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Reviews
Animal Kingdom (2010)
All the right ingredients, but it was overcooked.
Animal Kingdom is a film of great promise but it fails to truly satisfy. The film is 20-30 minutes too long, and it lacks a certain energy. The film's central performance by James Frecheville is fantastic, however the character he plays is so morose and uninteresting that towards the end of the 112 minute running time you just don't care what happens to him.
Certain plot machinations towards the end of the film are somewhat incoherent, and situations that could have yielded great moments are cut short or mishandled in favour of long, drawn out periods of exposition or superfluous characters. This said, special mention must be made of Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn for their first rate performances amongst a already stellar cast.
However it was still a well made film, and there's much to recommend it. It's just it didn't reach it's full potential, and there's no reason why it shouldn't have.
Bastardy (2008)
Fantastic depiction of the ups and downs of an actor/criminal.
I walked past this film when it was both at the cinemas and as a DVD but just caught it on ABC. How I regret not watching it earlier. The fascinating story of Jack Charles is propelled by narration by Charles himself which is weaved into footage of his life on the street and from his acting in films from his past. Jack Charles is an actor with a long history on the screen and stage who is also a career criminal and drug abuser. This film charts several years in his life as he discusses his past. A terrific and fascinating documentary that stands testament to its subject and its makers and well recommended to anybody who has an interest in acting, the Australian indigenous experience or quality documentary film making.
Oil Storm (2005)
A scenario built on false premises. Ludicrous.
This is a wasted opportunity. The film starts off well but goes to hell quickly with the focus on individuals such as the protesting farmer whose slogan is "food not oil". How does he expect his food to reach the consumer? How does he expect his product will get to processing and/or storage facilities? The farmer goes off his nut because the US Government has cut his subsidies(!). Well, hello! That's what globalization is about -- cutting subsidies to inefficient industries. Which the US farm sector surely is.
If the price of crude goes up so precipitously, over a long to medium time frame, then other compatible fuels will eventually come into play: synthetic fuel made from coal, coal gas, natural gas, and ethanol made from biomass (see Brazil). And it will be worthwhile to extract oil from under the permafrost of Siberia.
As regards the high cost of fuel for cars, US viewers should check what the French pay for their fuel now and build cars and delivery vans with small engines as a consequence. Oh, and the sky hasn't fallen in and their farmers continue to be subsidized, by the way. And funny, the film didn't make a mention of Europe.
US needs a reality check if it thinks this film is a believable scenario.
Apart from that: appalling acting, maudlin, oversentimental script, poor choice of footage -- with deserted airports full of 70s Douglas DC9s and Boeing 727s and not a single modern airliner. Purleeze, gimme a break.
This scenario is playing itself out, in real life. The price of crude is going up. The reality is far more interesting and less banal.
Fat Pizza (2003)
you americans and co can never understand the genius of pizza
i urge, no i implore all people to see this movie, it will become a cult classic. for those who dont know it is based on the terrific low budget sbs show that takes the p*** out of everything and everyone. it is a showcase of the australian spirit of taking the p*** out of everything and anyone and the movie furthers this tradition well. it is a showcase of australian talent and the number of celebrity cameos is mind boggling with classic jokes that only australians would get but a couple you overseesians might get as well. see this movie anybody who gets a chance, you will not be disappointed.
Schindler's List (1993)
If only Kubrick had made it.
One of my deepest wishes in life is that Stanley Kubrick had made Schindlers List instead of Spielberg. Spielberg however hard he tried could not capture the right feel of the story. Now don't get me wrong Schindlers list is one of the true classics of modern cinema but one can only start to appreciate what it could have been. Spielberg is known to be overly sentimental and this film is no exception. The cinematography of this film is very well done but i do not believe it serves it's purpose. The black and white format was chosen to give of the feel of a documentary but the shots are too slick, it feels to artificial, giving the feel of more a 50's noir film. The acting is superb but the script i felt lacked something, being too comercial maybe. The decision to put it into english was a controversial decision but simplifies it no end. The violent and very graphic images of the film work well in some parts, not others, the ghetto cleansing scene works brilliantly so does the excercise scene, it truly feels like your watching what happened but the parts were Fiennes takes pot shots at the workers, well seemed to have no point other than too shock you, but there were so many more attrocities the Nazi's perpetrated that could have taken it's place that would have added so much to the film. Too sum up this was a good film with excellent acting, especially by Ben Kingsley who was robbed of an oscar, superb editing and set design, good but misleaded cinematography and average direction. If only Kubrick had made the film Aryan Pages instead of Spielberg it undoubtedly would have been the greatest film of all time in my eyes.
Windtalkers (2002)
Wrong direction, wrong director
I first saw a preview of this movie 6 months before it was released. Saying i had high hopes was an understatement. John Woo, one of my favourite directors, Nicolas Cage, one of my favourite actors and the Pacific Theatre, one of my favourite historical events. I had hoped that John Woo would be able to transmit his particular style of action film making would transmit not entirely but in it's own way to Windtalkers. But unfortunately he has made this into an action movie set in a war scenario. An interesting premise gone wrong, with a ridiculously predictable ending. Thankfully there was an absense of vomit inducing American flag waving patriotism that is seen in typical no brains war flicks. Now don't get me wrong, I love John Woo's work, especially the 1998 classic "Face Off", and some of his earlier Hong Kong work but this sort of film should be left to directors of a different style. It was well shot (apart from that horrendous archival footage of the battleship, what the hell were they thinking) but once again Woo's action background has carried into this film, especially with the awful scene of Cage being able to take out a Jap a shot from his pistol, no wounded, killed from one shot, at ranges of about 50 or 60 metres. The acting was well done but acting can only carry a film so far when the writing is at such a sub par level. The battle scenes I must admit are visually pleasing to look at but at the height of the action are ruined by the CG bombers, standing out like the cartoons in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". The bombers have neither the believability nor the effect of the CG fighter planes in "Enemy at the Gates". The premise of this film was very good but vital mistakes in the cinematography, action style, fast paced editing that serve only to glorify war, not portray it as it is, writing that belongs in a Steven Segal movie, and trying to balance unrealistic gunplay with realistic explosions gives an uneven feel. 5 out of 10.