Rhys Wakefield

Occupation

Actor

Endless Love Review

By Rich Cline

Bad

This remake strips away everything that made the 1981 Brooke Shields romance so scandalous. Re-designed for 12-year-old girls, this version of Scott Spencer's novel plays like a dreamy Nicholas Sparks-style fantasy. There's no sense of urgency or danger, and not a single whiff of actual love, despite a lot of heaving sighs and longing glances. Everything on-screen feels like a predictable cliche yearning to pull our heartstrings, but these tricks only work on young teens who haven't seen many movies.

The story centres on good-guy David (Pettyfer), raised by his working-class single dad (Patrick). At his high school graduation, David finally gets up the nerve to talk to the class wallflower, beautiful rich girl Jade (Wilde), who is still grieving over the death of her big brother. There's a spark between them, but Jade's harsh dad (Greenwood) dismisses David as unworthy, then sets out to crush their blossoming romance. Jade's mother (Richardson) and brother (Wakefield) are more supportive, but Dad is so determined to get David out of Jade's life that he inadvertently pushes them even closer together. Surely a happy ending is out of the question.

Only of course it isn't, because we can see that this film doesn't have the nerve to get very dark. Filmmaker Feste only toys around with the nasty side of the story. She can't even let Greenwood play a properly conflicted man; he's essentially bipolar, veering wildly from understanding to maniacal in his reaction to the relentlessly lovely David. Pettyfer's one-note performance merely reminds us of Channing Tatum, but at least he registers on-screen, unlike the vaguely beautiful Wilde. The only performers allowed any complexity are Richardson and Patrick.

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Endless Love Trailer

Jade Butterfield is a wealthy and beautiful young teenager who loves to read and has never experienced an intimate relationship with a boy before. However, that begins to change when she meets David Axelrod; a handsome young man who works at the inn where the Butterfields stay on their summer vacation. Jade's parents notice her suddenly becoming distracted as she embarks on a reckless adventure with her mysterious boy. On meeting David, her parents are unimpressed, with her father attempting to show up any flicker of dishonesty that he might exhibit. Undeterred, he takes Jade on a passion-fuelled adventure of parties, road trips and fervent love-making, but when Mr Butterfield digs into his past he becomes obsessed with trying to unveil the dark truths about him, and becomes desperate to take David out of Jade's life by any means possible.

'Endless Love' is the dramatic romance re-make of the 1981 movie of the same name starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. It has been directed by Shana Feste ('The Greatest', 'Country Strong') who co-wrote the screenplay opposite Joshua Safran ('Gossip Girl'). This harrowing film about an ill-fated youthful romance is set to hit movie theatres in the US on Valentine's Day, February 14th 2014.

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The Purge Review

By Rich Cline

Excellent

A home-invasion thriller with a twist, this fiercely clever film is both thought-provoking and terrifying, mixing a Twilight Zone sense of morality with skilfully developed menace and genuinely horrific violence. It also boasts a cast that is terrific at keeping us guessing, shading their characters in such a way that, even if we know who's supposed to be the good and bad guys, we keep wondering if we've got it right.

The story takes place in 2022 America, which has solved its economic woes with Purge Night, a free-for-all in which people have 12 hours to commit any crime, including murder, to cleanse the streets and vent their frustration. The goal is to eliminate poverty and unemployment by killing off all the homeless and jobless people. And it's worked a charm, especially for security system salesman James (Hawke), who locks down inside his palatial home with wife Mary (Headey), rebellious teen daughter Zoey (Adelaide Kane) and shy gadget-whiz son Charlie (Burkholder). But two interlopers get into the house: Zoey's shady older boyfriend Henry (Oller) and a terrified stranger (Hodge) running from an angry mob of tenacious masked anarchists.

As the night progresses, James and Mary's world is ripped apart piece by piece, descending into a state of primal protectiveness that's eerily believable. If it's either kill or be killed, what would you do? Hawke and Headey are terrific as parents pushed to the brink, and sometimes over it, while Kane and Burkholder find surprising moments of their own. And as the smiling gang leader, Wakefield is seriously unsettling. So even if some of the plot's twists and turns are a bit predictable, the actors and filmmaker DeMonaco do a great job at delving beneath the surface to keep us squirming in our seats at both the nasty possibilities and some rather awful grisliness.

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The Purge Trailer

During a time when the American Dream is available to everyone in a euphoric world where unemployment is at 1% and crime rates are the lowest they've ever been in the US, families everywhere are arming their homes to protect themselves against the impending mayhem. Why? Because the countdown has begun to the one night of the year when their peace ends, when every crime is legal from burglary to murder. It's called The Purge; an official 12-hour annual period that allows a release for the population and keeps people out of prison as all emergency services are suspended. When one family board up their home and pray that they will be safe once more, things take a nasty turn when the son opens the doors to a frightened stranger and invites him to take refuge. The house is soon approached by a group of weapon wielding killers who offer them a chance of safety if they give up the stranger to them. The family soon find themselves challenging their own moral code as their true selves are revealed during their night of terror.

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Rhys Wakefield and Ioan Gruffudd Monday 31st January 2011 Los Angeles premiere of 'Sanctum' at Grauman's Chinese Theatre - Arrivals Los Angeles, California

Sanctum Trailer

Frank McGuire has spent most of his life exploring caves, he's a master of his trade and his son Josh wishes to follow in his footsteps. Father and son set out on a mission to explore the Esa'ala caves one of the most beautiful and untouched places in the world. Accompanying Frank and his son are financier Carl and his girlfriend Victoria and George.

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Rhys Wakefield Wednesday 1st October 2008 out and about with a friend Sydney, Australia