milbankj Reviews

Jane (II) (2017)

This brings back memories

[9/10 · 13 March 2018]

"Jane" is a pretty good doco; indeed, among the best I have seen. Unlike many nowadays, including some other National Geographic product, it maintains a high standard in all respects. This includes its overall construction, the near-impeccable score, the absence of hysterical and breathless dialogue and commentary, and most of all, the editing and fine mixing of archival and new moving and still imagery. The story, of course, stands on its own two feet.

So I have no quibbles. Any complaints about some fuzzy pictures ignore such realities as the quality of films made in difficult circumstances with the equipment of the day decades ago, even by professionals, and the few home movie clips which this production employs judiciously. Critics of fairly frequent footage of Goodall carrying and using binoculars, and staring into the jungled distance are a humorous reminder of my eight visits to Africa. I found many tourists (especially but not exclusively American) with such a low attention span that they complain if they don't see an amazing critter around every bush and have no patience for searching. I don't mind "Jane" reminding us that binoculars are among the most used and more important tools of wildlife watchers and photographers. Goodall's need for binoculars sits side by side with her discovery that chimpanzees, just like humans, make and use tools.

Healing (I) (2014)

Revealing

[8/10 · 23 November 2014]

This movie's poor performance at the box office, despite publicity, reveals more about the overall quality of Australian cinema audiences than it does about the country's film industry. Fine acting and cinematography back up a screenplay and score of rare quality, marrying human and environmental rehabilitation so effectively that the overall effect is extremely moving without mawkish corn. Paradoxically, this movie might do better in the US than here if properly promoted, considering Australian audiences' apparent liking for American sentimental crap. Hugo Weaving and Don Hany deliver in spades, Hany especially surpassing any previous outings of his... all quite competent if not memorable. The supporting cast doesn't let them down.

The Railway Man (2013)

Moving, despite shortcuts

[8/10 · 8 May 2014]

I don't often compare book with movie. This was one of those rare occasions when a movie (or book) excited my interest to the extent that I immediately sought the other out. I know I'm not alone in usually being disappointed by book or film, whichever comes second. Not so with "The Railway Man". I enjoyed both, but in different ways. Knowing something of the terrible sufferings of allied PoWs in Asia and elsewhere (mainly from reading), I was moved by the picture and found little in it to criticise. Well-crafted and nicely acted, it was well worth watching.

After reading the book, I have to qualify my praise, though without real negativity. My first point is to counter criticism that Nicole Kidman's role as the wife of the main character, Eric, was too dominant, even unnecessary. Not so, in my view. The movie-makers could have made even more of Patti, because she was the catalyst for the change in Eric's life post-war. He could think about and hate his Japanese captors and want revenge, but he had no wish to meet any Japanese; it was Patti who made first contact (by letter) with Nagase when they discovered that he, in Eric's mind representing all his Japanese tormentors, was still alive. She continued to correspond with Nagase and went with Eric to Thailand for their first meeting with the Japanese and his wife. So her role is vital. Maybe the movie short-changed her, but that is probably one of the shortcuts of omission and fiction which are often inevitable when condensing a near-lifetime of detail into a two-hour pictorial retelling.

There are other shortcuts in the movie, the most telling of which is the relatively low-level depiction of violence and torture and the resultant physical condition of the prisoners. To display reality as the book describes it would not have been possible, quite apart from the fact that most movie-goers don't have the attention span and many lack the stomach for such detail. In his book, Eric makes two observations related to the subject of depicting reality. Firstly, when he saw that epic movie about the Siam-Burma railway, "The Bridge on the River Kwai", he didn't think he had ever seen such well-fed PoWs. Secondly, he describes one of his fellow prisoners in Singapore: so emaciated that his anus projected like a pipe from his body. Critics should ponder these points.

African Cats (2010)

Visually excellent

[6/10 · 29 January 2014]

I'm not a Disneyphobe (nor am I a Disneyphile) but this needed its very fine cinematography to lift its rating and keep me watching. Undoubtedly, the script and narration will go down well with followers of the genre, as will the genteel treatment of the cruel realities of life and death in the wild, such as an absence of gore. This is not a criticism, just an observation. It is Disney, after all, and that's all. As a many-times observer in the flesh of real-life African wildlife action, I was glued to this only by its visuals. Apart from the unreal lack of blood, they were among the best I've seen in documentaries depicting the lives of big cats, and it was a relief not to have a narrator putting his face in front of the camera at every opportunity. Oh, and I have no problem with anthropomorphic descriptions of wild animals. I've seen big cats in the wild showing the same basic emotions as humans...affection between relatives and allies, anger and fear towards enemies, and so on: a lioness staring with what can only be described as great anger; fear in a lion's face before it turned and fled from humans on foot it had detected in the distance; pain in the eyes of an injured lion, beaten in a fight.

Argo (2012)

A disappointment

[6/10 · 5 March 2013]

I'm not going to add any vitriol to the debate about this movie's qualities. It's a story which should stand on its own two feet as a gripping account of an actual event. So why cheapen it with bits of fiction and poor scripting? Why leave gratitude for the Canadian role almost as an afterthought towards the end? Why not show the stress which the Canadian Ambassador must have endured, just as the stress of his guests was depicted? He, his family and staff were in just as much danger. Why dismiss the sensible actions of the British and New Zealand Embassies in one line: "The Brits and Kiwis turned them away", without explaining that the sudden arrival of a bunch of North American accents would stick out like a sore thumb to visitors and local staff alike in those diplomatic posts? Why the fictitious car-plane chase on the runway? The story had all the drama it needed from start to finish, without any help. The only partly obscured American flag in one of the closing scenes is the clue to the shortcomings which downgrade this effort to average entertainment when it could so easily have been much more worthy.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

A rare good job

[7/10 · 1 March 2013]

I came to this movie without the political baggage so commonly seen on these boards-- and with the pragmatic viewpoint that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, and both sides couldn't care less about causing collateral damage. As a neutral, I really enjoyed it...an under-played, no frills, no flag-waving account of how they got their man. I try not to prejudge, but sometimes the evidence is so overwhelming I can't resist. As a story based on actual events, this is streets ahead of Argo, which I'm yet to see but which seems to have fraud written all over it. It's also superior to The Hurt Locker, probably because it gave Bigelow meatier material to work with.

Band of Brothers (2001)

Not great

[6/10 · 22 December 2012]

I'm finally watching this because I'd heard so much about it. No doubt, it's competent and technically excellent, and I am enjoying it, but I wouldn't call it memorable.

Over the years, I've seen many war movies and series, and very few have been truly suspenseful and elicited the kind of emotion I would expect to feel while witnessing horrific and heroic events. This is another of those that fail the ever-so critical "suspense test". A more recently- produced failure was "The Hurt Locker", which was similarly competent, well-acted and interesting but which missed the target.

I guess I may set the bar too high, but there's only a handful of war movies which remain etched on my memory because they moved me one way or another- some small or quite modest productions, some of epic or near- epic proportions, some quite old, some fairly recent, some fictitious, some based on or depicting actual events- and which I would be pleased to see again. Perhaps a part of BoB will move me eventually, but so far, I'm not being enticed into a repeat viewing.

(Edit) Well, the heroics and ordeals of Medic Roe in Episode 6 were really worth watching, due in no small part to the actor's performance. But it was a long wait...it shouldn't take until more than halfway through a long series to get near a bullseye.

Beautiful Creatures (2000)

Park your brain, enjoy

[7/10 · 14 January 2012]

If only the baddies had more awful endings in this, I would have smiled more broadly. That's my only complaint. My wife and I have very different tastes in movies-- she's into fantasy, I prefer realism, but occasionally we find a show which we enjoy equally. This is one. It's refreshingly different, and I find the suggestion that it's a Thelma & Louise wannabe quite ridiculous. So it's two women against everybody else...but by comparison, T & L was a quite forgettable movie for me. This one doesn't try to milk laughter out of its audience; indeed, it almost dares one to laugh, which makes it special and probably explains why it didn't do well at the box office. An imaginative little movie, far more entertaining than most of the stuff served up to us.

Centennial (1978–1979)

Enjoyable but not classy

[6/10 · 29 November 2011]

I'm enjoying this series, largely because I'm a big fan of such stories; my library includes several works covering the same territory and era by such accomplished writers as Will Henry, A.B. Guthrie, Vardis Fisher and others. It may be correct to describe "Centennial" as the best mini-series ever, but that's close to damning praise considering the general shoddiness of such productions for TV. It has nowhere near the class of the best movies made for the big screen, but my enjoyment of the storyline enables me to overlook its shortcomings...average but typical TV acting, competent but nothing-special photography, and a cheap musical score. It has a certain educational value, but I wonder how effective is the message about the treatment of native Americans and whether it's submerged by the general theme of the settlement of the West. A pity if it is.

Animal Kingdom (2010)

Not a disappointment

[20 October 2010]

I confess to some apprehension when deciding to watch this movie. But I shouldn't have been worried by some of the negative reviews I'd read, particularly those criticising it for being slow and boring. I should have known better than to pay heed to people with the attention span of gnats and a preference for Hollywood-style action and heroics. This is a pretty good little show, well told, well acted and well photographed. I wouldn't put it in the class of the best Australian movies such as "Breaker Morant" and "Beneath Hill 60", but it's darn good for crime drama with a difference. I clearly remember the incident back in the 80s when two Victorian policemen were gunned down, unwitting victims of a hoax call-out in Melbourne. The story in "Animal Kingdom" puts that event in context, and reveals the symbiotic relationship that can exist between police and criminals. I think those suggesting Oscar glory for aspects of the movie are wrong. Jacki Weaver is good, but not that good; the leading male role players are more effective.

A Time to Kill (1996)

Disappointing second time around

[5/10 · 10 September 2010]

This was a big let-down on my second viewing, 14 years after the first. I rarely view a movie more than once. There's a mere handful so good that I've seen them several times and continue to be moved by them. I enjoyed this one quite a lot when it was first released and eagerly agreed to a belated second viewing last night. Wow. I must have become very much more discerning. What a great courtroom drama mixed with wonderful character development it could have been; instead, it's a shallow rendition of what was actually good original material (the novel engrossed me), and full of cardboard cutout characters. And the sugary ending! I've become very tired of the good-triumphs-over-evil-and-everybody-lives-happily-ever-after theme which certain film-makers can't seem to resist, especially when the national flag features prominently near the end-- they remind me of some of the old WW II propaganda movies. I have a feeling that my dislike of this film also has more than a little to do with the fact that just lately I've been spoiled by some brilliant British made-for-TV courtroom dramas. Alongside them, it fails dismally.

Beneath Hill 60 (2010)

This one passes the test

[8/10 · 26 August 2010]

A fine movie. Not a masterpiece, because such movies are non-existent; consequently, I don't go looking for such a thing. My test is that if a movie reaches or exceeds my expectations, it succeeds. In my book, this beats "The Hurt Locker" hands down-- which may not mean anything to those who disliked that Oscar winner. Perhaps foolishly, because of the Oscar hype, I had expectations of THL which were not met. So it failed. "Beneath Hill 60" does not. It's more realistic, more accurate, more tension-filled, and not at all pretentious. No need for me to repeat the plot outlines that others have mentioned. But I will declare that the above-ground battlefield and underground scenes-- the wet, the mud, the cold, the misery-- are amazing for their reality. And they were shot mostly in tropical north Queensland.

I Dreamed of Africa (2000)

Not great, but enjoyable

[27 September 2004]

The key to this movie is whether one understands the motivation for it. I've seen it a few times since reading the book after my second visit to Africa. I've been back to that continent four more times since. Not a great movie, but very enjoyable for one who has a passion for Africa, its people and wildlife.

It doesn't pretend to be a story about the indigenous people and culture, or the wildlife, so there's no need for either of those elements to play a significant role. The key characters are still among the people of Africa, whether they're black, white or brindle. After all, Kuki, for whatever reason, chose to go to Africa and make a life there, and still lives there. Karen Blixen did not remain in Africa (somebody unsympathetic would say she copped out), so comparisons with "Out of Africa" are rather pointless even from an artistic viewpoint. "Out of" is a good movie, one that I enjoyed equally, but it is highly romanticised. Too Hollywood, too box office. Not so "I dreamed of". It's fairly well told, fairly well acted, certainly beautifully filmed...and not deserving of condemnation. It's especially not deserving of criticism based on ignorance, such as references to the characters not showing the effects of Africa's "oppressive heat". Actually, based on my experience of six visits, I thought the actors were made up pretty well. For much of the year, large parts of Africa-- including Kenya-- enjoy a very mild climate.