JOHN_REID

I have just seen the fourth episode of Killing Time and am enjoying this immensely. It is interesting that a series of this type has its premier and probably exclusive screening on Cable TV rather than Commercial TV. Perhaps the content is too violent and confronting for Commercial TV. The Cable TV screening actually works very well with a series like this. There are multiple screenings of each episode so there is no excuse to miss anything and only small interruptions from commercial breaks.

David Wenham is superb as Andrew Fraser, a lawyer who chooses the wrong clients. His family and friends know this and look on his successes with an almost condescending bewilderment as to why he seems drawn to representing criminals and exploiting loopholes in the law to set them free. Although he is successful he makes enemies with the police and has a tenuous relationship with the people he defends.

Killing Time is told as two parallel stories - the past, with Fraser's rise to fame and success in making the police look like fools and the present, where he is incarcerated and trying to cope with life in prison. At the moment we are not sure exactly what precipitated his sentence to a term in prison but there are plenty of clues.

With each week we learn more about the man. It seems inevitable that things will eventually turn pear shaped for him. His strange penchant for defending criminals who are obviously guilty is a road to self destruction. Each time he wins in court and humiliates the police, he creates more enemies. He tries to justify his actions to his family but they clearly cannot accept that he uses legal arguments and technical points to defend vicious criminals.

The cast is impressive. Diana Glenn is a very promising actress and plays the role of his wife very effectively. Richard Cawthorne and Malcolm Kennard are both brilliant as the manic criminals that Andrew Fraser chooses to defend.

Colin Friels is at his best as Lewis Moran. He plays one standout scene in a bar with classic understatement that will linger in the memories of anyone who sees the series.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the series - great Australian drama and highly recommended.

Caught Inside is a taught psychological thriller set on a Surfing Safari in the Maldives with a thought provoking script that revolves around a central character who is not unlike Max Cady from Cape Fear.

Director Adam Blaiklock and the crew spent a month or so in the Maldives filming Caught Inside. From the outset a requirement was that the actors were all competent surfers and the surfing scenes are all shot with realism. The story is cleverly and quietly developed with moments of real suspense and surprise that make the audience gasp.

Ben Oxenbould plays Bull, at first glance popular with his peers, a larrikin who can charm anyone when he wants to. However we soon learn that he has a dark side. He has issues with women and anyone who disagrees with him and his disturbing sociopathic tendencies cannot be hidden in the confined spaces of the vessel.

He uses his strength as an intimidation to others but, interestingly, never takes on the Captain played by Peter Phelps. It is not clear whether this is due to some past incident, his respect for authority or the fact that the skipper might be stronger than him but anyone else who crosses his path is fair game.

Despite the fact that the Captain laid out the ground rules at the beginning of the trip, it becomes evident that the cruise participants are on their own – miles from anywhere. No one can help. This plays into Bull's hands as his manic tendencies become obvious. There are subtle hints that he has shown this type of behaviour before and he becomes more and more menacing and unhinged as the film progresses.

Caught Inside was filmed with a tight budget but it does demonstrate how important it is to base a movie on a great script. The film essentially revolves around Bull and Ben Oxenbould is truly exceptional in the role. He has been known as a comic actor with his performances in Comedy Inc but this film provides him with an opportunity to display a real talent for a complex character role.

In some ways the other actors are incidental to Bull but they are generally all very competent.

It is disappointing that Caught Inside hasn't reached a wider audience. The sad reality these days is that it is very difficult to get wide distribution without major stars and studio backing. Independent film makers face an up hill battle to get their films screened in cinemas.

Highly recommended.

In a film that deals primarily with excesses of money and greed, it is interesting that the budget for this movie was in the region of an obscene $70,000,000.00. I'm not sure how much of the budget was devoted to script and substance but the end result was a banal and poorly developed screenplay with puerile, soppy sub plots of romance and the strained relationship between father and daughter.

Ultimately the story is grossly simplistic, cashing in on the global financial crisis, without any attempt to provide real detail as to how the end results are achieved. You are supposed to just accept that everything that occurs in the film is plausible without any meaningful attempt at a reasonable explanation.

Leaving aside the flaws in the plot there was an opportunity to develop some suspense but Olvier Stone missed his chance and concentrated on expensive sets and effects that did absolutely nothing to provide anything substantial.

The cast all do their best but they are hamstrung by an unimaginative script and poor direction.

At the screening I attended, the person in front of me was playing games on his mobile phone and many people left before the end credits were shown. That, I'm afraid, says it all.