Saturday, November 22, 2008

My Top Ten: Favorite Aussie Movies

Being a guy who lives in Australia most of my life, we Aussies have a fair share of good films. There are some things in Australia that makes us unique from the rest of the world like VBs, Footy, meat pies, vegemites, even though I don't like those kinds of stuff. Thing is most of great Hollywood actors nowadays are Aussies. Even Health Ledger who f*ckin played the Joker in The Dark Knight is an Aussie! Now that is something to be proud of as an Australian. Now Australia has brought to the world their first epic feature in a long while, promptly titled Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann. He directed such films as Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rogue, which I still stand as being an awful movie to watch. All style and no substance. And basically that is what I thought of when I watched the trailer to his newest film. While its suitable as a love letter to the country, it still hasn't convinced me as being a truly great film.



Not to say I don't like Aussie films, I f*ckin do! In fact, some of the best films I have even in my life are Aussies. So that said,
as my love letter to the country, here are my monthly top ten of my favorite Aussie films...


10.
BABE



For a talking animal film, it was very enjoyable when I saw this at a young age and it remains a children's classic. The animals were trained very well to able to perform greatly. There are some moments that were cute and funny and others were tend to be dark. Whatever may be, its a fun film that children and adults can enjoy.

9.
TWO HANDS



While the plot was questionable when it comes to the supernatural element, it could pass off as a nice Australian version of a Guy Ritchie gangster film. There are many funny moments in the film and the characters were interesting to look at. This film is also Health Ledger's breakout film and at that time, Health haven't tap in his extraordinary talent that you have seen later on. First time I have seen this, I would never expect this kid to become the Joker in The Dark Knight.

8.
CHOPPER



The semi-autobiographical film of famed Aussie criminal, Mark "Chopper" Read was kind of interesting, but it was the performance of Eric Bana as the title character all worth it. Eric Bana proved to be a versatile actor in this film when during the time he was known to be as a stand up comedian. There are many scenes that makes you cringe and the direction is spot on.

7.
PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT



Eventually I would have to see this film sooner or later and it turns out to be a good film to watch. This film became a huge impact on homosexual and cross-dressing culture on the country that is slowly willing to accept at that time. Especially in the Outback who is kind of oblivious to them. It is also an impact as well a good story of a homosexual man and his reality of having a son from his bisexual wife. And hey, big applause to the guys who has the balls to play as gay men. And these guys all have badass roles in their resumes: Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith of The Matrix), Terence Stamp (General Zod of Superman I and II) and Guy Pearce (Leonard Shelby of Memento).

6.
WOLF CREEK



This is one freaky and scary Aussie film! This is something that has the Australian Outback as your worst nightmare. It kind of spark of controversy as the film was inspired by an event about the disappearance of a British backpacker in the Aussie Outback. The horror and violence in this film is nearly on par of other torture movies like Hostel, but its back up with a engaging story and a very creep Outback ranger. How scary to be stalk by this guy who knows their entire empty land like the back of his hands?

5.
THE CASTLE



The first time I saw this movie, I didn't like it because I was young and really don't understand most of the Australian culture. After many times, it began to grow on me and became a pleasant thing to watch. I came to view this film as an outsider and observe the culture of a typical white Australian family from the family bbq to their holiday trip.

4.
KENNY



Honestly I thought this would be a film with literally so many toilet humor. But it turns out to be a funny and pleasantly dramatic portrayal of a man, working in the lowest of job hierarchy. Despite his position in society, Kenny still remains optimistic and considers his job very important to the community. The nice thing about this movie is that its an underdog story that you'll get to see a toilet man actually partaking in opportunities rarely given to anyone of his status: taking care of his son, going to the US for a toilet convention and finding love.

3.
THE GODDESS OF 1967



This movie is like if Wong Kar-wai directed an Australian film. Directed actually by a Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law, the film has many elements and style like an New Wave Cinema film, stylized with many bright colors, artistic and unconventional editing and camera-work and little and cryptic dialogue. The story goes that a Japanese man travels to Australia to buy a prized car and ends up going on a road journey across the Outback with a blind girl. The film may sound out there, but the film does bring many subtlety and emotion enough for you to appreciate it.

2.
CROCODILE DUNDEE



Every Australian, including me who doesn't considers himself as an actual Australian, loves this movie so much. Dundee embodies the typical Outback ranger, symbolizing Australia to the whole world. And it is so fun to see a fish-out-of-water situation that places a laid-back simple outdoors man into the modern, tech-savvy city of New York. There are so many iconic moments from the movie, but everyone knows about the "Thats not a knife, thats a knife". The character of Dundee is such full of life and wits, that you just can't help but love him.

1.
MAD MAX 2

To be fair, only one entry from the Mad Max Series goes into the list, because all three movies are freakin awesome! And that entry goes to my most favorite of the series. While Mad Max and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome are so great to watch, Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior sets the perfect formula in narrative, characters, action and design while retaining a good balance from Hollywood's support. The first Mad Max was independent and was unknown to Hollywood and Beyond Thunderdome obviously had too much help from Hollywood. Mad Max 2 had a great story where Max stumbles upon and protects a group of settlers and their oil refinery from a group of punk-clad chained bikers led by Lord Humungous. He's not the only evil character that wears a hockey mask over his face. Mel Gibson was awesome as Max. His character was fully developed greatly and all of the characters are intriguing and interesting to have care for, the costumes and set designs are wicked and the final car chase scene near the end is one of the best car chases I have seen ever. If you haven't seen this, this is one Aussie movie you should see.

That is my top ten list! What are your favorites?

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