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7 articles from 2009

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[DVD Review] Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

7 October 2009 9:57 AM, PDT | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »

Not Quite Hollywood is a documentary about the history of Australian cinema, but not quite the film history that most people would remember—or care to, anyway. Case in point, director Mark Hartley interviewed a couple of Aussie film critics and historians, who bitterly lamented the existence of these movies.

It’s a profile on “Ozploitation,” the wave of Australian exploitation movies popping up during the late 70’s and early 80’s. The most famous of the lot is of course Mad Max, but there are plenty of other far more obscure films that people not down under most likely won’t recognize. Not that it matters to the enjoyment of the doc. Not Quite Hollywood isn’t a nostalgia piece, but a celebration of what transpired and an encouragement for the current Aussie directors trying to jumpstart a revival. People like Saw creators James Wan and Leigh Whannel or Wolf Creek director Greg McLean, »

- Arya Ponto

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DVD Weekly Roundup – Mon 5th October 2009

2 October 2009 10:34 AM, PDT | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »

Red Cliff

John Woo hasn’t exactly lit up the screen with his Hollywood films has he? Face/Off is enjoyable I guess but the less said about Windtalkers, Paycheck and even Mission Impossible 2 the better really. It’s a shame because the man is capable of directing action sequences better than anybody else on the planet.

Red Cliff sees John Woo look to Chinese history for inspiration. It’s a sweeping, magnificent epic that looked amazing on the big screen.

The Han dynasty is coming to an end in third century China so as a last ditch attempt for survival the Emperor raises an army that stretches close to a million to attack the two neighbouring kingdoms.

Red Cliff boasts beautiful cinematography and action set pieces. It’s great to see a Director back at the top of his game.

Looks incredible on Blu-Ray.

Damage

Leave your brain at the door for this one. »

- Alex Wagner

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Fall Preview: Ten Breakout Stars... and the Indies You Can See Them In Now

5 August 2009 4:27 PM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

Tons of movies come out every week (as our Fall Film Preview duly demonstrates), and it can be hard keeping up with them all. No one wants to be caught flat-footed or empty-headed when a movie blasts onto the pop cultural landscape and its young star becomes the next big thing. To avert said potential conversational disaster, here's our picks for the ten most likely candidates to be the breakout stars of the fall, along with an older film for each to check out right now. This way, you'll be ready when that all-important question strikes: "What have I seen him [or her] in before?"

More Fall Preview: [Theatrical Calendar]

[Repertory Calendar]

[Anywhere But a Movie Theater]

Tom Hardy, "Bronson"

How good is British actor Tom Hardy in "Bronson?" So good, according to the London Times, that the car company Audi "keen to spot a promotional opportunity, has started giving Hardy free cars." In our book, that's pretty damn good -- »

- Matt Singer

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Exclusive: Mark Hartley on Not Quite Hollywood

30 July 2009 | shocktillyoudrop.com | See recent shocktillyoudrop news »

A popular doc from last year's Toronto Film Festival, Mark Hartley's Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild Untold Story of Ozploitation! is a movie that can't be missed by fans of horror, genre and cult films, as it peels back the layers on an era in Australian cinema history where low budget horror, action flicks and raunchy sex comedies permeated Australian theaters. The likes of George Miller ( Mad Max ) and Russell Mulcahy ( Razorback , Resident Evil: Extinction ) came out of that era of filmmaking, making films that influenced the likes of James Wan and Leigh Whannell, creators of the "Saw" franchise, and fellow Aussie filmmakers like Greg McLean ( Wolf Creek ) and the Spierig Brothers ( Undead and the upcoming Daybreakers ). On the horror front, the film looks... »

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Sam Worthington is The Candidate

21 July 2009 10:19 PM, PDT | TheMovingPicture.net | See recent TheMovingPicture news »

Sam Worthington, star of Terminator Salvation and James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar, has signed on to star in The Candidate. Beau Willimon is writing the screenplay and the film is based on the recent Danish thriller Kandidaten. In film, an aspiring lawyer wakes up in a hotel room with scant memories of the woman he met the night before, only to discover she's dead in the bathroom -- and he's about to be blackmailed for her murder. As he fights to clear his name, he uncovers a conspiracy that leads back to his own father's mysterious death. Written by Stefan Jaworski, the original played in theaters in Denmark last year, but has no American distributor at the moment. The original film's producers, Peter Bose and Jonas Allen of Miso Film, will executive produce the remake. Scribe Willimon previously wrote the political play Farragut North, which at one time Warner Bros. »

- James Cook

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Not Quite Hollywood (Film Review)

27 March 2009 8:07 AM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

“Ozploitation”—the frequently low-budget but often equally high-energy fare of several genres that proliferated Down Under in the 1970s and ’80s, was characterized by its brash aggressiveness, and is celebrated in kind by Mark Hartley’s Not Quite Hollywood. Subtitled The Wild, Untold Story Of Ozploitation!, it’s a rip-roaring, addictive documentary that fully conveys just how wild those flicks were, while assuring little of their history remains untold.

Not Quite Hollywood (playing this weekend at the Philadelphia Film Festival, and set for further theatrical play by Magnolia Pictures) charts this cinematic movement from its origins in the early ’70s, when censorship was relaxed in favor of the creation of an R (adults-only) rating. Unlike filmmakers in other countries who (willingly or not) avoided such a tag, those in Australia embraced it, and began churning out sex-and-violence-packed films with abandon. Hartley gives equal weight to softcore features (silly, bawdy stuff »

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Excl: Mitchell Set to Star in The Crazies

12 January 2009 | shocktillyoudrop.com | See recent shocktillyoudrop news »

Radha Mitchell has signed up to star opposite Timothy Olyphant in Overture Films' remake of The Crazies . Sources close to the casting process confirmed to ShockTillYouDrop.com over the weekend that she is officially on board. We presume she'll be playing the wife of Olyphant's sheriff character who is faced with a biological weapon that has infected the town's water supply thus making the residents violently loopy. The Australian actress has delicately balanced her career with a steady diet of genre material. In 2000, she faced nocturnal beasts in Pitch Black and followed that with Visitors , Silent Hill and Greg McLean's Rogue . The Crazies , based on the George Romero film of the same name, is directed by Breck Eisner and is due in theaters September 25th. »

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2009 | 2008 | 2005

7 articles from 2009

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