Australia (Baz Luhrmann, 2008)

[colinr0380]

Surely the commenter is already running a studio - after all they are suggesting that the sure route to a successful film is just to repeat old ideas from films that the stars previously appeared in!

And dont diss BMX Bandits!

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Baz capitulates to the studio. Seemingly significant spoilers lurk so be wary if you care about such things.

That's a really a shame. Test screenings are idiotic. At least, we'll probably see the original ending on DVD.

[Sanjuro]

Rolf Harris and the wobble board are on the soundtrack.

I'm sold.

[Antoine Doinel]

Baz and Fox exec Tom Rothman both say the changed ending "controversy" is a load of hooey.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Luhrmann interview over at Dark Horizons and another one over at the L.A. Times.

[tavernier]

Armond makes short work of it.

[domino harvey]

I read some review today, it may have been from the AP, that described this picture as Luhrmann's "first attempt at courting the mainstream." Uh...

[knives]

Who else could mix a cattle-drive Western with a love story, aborigine mysticism with racial exploitation and World War II with a musical tribute to The Wizard of Oz?

That actually makes me want to see it, and I don't like anyone involved.

[lacritfan]

Saw a $6 matinee at the local AMC. Wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Felt like Disney was bankrolling it and asked Baz if he could gear it a little more toward a younger audience, like the Wonderful World of Disney shorts or The Black Stallion. Poppy from Happy Go Lucky would absolutely love this movie.

[Barmy]

I bet Poppy is a massive Uwe Boll fan.

[Cde.]

Is it true that an aboriginal kid

Spoiler

stops a stampede of bulls by raising his hand?

[devlinnn]

How do the outtakes from Tora, Tora, Tora look, and can you tell which scenes include CGI on 'our Nic's' face?

[chaddoli]

Is it true that an aboriginal kid

Spoiler

stops a stampede of bulls by raising his hand?

Uh-huh. And the movie still has 8 or 9 more hours left to go at that point.

[Barmy]

I can barely be arsed to type a reaction, but here goes.

The film, generally, looks terrible. It should have been shot in Technicolor. Instead it's kind of this overbright un-nuanced flat HD-ish thing which somehow makes many shots look processy (ultra-pin-sharp forground and hazy background). When will directots learn that pin-sharp photography, whether obtained through high-tech 35mm or DV, looks terrible on the big screen and is the antithesis of the hallmarks of "film"--its slight flickeryness and unnatural coloration. Obviously the use of digital intermediates has this effect generally, but this is a particularly bad example.

Nicole, like many skinny people, is not aging well. At times her face is ugly, other times meh, other times ravishing. Of the two or three charming scenes (teaching song to child; initial attempt to drive cattle; maybe one other), she supplies 100% of the charm.

Hugh has far less presence than he thinks he does and has no technique. He's just there, like an oak tree who goes to Crunch alot.

There is an aborigine who sort of directs the movie from on high and started getting laughs because he was literally always up there watching over the characters. No, it wasn't "magical", it was lame and condescending.

The plot is whatevs and doesn't merit discussion.

[LQ]

Barmy, that review made my day.

[Barmy]

Nic Nixes Pix Biz

[Magic Hate Ball]

That's too bad. She's pretty.

[domino harvey]

"Australia" director defends movie against critics
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Baz Luhrmann 's " Australia " may be doing some middling U.S. boxoffice, earning about $39 million since it opened Thanksgiving weekend , but the director is unrepentant as the movie nears its first month of release stateside.

In one of his first interviews since the movie opened, he spoke out against "Australia's" critics and those he feels call him the " black hole of cinema." He also said he will move quickly on his next project, an adaptation of " The Great Gatsby ," which he described as a perfect parable for economic disaster.

"A lot of reviewers like 'Australia.' And we're making people cry; I know because they write to us," he told the Hollywood Reporter during an interview at the Four Seasons Hotel. "But there are those that don't get it. A lot of the film scientists don't get it. And it's not just that that they don't get it, but they hate it and they hate me, and they think I'm the black hole of cinema. They say, 'He shouldn't have made it, and he should die.'"

Asked why he thought the reactions were so passionate, he replied: "I know what it's about."

The movie's detractors, he said, were used to movies that were neatly defined.

"This is not (simply) a romantic comedy for 40-year-old women or action movies for 17-year-old boys, and that's not OK with some people. It's not OK for people to come eat at the same table of cinema. But you look at movies like ' Gone With the Wind ' and Old Hollywood classics, and they don't fit in any box.

"Corny Hollywood movies from the '40s freak out (the film scientists)," he added.

Luhrmann struck a tone that was as unyielding as many of the creative choices in his movies, but was also occasionally conciliatory. "I'm not whining, because when you do what I do, you expect to be covered in mud. But there seems to be a lot of misinformation."

Among those pieces of misinformation is box office, he said; Luhrmann noted that " Moulin Rouge " has been on a similar pace as his latest epic, and that sticking it out for the long haul was not an uncommon experience for him. "I'm used to the waves crashing around me. And what I do is stick to a craggy rock as they keep coming. And if you stick to it long enough someone else will stick to it, too, and then someone else and then someone else."

(Indeed, "Rouge" was at $36 million through three weeks of release and finished with $57 million, though some might say the reported $130 million production budget of " Australia " necessitated a higher return.)

Brilliant defense

[swo17]

What the hell is a film scientist? Is this just the Luhrmann haters getting organized? If so, why didn't I get the memo?

[Jeff]

This is not (simply) a romantic comedy for 40-year-old women or action movies for 17-year-old boys

It's both!

[lacritfan]

Few View Pirated Copies Of Australia - "Although pirated copies of the Baz Luhrmann epic Australia have been available on numerous BitTorrent sites since the film premiered last month, few people have bothered to download them..."
And no, this isn't from The Onion.

[exte]

They track the bootlegs and torrents, too!?

[Antoine Doinel]

"I can't look at this movie and be proud of what I've done."

[Sanjuro]

I take it Nicole doesn't have the usual 'carry out a reasonable amount of publicity and leave it a month or two before publicly condemning the movie' clause in her contract?

[luridedith]

I was literally dragged kicking and screaming to see this by my family (because over here in Australia everyone over the age of 60 is going to see it merely out of patriotism) but ended up... actually enjoying it. Its bloated, overblown and about five hours too long but it felt like both a loving parody/tribute to Australian kitsch with its cartoonish, almost vulgar melodrama and a charmingly silly, bizarre sense of humour about itself. Hell even Nicole Kidman knowingly takes the piss out of herself and her frigid public image, not to mention Hugh Jackman's campy macho act and his bulging pants. There's no denying that this film is actually a gleefully trashy pisstake of our country and its image rather than simply the sappy romanticized movie the trailers promise - all the thousands of location shots that resemble corny postcard souvenirs were so excessive and over the top and the use of cliche after cliche is dizzying.

I honestly can't see how foreigners could enjoy this film on any level because its so distinctly our kind of humour and there's so many in-jokes about our culture, it would just seem completely alienating, odd and vapid to any outsider. No wonder it flopped.