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Title: The Mule XLrator Media Director: Tony Mahony, Angus Sampson Writers: Jaime Browne, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell Cast: Hugo Weaving, Angus Sampson, Leigh Whannell, Ewen Leslie, Georgina Haig, Noni Hazlehurst, and John Noble Running time: 103 min, Unrated (Violence, language) In Theaters, VOD And iTUNES: November 21, 2014 Based on true events. In 1983 a naive man named Ray Jenkins (Angus Sampson) who still lives at home with his parents, travels to Thailand with his soccer team. Ray’s friend Gavin (Leigh Whannell) whom is in a bit of trouble with drug dealer Pat Shepherd (John Noble), convinces Ray to take the task of swallowing 20 condoms filled with heroin and [ Read More ]

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Hugo Weaving skyrocketed into Hollywood fame as Agent Smith in The Matrix films and over the last two decades, the actor has curated a fine balance of Hollywood films and smaller indie productions, both in the Us and in his native Australia. The Mule is one of his most recent forays into indie films.

Written and directed by Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson, Sampson also stars as Ray, the "mule" of the title in a comedic retelling of a real life events surround the first drug mule to be caught by law enforcement.

I had a chance to speak with Hugo Weaving, one of the film's stars (he plays one of the cops), about the bizarre story, his favourite scene in the film and his preference for working on smaller productions.

The Mule made its debut at SXSW earlier this y [Continued ...]...

Mother, Jugs, and Laxatives: Sampson and Mahony’s Curious Exploration of Strange Case

Based on its poster and other marketing materials for Angus Sampson and Tony Mahony’s directorial debut, The Mule, one would assume the film would be a zany, goofily comedic treatment of its ‘based on a true story’ crime from the early 80’s. Surprisingly, the film is much more sobering than that, as well as nicely shot and performed, imbued with a pedigree hardly evident in the materials being used to draw an audience in to a film starring a trio of known Austrialian names, including Leigh Whannell and Angus Sampson (writer and co-star of Insidious) as well as Hugo Weaving. That said, Mahony and Sampson don’t structure the film advantageously, lumping us right away into the dramatic thrust before plateauing into a countdown hinged on its protagonist’s bowel movement.

In 1983 Melbourne, Ray Jenkins (Angus Sampson...

There are films that are based on a true story, and then there's "The Mule." It's easy to see how directors Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson, who star in and co-wrote the script, would be attracted to this outlandish story. But taking inspired ingredients and turning them into a worthy genre film entails knowing the limitations of the story and maximizing its strongest points, advice the filmmakers could've used at any time during the making of "The Mule." A movie that jumps into its central premise before quickly settling into tedium, Mahony and Sampson try to wring as much mileage of possible out of a grown man trying not to take a shit. But in order for the audience to play along, you have to make us give a shit, and "The Mule" does try. The story follows Ray (Sampson), a schlubby Mama's boy who works an unremarkable TV repair...

It cannot be denied that Hugo Weaving is one of the greatest actors working today. While Laurence Fishburne is, of course, awesome, The Matrix Trilogy would have been nothing without Weaving’s towering performance as Agent Smith. He added greater depth and complexity to V For Vendetta, and presented Red Skull as a most fearsome foe in Captain America: The First Avenger. But, for all the big budget films he does, it is his selection of smaller, independent projects that make for the most interesting viewing – and that’s what we have here, in The Mule.

Check out the plot summary for the movie below:

“Inspired by true events, The Mule tells the story of a naïve young man who is detained by federal police with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach. Alone and afraid, ‘the Mule’ makes a desperate choice; to defy bodily functions and withhold the evidence… literally.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s clearly the mentality that the writers of Ride Along brought to the table. And I can’t blame them, given the tremendous success that buddy comedies have found in Hollywood, particularly in recent years with action-heavy team-up comedies like 21 Jump Street and 2 Guns. Luckily, there’s more to Ride Along than just a rehash of those hits.

The main draw for most will be watching Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, two talented actors with supremely different personalities, share the screen. Cube, physically imposing and still radiating the same fierce anger that made his rapping work so iconic, fits perfectly into the role of Alabama Pd Detective James Payton, a tough-as-nails cop who relishes the chance to break protocol and kick in some heads.

Similarly, Hart, famed for his manic energy and underdog rep, is well-suited for the part of Ben Barber,...

The new Australian film The Mule is not a horror film -- although, yeah, I bet we'd all love to see a flick about a man-eating, rabid mule. Nor is The Mule exactly a suspense movie or a "thriller" in a traditional sense. So why are we reviewing it at Fearnet? Well, here's the plot:

  A sad-sack loser stupidly decides to transport a lot of heroin (in his stomach) from Bangkok to Australia, only he gets caught at the airport and held as a suspect. Law of the land dictates that Ray Jenkins can only be held for seven days, so that's good news, right? The bad news should be obvious: have you ever tried to "hold it in" for seven days? And that's just normal food. One can only assume that 20 condoms filled with heroin would be in an even bigger rush to leave one's belly.   Set in early '80s Australia and,...

Austin - In the two "Insidious" movies, Angus Sampson and Leigh Whannell play the two paranormal investigators who work with Lin Shaye, and I enjoyed how they almost felt like they were beamed in from another film with a more aggressive sense of absurdity. They had really fun chemistry together, and in the second film especially, they were a big part of what the films did well. Last week, their new collaboration premiered as part of the SXSW Film Festival, and this time, the two of them are front and center. They co-wrote "The Mule," and they both play key roles in the film, with Sampson also serving as co-director with Tony Mahony. "The Mule" is dark and smart and deeply satisfying, a wicked little crime thriller with a grim sense of humor. Sampson's work in front of the camera is just as good as his work behind the camera,...

For those who find humour in bodily functions, Australian dark comedy The Mule is a lot of fun, laced with killings and beatings and featuring strong performances. That.s according to several critics who attended the world premiere at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. Co-directed by Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson, who plays one of the leads, the film is based on the story of a Victorian man who in 1983 is suspected of smuggling drugs back from Thailand. He.s locked in a hotel room by the cops who expect him to deliver the evidence within a day or so. In Australia Entertainment One will release the film scripted by Leigh Whannell, Sampson and Jaime Browne, date to be confirmed. Sampson plays the slow-witted Ray, who foolishly agrees to act as a drug mule for his friend Gavin ( Whannell), who is acting as a front man for local mobster...