I saw Australia Sunday
I saw Australia Sunday. Not the entire continent but the nearly 3-hour film. Which could be as long as it takes to see the country.
I have managed to see all of Baz Luhrmann's films on my own. I danced myself out of the theater as 1992's Strictly Ballroom ended. In 1996 Romeo+Juliet played in a very small theater and I found myself sitting behind two teenagers who clearly hadn't read Shakespeare. As the movie was ending they were yelling at the screen for the two lovers not to kill each other. They didn't realize that is how Shakespeare's tragedies always end. Someone, or several someones, die.
Moulin Rogue! (2001) was such over-the-top brilliance I listened to the soundtrack over and over again. I was thrilled when the circus one year used the can-can song, which my kids renamed the clown song.
So when Australia arrived on our shores I thought it would be a delicious combining of Priscilla Queen of the Desert with Man from Snowy River. I would settle into the chair on my own and just fall into is vibrant story-telling.
It was two long, rather boring movies put together. It started off a taming-the-outback/cowboy film and when that story ended (and I thought the movie was over) an entirely new World War movie started. One friend (also a Baz fan) bemoaned it had every single movie cliche imaginable.
And how badly did I just want them to break out into song?
"Young Hearts Run Free" from William Shakespeare's Romeo+Juliet.
8 comments:
Bah. Well, that makes it easy for me to decide to skip the film when it gets here...
Did you know that Guy Pearce was in both Snowy River and Priscilla?
I had hopes for this film too, but the reviews I am getting from friends are all over the place and I can think of other things to do with nearly 3 hours of my life.
After all, there's always Netflix later.
Hugs. K
I'm bummed because I really, really love Hugh Jackman. Not as much as RWAV, but truly... almost.
And I adore Baz Luhrman.
And panoramas.
(expletive deleted).
OK - here are the current movie (in a theater) requests in our household: "Bolt", "Madagascar 2", "Transporter 3", "Milk", "Australia", "City of Ember". Since we have a limited budget and only so much time, somebody is going to lose out. I'm thinking that "Australia" may now be moved to the "Wait for the DVD" list. Probably along with "M 2" and "T 3".
Akh! I'm so sad to hear that! I was really excited to see it! Plus, like Jen, I love me some Hugh Jackman. :-D Sigh. Okay then, I'll skip it. Or at least wait till DVD.
And I love the Romeo and Juliet clip. :-)
Loved Romeo + Juliet! Great movie. I thought it was so original for its time. Thanks for saving me the dough on "Australia". Although truth be told, I probably wouldn't have made it to the movies anyway!
Thanks for saving me 3 hours. However, I have heard that Hugh Jackman is worth the $10.
while not as fabulous as his other films, I enjoyed it. I thought he took the classic epic genre and did it very well, but it did miss that usual Baz Bite. But it had hugh jackman shirtless, so that was a plus.
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