Reviews
Maid to Order (1987)
Ya gotta love those 80's styles!
O.K., so it's not the "Mr. Mom" or "Tootsie" to which it attempts to compare itself. But Ally is cute and you have to love those eighties styles. I love the "Spirit in the Sky" disco performance.
Fandango (1985)
The sky-diving scene partly resurrects a really ordinary flick
I have to agree with another user comment that (i) this is one of the few Kevin Costner performances that one is able to stomach and (ii) the sky-diving scene is a classic, but as for the rest of this "B-grade" drivel.. the less said the better. College failures go on a mega-tour of Texas in order to avoid a wedding, avoid the draft, tell their mate what a "wheenie" he is and find & trash a bottle of hot Dom Perignon! This is funny??? The soundtrack is good??? Saturday Night's Allright For Fightin' is about the only decent track in it. Not a good effort!
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Typical Spielberg Over-dramatics
I can't believe that this movie is number 5 in the all time list, as voted by nearly 7000 people in this register.
You are all mad! This movie will basically be forgotten in 6 months time. Sure, if you think that a detached arm, quivering on the D-day beaches is great cinema, then I suppose you may like think this movie good. Otherwise, think about it... What is the story? Not much of one Realistic? I suppose, but nothing that Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now and a host of others don't have... this is just another one of those attempted "ground-breakers" which will be copied by everyone. Believe me, shortly people will be saying "Saving Private Who?". If you want to have quivering body parts and open wounds, watch any of a host of horror movies from about the 1950's on. Tom Hanks for an Oscar? You have to be kidding. Forrest Gump was a better role. The man has next to no personality in this role, and his portrayal doesn't help.
The Dismissal (1983)
The day democracy was saved
O.K., here's another chance for those out there to have their little bit of a whinge at the Governor General saving our democracy by calling an election (gee, what a really subversive thing to do... ask the people what they want).
The series is good, well acted and highly worth watching. If you are not an Australian and want to get an excellent idea of the difficulties the nation was facing at by far the most critical moment in our history, this is not a bad way to get it.
It is just such a pity that inevitably, despite good efforts of those involved in the production, the story will be hi-jacked by the "chip-on-the-shoulder" set, who are so caught up in their own pathetic political beliefs, that they fail to realise that the result of the Governor General stepping in to resolve a serious subversion of our democratic system was to allow the people to decide.
I may just want to remind everyone that the result of the election was that Whitlam and the ALP were completely trounced (as they were again in 1977).
A great little mini-series!