Aussie movies: Search and Destroy

Best feel good film ever (or "evah", if you weeel).

Search Children of the Revolution.

Destroy: Dead Calm, wtf is wrong with you people? DEAD BORING is what I call it, ha ha ha. etc.

i liked it. fairly simple story, good music.

classic.

The Aussie Film Database

senses of cinema

The Castle

Search: Walkabout, Sunday Too Far Away, ...Hanging Rock, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, The Last Wave, Newsfront, Summerfield, The Devil's Playground, My Brilliant Career, Breaker Morant.

From more recent times, I also quite like: The Big Steal, Love & Other Catastrophes.

Chopper is wicked.

'Mad Max 2' is classic!

and really search: 'goddess of 67'

Then I'd recommend Malcolm, Heatwave and Winter Of Our Dreams.

I liked Little Fish. Pretty much just because of Hugo Weaving's performance. Every moment he's on screen, he's simply marvelous, I totally bought his character. So sad.
It may be even better then his voicing of Megatron?

I recall the Interview being a sweet movie too.

Also, awesome, Muriel's Wedding is set in/based on mah home town.

Search: Wolf Creek

s'ok.

Search: 'Me, Myself'

Noise (2007) is an incredible film: laissez-faire cop battles tinnitus, unhinged killer and a growing ennui in Melbourne's God-forsaken and disenfranchised western suburbs.

Great performances, excellent script, amazing sound & cinematography, and a gripping, ghost-town tension. Like the IMDb reviewer says, even greater than the sum of its considerable parts.

SEARCH!

Search: The Proposition!!
Also: Chopper, Love Serenade, Malcolm, The Big Steal, Death In Brunswick

ALSO SEARCH TEN CANOES

I've heard good things about Jindabyne: confirm/deny?

Wolf Creek was ass.

Love & Other Catastrophes is good, but I'll watch anything Radha Mitchell's in.

Search: Puberty Blues

The quote from imdb says it all:
Debbie Vickers: It's hurting.
Chris: Keep still.
Debbie Vickers: Ow! Oh. It's no use. It's too big.
Chris: Shit.

XP Everyone I know wot's seen it said Jindabyne was pretty terrible.

Oh yes, Noise was brilliant, unfortunately, can't take Brendan Cowell seriously.

i LOVED 'little fish' - incredible acting, really poignant. droone, i totally agree with you re: hugo weaving.

what's the movie with anthony lapaglia and david wenham, the thriller/bank heist movie? i saw it ages ago and really liked it.

vegemitegrrrl: that movie is based on a really powerful short story by raymond carver. when i heard there was a movie being made about it, i got all excited but from what i've read it's only loosely adapted from the original story.

oh, and i don't know if this has been mentioned, but i 'the boys' (i think that's the title - another david wenham one) should go on the 'unremittingly grim art' thread.

xpost ah fuck, i had a feeling it would be.

i recommend the short story instead: 'so much water so close to home'

Bummer on Jindabyne. It did sound interesting. Oh well. Thanks for the recommendation though, Rubyredd. I'll check it out.

Little Fish is pretty good, frankly I just liked the little kiddies singing 'Flame Trees' throughout.

Search: The Dish! American national anthem = Hawaii Five-O = YAY!

Oh yes, Noise was brilliant, unfortunately, can't take Brendan Cowell seriously.

He now does rugby league ads on fox sports...

'two hands' also excellent. and there was another one i can't remember the title of (sorry, i'm great with actor's names but absolute shite with movie titles), i think it was 'dj love' or something involving a radio-related word... anyway, it's about this radio dj who moves to a small town... oh fuck, that's all i remember of the plot but i remember really really liking this movie. there's a lot of good aussie movies, imo.

Why am I not surprised

xpost

S: Look Both Ways. I have the same phear of dying in some freaky unusal way, i.e. shark attack, collapsing overpass etc.

xxpost: Rubyredd, it was "Love Serenade". It's one of my favorites!

that's the one! i think i might try finding it so i can watch again.

Ken Sherry: "I'd just like to pay tribute, if I may, to the generous nature of Sunray girls... especially in regard to the easing of a man's loneliness."

i am a fan of love serenade also. the bit where he reads the desiderata out over the air, and everyone is blown away by how profound it is, is classic.

(from memory, probably not completely accurate): 'he is going through a very painful divorce, he doesn't want to be having sex with you, or anyone else for that matter!'

'Love Serenade' is getting some love on this thread. It's probably my favourite Aussie movie.

now i REALLY want to watch this again!

Recently I saw 'Kenny' and that one was a cracker.

http://www.infilm.com.au/reviews/kenny.htm

"The film is guilty of occasionally overextending his naivety for the sake of our sympathy though"

A very astute comment from an otherwise very positive review. That is a general tendency in Aussie movies, perhaps - to overextend the naivete for the sake of charming the audience.

I thought 'Kenny' dragged badly at the end.

xpost very OTM - but it seems to mostly work.

the mad max movies gave me horrific nightmares when i was kid.

Starstruck is my favorite movie of all time!!!

...I don't think I have seen any other Australian films...

SEARCH:
Ten Canoes
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Candy (I loved it, but then I never read the book)
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello (finest slice of steampunk animation?)

Haven't seen the following, but they're queued on Quickflix - comments?

The Book of Revelation
Kokoda
Macbeth
Suburban Mayhem
Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance
West
Last Train to Freo
2:37
The Proposition
Little Fish
Lantana
Somersault

Apparently that Macbeth is horrendous.
I thought Kokoda was pretty bad (too many dysentery shots)
Proposition, Little Fish, Lantana A+++++++++++

Yeah, I heard bad things about that MacBeth too. I think it's doing good business in the Americalands because of Sam Worthington, though - he just happens to be in James Cameron's new movie. Fanboys, who'd have 'em?

I also hear 2:37's just an 'Elephant' rip-off.

And West is apparently Another Aussie Movie about grim, narcissistic Sydney dealers.

Is there any love for Suburban Mayhem? Wasn't that supposed to take the world by storm?

One more... Clubland - did anyone catch it? I think they renamed it 'Introducing the Dwights' (*shudder*) in the States.

Gmail popup - "Quickflix has sent you: Jindabyne".

Bollocks.

Isn't the only good thing about Suburban Mayhem the Charger, and that's not in it nearly enough.

Destroy: Book of Revalation. Boring and stupid. Maybe read the book (the book that of the film, not the bible book)

I found Suburban Mayhem a real let-down. It wasn't a bad film, but the poster, the name of the movie, and the reviews promised so much. I didn't find too many of the characters very credible, and especially not the murder scenario itself. But the biggest let-down was the music. It shoulda been harder.

Rabbit Proof Fence - what a great movie that was.

Is there 'Interview' love out there?

I haven't seen it since it came out I guess.

But I remember thinking it was great. Again, Hugo Weaving, outstanding.

Any love for Three Dollars? Story of a desperate man.

oh i want to see that desperately! i know nothing about it, except that it's based on eliot perlman's book, and i thought his other novel "7 types of ambiguity" was just fucking spectacular. so it's good?

Oh yeah, that movie was pretty sweet.

David Wenham again. Bloody great. Get it out rubyredd.

Tay Wen Ham is good. He makes 'Gettin' Square' nearly watchable.

it's going on the list. i think i saw it at the local video store but didn't register the eliot perlman connection.

There is a fantastic scene with his daughter, which was very moving. The little girl was amazing.

I have major love for "Interview", it's definitely a keeper. I have a preview copy of Macbeth, but I can't bring myself to watch it. I keep hearing "Iiis this a daggah eye see befaw me?" in my head and i get scared.

I have deep and abiding love for The Proposition. Danny Houston and Ray Winstone. Great, great cinema.
"Oh Danny Boy, the flies, the flies are craa-aawwllllling"

Kenny was merely average until that bloke from the movie appeared in every form of Australian media with a knowing wink. Then it turned fucking awful.

Search: Cosi.

Really, check it out.

I think it's doing good business in the Americalands because of Sam Worthington

So is this tru of Macbeth?

s: STONE

Haitch tells the truth

the ending is so so so good. "yeah, the grave diggers, they're a good bunch of blokes!"

Welcome To Woop Woop was very silly but pretty funny.

haitch, I heard somewhere that what really happens after that is that the grave diggers storm the house and beat him into a pulp. But for some reason, this ending was cut - to bloody and horrific or something. Sounds like we need a director's cut of that movie hey.

*too

One of the earliest "records" purchased for me was..."Yong Einstein: The Motion Picture Soundtrack" - and it had more Big Pig than legally allowed.

Er, Young Einstein. But anyway...

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Bad Boy Bubby yet? The stuff of schoolyard legend that was.

that movie was awesome.

I've been told to watch it again with headphones, as the movie's recorded with mics placed where Bubby's ears are.

Really? A dummy head mic kinda thing? That movie was completely heartbreaking.

Search Dogs in Space and The Castle. Destroy Lantana. I HATE that movie.

search: The Proposition, The Castle

destroy: The Hard Word, pretty much anything involving Vince Colosimo

Dogs in Space... fourthed? I know Richard Lowenstein occasionally takes a print of it out into various country towns here, presumably just to show them what they missed of the late 70s, but why did it get such a shitty DVD release (i.e. 8th gen VHS-quality)?

GREAT soundtrack. Endlessly quotable. Best film about being in a band, ever. Plus I remember Barry Norman gave it 1 star in his Radio Times review years ago, so that should salivate some tastes at least.

I've only ever heard the (pretty nice, I remember) soundtrack to this one, anyone ever see it?

(Ghosts of the civil dead, 1989)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0095217/

Don't know if anyone has mentioned Bad Boy Bubby, but I fell in love with that film - saw it once at about 4am and it hasn't left my mind since... he turns into Nick Cave!

Head On, as mark S said upthread, is a great movie.

Wasn't there a decent zombie (or something) movie that came out a couple years ago that had a shite/ridic ending?

this one

Head On is was fucking atrocious. Two strikes against Ana Kokkinos.

Yeah moley, I think a dummy head mic thing. Didn't D. Bowie do that for some of his albums?

Yaaaay more votes for The Castle! "YOU got friend? *I* got friend!"

did anyone like praise by john curran? i liked it.

F6, F6, what the F**k is that!? Tray 3!? I cleaned Tray 3, three f**king times!!

Destroy: 'Can't Stop the Murders'. How can two comedians be so unfunny?

haitch, I heard somewhere that what really happens after that is that the grave diggers storm the house and beat him into a pulp. But for some reason, this ending was cut - to bloody and horrific or something.

Ah. Well, I've heard also that there is a further bit, also cut off - the bikers then strip off their leather jackets to reveal that they were aliens all along. Then cheetah does a backflip and everyone laughs. The end.

I fancy sam worthington like mad. He's gorgeous.

I think there have been many Australian movies I've loved, but only really obvious ones are coming to mind right now... sunday too far away, they're a weird mob, the chant of jimmy blacksmith, picnic at hanging rock, two hands, dogs in space, puberty blues, the last days of chez nous, romper stomper, the year my voice broke, the big steal, muriel's wedding, the proposition, bad boy bubby

i loved little fish and lantana too actually. and proof. and malcolm. and 2:37. i did see john curran's praise, but i absolutely loved andrew mcgahan's novel (which i recently re-read and still love actually) and the movie typically wasn't a patch. I think the only aussie movies i've seen relatively recently that i wasn't excited about were jindabyne and candy.

Don't know if anyone has mentioned Bad Boy Bubby, but I fell in love with that film - saw it once at about 4am and it hasn't left my mind since... he turns into Nick Cave!

OK well I'm paying attention, this has been mentioned 3 times now! But what struck me wasnt him turning into Nick Cave (he just *looks* like Cave), but the nod to TISM that Bubby's band ended up turning into. I mean I know the clingwrap head coverings were meant to be a joke on what he did to his cat, but surely it was a TISM pisstake as well. That film was awesomely fucked up, I liked it a lot.

i sometimes find myself quoting it a bit randomly... 'you're a verrry sexy woman flo', then i get quite excited if anyone knows the reference. i loved that film too.

proof was so classic, in retrospect. watching it 45987897 times for media studies kinda wore me out on it!

Search: Lantana, Japanese Story (I think...I haven't seen either in years)

A TISM pisstake. They'd be so proud!

At least part of TISM is now a band called Root. True.

There was meant to be an AC/DC movie coming out, tracing their early years - or so I heard almost two years ago. What happened to that?

I think it did come out. It was certainly made at any rate. The only reason I think that is there was great excitement here in Perth, because they filmed some of it here. They put out a casting call for local bogans to be extras in the cemetery where Bonn Scott was buried.

What was it called gem?

'thunderstruck' rings a bell... could be wrong though

Japanese Story was pretty lame.

"The Australian comedy THUNDERSTRUCK is a story of male bonding through rock 'n roll and a road trip across the Outback. Five buddies--Ronnie, Sonny, Sam, Ben, and Lloyd--all become friends because of their love of the hard rock band AC/DC. After a fun-filled night at one of the groups' concerts, the guys narrowly miss a fatal accident, and become convinced their devotion to the band saved them. Many years later, they've grown apart, but each one remembers the pledge made that night: to bury the first one of them to die by the grave of AC/DC frontman Bon Scott. When Ronnie is killed by a freak lightning bolt, the four remaining friends must reunite to take his ashes across Australia to Scott's gravesite, encountering a series of unusual characters along the way, and rediscovering the little things that had made them friends to begin with."

I did see half of this one, thinking it was the movie in question, but sadly it wan't. One of the worst movies I've ever seen - the acting was very NIDA. You can probably imagine the kind of thing it was.

the acting was very NIDA

lawls

oh my. that sounds woeful.

Kenny was merely average until that bloke from the movie appeared in every form of Australian media with a knowing wink. Then it turned fucking awful.

-- King Boy Pato, Wednesday, 8 August 2007 12:44 (5 days ago) Bookmark Link

I rented this on the weekend, and yeah, it's okay, not great. But I don't recall seeing him anywhere else, unlike Michael fucking 'Hot Property' Caton.

SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH: Holiday on the River Yarra. 1990, depressing as all fuck, a brilliant sixteen year old Claudia Karvan and an appearance by TISM.

Wasn't the Kenny guy on some advertisements? And on Spicks n' Fucking Specks?

Farouk: He say plane fly overhead, drop value. In Beirut, plane fly over, drop bomb. I like these planes.

i could quote the castle all bloody day.

what's wrong with nida?

what's wrong with nida?

A fucking lot.

I know, I was in a play and theatresports once. I know everything about acting that these grad HACKS don't!!

Hasn't anyone mentioned Houseboat Horror yet? What's more spooky...Murder on Lake Terror or Brian Mannix??

omg how did i forget puberty blues??? heroin ods in cronulla. gold.

More heroin ODs in Cronulla, I say.

Not in a hurry with the Shire being ice central.

i watched 'Breaker' Morant (really that's how it's punctuated) for the first time in 35+ years last night. Really it's a handsome and well-made eentry in the railroaded-court martial genre, but distinguished plotwise by 1) these guys REALLY DID shoot the Boer prisoners and 2) Jack Thompson's big courtroom summation, which Bruce Beresford admits is just his views mouthed by the character, says civilians can't judge war crimes, essentially. Kind of ugly.

You can seewhy Edward W

oodward and Bryan Brown got US careers out of it, tho.

wake in fright and snowtown are two of the most deeply terrifying films i've ever seen

Ha, I was just coming here to express shock that there'd been no mention of Wake In Fright in this thread. Came out on Blu-Ray a couple of years ago, it's basically a cross between The Lost Weekend and Deliverance. Scary as hell but also kind of blackly hilarious.

Wasn't Bryan Brown's US career F/X: Murder By Illusion -> Cocktail -> that one where he spends two hours oiling and rubbing Mimi Rogers' norgs -> then back home to make the likes of Two Hands and Dirty Deeds and Old School forever?

Hardly a surprise that Wake In Fright didn't get mentioned during a decade when the only existing copy was a 16mm print that got max. one screening a year, illegally, in a pub in Sydney

Destroy: Mad Max 2

FP Michael B

XP He was Osiris in that Gods of Egypt thing this year!

Never heard of it, but just looked it up and it was made in Australia by an Australian director with Australian tax credits

Wake In Fright is great, have gotten many of my merican friends into Australian movies through it (obv with warnings about extreme roo violence)

sidebar: Kinda happy that more people are talking about Ben Mendelsohn after Bloodline on Netflix. It's only taken FOREVER

Thanks to Love Seranade, every time we're watching Homeland and Miranda Otto comes on screen my bf pipes up "she could ease it for you maybe!".

lol

Here's a quick summary of why Wake In Fright had become little-known and almost disappeared completely: http://nfsa.gov.au/collection/film/wake-fright/recovery-and-restoration/

Ben Mendelsohn's had a pretty good profile since Animal Kingdom, no? Didn't think anyone actually watched Bloodline

It got a lot of award recognition but I'm a lot of regular ppl didn't see it - lots of ppl I work with & just randomly talk to have seen Bloodline though, that seems to have made more of an impression

Animal Kingdom was so great tho, I still rep for it any chance I get

Has anyone watched Hounds of Love? A deeply unpleasant and tough watch. It's based on a true story about a Fred and Rosemary West style killers who abduct teenage girls in suburban Perth in the late 80s. While watching it, I thought to myself "why am I watching this?"

There's no Kate Bush in it either

I watched Ray Lawrence's "Bliss" (1985) last night. This is a film that Ive been meaning to see for years ever since I saw a very distinctive trailer for it back in the late 80s VHS days. Im sure it was some of the very arresting imagery and weird vibe of it that's stuck in my memory. The story of an advertising exec who has a near death experience and wakes up to find his life is a living hell. Itseems to be largely forgotten about these days. It caused mass walkouts when it was shown in Cannes (there's one particular scene where you'll know why). The film packs *a lot* into its 132 mins (I saw the Directors Cut). A bit of Gilliam-ish social realism and maybe a precursor to "How To Get Ahead in Advertising" but with a scabrous Aussie touch. Feels more 90s in tone than mid-80s too. The film takes so many abrupt plot turns and changes in mood and style that it can be a bit disorientating. Part fairy tale, part social realism. I loved it.
It is quite messy but I was just amazed by its ambition, its pitch-black humour and it looks fantastic. The ending was quite moving too