sugarmack Reviews

No Man's Land (2020– )

White man's land

[6/10 · 24 November 2023]

*spoilers ahead* If you expect this show to be about Kurds, the YPJ or women, as the title might suggest, think again. This show is largely about European men with Kurdish women and Arab men as a backdrop to their stories. The only Kurdish character who gets more than a few lines has grown up in France and returned to Syria. The main YPJ characters who speak are the foreigners who've joined up. While we get a taste of the Kurdish struggles, especially early on in Season 1, they pale in comparison to the main white, male character's story arc. Even on the ISIS side we follow British men (including two POC).

The storyline gets worse and worse throughout the first season, particularly as Anna's character becomes more prominent. She's blonde, impulsive and unable to blend into her surroundings, wearing low-cut tops in Iran and Egypt, and in the latter she isn't veiled (the men who made this clearly have not set foot in Cairo). Yet somehow she's a natural super spy who instantly knows how to interrogate and recruit people after a day of training. Of course, when she joins the YPJ she veyr quickly becomes one of their leaders despite not seeming to speak Kurdish. I'm not sure whether that's more insulting, or the show's suggestion that the Mossad fuelled Iran's Green Movement.

Does the show nonetheless entertain? It moves along at a good pace. The acting is mostly fine, especially from the persuasive Mossad agent. It just seems like it could have been set in any number of conflicts, but having the YPJ allows the main character to have a solider love interest, and for his sister to be high up in the resistance force. Nothing more.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Another Waititi classic

[8/10 · 13 July 2022]

I'm not sure what everyone else is complaining about. I, like everyone else in my relatively crowded cinema, thoroughly enjoyed and laughed throughout the entire film. I think perhaps a lot of viewers haven't seen many of Waititi's previous works, or don't get his sense of humour, which I think is very irreverent New Zealand/Australian. If anything I'd say Thor forgets to be a completely self-involved, arrogant spoilt god in parts of this movie and that's always provided good value for me.

I found the early Thor movies to be some of the weakest of the Marvel movies so when Waititi took the helm, he brought life to the Thor series by not taking it too seriously. I mean, he's a space viking. Taking that seriously is boring. For those upset by the 'adult humour', maybe try reading about the ancient gods (whether Greek, Norse or Old Testament) and you might just find them a little more salacious and violent than a throwaway reference to orgies.

I found Thor: Love and Thunder visually creative, well-directed with excellent comic timing, and it had fantastic performances from its actors. It's not another Iron Man, but neither is Venom or Spiderman. It's a Marvel universe. It should contain multitudes!

Litigante (2019)

Mesmerising naturalism

[9/10 · 20 August 2020]

From its first moments I was absolutely captivated by this film. The script, direction and acting are so superb and natural I almost felt like I was watching a documentary based on one of the writer's autobiographies. Every complex detail followed the logic of the story and the very three-dimensional, nuanced characters so much that I wondered how the writers had captured this story so perfectly.

For me the film centred largely centred around the incredibly difficult love-hate relationship between the protagonist (Silvia) and her elderly mother (Leticia). The relationship was so relatable and nuanced, from the harsh words the two shared with each other to the absolute tenderness with which Silvia cared for her mother when she was particularly vulnerable. The other relationships, from mother-to-son, best friends, romantic and sisters, were all equally wonderfully captured.

The actors are each perfect for their roles, with Carolina Sanín as Silvia, conveying the weariness through which she moves through her guilt, resentment, joy, self-righteousness, and more tender moments. Leticia Goméz, as Leticia, is agonisingly perfect as the frustrating elderly mother, who loves her grandson, and pushes both non-traditionalism and traditional roles on her eldest daughter, and who makes life challenging for her daughters by resisting treatment for her lung cancer. How the director got the performance from seemingly five-year old Antonio Martinez, I'm not sure. Antonio is a loving son and grandson with a tiny attention span, interested only in what he sees as relevant to him. In other words, he's a perfectly portrayed five-year old. The supporting actors also play their parts flawlessly.

I was particularly taken by the telling fragments the film provided, in which it avoided clumsy exposition with a single glance, line of dialogue or sequence of actions that provided years worth of background. To me, this requires particular skill in the writing and direction. I was told that this film was good, but it was exceptional.

Only the Animals (2019)

Facile, one-dimensional and a bit racist

[5/10 · 29 July 2020]

I was excited to see this film, which sold itself as being like Kurosawa's Rashomon. One missing woman and the story told from multiple perspectives until we understand what happened. It had potential. Instead every character was a completely undeveloped, one-dimensional stereotype: neglected wife of a wealthy man (Evelyne); obsessively smitten young woman (Marion); rural loner (Joseph) etc, who exists purely to move the plot in a particular direction. The only character we see any development of is another neglectful husband (Michel), who gives his and his wife's money to his supposed lover, and who squeezes the life out of an innocent woman with his bare hands. And yet this is the character the film attempts to get us to sympathise with in the end.

Then there's the plucky, entrepreneurial 'Africans', who exist as long as they have a relationship with the people who have homes in the white, rural French village. While the filmmakers attempt to make a reference to these characters 'taking back from the colonists', everything shot in Côte d'Ivoire is done with a lack of cultural understanding such that a French man (Michel) can fly to Abidjan, a city with 4.3 million people, and find the exact Côte d'Ivoirian man he is looking for (known to him only by his first name, Armand) within a short time of arriving in the city, just by asking around. Quelle surprise. Importantly, while Armand receives his moral comeuppance for scamming Michel, nothing happens to Michel for the murder he committed, or for his profligacy. So while Armand's actions have made Michel sad (but not broke, like Armand), Michel's needs for love (from the catfish lover Armand has created) will be met, while Armand loses his love, his daughter, and the economic gains that he was scamming from Michel.

There was the potential to create a clever film here. Quel dommage.

Captain Marvel (2019)

The best Marvel movie to date?

[9/10 · 15 March 2019]

I'm going to agree with everyone who liked this film. I was riveted from the start til the very end of the credits. Ok, the only weakness for me was the very laboured initial ten minutes of exposition. But after that, the film is thoroughly enjoyable. Classic marvel effects and action, but more importantly, a really fun plot, with excellent characters and fantastic performances from the entire cast. While I think Brie Larson is an incredible actress (Room anyone?!), and Samuel Jackson is always great, what a treat Ben Mendelshon (and his character) is.

I laughed throughout the film and thought that the chemistry between characters, the direction and the editing really brought the humour to life. The comic timing was fantastic.

And in 2019, when so many films still fail the Bechdel Test, when around 35% of speaking characters in films are women, and only 20% of female characters are black women, it's fantastic to see two kickass, competent, funny women with such heart.

Ok. So I'm not sure that it's the best Marvel film ever made because I also love Taika Waititi's Thor...But I'll happily give them a tie.

Becoming Astrid (2018)

Excellent film with wonderful performances

[9/10 · 6 August 2018]

This is a beautiful piece of Scandinavian film making that held me spellbound from the first minute. The story of Astrid Ericsson's (later Lindgren) early life unfolds lyrically, with sensitive handling of the many controversies that shaped the children's author. While the cinematography is beautiful, and all performances are great, Alba August carries the film with a magical performance as Astrid. Every moment is perfectly told through August's acting, and caught by the director.

I would say that this film isn't quite as subtle as some Scandinavian films, but it's always difficult to fit life stories into a single film. This film made me want to see a series of films about Lindgren's entire life.

Quo vado? (2016)

Some fantastic moments, but

[5/10 · 26 October 2016]

This film does a great job of parodying Italian stereotypes, especially, as others have mentioned, the tenured public servant. It features a fairly deplorable lead character, Checco Zalone, who embodies stereotypes of laziness, sexism and racism. His counterpart, played by Giovanardi, is his opposite: the modern, empowered woman, who has a past that would generally disturb more traditional conservatives, but which is obviously celebrated in the film. This film tries to parody Zalone's sexism and Euro-centric racism and rudeness, and attempts to demonstrate character growth in Zalone by mildly watering down these characteristics. However, ultimately it celebrates all of these things, by rewarding Zalone with the beautiful and incredible Valeria (why do obnoxious anti- heroes always get these types of intelligent women?) Stereotypes of ferocious, 'tribal Africans' (seemingly conflating Himba and Hamer peoples, while possibly being located in the Horn of Africa) go unquestioned, and, of course, end up loving the protagonist. Despite being offensive, if you actually want to think about the film's subtext, the film is well-paced, and offers some hilarious moments. Each actor plays his/her part admirably, and direction and editing are spot on. To those who advise not to take this film too seriously, perhaps examine the privileges you have that allow you to ignore repeated negative, stereotypes, and the triumph of the white male, regardless of his characteristics, in the vast majority of films, which contribute to reinforcing our daily acceptance of these things.

Captain Fantastic (2016)

A brilliant exploration of American libertarianism

[10/10 · 22 September 2016]

It's hard for me to review a movie that was so clearly made for me! Captain Fantastic explores the parallel libertarianisms of the USA, from the liberal, atomised strip malls and tax avoiding conglomerates, to the communitarians who, in this case, must abandon society for it having abandoned too many within it. Brilliantly, it does this by exploring a father's love for his wife and children. By exploring the family, both immediate and extended, the film manages to avoid dealing exclusively in stereotypes.

For me, the filmic aspects were all top notch. The cinematography was sublime and underscored the film's themes subtly, but powerfully. The performances were absolutely brilliant, from the youngest child, to Viggo Mortensen's touching role as Ben. The direction and editing were seamless. The music and sound design sparkled.

Overall, this film takes an absurd family to highlight the absurdity of how we all live in the West, while warning of the potential perils of isolationism.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016)

Not written by a Chinese person, and feels like it. A little insulting.

[6/10 · 6 March 2016]

Like other reviewers I had low expectations of this film, and for three quarters of the film, my expectations were exceeded. The story, acting and production were fine.

Not having seen who the screenwriter was, I expected that it would be a Chinese person. However, it became clear throughout the film that either it was written completely for a Western audience, or that it was written by someone who was Chinese. That turned out to be correct. Weinstein and co allowed some guy named John Fusco to write a Chinese film when he clearly has almost no understanding of Chinese cinema, storytelling, or culture. How they wouldn't think that this would be insulting to a Chinese audience, I'm not sure. It's even insulting to a non-Chinese audience, given how off-the-mark it is.

For those who have no idea why I'm complaining, it's because this is just an American idea of what a Chinese story is like, and that would be fine, it if wasn't branded with 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', and following the incredible Ang Lee film. This 'sequel', with its ostentatious romance, its lack of attention to detail (eg, in a final fight scene on a tiled rooftop, the roof starts to collapse, but not a single tile moves), the mismatch between the English subtitles and what's spoken in Chinese, and its lack of depth are extremely disappointing. For example, Shu Lien silently pines for Li Mu Bai, with their romance threatening to burst into the open at any point in the first film. But, true to traditional culture, she puts what's important before her own desires. In this sequel, there's no development of her romance, and she spits out crass lines like "I would rather face an army by your side than to live another day without you" while caressing her betrothed's cheek is indicative of this lack of understanding of Chinese culture.

If you're going to make a sequel, do it properly, or don't touch such an incredible film as Crouching Tiger. Make a new film!

Everest (2015)

Fantastic film, but the same tired lack of non-white voices

[8/10 · 1 October 2015]

This is a great film. It's action-packed, based on a true story, and has surprisingly good performances, even from Keira Knightly, who is starting to grow on me.

The cinematography is absolutely stunning, and for someone who is deeply afraid of heights, this gave me some idea of the glory of scaling the world's highest peak.

The story is simple, but well told. But after so much critique off-screen of the historical failure to recognise the help and leadership that sherpas provide on Everest, including the initial failure to recognise Tenzig Norgay, it seems very difficult to understand why this film focuses solely on its white, largely male, characters (with one Japanese woman given a few lines, but not really a storyline). One character is introduced as the 'head sherpa', and it's clear in the film that when the foreigners can't achieve something they send in the sherpas to do the work. So why don't the sherpas have characters and subjectivity?

While every tense moment for the white men (and women) is tracked, a potential part of the plot, in which a sherpa has to turn back while trying to rescue the main character, is given no attention whatsoever other than to show the turnback. What went through that character's mind? Was the decision a difficult decision to make? How did the sherpas cope not only scaling the mountain, but carrying the main characters' items and helping them up the mountain.

These seem like especially important issues given that even today, people pay small fortunes to climb Everest, while sherpas die and are paid very little for their work in Nepal. This film had the opportunity to at least provide them with some subjectivity but utterly failed to do so. For many this won't hinder the plot or the film, but this is how we keep perpetuating an exclusively white, and largely male history.

The Dark Horse (2014)

Astonishly good.

[10/10 · 23 November 2014]

A New Zealand story, based on a true story, about a mentally ill chess genius, battling to keep himself together in his brutal surroundings. This was the type of film I had to stay in my seat for as long as possible after, to process what I'd seen and to re- commence breathing.

The story is brilliantly told. While this story is an incredibly violent story, you see very little of the violence directly. Instead the heaviness of the world transfers directly from Genesis, the main character, to the audience.

I'm not sure that I've seen a film that portrays a character struggling to have life with and beyond mental illness. Cliff Curtis' performance is incredible and is as worthy of critical acclaim as the best acting performances. James Rolleston is no one-trick pony from Boy. He's a very fine actor and I can't wait to see him in more. All of the supporting performances are good, but I would be remiss if I failed to mention Wayne Hapi in his first performance. His screen presence is powerful and enormous. Niwa Whatuira also does very well in his small, but intense role.

The cinematography and direction are both subtle but incredibly powerful. Genesis' mental state, his tenderness, his strengths and his weaknesses are viscerally knotted into the audience's stomach and heart.

I can't wait to see more from any of this ensemble.

Tango (1998)

Sumptuous and Spellbinding

[10/10 · 29 October 2014]

Carlos Saura is a genius, and Tango is a paragon of his artistic vision and cleverness. The staging (all in a studio) is wildly imaginative, with dazzling and stirring number after number. I didn't really care whether there was a storyline given how powerful the dancing was, particularly any time the character, Laura, was on screen. However, there is a very clever set of story lines woven together in an almost mischievous way, or as the young folk today would say, 'very meta'. In case the stories of Mario, his show and Argentina since the turn of the 20th Century weren't enough, the mirrored sets add an extra level of irony. The lighting and music are almost characters in themselves in this film, which is not to diminish the strong, subtle acting. I absolutely love this film, which left my mind blown as the final credits rolled.

The Monkey King: Havoc in Heaven's Palace (2014)

A faithful adaptation of the beginning of Journey to the West

[8/10 · 27 February 2014]

I just saw this film with my mother, a 65-year old Chinese woman (who has trained under some masters of kung fu), who grew up reading the stories of the Monkey King (whereas I'm more familiar with the Japanese Series, 'Monkey Magic'). My mother was delighted at how faithful this film was, with so many of the characters and substories being very close to how she remembers them.

Unlike other reviewers, we found the CGI to be quite good (a couple of bad spots, but in other places, stunning!) We thought the acting and direction was also really good. Donnie Yen is such a wonderful and naughty monkey. His movement is fantastic, whether he was fighting or being a lazy monkey. Chow Yun Fat a benevolent Jade Emperor, and Aaron Kwok a coolly evil demon king.

The film is also incredibly fun. This isn't going to win any Oscars, but if you're out to have fun, it's a better adaptation of the beginning of Journey to the West than most.

Lethal Hostage (2012)

Beautiful film with a brilliant soundtrack/sound design

[8/10 · 25 February 2013]

I saw 'Lethal Hostage' at a film festival in which I had the pleasure of meeting the director and to gain some insights that perhaps aren't obvious to the average English-language viewer. For one thing, the title in Chinese is something more like "Storms Over the Border" rather than "Lethal Hostage", which the director doesn't like.

This crime story is incredibly artistic. The moods and colour schemes perfectly accompany the complex, yet relatively simply told story. The acting is well-directed. But what really stood out to me was the sound scheme (both the music and the sound design). It was almost like another character in the film. It was so present, and yet never overbearing, and contributed wonderfully to the rhythm and mood of the film. I've rarely seen films use sound so well.

I want to throw in a mention of the director, Cheng Er's incredible talents. This is his second film in fourteen years. He not only wrote and directed this film, but also edited it, and contributed heavily to the sound design.

I would recommend this film to anyone interested in crime-related Chinese art films.

The Sword Identity (2011)

Beautifully shot, some comic moments, but horrendously racist depiction of Uighers

[7/10 · 25 February 2013]

Unlike the other reviewers I quite enjoyed this film (apart from the racist stereotypes that seems to be quite acceptable to most of the viewers in my cinema). I think if you've never studied martial arts a lot of the martial arts in this film will seem nothing but comical. I remember demonstrating to kung fu drills and sets for some neighbours when I was a kid, and instead of seeing the power in the completion of each movement, they burst into a heap of laughter. Martial arts for most requires contact with another person (or at least a dummy). From my eyes (13 years of kung fu, including a few years of teaching until injuries stopped me) the martial arts in this film was performed very well. I'd be interested to know if those who didn't like it can sit through Kill Bill or the Matrix trilogy, in which the martial arts are painfully unbelievable.

The plot of the film hasn't been particularly well translated into English, including the film's English title, which should be something more akin to "the Dwarf Pirate", which is what Japanese pirates were called in China. I wonder if this has contributed to its poor ratings.

Unlike other viewers, I thought the comic moments were frequently laugh-out-loud funny. The cinematography is beautiful. The acting is fine if not good. The plot is no worse than the majority of martial arts films out there. I thought if anything, I would say it is more artistic than the majority of martial arts films (that tend to have much higher budgets).

The Art of Flight (2011)

Please stop them talking...and doing anything but snowboarding!

[5/10 · 19 October 2012]

Without a doubt, everything said about the cinematography is true- beautiful, incredible pictures abound. The snowboarding has you gasping and maybe even feeling sick in your stomach in the good way! But unfortunately for us, the characters speak and spill out every cliché on the planet "it's not the destination, it's the journey", "respect the mountain. When you don't respect the mountain that's when bad things happen" (paraphrase).

That would be all fine except that the 'storyline' sees us following these guys to remote places and generally finding too little snow. (Maybe because they're flying everywhere in helicopters, blowing up propane tanks, shooting and destroying trees and setting fires. Ever heard of climate change?) I thought snowboarders would be a little more 'down to earth' and want to protect what they spend their life on.

Twice in the film the guys look at discouraging weather/conditions reports but say "but you can't just trust the data. You've gotta get out there and see for yourself." But then they're shocked when they find exactly what the data predicted and have to call their trips short.

The snowboarding action is beautiful...but little else to recommend it. Luckily there's a lot of action.

Mozart's Sister (2010)

Wonderful, subtly rich film capturing a heartbreakingly unfulfilled talent

[9/10 · 14 August 2011]

I'm very surprised by the low ratings this film has received, particularly for those who found it boring. To the contrary, I did not want the film to end, intrigued by every twist and turn. I won't recount the plot. Instead, I felt the entire cast was excellent, each subtly, but powerfully, portraying the tensions their character face. In Barbé's Leopold Mozart we see a loving, but ambitious and selfish father, unwilling to challenge the social conventions of his time. In Marie Féret's Nannerl we see a young woman struggling with her desire to express herself and be recognised, but captive to her sense of obedience to the multiple characters to whom she is subordinate, and the challenges of coming-of-age in a domineering family. Her struggles are matched by her melancholy expressions in which even happiness comes at a bittersweet price.

There is no over-acting, but instead excellent direction. I don't believe that production values were low, given the costumes, the locations and the excellent cast. Instead I think the director chose to tell a real (although fictionalised) story rather than to glamourise and over-dramatise. The coldness of the European winters was brought to life, and gave the viewer some sense of what it would have been like without modern comforts and luxury for the Mozart family, and matched the sombre and sad story perfectly. I would like to see more films like this.

Religulous (2008)

Interesting, self-indulgent and Islamophobic

[5/10 · 11 March 2011]

Bill Maher certainly has some points to make in this very personalised exploration of religion. He spends the majority of the time focused on 'questioning' Christianity, although he is clearly more respectful of those who share his views, surprisingly, such as those who have been involved with the Vatican. For those who don't he often fails to return the respectfulness that they take his questions and criticisms, even if they often fail to answer his questions. I found much of this unnecessary since his point was already clearly made, and some of it quite childish.

I was enjoying certain parts of this film and found it entertaining, though not brilliant, and certainly quite self-indulgent. However, I was deeply turned off this film when it singled out Islam as a violent religion (despite showing Christians with "God hates fags" and "thank God for AIDS" signs at the beginning). In this film, Islam is characterised by its extremists with one imam saying that Islam is a religion of peace juxtaposed only with footage of extremist murders and gun-toting decontextualised street protests. Given the number of murders of, for example, abortion clinic doctors, or the repressive ways that women in many religions live, I felt that this was very uneven handling of the complexity of the heterogeneity within every religion. In the end, this, and the film's need for a good edit (it is at least ten minutes too long given the material they have) tarnishes the film far too much for my recommendation.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

A Wes Anderson film bearing little resemblance to Dahl's beloved book

[4/10 · 25 October 2009]

I was so frustrated watching this film. I went in with Dahl's whimsical Mr Fox, adored by his family and beautifully and loquaciously winning over his friends and neighbours, making him truly 'Fantastic' Mr Fox. Very shortly into the film I wondered why Wes Anderson had bothered to 'adapt' Fantastic Mr Fox when every character was so far removed from Dahl's characters, with Mr Fox's pubescent son resembling Gwyneth Paltrow's Tenenbaum character. Clooney's Mr Fox is far from fantastic, Streep's Mrs Fox is nothing like Dahl's Mrs Fox. Hearing such typically UK English prose adapted to Anderson's American 'Hey, Man's is grating for those familiar with Dahl's book. Similarly, the plot and settings loosely resembled Dahl's, with over half of the plot being Anderson's creation, and the bits that come from Dahl's book being changed so greatly. In Anderson's favour, this film had his typical rhythm, style, pace, and his depressed, staccatoed, little-explained characters, but then why take a story with such a different pace, with a completely style and with such different characters? Admittedly, Quentin Blake's illustrations live vividly in the mind of many Dahl readers and seem to so perfectly illustrate Dahl's dark, twisted and curious characters. However, it is not the animation that leaves alienates me from this film. The animation is generally well done, although, again, Anderson's overtones bear strongly on the animation, with each character bearing an Anderson 'twitch'.

I did my best to try to understand this as an 'Anderson' film and rate it based on that, but the incongruity of this film to the story it's based on gave me little enjoyment.

Australia (2008)

Baz Luhrmann makes me proud to be Australian

[8/10 · 30 December 2008]

I can accept that people might find that Luhrmann's latest film requires some stretching of the imagination and some suspension of disbelief. But I think his beautifully over-the-top epic (just like his brilliant, whimsical Moulin Rouge) was a tremendous amount of fun that touched on so many important themes and issues for Australians. To enjoy it, you probably have to enjoy his larger-than-life style, in which characters and events dance on the border between fantasy and what might be realistic, never resolving nor confirming which side they are on. Is the magic real magic? Even King George is half-way between being a spirit and a human.

The film has so many nice touches that I think many Australians (and hopefully others) can appreciate, too many to list, but the cheekiness of an indigenous character named "King George", and the 'bad guy' of the film sounding almost identical to a particular former Prime Minister who refused to say 'sorry', are just two examples.

As an Australian, I'm particularly proud that a film bearing the name of our country made such efforts to promote understanding of indigenous cultures and even attempts to show that it knows that indigenous cultures are not homogeneous. Having a film entitled 'Australia' that attempts to embody the whole of the country (in a way) being narrated in a dialect of Aboriginal English by an indigenous child is a dramatic step for an Australian film (not to diminish other great films that are centred around indigenous Australians and their interactions with white Australians/colonials). Let's not forget, also that it attempted to remind us of immigrants from East Asia and Europe as well.

I don't think the film completely avoids being somewhat patronising to indigenous Australians: in it indigenous people are reliant on whites to save them (although given the time in which it's set it makes a little more sense), and the first people assumed to take care of Nullah when he loses his mother are a white couple rather than his living uncle or grandfather, which is particularly strange given how important family and community are to indigenous people. However, the intentions of the film are beautiful and the constant reminders of colonial and white history in Australia, the acknowledgment of indigenous people's suffering, and the attempts to allow Nullah to exist in, be accepted by and be whole in both white and indigenous Australia are what truly touched my heart. Perhaps some real stories exist out there, but I only hope that some whites treated indigenous Australians as the white heroes of this story. Hopefully this wasn't the most unrealistic part of the film.

The film is not flawless by any means and combines lots of themes into one. Perhaps too many story lines for some, but to me, well, it is an epic, after all. The acting from Kidman, Jackman and Wenham is fun and stylised, but not always great (in contrast to Walters, who was an absolute delight). Parts of the story (if not much of it) were cheesy. But for me, this film was so much fun, with lots of down-to-earth laughs, great tension, beautiful scenery, amazing costuming...the list could go on. But the political messages that underlie and to some extent drive the film are equally important and play a large part in making this film great. Thank you, Mr Luhrmann, for making just the right film to call 'Australia'.

The Four Feathers (2002)

Probably watered down, but ends up affirming "empire"

[6/10 · 23 June 2003]

I was looking forward to seeing this film, but was quite disappointed in the end. What starts out as "why should the queen of England care about a desert" (not an actual quote), ends up as "it turns out we didn't go to war for queen and country, we went there to be with our friends". Now, call me a stickler, but football seems a better way to bond than slaughtering those who fight to get the colonials out of their homeland.

The Four Feathers attempts to show that Africans aren't savages and that colonisation in the name of God was the slaughter of the innocent, unjustified and racist, but this message came across so strongly that a woman in my cinema applauded when the main character killed an African man whose entire family had been killed by the British. The one African who is portrayed as a hero is characterised as being an acception to the Muslims who, in fighting the British, were justifiably killed.

It shows that the British were out of their league when fighting the war against the Sudanese, but there is no line or action toward the end that shows the English soldiers being dissillusioned about fighting. I accept that to keep the authenticity the English army can't turn around and become pacifists because colonial wars are unjust, but you'd think the message that the Sudanese were fighting for homeland would come across to counter-balance the celebration of empire.

The scenery is absolutely beautiful and the contrasts drawn between Sudan and England are well done. The acting is good enough, but I feel sorry for Djimon Hounsou, who gets called on to appear in movies like Amistad, Gladiator and the Four Feathers whenever a "true black" is needed. He's a very good actor, so it's a shame that he is typecast, and also that roles for him appear so rarely.

The Cotton Club (1984)

An absolute classic, the more times you watch it, the more you become mesmerised by it.

[10/10 · 26 June 2000]

The first time I saw this movie I loved the music and dancing and appreciated the setting. I found it strange and couldn't follow it properly. I watched it a second and third time, partly to see the dancing again, and listen to the music, and the plot completely grew on me. I absolutely love this movie. It is complex, and extremely accurate in its portrayal of the time when gangsters owned stars. If you love jazz music and know a little about its history, you will be enraptured by this movie.

The acting is incredible, and highlights the subtle twists in the plot beautifully. The cinematography is done in a most expert fashion. Richard Gere and Gregory Hines are absolutely charming, and Diane Lane is perfect is Vera Cicero. Lonette McKee has one of the most beautiful voices you will ever hear, it is no wonder she received a Tony award. Any viewer will be surprised by the guest appearances including Nicholas Cage, Bob Hoskins, Lawrence Fishburne, and on-screen and real-life brother of Gregory, Maurice Hines. Not only one of Coppola's best, but one of the best of all time.