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Author Topic: Australian Cinema?  (Read 31145 times)

colonel_mexico

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #170 on: May 19, 2020, 02:49:48 PM »
CADDIE (1976) - I vaguely remember Helen Morse from the film STONE, but wow she really left her mark here in this bittersweet Oz drama that comes across as simple, but is thematically profound.  Morse plays the titular Caddie, a moniker taken from a nickname for a car some man thought was beautiful (like her, cheesy I know), but what's amazing about this performance is how strong a woman, any woman could be.  Leaving behind a well-to-do, but abusive husband, Caddie embarks on an odyssey to protect her children in a patriarchal world during one of the worst economic times in history. The power of the performance is in the way Morse appears in each scene, struggling terribly inside, but stoic on the outside-this is Garbo-silent film era type of performance. There were a few issues with the time lapses, you would get fast-forwarded and the film is a lot of showing-not-telling which I generally prefer, but there seemed to be gaps in the drama that left a wanting.  Because this is a 70s-era film the music is not great and sometimes feels like a Hallmark type film, but Morse's performance and the story itself rise above these problems and make for a compelling drama. I also really appreciated how the film stayed true to its reality based approach and did not Hallmark or Disney-fy the ending, no bows in a harsh world, but a feeling of satisfaction that Caddie was going to be alright no matter the obstacle or the heartbreak.  Very enjoyable.
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #171 on: May 19, 2020, 09:28:48 PM »
I had forgotten that Helen Morse was in Stone. I am glad you enjoyed the film. Your thoughts mirror mine, although I did not notice the music in any particular way. Did you notice that this was also an early-ish appearance for Jacki Weaver.

The film is based on an autobiography, so its reality based approach is appropriate.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #172 on: May 22, 2020, 08:13:16 AM »
Erskineville Kings (1999 Alan White)

Scrungy Sydney, a place of broken down buildings and share houses. I did not live in Sydney, but the share houses in this movie reminded me a lot of share houses I visited. Bong and mix bowl on the coffee table, furniture recovered from wherever it could be got from. Awkward conversations, not quite sure what to say. Into this comes Barky, rolling into town for his dad's funereal, and maybe to deal with some issues he left behind. He bounces around with some old mates and his brother, but all is not good between the brothers.

This is another Australian family drama, but in no way as hard as The Boys, it is more like Radiance (1998).

This one is notable for an early film role for Huge Jackman and Joel Edgerton. Jackman had starred with Claudia Karvan in Paperback Hero that was release a few weeks before this film. Both had had several TV roles.

Rating: 78 / 100

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #173 on: August 07, 2020, 07:25:51 AM »
Money Movers (1978 Bruce Beresford)

This was Beresford's 6th feature. He had started out with some ocker classics (the 2 Barry McKenzie films), then mellowed that a little with Don's Party. Then he shifted gear with The Getting of Wisdom. This film followed TGoW and it is a straight up crime drama and has a bit of a feel of the British TV show The Sweeney (as a side note the introduction of Jack Reagan in the first episode is brilliant TV/character introduction and well worth a watch).

Once again there are lots of familiar faces, more from the small screen. Terence Donovan plays an ex-cop security guard (which given the amount of time Donovan had played a cop on TV was appropriate), that said you might recognise him from other Beresford films (The Getting of Wisdom; Breaker Morant). Along the ride with him in a smaller role is Bryan Brown who was also doing his 6th feature.

The film is about an armoured car robbery and while a little slow to start (even with an early bit of excitement) gets the tension worked up nicely. The action is well done, violent without being gratuitous, which is appropriate for armed robbery films.

Rating: 79 / 100

pixote

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #174 on: August 07, 2020, 10:23:03 AM »
“Australian New Wave” is a new collection on Criterion Channel this month featuring:

Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971), The Cars That Ate Paris (Peter Weir, 1974), Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975), Sunday Too Far Away (Ken Hannam, 1975), The Devil’s Playground (Fred Schepisi, 1976), Don’s Party (Bruce Beresford, 1976), Storm Boy (Henri Safran, 1976), The Getting of Wisdom (Bruce Beresford, 1977), The Last Wave (Peter Weir, 1977), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Fred Schepisi, 1978), Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978), Money Movers (Bruce Beresford, 1978), Newsfront (Phillip Noyce, 1978), Mad Max (George Miller, 1979), My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979), The Plumber (Peter Weir, 1979), Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1980), Gallipoli (Peter Weir, 1981), Puberty Blues (Bruce Beresford, 1981), Starstruck (Gillian Armstrong, 1982), The Year of Living Dangerously (Peter Weir, 1982)

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colonel_mexico

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #175 on: August 07, 2020, 10:00:48 PM »
Wow what a list! I've only seen about half of them but looking forward to diving in to some of those!
"What do you want me to do draw you a picture?! Spell it out?! Don't ever ask me, as long as you live don't ever ask me more!"

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #176 on: August 08, 2020, 08:11:37 AM »
The Year of Living Dangerously is one of those films I wish more people would talk about. Fascinating film.

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #177 on: September 26, 2020, 07:19:13 AM »
The Magician (2005 Scott Ryan) - Watched on Amazon Prime (USA)

This mockumentary written, directed and starring Scott Ryan follows Ray a hitman, who makes people vanish, so they just end up on the missing persons lists. Ray is a man who seems devoid of emotion when it comes to his work. Ray is an all too believable person, scarily so. Watching him, he seems like he will turn on a dime, and you just will never know what will trigger him. It is not that he is erratic rather he is overly calm and rational.

The occasional inter-title telling us what is known, to become of, the various people who have interacted with him during the filming are a nice touch. It was also nice to recognise so many of the places where the filming took place (it is filmed mostly in Melbourne).

Rating: 80 / 100

1SO

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #178 on: January 05, 2022, 10:34:09 AM »
Dead End Drive-In
(1986 - Brian Trenchard-Smith) 




There's never been a single image from this movie that didn't make it look like a terrible cheese-fest. Like Sergio Leone and Spaghetti Westerns, George Miller is such a master that all other Ozploitation looks like crap by comparison.

Brian Trenchard-Smith is the Ozploitation filmmaker whose name comes up most often. This may well be his masterpiece. Heavily influenced by Miller along with everything about the 80s we'd like to forget, it's a pretty wild and rather dumb movie hiding a lot of interesting ideas about class, social status, fascism and prison society. It's also an 85min film school, where you can see how BTS gets away with reusing footage through smart editing, an occasional difficult long take to show you he's got genuine skill, and the drive-in's natural ability to comment on the film you're watching.

Rating:★ ★ ★ – Okay
But if you're looking for maximum 80s Ozploitation, ★ ★ ★ ★

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Australian Cinema?
« Reply #179 on: January 05, 2022, 03:54:37 PM »
Interesting, I have not seen it, yet. So you rate it above Turkey Shoot, because of the underlying ideas in this film. I must admit Turkey Shoot only has a couple of ideas about class and privilege, but is unashamed about it's sillyness.