Last Wave is about Aboriginals (sort of), Picnic was about white school girls alone in a boarding school in the middle of nowhere. I actually wanted to get Rabbit Proof Fence today too. Will try to get my hands on it before the two weeks are up. And Alexander's Project, since you commended it so highly.

give me some recomendations

What are you into?

If you like teenage sob stories (a bit more serious than most teenage films) = i highly recommend LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI

But seriously I think you will like CHOPPER.

Regarding the movies from that list that I have already seen:


Babe - Now this is an enthralling movie that I have seen multiple times by now and that I own. It's a well-made and very sweet movie with some amazing animatronics in it. James Cromwell delivers a very subtle, yet great performance. He would have been the second best choice in his year for the Best Supporting Actor oscar (I have to give Spacey's Keyser Soze the edge). At times, the movie is a bit too sugary and sappy for my taste, but it has its heart in the right place and its intentions are pretty genuine. The ending is predictable, but that doesn't change the fact that I always smile at the end when Cromwell's farmer Hoggett says "That'll do pig". I am not sure if it deserved the Best Picture nomination as for that the movie was a bit too sappy, in my opinion, but the effects award was well-deserved as well as the nom for Cromwell. Good movie and not only for the kids of course. B+


Undead - As a huge fan of horror movies it was my duty to see this film as soon as it came out. I consider Peter Jackson's Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive) to be one of the best horror films ever made (even though it's more of a comedy) and when I read that Undead was Australia's version of Braindead, of course I was looking forward to it even more. Ultimately I was satisfied. The movie wasn't nearly as good as Braindead, but that is not what I expected it to be as well. It was a very fun ride, however. The movie revolves around a zombie plague that overcomes a small town when a meteor crashes in it. The movie mixes gory horror with comedy and sci-fi. The latter was an unnecessary inclusion. I didn't like the whole aliens aspect of it towards the end and that hurt the overall picture for me. The movie is very rewatchable, especially with friends at a video night. For gorehounds like myself, it's a feast since there are blood 'n guts aplenty. It doesn't go as over the top as Braindead does, but it is at least more fun and worthwhile than Shaun of the Dead. The guy who plays Marion was a blast. The movie would have been better off if it kept things more simple and didn't go into the whole "evil aliens"-sphere towards the end. The beginning of the movie, the first 30-40 minutes are just amazing, it just goes a bit downhill from there. B


Ned Kelly - Caught this one on TV a couple of weeks ago. It was actually better than I expected, even though still not too great. I'd be lying if I said that I enjoy watching Mr. Bloom acting and it wasn't any different here. He was as bland as always, but at least he was just in a supporting role. The story had that "been there, done that" feel to it, but never left me bored. Heath Ledger surprisingly delivered a good performance, the film's best actually. Naomi Watts was unfortunately wasted in it. The final 20 minutes were well-staged and executed, but I wish the movie didn't stop where it did and showed the story a bit further, to its ultimate end. B-

Sort of like Lecter, I'll say this. You haven't seen Baz if you haven't seen Strictly Ballroom. One of my all-time most favorite movies, and certainly miles better than his later Moulin Rouge! Its when he still had built in camp without having to resport to mimicking already famous songs. He just has such a sweet and touching envirnment, the dancing is much better than rRouge (admit it, Kidman couldn't dance to save her life), because it was done by professional dancers. The best costumes, the greatest humour (from his wife) and a really fun story. I own it, I've seen it a good twenty times since I first saw it in theatres.

Also, for everyone that sees Priscilla, the movie that Guy Pierce first reached American crowds with, look out for La Traviata ontop of the bus. As far as I'm concerned, its most likely the most played Aria in film. And its done quite fun here. Later, American spin off Too Wong Fu, Thaks for Everything Julie Newman...was pretty successful. So if you liked that, you must watch its source.

I like them all, my selection is very wide.

Chopper heh, Ill check it out at IMDB

I will look for Strictly Ballroom, but I have my doubts of it being better than Moulin Rouge.

I saw WOLF CREEK today. Review up shortly, because i want to research the word 'terrifying'.

Anyway who has seen an Australian movie, and what is your favourite?

So I take it you were scared?

As to your question, I probably know Strictly Ballroom word for word, so its certainly the movie I've seen the most times. But its hard to compare dramas and romcoms, etc. I'd have to think about drama, and I'm holding off until I see Rabbit Proof Fence or Alexanders Project (whichever I can get my hands on).

It was not on the list, but I have seen this Australian teen-comedy/drama recently:

Blurred - I was very positively surprised. It is not a gross-out teen comedy in the vein of American Pie or Road Trip as I originally expected (it still has the elements of those), but a more heartfelt and really well-made teen flick that follows different parallel storylines of students who just graduated and on their way to the Gold Coast in the "Schoolies week" (I'm sure getluv knows what it is). Some of the storylines fall flat, but others are a real goldmine. Having graduated earlier this year myself, I could identify with some characters really well and understood that the time between graduation and college is certainly a unique one after which a next step in life begins and things get different. As for the humor value, I would not really recommend it. I chuckled some times, but it is really not a great comedy. It was still a good movie, uneven in pace, but with some good characters and mostly good acting. A strong B.

Yeah BLURRED was honest in its depiction of 'schoolies week', but the film had very little subtance and was somewhat of a bore fest when I saw it on DVD.

Heya mates,

Don't want to intrude on getluv's project. I remember recommending many of the films he's listed at the last festival. Good luck to you all.

Just popping in to bring light to a Kiwi film I think you lot should give a watch to if it's available in your parts. It's called In My Father's Den. I spoke of it last year but I don't think anyone ever got their hands on it. It's a little gem of a film I find.

Did a little research for you who are curious, and if you check out the website(s) below, it will give you a brief synopsis and a view of a trailer for the film. Enjoy and see you around.

http://www.iconmovies.com.au/fathersden/#

or

http://www.inmyfathersden.com/index.html

WOLF CREEK review.

http://72.36.130.178/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13241

Well, I personally found that it had more substance than it seemed at first. At least some of the storylines.

Rabbit Proof Fence

You know you're in trouble when you start balling ten minutes into a movie. The scene where the three girls, Molly, Daisy, and Gracie are stripped from their mothers is intense. When Molly puts her feet up on the side of the car and won't get in.

Thankfully, Phillip Noyce does think to include some of the viewpoints of Neville's deptartment head, and eugenic discussions about pure blood and assimilation. The question of cross-sexual offspring has always been a huge "problem" in national and racial identification. It shouldn't be, but thats besides the point. Historically, its existed, and I was unaware of the differences between Aboriginal treatment and, say Native American treatment, where the former had specific removal of mixed-race aboriginal, rather than here, where boarding schools were piled up with indigenous children (regardless of parentage). Its a dreadful discussion around keeping the races seperate, and handling mixed offspring in a push to anglocize them and seperate them from Aboriginal culture.

Molly, the eldest and most cunning of the three girls simply states how ill the boarding school makes her feel. Followed by a montage of "well meaning" nuns, Neville, and Moodoo, an Aboriginal watch guard that tracks escaped children. His daughter has been forcably removed from him as well, so he took the post to be near her.

There story is a "classic" story in as much as their sheer determination and will to survive and return to their mothers feels universal. The manipulations of Australian government in the 30's on the other hand, feels specific. Rabbit Proof Fence is a strong mix of easily relateable sentiment and area specofoc revisionist history. I'm glad it was made and had such a wide following. This movie should be shown in classes along with all the blaze Revolution footage every country feeds its students. To top it off, the quality of the production, especially the cinematography, was extremely strong. Considering the budget, Noyce and Doyle got as much from every shot of the Australian desert as possible, and at the same time never lost focus of their three subjects.

That Gracie wanted to see her mother is only natural, and its sad to think the reason they ran away from the boarding school and motivated their 1000 mile endurance battle was the same reasons that could be used against them. A rough movie, and the live footage of Molly and Gracie at the end, along with the additional story about the removal of Molly's children really struck home that this isn't the distant history, but rather quite contemporary and a subject that still needs to be addressed today.

Re: Rabbit Proof Fence. To me, at the end I thought the story was interesting, but the coda was even *more* interesting. They could literally make a couple of sequels out of this hehe.

Moulin Rouge! is classic, make no doubts, but you really don't know Baz until you've seen the other two films. I mean, it is a loose trilogy after all.

By coda? You mean policy? She had her own daughters taken from her years later, which surprised me because I'd figure she garnered some media hype as a figure. A 14 year old girl leading her younger sister 1500 miles to her mother, etc. It was really rough to handle watching, and I watched a bit of the special features where they interview her daughter (who wrote the book the movie is based off of). Her daughter was an orphan growing up in the same boarding school Molly had run away from. Didn't even know her mother until she was an adult and found out. Very rough, as was the domestic/rape scene. Acculturation?

Coda also means: "Closing section of a composition. An added ending."

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define%3Acoda

Here's my mini-review of Undead from Everybody's a Critic...



Bleh.

Watched Crocodile Dundee last wknd thought it was great:

BJs Grade:

A-

Good acting great story and an overall fun film that I would recomend to anyone that is interested in some adventure