Reviews

This six-part series is riveting TV. An interesting-enough premise (transferring a mind into a new body) soon brings a whole host of unforeseen problems. So many parallels with current issues of refugees, surveillance, police state tactics, church-state divide, political donations, and many more. Episode 2 is a little light on as it takes time to fill some backstory, but the pace and plot soon pick up. Do not miss this.

I'm glad the ads don't give away the story. The promotions department - obviously fearing no one would want to watch Eastwood as grizzled grandfather to a young male Asian neighbour - instead touts this as Dirty Harry takes on the Crips, if you know what I mean. To a small extent that's true, but not the undercurrent. The girl who played Sue has a big future, what confidence on screen. Everyone has a father, uncle, granddad just like Eastwood in this role. And we all have our own prejudices against migrants - until we get to know them. Don't want to give too much more away - this is a must see. And ignore the nitpickers who want to find fault with minutiae in this film. When I put this up against 95% of what comes out of Hollywood, this film wins hands down every time.

Just caught this at the end of a run in Manly so I'm obviously a few months behind the rest of the amateur critics. If you like Tom Hanks and Ron Howard this is not your sort of movie. If you loved American Beauty and Mystic River then you can add this to that nice little collection. This is one of the most thought-provoking films I have seen for some time. You kept expecting the worst from the 'bad guy' but it never came, thank goodness - it would have trashed the film and deflected attention from the rest of the plots. All the characters reminded you of someone you know. There was a lot of 'real'ness about them. All those people who panned this film have obviously not spent much time at the local playground with yummy mummies who bore you with their small talk and constant self-obsession. Or they haven't wondered if the grass is greener on the other side. Or both. I found my emotions and thoughts being swept from one place to another as the various threads unfolded. The scene with the 'bad guy' on a date was brilliant and tossed your brain around like a tiny boat. Perhaps this movie was way too close to the bone for those people who didn't like it - then again, perhaps they're the sort of people featured in it. And for all the fears about what the 'bad guy' might do throughout the movie, who can honestly say they did not feel for him when his mum left him that haunting one-line note ? As it turns out, there is more than one 'bad guy' in this movie. It's everyone to a degree. Some people draw the line at varying degrees, hence our different takes on morality. So when the ex-cop does an about face at the end, maybe he truly did have an epiphany and realised he, too, had to change. Maybe this film was made too late to qualify for the Oscars the other day but if the 'bad guy' doesn't get nominated for best supporting actor then the whole thing is a farce. Go see it - even if it's on video or DVD. And be prepared to be honest afterwards. Many critics weren't.

A bit of Raiders of the Lost Amazon in a way, this is purely an adventure movie but one well worth watching. In Australia we have a foreign language free to air TV channel that shows lots of movies with subtitles - why doesn't the US produce more of these? They force you to focus on the visual and the mood, and it's here that another Aussie (Dean Semmler) excels. A beautifully shot movie but one with the standard Hollywood predictability of plot in places. A small price to pay for something quite different to the usual fare. And these 'natives' make most boring middle of the road $15m actors (think Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, Julie Roberts etc etc) look nothing more than ham. Yes, the violent scenes are violent but those were savage tribal days of conquest. Let's face it, Passion of the Christ was a snuff movie. Apocalypto is great. Say what you like about Mad Max Mel's personal views, don't let them cloud your judgment of his work. Go see this on the big screen.

I won't repeat the preambles of other reviewers. But it's safe to say this is the sort of film that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt their job is 'inferior' to the rich snobs who rule the world with disdain. Kenny's dignity and decency shines in a world otherwise full of instant celebrities and nobodies pretending to be somebody. Yes, the angry dad, bitter ex-wife and detached brother are caricatures but so very real. Several times in this movie you feel sure you know what is coming next - but it doesn't happen (it would with a schmaltzy American scriptwriter) and this enhances the film's strength because it doesn't lapse into predictability or mush. I loved the fact that the relationship between Kenny and his son grew ever so subtly throughout. The ending was a little out of character with Kenny's behaviour for the rest of the film but showed we all have our limits - he just happened to do it with a calmness. And I wish I had a tape recorder to note all the funny lines Kenny has. A truly heartwarming film that would surely be a huge hit in the US if only it was given some PR lift and allowed to run as is. Terrific Australian movie making.

Most negative reviews seem to come from people who saw Depp before Murray. Pity. For serious HST readers or even those who only know The Great Shark Hunt, WTBR offered a comic relief side so sadly lacking in Depp's one-dimensional, cardboard, just quote your lines performance (and I'm a big Depp fan). As for "Murray being Murray" - such a comment can only come from people who saw this after the rest of Bill's work. It was one of the earliest and best - indeed laid the base for much of his 80s and 90s work. Boyle is frenetic, allowing Murray to play sidekick for a change. A great option. HST's written rants were always harsh but always fair, no doubt composed coming off a bender. Who then is to say WTBR's omission of much of these is wrong, rather than simply a portrayal of the benders. We all know what he wrote and how he wrote - I'm glad WTBR chose to portray who HST was and the chaotic situations he put himself in rather than become some art-house naval-gazing about the tortured creative process of a scathingly intelligent commentator. Mind you - I did see it as the second part of a double header with Eraserhead ! Sadly, no video copies of WTBR exist in Australia. Can anyone help me ?