Australia (2008)

Posted : 9 months ago at Feb 7 21:41

I missed all the hype that Australia received in the run up to its release so I didn't have any expectations of what the movie would offer me. I was delighted to find a mix of western adventure with (melo)drama, tragedy, comedy and romance that Baz Luhrmann excels at. The first 30 minutes of camp and borderline absurdity reminded me of his first film, Strictly Ballroom (which I loved). My only wish is that he could have maintained this tone throughout the movie. At mid-point, Australia becomes more dramatic, okay melodramatic, morphing into a Pearl Harbor/Gone With The Wind romance. I don't know if it managed it quite as well as Gone With the Wind, but Australia is certainly much better than Pearl Harbor. The movie's theme, a running theme in Baz Luhrmann's films, is one of being true t...Read more

Rating : 7/10

Posted : 10 months, 2 weeks ago at Dec 26 20:05

''Just because it is, doesn't mean it should be.'' Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand. Nicole Kidman: Lady Sarah Ashley ''Welcome to Australia!'' Director Baz Luhrmann gives us his new vision Australia, and what a joy it results in being. Let's just begin by saying that all my expectations were met and in a way exceeded them, in the guise of being educational, historical and in essence, capturing the spirit and power of the mesmerizing land of Australia. It's dreamy yet somet...Read more

Rating : 9/10

Posted : 11 months, 2 weeks ago at Nov 26 19:37

"Welcome to Australia!" Epic in the truest sense, Baz Luhrmann's much-hyped Australia is a film that exhilarates with its grand themes and physical grandeur. Fundamentally the Australian response to classic war epics like Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia, Luhrmann's majestic motion picture is to date the most expensive Australian production in the country's history (with the budget rumoured to have elevated to about AU$160 million). Australia is Baz Luhrmann's ambitious, large-scale vision. The filmmaker has taken heed of his own mantra from Strictly Ballroom - that a life lived in fear is a life half lived. Luhrmann has gone for broke and the product, while true to his vision (which he passionately strived to accomplish over several gruelling years), will undoubtedly divide op...Read more