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NonEgo1
Reviews
Masquerade (1983)
it was alright
I dunno.I kinda liked it. Tour Guides who conduct a little spook work on the side? Yeah, a lot of "Mission Impossible" type plots etc but still, for 1983, it was alright. Anyway I noticed Kirstie Alley straight off the bat with that sexy husky voice and she did at least have a waist in those days.
The guest stars which changed at each episode were usually well known TV personalities during the late 70's & early 80's, so it was nice to see them acting in different roles and settings without the sickly sweet sugar coating which glazed "The Love Boat" or "Hart to Hart"
Yeah and that song by Crystal Gayle....I can still recall the lyrics....
So yeah, lighten up everyone and give a little credit where it's due..."Masquerade" was alright!!!!!
Turtle Beach (1992)
Yawnnnnnnnn.....zzzzzzzzzzz
The summary says it all. Trivia
1) The writer is Blanche D'Alpuget who married Bob Hawke,the ex-Prime Minister of Australia
2) The Viets were labeled as refugees in the West but "illegal economic migrants" in Asia.
3) The Malaysian Govt "excised" Pulau Bidong & other islands from Malaysian legal jurisdiction and dumped the Viets there without recourse to Malaysian law. The western world, particularly Australia, & U.S roundly criticised Malaysia for being heartless and refusing to allow the Viets to settle in Malaysia.
4) Years later, the U.S did the same thing when faced with waves of Haitian "refugees" landing on Miami beaches. These Haitian were now termed as "illegal aliens" and were dumped in Gitmo before being forcibly deported back to Haiti. Then the Australian Govt did the same when faced with Iraqi "refugees" (Tampa incident) The Aussies dumped these newly termed "illegal immigrants" on the island of Nauru !!!
Hypocrisy? You bet !!! It's always different when it happens on your doorstep isn't it ???
Out of the Ashes (2003)
Yes VERY melodramatic
I agree wholeheartedly with George Parker. No one would deny that dreadful things happened in Auschwtiz but AS A MOVIE this SUCKS. Gisella Perl left very vivid descriptions of the horrors endured which should have been the central theme.Instead we had cheap sets, lousy cinematography, inaccurate depictions (re uniforms, characters etc) and melodramatic overacting which all added up up to one disappointing MOVIE. PLAYING FOR TIME, THE GREY ZONE, ESCAPE FROM SOBIBOR & TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT all do better justice to the topic. Shame on the the Director, Jospeh Sargeant who also did PLAYING FOR TIME but seemed unable to reach the same heights this time round. Bringing in some "big" names, Richard Crenna, Beau Bridges etc hoping to, what, lend some class to the movie or to the lame overacting ???!! As Homer Simpson would put it ...... BORING !!!!!!
The Lost Battalion (2001)
The Horror, the Horror
My God, what an incredible movie it is! Reminded me so much of the similar scene in Mel Gibson's movie "We were Soldiers" when "the Company is not lost, they're just cut off" And the other scene in Pearl Harbour when the British officer says to Ben Affleck "If all Americans are like you, then God help the nation that goes to war with America!
Put all 3 movies together and you would have enough BULLSHIT to fertilise the entire Sahara Desert.
The story of the cut-off Battalion may be real enough but the movie could have done without all that American preachy jingoistic propaganda attached to it. There were audible groans in the cinema during the above-mentioned scene in Pearl Harbour (no kidding either) The Lost Battalion however is really in a class of its own
.
"Americans think they are unbeatable
inspired bravery
. " I actually cringed and damn near puked at all the swill being spewed out throughout this diarrhoeic disaster (the movie that is)
The fighting scenes were well made (3 stars for that) but if the script is manure, then wrapped even in brightly coloured ribbons, it is still manure. The writer, James Carabatsos, also wrote those other screamers
Hamburger Hill, No Mercy , Heartbreak Ridge. Someone, please shoot him before he writes any more such garbage.
The Director, Russell Mulcahy is an Australian too. God, the shame!!!
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
A surprisingly good creepy TV film.
Wow, 112 comments in all! I can't read them all but obviously this film made quite an impression. Even those who hated it still remembered it vividly enough to pass comments.
A surprisingly good creepy TV film. Won't be long before Hollywood releases a "re-make" seeing that they just can't really come up with anything original anymore. Just the usual Tits & Bums to titillate our jaded senses or Blood & Gore to satiate our morbid lust. Surprising why a DVD hasn't yet been released either.It should sell really well.
I thought the little imps looked more like the Star Wars orchestra creatures on Tatooine. The same head, eyes, hands etc all dressed up in a monk's habit. But then the last time I saw this film was over 25yrs ago.
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Dadah Is Death (1988)
A movie which wouldn't even grace the toilet seats of some cheap curry house
Fantastic stuff ? Tragically realistic ? Sensational ? You have all gotta be kidding !!
1)The settings were totally incongruous with Malaysia (where it all is supposed to take place) I'd say ludicrous as the background-extras looked like some typically cheap Australian back-lot instead of the multi-cultural, multi racial Malaysia. There were hardly any faces which might even pass for ethnic Malays. Has the Director even been to Malaysia?
2)The movie was also supposed to be a documentary-drama of sorts but the producer-director could not resist spicing things up a bit. So he created a plot to bribe a prison guard to allow an escape. When you consider that there a few, if any, escapes at all from Malaysian prisons and to think that some low-level local prison guard could actually arrange an escape for 2 high profile, Caucasian convicts, is all incredibly naïve.
3)But then again the producer-director was making a film set in Asia so anything is possible and passable isn't it? So he introduced a further scene of the same guard bringing a prostitute into the prison for a convict's pleasure. Was the Director thinking of Thailand perhaps or just trying to live out his own fantasies on film.
4)The actors, most noticeably Julie Christie and Hugo Weaving, valiantly did their best, I suppose, what with a miserable script and all. Incredibly it was made into a painful and tediously 3 hours long "mini-series"! Australia in the 80's suffered a terrible inferiority complex and tried to glorify themselves with a mini-series on almost any stupid event where Australians are involved. A piece of advice, avoid Australian mini-series like the plague.
5)Of this whole sad enterprise I can only pity 2 things. One would be the parents/families of the 2 convicted drug traffickers. And the other would be any TV network actually stupid enough to buy this terrible Australian farce. Really this movie isn't even fit to grace the toilet seats of a cheap curry house.
6)I'd recommend "Return to Paradise (1998)" as a far superior film on the subject.
On a more serious note, this movie tried to set a human face on the very inhuman drug trafficking trade. The movie of course failed miserably but what is annoying is
1)It's inaccuracy over the events themselves
2)It's failure to portray Barlow & Chambers as the cynical opportunists that they were and who got exactly what they deserved.
3)The Australian press naivety that they can somehow force their view unto other countries through extensive media coverage. In this the Australian media likes to fancy itself to be like the American media which has U.S politicians dancing to their tune. Trouble is of course that no one pays any attention to Australian media except Australian politicians.
4)The then Prime Minister Bob Hawke stupidly fell in with this mob and was snubbed & humiliated accordingly. His outburst that hanging was "barbaric" got a response from the Malaysian Government "that if hanging drug traffickers was barbaric, then drug trafficking must be a very civilized trade". Hawke should instead reserved this adjective in describing Australian films such as this.
Incidentally "Dadah" means illicit drugs, in the vernacular, not Death.