Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

oneguyrambling This is a sensationalised doco discussing the genesis of the Australian film industry. While it highlights an era that is hardly worthy of exalted praise, the people discussing the period are very well known and generally respected in their own right - including Jamie Lee Curtis, Fred Schepsi, Barry Humphries, George Miller, Dennis Hopper, Jack Thomson and Quentin Tarantino, among others.Now you might ask what would justify a doco on a period where some of the better known films include such "classics" as Howling 3, Razorback and Blood Moon - and it is a worthy query. But while they are not exactly necessary viewing the industry is where it is because of them.The film first explores the early 70s, when the Australian government gave significant concessions and benefits to kick start a fledgling industry. Of course the easiest and cheapest films to make were the ones that were churned out, and same as today they are largely obsessed with sex, horror and gore. To give (many) examples of the calibre of films we are shown long cuts showing cheap gore effects, hundreds of boobies and basically people acting like drunken horny idiots.Now when your average teen and early twenties audience are looking for exactly that, money can be made with these disposable ventures, and indeed it was. The fact is though that for every Mad Max or even The Howling 3 we are left with hundreds of films that were never heard of again, and for good reason. It is no longer shocking, but still interesting to see how racist, homophobic and sexist these early films were, foreigners only existed to be made fun of and actresses spent more time on screen unclothed than clothed.Also interesting is how female proportions have changed in 30 odd years, nowadays there might be three surgically unaltered actresses in Hollywood (I'm looking at you Keira Knightley), but in NQH there are almost a hundred partially and fully nude chicks, and not a surgery scar or Pam Anderson in the bunch. And to tell the truth a lot of them look better than the pumped-up, gym obsessed and silicon based Demi Moore and Jennifer Lopez clones all over the shop today, including Demi Moore and Jennifer Lopez themselves.The middle section of the film focuses on the staple of low budget movie making, horror films. I for one love the horror genre but saw nothing here that made me want to chase up any of the titles on show for anything other than amusement value. The phrase "So bad it's good" doesn't really apply here.What these filmmakers were chasing wasn't critical acclaim, money or notoriety, but simply enough of a return to justify making another film. As VHS and Beta had yet to wage war on each other, these films were largely made with drive in cinemas in mind, and as Disney and Alby Mangels (google him kids) had the family market sewn up they soon realised with the youth market controversy sells. If a film had disclaimer that half way through if you were too scared you could leave and get a refund, teens would flock to test themselves. If word got out that a scene was either so disgusting that it was nearly banned, or so violent that it made people sick, Commodores and Falcons would be lined up honking at each other.As an Australian it was curiously comforting to see just how many familiar faces there were in the excerpts of these films, 95% of which I had never seen. There were some interesting bits featuring American actors brought in to beef up budgets and cross promotion, only they were the cheapest actors going for the budgets available and were largely unsuccessful. There was also one well known Australian critic who obviously reviles the era and the films, Bob Ellis, he may get only a minute of face time in the whole film but drains every bit of joy in each negative and passionless quote that he spits in his dull monotone. I know docos must give both sides of the story a say but this guy is so negative that aside from drinking game value he brings nothing to proceedings.I was perhaps a minute too young to watch most of these crappy films when they were first released, VHS wasn't in vogue at the time, I was too young to drive and there was no way my parents were taking me to see "Blood Party 7 – Adrian's Revenge". I remember watching a review for Razorback on a current affairs style show when it was released, I can't recall if the review was positive or negative, all I remember was that I was still inexperienced enough that the concept of being scared was in itself scary to me. This is why I never saw Howling 3, Blood Moon or Razorback, and once I was old enough and had seen enough horror to know what is and isn't good, these films had faded from view and I never bothered chasing them.I reckon that without Tarantino and the catchy "Ozploitation" hook, there was no way this was getting made. Let's face it, when the only talking heads among the 15-20 that they lined up that seem excited discussing these films (rather than just being matter of fact) are the Saw-franchise geeks and Quentin Tarantino, you should know the target market, as Tarantino will talk up almost anything crappy and low budget, and one of the Saw guys used to review dodgy films for teen TV.Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. Like the era itself, this is probably only necessary viewing for film buffs but I don't feel better for having experienced it. Watch Rogue instead, (and that's only faint praise).If you liked this (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com

misbegotten Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation examines how Australia didn't really have a movie industry to call it's own until the beginning of the Seventies, but once they got started the Aussies mostly bypassed making worthy and critically-respectable films, and instead embraced the various genres associated with low budget B movies, churning out sex comedies & skin flicks, horror films and action thrillers. The documentary contains clips and discussion on many Australian films that I've already seen or was aware of - TURKEY SHOOT, SKY PIRATES, SNAPSHOT, RAZORBACK, LOST WEEKEND, PATRICK, THE SURVIVOR, ROAD GAMES, HARLEQUIN, etc (sadly the wannabe sci-fi epic THE TIME GUARDIAN is only represented by a quick glimpse of it's poster) - and a few that I'd not previously heard of, but would now like to track down. FAIR GAME (1985) and THE MAN FROM HONG KONG both look as though they're an absolute blast.There are dozens of interviewees, most of whom are surprisingly candid: Steve Railsback has nothing good to say about TURKEY SHOOT, and the movie's producer admits that due to lack of time and money, live rounds were fired close to actors during some of the action scenes. Jamie Lee Curtis remembers being subjected to a hate campaign while shooting ROAD GAMES, for allegedly taking work away from Australian actresses. Wendy Hughes recalls that after doing a topless scene in one film, most of the reviews discussed the shape of her breasts at length and didn't mention her performance. Everybody involved in MAD DOG MORGAN tells of how Dennis Hopper spent the entire shoot out of his head on drugs (we see behind-the-scenes footage confirming this), and Hopper himself reveals that during production he was arrested for drunk driving and the police doctor told him that based on the amount of alcohol in his bloodstream, he was technically dead.Not Quite Hollywood is a wonderful celebration of Australia's frequently ignored movie output, and is well worth watching.

rgcustomer I generally love documentaries about film.However, this one was just so-so. One reason is because it seemed to be a Tarantino masturbation fantasy. This is a man who should never step out from behind the camera. Another reason is the subject matter itself is just bad.I did like learning about the catalogue of incredibly bad films that Australia has produced over the years, apparently with some government funding attached. As a Canadian, it makes me feel less embarrassed by the total garbage we usually produce. I can't imagine what sort of fans we have, but maybe someone will make a really earnest and boring documentary about them.Of all the films they referenced, the only one I liked was Wolf Creek, (although Dead End Drive In wasn't too bad). So there's hope for the gore genre. Maybe budgets and technology have risen to the level required to do these movies justice.Anyway, for this to be a decent documentary, it should have included some other things... maybe more of a comparison with the crap films of other countries, or with more moderate Australian cinema (I assume there was such a thing). Really, we aren't given much context.Still, it does give you a good sense of what was out there, and I was blissfully unaware of most if it until now. But I can't say I'm motivated to see any more of it... In 2010 we have choices. I think that was missing back in the day.

DelBongo This is another one of those worryingly fashionable and prominent documentaries that offers plentiful sound-bites set to almost non-stop music, but precious little insight. Like that terribly overrated skateboarding flick Dogtown And Z-Boys, this is a barrage of information that you didn't care to know, delivered by people sometimes visibly salivating at the prospect of recounting a story that isn't really worth telling.Many of these subjects are so rigorously determined to mythologize this period of Aussie film-making, that they end up telling tales that make them look like a smirking misanthropy collective. Wasn't it funny when that actress nearly drowned, just because some schmuck of a director couldn't get the shot that he wanted? How about when Henry Silva, an actor petrified of heights, almost p*ssed himself with fear because a camera crew took him 70ft off the ground without warning him? And that Etc sequence in Patrick? They considered giving the actor real shock therapy! What lovable rogues! What tw*ts.Stir in the endless shrugging off of numerous instances of casual racism and misogyny, and you're left with a pretty empty document of little genuine significance. There are a handful of interesting, level-headed contributors (one of them being an uncharacteristically restrained Quentin Tarantino) but there is no form, structure or analysis of any cultural impact that this movement may have had. Which is a shame, because such analysis may have justified the film's existence. There may well be valuable things to say about this subject, but it'll take a much more ambitious director to do it.