The "growth pills" wee Geordie takes in the early scenes are obviously anabolic steroids...
So here we have a mid century drug cheat competing in the Melbourne Olympics, which isn't quite the same trope as a bonnie farm lad from the Highlands winning gold and hearts.
Apart from that, it's lots of fun in the old school manner of Ealing/Michael Balcon et al.
Enjoy.
Reviews
10 Reviews
Matching Jack
(2010)
Another entry in the Tass/Parker Hall Of Hell
6 January 2012
Technically competent and adequately performed Hallmark fare. Nadia Tass has to be a contender for Australia's own version of the "Otto Preminger Upward Failure" Trophy - an infamous award from Esquire Magazine accorded to the Swedish Hollywood director who started his career with a half decent film and got steadily worse thereafter. Since "Malcolm" (1986) , it's been downhill ever since for Ms Tass - and yet she seems to get automatically funded. It must be a Melbourne thing (ref Paul Cox et al).
This film stinks on every level - because of its disguise as a quality film. It's cloying cast mug and perform by numbers. The plot comes from a weekend Robert McKee course and the resolution would probably even send hallmark executives asking for a shootout. The soundtrack is also pure saccharine, just in case you miss the point. There's no meat on any of the bones in this - it's all predictable and "charming". UUgh.
Avoid at all costs.
Oh, the score of 2 is for the her husband's cinematography ... which is excellent, as always.
This film stinks on every level - because of its disguise as a quality film. It's cloying cast mug and perform by numbers. The plot comes from a weekend Robert McKee course and the resolution would probably even send hallmark executives asking for a shootout. The soundtrack is also pure saccharine, just in case you miss the point. There's no meat on any of the bones in this - it's all predictable and "charming". UUgh.
Avoid at all costs.
Oh, the score of 2 is for the her husband's cinematography ... which is excellent, as always.
The Eye of the Storm
(2011)
As dull as a hot afternoon in a 1960's English Class
5 November 2011
I can't see anyone under 50 even being remotely interested in this "Patrick White In Drag" type film (to quote another IMDb user). The 2 hours reminded me of those hours spent in non air- conditioned portable classrooms (for me, in the late 60's) wading through arcane English literature classes wherein Patrick White was regarded as "worthy"...or "significant".
"Storm" has all the features we have come to expect from "quality" Australian film-making - a great cast, polished direction, impeccable production values etc etc ... but it's as dull and disconnected as the world White writes about. Who really gives a stuff about an imploding grazing family presided over by a a dying monster ... nominally set in the 1970s, but really (as in most of White's writing) set in the 1930s?
On a $15m budget ... it probably needs a world wide gross of $100m to break even. Ye Gods - who green-lit this? How much Government funding went into it? (Its $1.6m domestic gross should just about pay for the Prints and Advertising" budget & little more).
We have a bustling new generation - make that two generations - of film-makers pushing the envelope and making "Animal Kingdom", "Daybreakers", "Red Dog" etc who seem to be at least aware of their audience and their responsibility for getting a return for their investors. Film-making is an expensive business ... and "Storm" is just a sad old melodrama, outdated, over-priced and isolated from the real world, doomed to fail financially. I can understand why audiences congratulate themselves for having sat through it ("splendid and intelligent" - another IMDb post), but it's just an Anglo middle class statement from people who are longing for the days of "Careful He Might Hear You" or "The Devil's Playground".
At least the English Class in those old portables only lasted 50 minutes...
"Storm" has all the features we have come to expect from "quality" Australian film-making - a great cast, polished direction, impeccable production values etc etc ... but it's as dull and disconnected as the world White writes about. Who really gives a stuff about an imploding grazing family presided over by a a dying monster ... nominally set in the 1970s, but really (as in most of White's writing) set in the 1930s?
On a $15m budget ... it probably needs a world wide gross of $100m to break even. Ye Gods - who green-lit this? How much Government funding went into it? (Its $1.6m domestic gross should just about pay for the Prints and Advertising" budget & little more).
We have a bustling new generation - make that two generations - of film-makers pushing the envelope and making "Animal Kingdom", "Daybreakers", "Red Dog" etc who seem to be at least aware of their audience and their responsibility for getting a return for their investors. Film-making is an expensive business ... and "Storm" is just a sad old melodrama, outdated, over-priced and isolated from the real world, doomed to fail financially. I can understand why audiences congratulate themselves for having sat through it ("splendid and intelligent" - another IMDb post), but it's just an Anglo middle class statement from people who are longing for the days of "Careful He Might Hear You" or "The Devil's Playground".
At least the English Class in those old portables only lasted 50 minutes...
Lou
(2010)
another symptom of a film industry in trouble
23 July 2010
This should never have been made. Even with the great John Hurt, it's reported 3 & half million budget (which would need box office returns in the area of 10:1 to break even) is irrecoverable. Creating more burnt investors and distributors who'll hesitate to touch an Australian film yet again...
Grim little "slice of life" film that even manages to flatten the lush landscape of Murwullinbah. OK performances and a script that feels like it's been put through the funding body wringer - no surprises, predictable events and story arc etc.
Reviewed as "Worthy" - i.e kiss of death. Should have been on TV .
Grim little "slice of life" film that even manages to flatten the lush landscape of Murwullinbah. OK performances and a script that feels like it's been put through the funding body wringer - no surprises, predictable events and story arc etc.
Reviewed as "Worthy" - i.e kiss of death. Should have been on TV .
The Square
(2008)
dull, dark and ordinary
9 February 2010
I was incredibly disappointed in this film - I had high hopes for the brothers Edgerton after seeing a couple of their short films over the years.
It's easy to see why "The Square" didn't reach an audience : a no name cast, who are pretty average (David Roberts one dimensional acting belongs in the cast of "Satisfaction" as a john), gummy cinematography and a dull plot of double crosses and turns that don't do more than serve as deus ex machina moments. It's sort of a case of "this happens ... then someone does this...then someone else does that...etc etc". It's a long way from being tense & involving.
This isn't the Coens. The script needed more work and the shooting style, whilst functional, doesn't create any cinema moments.It would be watchable on TV maybe, but not a movie you'd pay $16.50 to watch on a big screen.
Go and rent "Noise" on DVD instead.
It's easy to see why "The Square" didn't reach an audience : a no name cast, who are pretty average (David Roberts one dimensional acting belongs in the cast of "Satisfaction" as a john), gummy cinematography and a dull plot of double crosses and turns that don't do more than serve as deus ex machina moments. It's sort of a case of "this happens ... then someone does this...then someone else does that...etc etc". It's a long way from being tense & involving.
This isn't the Coens. The script needed more work and the shooting style, whilst functional, doesn't create any cinema moments.It would be watchable on TV maybe, but not a movie you'd pay $16.50 to watch on a big screen.
Go and rent "Noise" on DVD instead.
Blessed
(I) (2009)
unwatchable
10 December 2009
I have to agree with the Sydney Morning Herald blogger, Giles Hardie, who today put "Blessed" in his "10 Turkeys of 2009" list - in direct contradiction to his SMH Film Reviewer (the beyond middle aged Sandra Hall) who gave it 4 stars. Hardie nails it between the eyes and is worth quoting in full : "In a year of prolific Australian film making, it takes a stand out effort to make the worst film. Congratulations to the team behind Blessed who mistook melodrama for content, predictability for pathos, tokenism for meaning. The names behind this film were stellar, and that only made their fall from grace harder to bear." My only question is ..."what is it with Melbourne film-makers?" Do they have their own funding channel ... is it a Paul Cox thing ? Why do they continue to keep funding failed directors? Ana Kokkinos should have been sent back to screen writing 101 after "the Book Of Revelation" ... yet Film Victoria handsomely funded this overblown (& expensive) turgid soap opera. I don't get it. I think it's box office says it all - it appealed to no-one ! Ye Gods. 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.
The Tender Hook
(2008)
stinker
13 August 2009
In the only act of commonsense they have ever made, the NSW Film & Television Office refused to fund this film. The Producers kicked up a big stink & in a blaze of publicity took their production to Victoria. Apart from the lost work for technicians, NSW were lucky not to have been involved...
The film fails on just about every level. The post modernism fails, the casting fails (what is Rose Byrne's character all about ? which 1 dimensional snarling nasty did Hugo Weaving channel ? what the hell is Pia Miranda's character doing?) and the story is a clichéd mess of contradictions. In fact, the story runs like a dragged out prelude rather than a complete plot line.
It might have had a chance if the "pop culture meets depression" style was better thought out and executed. If the casting was quirkier, if the style was less serious ... if just about everything was different.
Apart from the usual excellence in costume, design & cinematography (like most Australian films), the film is just a total miscue.
At a reported budget in excess of $7m, "The Tender Hook" is a symptom of the malaise of the Australian film industry - the wrong people and the wrong projects are getting funded. Compare this mess with "Noise" (under $2m), or "Cedar Boys" (under $1m) and you get the idea. The tough, interesting films are struggling for funding and the flabby, overblown projects with name casts are getting the bucks.
The funding bodies who invested in this deserve to go the same way as Hugo Weaving's character at the end of the film.
The film fails on just about every level. The post modernism fails, the casting fails (what is Rose Byrne's character all about ? which 1 dimensional snarling nasty did Hugo Weaving channel ? what the hell is Pia Miranda's character doing?) and the story is a clichéd mess of contradictions. In fact, the story runs like a dragged out prelude rather than a complete plot line.
It might have had a chance if the "pop culture meets depression" style was better thought out and executed. If the casting was quirkier, if the style was less serious ... if just about everything was different.
Apart from the usual excellence in costume, design & cinematography (like most Australian films), the film is just a total miscue.
At a reported budget in excess of $7m, "The Tender Hook" is a symptom of the malaise of the Australian film industry - the wrong people and the wrong projects are getting funded. Compare this mess with "Noise" (under $2m), or "Cedar Boys" (under $1m) and you get the idea. The tough, interesting films are struggling for funding and the flabby, overblown projects with name casts are getting the bucks.
The funding bodies who invested in this deserve to go the same way as Hugo Weaving's character at the end of the film.
The Last Magic Show
(2007)
Student film making
11 March 2009
This is basically a student level film. Andy Conlon might think he's a genius in writing, directing & starring in his opus, but his acting is woeful. It's like watching (and listening to) a wooden Indian recite lines. There's no tone or connection. He kind of looks half right - but he just can't act !
Apart from the late Alexander Anderson, only Georgie Hill shows any beguiling skill level as an actor. The rest of the cast are either over the top out of control, or simply mugging to camera.
The lack of budget shows mainly in the lighting. Most of it looks like a tennis court at night, or service station forecourt. The Art Department is the sort of thing you'd expect from a local church group "putting on a show". Commendable but amateur.
Oddly enough the storyline has possibilities and in the hands of a better team, something could have been made of it. The traumatized magician trying to rebuild his life ...who winds up serving drinks to the terminally ill whilst wearing a silk top hat & tuxedo ...and stumbles into romance with a strange nurse who plays mini golf - is worthy of David Lynch lite.
In general though, it's a classic case of over confidence by the crew & cast who made this. It would probably get a pass mark as a film school exercise, but it should never have been released commercially - anywhere, on any format.
Apart from the late Alexander Anderson, only Georgie Hill shows any beguiling skill level as an actor. The rest of the cast are either over the top out of control, or simply mugging to camera.
The lack of budget shows mainly in the lighting. Most of it looks like a tennis court at night, or service station forecourt. The Art Department is the sort of thing you'd expect from a local church group "putting on a show". Commendable but amateur.
Oddly enough the storyline has possibilities and in the hands of a better team, something could have been made of it. The traumatized magician trying to rebuild his life ...who winds up serving drinks to the terminally ill whilst wearing a silk top hat & tuxedo ...and stumbles into romance with a strange nurse who plays mini golf - is worthy of David Lynch lite.
In general though, it's a classic case of over confidence by the crew & cast who made this. It would probably get a pass mark as a film school exercise, but it should never have been released commercially - anywhere, on any format.
Look Both Ways
(2005)
film making by committee
28 March 2006
A terrible disappointment. Badly shot (flat lighting from Ray Argall), incredibly obvious set dressing and a pile of dull, ugly locations. The script seems to have been written by a women's co-op with revisions by members of the film-maker's family. Justine Clark tries hard and William McInnes is likable in his Seachange rehash as a snag with a big issue.
The Big Train Smash story is off screen and that's part of the problem - there's no defining screen event to propel you into the film. Just a bunch of aimless souls wandering around in torment. The quirky cartoons from Mrs Director scream Art House with a big A. How did this get such good reviews ? It feels like a Film School graduating thesis.
If this was one of the best films of 2005 , then Australian film-making is still in the desperate trouble.
The Big Train Smash story is off screen and that's part of the problem - there's no defining screen event to propel you into the film. Just a bunch of aimless souls wandering around in torment. The quirky cartoons from Mrs Director scream Art House with a big A. How did this get such good reviews ? It feels like a Film School graduating thesis.
If this was one of the best films of 2005 , then Australian film-making is still in the desperate trouble.
Listen to the Lion
(1977)
Three days in the life (and death) of a Sydney drifter
14 November 2005
53 minutes - a difficult length, but near masterpiece . long build-up, but surreal ending. Winner of 77 Sydney film Festival Best Short Drama and Rouben Mamoulian Award. very difficult to find. Was screened on TV in late 70's. Would fin copy in AFI library, possibly. Henri Safran (Director) went on to direct "Storm Boy" and several other films in Australia. Now retired and living in the USA. Bob Hill (Writer, Producer, Designer) is better known as a Production Designer - mostly of international TV commercials. He recently returned to designing films in 2005 with the yet to be released "Guests". Earlier films included "The Coolangatta Gold" (1984) "Listent to the Lion" was sold internationally to the UK and some European territories. Original soundtrack by Michael Carlos is wonderful.
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