Student Film Reviews

Film reviews from theaters, couches, and film festivals

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1. Keith Chancey 12.01.08 / 1am

   Well, that’s one way to put it. I thought the film was so terrible that I walked out 2 hours through. CGI is not cinematography and a little boy singing with the voice of a grown women is not appealing. I could sort of tell that a tremendous amount of effort was put forth, and I do like Baz, but the end product came out pretty far from good.
2. Hsin Chen 03.20.09 / 12am

   Before I saw Australia, I thought it was a film that was more like a war-related movie. But it is more than that. It contains the love between woman and man, the love between mother and kid and grandfather. Moreover, it reveals the ugliness of people who go crazy with money and become greedy. I don’t know about the appearance of Australian and the look of the places back in that time in Australia, but the mise-en-scene brings a magnificent imagination to the viewers. Although this film has a great quantity and value, I feel that there is a lacking of something in this film. I didn’t feel content that much after I watched this film. Nothing was really special in the story. The story is quite common for me.
3. Josie Piercey 06.27.09 / 10am

   Although I have yet to see this film I am eager to watch it from all the hype that I have heard. After seeing previews and reading this review it makes me want to see this film. First off, I agree with William when he says Australia has a great cast of characters; Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman couldn’t be a better pair. Also I loved the perspective that Conlin took while reviewing this film. For example, rather than focusing on the content of the film he acknowledged the fact that the producer put so much time and effort into this film. Not to forget he mentioned while this film could use some revamping in the plot it was still great because of the artistic style that Baz Luhrmann utilized. Overall I thought this was a great review.
4. yuan cai 10.17.09 / 9pm

   Australia was actually much better than I expected, after hearing some rather uncharitable things about it. Yes it is flawed, but you can’t help think there are a lot of good things about it. Visually, Australia is absolutely striking, and captured beautifully on camera by Mandy Walker, the first five minutes especially. The music score is absolutely beautiful, and is careful not to overshadow the most dramatic of scenes, particularly the scenes with the cattle. I would also like to say, that despite talk of trouble between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, both stars turn in very believable performances, and David Wenham is good as Neil Fletcher; though I had a problem with the way he died, I will confess I was expecting him seeing as he had a spear in his body to die quicker than he did. At first, I was put off by the length, but the length wasn’t actually the problem, as it is supposed to be an epic. One flaw I had with the movie, was that there is a fair amount going on, like the love affair, the moving of the cattle, even a couple of murders; the problem was I never quite understood what the film’s main focus was supposed to be, though in the film’s defence some scenes are very well developed, and raise a couple of tearjerkers. When I first heard the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow,this is in no way a criticism, but at first, I wasn’t sure what the significance of the song was, then as the film progressed, it was like a communication of hope. I will say that my main problem with the film was the ending. The scene itself was beautifully shot and quite moving, but it was the music that bothered me. As much as I like Nimrod by Elgar; it is a beautiful piece that reduces me to tears, however the film is about Australia, so I wasn’t sure why they decided to use a piece of music that is actually British, so was rather irrelevant to the film’s context. Despite the flaws, I did like Australia, enjoyed is probably inappropriate for the film’s genre, and me, my mum and dad were left streamy-eyed at the end of the film.

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