it looks to be one of those very quaint and somewhat mystical films about a small community that’s tied together by a mysterious beautiful woman — like Chocolat, but on the Pacific Rim. Inspired by a folk song by the same name, the movie is an homage to the women in Garcia’s life, “his mother, his grand mother, his surrogate mother in the island, and his best friend [lead actor] Judy Ann Santos.” For a more detailed look and review of the movie, check out the last entry in the official production blog, written on May 31 after the press screening:

It was [during a pivotal scene] that the rest of the movie had blurred for me. I could no longer see through my tears, I was racked with emotions swirling inside me and around me, and I was so thankful I was beloved of God that I was being paid to watch this movie and He gave me two Krispy Kremes to boot.

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