Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

denis888 ...and I watch quite many movies, I tell you. So, did anyone understand what this absolutely awful movie was about? Because I didn't. It was luck that I didn't watch this awful abomination in the theater, so I had a DVD at home and thus possessed this ultra necessary ability to skip or turn it off straightaway. This is a true, thick, loud abomination of a film which screams for one outcome - to be deemed worst. Australian filmmakers can do fine films but in this case they failed at all possible levels - the plot was murky and downright dull, the performance was so poor you had to rub your eyes, the cringe-worthy scenes came in so often that I nearly vomited and I am not that easy to be driven to throwing up. Autism? A serious study of a case? Nay, in fact what we saw was a sick unbearable array of horrid uneasy moments that were simply not to be shot at all. Gemma Ward. Yes, she is awesome lady - long legs, great body, sweet smile, elfish face. This is all, kids. You can go to bed, as she offered nothing except hew looks but looks never save the weak plot. She is simply weak and not convincing in any way. The rest? Just skip it - the movie seemed to slide along a surface never getting any deeper or decent. The verdict - cringe-worthy array of sick moments, shallow plot and terrible film. Zero is the only rating for this piece of utter trash.

Saad Khan THE BLACK BALLOON – CATCH IT ( B ) The Black Balloon is a moving Australian movie about a boy "Thomas" dealing with his autistic brother "Charlie"and accepting his importance in his & his parents life. The movie looks old fashioned, though I couldn't exactly figure out whether they showed the 90s era or it's just the suburbs! There is one weird thing I've noticed in the entire movie which is weird fascination of the director with the Penis? Yes guys, it's weird But I am right! First of all Luke Ford is always in cute Undies and Rhys Wakefield in mostly Boxers or Speedos. That could be their role demand because they are in house, swimming but the weird thing was Balloons at Thomas's birthday, Drawing and Decoration pieces, They all Showcase Big Penis. Utterly WEIRD! Now let's talk about the performances. Hands down to Luke Ford honest performance. Luke Ford's moving performance keeps you engaging and surprised. He is a really handsome actor and to see him fully adopt the Autistic condition was remarkable. In 10 seconds you forget that he is Luke Ford, he becomes Charlie Only! Rhys Wakefield opens up as the movie progresses and during "Thomas's Birthday" Fight scene he showed his full potential. FYI the Birthday Fight Scene gave me Goosebumps… Extremely powerful! Gemma Ward is gorgeous and her chemistry with Rhys Wakefield is really Cute! Toni Collette and Erik Thomson are natural. Overall, a nice family drama, not too serious neither too immature, its just Right!

westhamu Osmosis, I don't care whether you liked the film or not. That's a personal choice. Personally, I thought it was great. 'Fraudulently obtained' taxpayer money? Fraudulently obtained obviously because you didn't like it. It didn't fit into your box. Does a film that you like that I don't (that has been funded by Government Filmcorps) also fall into the 'fraudulently obtained' category. I'm guessing not. I've always been amazed at this line of thought. Money wasted you say. I'm quite happy to let Government bodies fund crap films until the cows come home. As long as about one in ten is a classic. Which usually happens. Good public money spent! And what is a quasi-plagiarist rip-off? You're either a plagiarist or you're not (no quasi about it) and plagiarist rip-off is the oxymoron of all oxymorons. And I've got to add: "Obviously the American Film Industry has been totally conned into believing our mainstream people have talent which explains the constant stream of ever worsening quality of films these days." That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Do you mean the American Film Industry has taken all our talent so now there's no-one left and as a result our films are crap or do you mean that Americans are making our films huge box-office hits, through their naivety (being conned), and so we keep making the films you don't like. The latter premise is nonsense because our films don't make big Hollywood money whilst the first premise is self-evident by your logic. As Tarantino had Michael Madsen say 'I'm betting you're a big Lee Marvin fan'. I'm betting you're a big Crocodile Dundee fan. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I have it myself. But there's different ways to watch different films. I hate Elton John's music but I can understand why people like it. You obviously have an oligarchical problem with some film board. Script rejected?

Ruby Liang (ruby_fff) Australian filmmaker Elissa Down's THE BLACK BALLOON is a thoughtful film, down to earth with no apology in depicting a close-knit family of four (Toni Collette as Mom who is pregnant with a fifth member coming, Erik Thomson as Dad whose army life demanded constant moving, and two teenage sons: Luke Ford as Charlie the autistic one who is older in age but not in behavior, and Rhys Wakefield as baby-face Thomas in his uneasy growing teen period) - taking on living with autistic challenges everyday (sometimes by the moment).It is a coming of age story revolving around 17-year old Thomas, how he deals with the people around him: his brother Charlie, Mom and Dad, schoolmates, new friends and neighbors. There is more than meets the eye. Thomas seems to be battling inner conflicts, dilemmas he's reluctant to confront: "Will Charlie ever be normal?" he asked. "Charlie is not my problem," he shouted. Mom and Dad are both very patient and tolerant. The family's togetherness is very much held by a determined mother (again, brilliantly portrayed by Toni Collette) that would not 'give up' on her eldest, and Charlie is treated just like any child having his (normal) tantrums and (unpredictable) antics. As the film progresses, we feel for Thomas' frustration with Charlie, and welcome the relief of his delights with popular girl at school, Jackie (Gemma Ward gave an endearing portrayal) who has no problem hanging out with both Thomas and Charlie. She (from a single-Dad family) accepted Charlie with equal normalcy and seemed to fit into Thomas' family rather well.Like any family life, there are turn of events: Mom has to be 'confined to bed' at the hospital prior to birth of baby, so Dad and Thomas are left with the charge to handling Charlie's day to day needs - a learning curve that Thomas didn't expect. Through the ups and downs (Thomas' driving lesson with Dad in his car, Thomas' birthday family celebration 'blow out' with Jackie present), anguish and laughter (yes, that happens, if only we can laugh it off and let go more often), a new family member did arrive, and at Charlie's school performance, Thomas had his coming of age challenges and came through understanding his brother Charlie more. Director Down spares us no 'mushy' sentiments or Hollywood 'feel good' pressures - she delivered a bold and assured script (co-written with Jimmy Jack, telling like it is from her personal experience with two autistic brothers) and gave us a film we can appreciate the possible family warmth that can be steadfastly generated in challenging circumstances. "The Black Balloon" has hardly the hint of a debut feature from a talented filmmaker to watch, Elissa Down. The casting of Luke Ford and Rhys Wakefield paired as the two brothers is a godsend, indeed. Convincing performances all round.Enjoy also the interesting opening credits: at the corner of your eyes, you could notice there are 'extraneous' words or obvious name labels of things within each frame, e.g., grass, sky, wall, jeans, fence - as the credits roll on. Ah, it's for the sake of Charlie, the autistic brother and the rest of the family, too.