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

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

cjh-48643 This movie was absolute garbage in almost every regard. And be warned--it's NOT a western, "family" or otherwise. Just because it takes place in the Outback and involves cowboys (or "horsemen" as they call them in the movie) doesn't make this a western (kind of like how the Godfather isn't a war movie, despite the fact that Michael is a war hero. It's hardly the point of the movie, and the same logic applies here. This is a romance movie that happens to take place in a "western" setting.).The only two aspects of this movie that had any redeeming qualities were there were some decent shots of horses running in a herd and there were some good shots of the Australian wilderness. That's it. Now let's look at the two things people typically care about most in a movie--acting and plot:Acting: The acting is pretty awful. There's a small amount of chemistry between the romantic leads, but their relationship is hardly believable. Kirk Douglas' characters aren't convincing and are horribly overacted, especially Spur (and the subplot involving the brothers is pointless and predictable). The only character that wasn't terribly acted was Clancy, but compared to most of this cast, Nic Cage is a stellar actor.Plot: There isn't a strong enough word to describe how predictable this movie is. Within 30 seconds of every new aspect of the story presenting itself on screen, it was abundantly clear how that aspect would play out. This, in itself, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the story came up with some interesting ways for the characters to reach their predictable conclusions, but sadly that's not the case.

WakenPayne When I told people I would be looking for top of the range classics some misinterpreted and just recommended any old movie with the slightest critical or audience praise. The Man From Snowy River is a poem that is probably one of the most Australian stories ever written and there were 2 successful film adaptations and this is the first one and the other being it's sequel. There are many who enjoy this movie but by the end I was trying my best to stay awake.This movie's plot is awful. It's barely a story at all, the way it works is that something happens, then the set-up for something else happens and they follow through with that plot line only to resolve it to jump onto something else. Not only that but the 2 things that remain consistent being Jim's relationship with Sper, his relationship with Jessica and her angry parent father. The plot lines are so soap-opera like I'm seriously wondering if it was a sub-standard 30's romance. By the end I don't care, the thing tying it all together is a group of wild horses that has his father die in the process Jim works at a stable and falls in love with the daughter of the rich guy there, that's almost entirely it.I'm also going to say that these characters are awful. Jim basically starts out as being a male equivalent of a Mary Sue when it comes to horses and that's pretty much all you need for his character and Jessica is a character who goes against the societal norms of the 1880's. Usually when a feminist character in a non-feminist time is in something I watch, usually I like her - This is an exception simply because she says lines about gender equality and all that when it was almost 20 years before giving women the vote happened and they have out-of-nowhere 20th century reactions to the chauvinism of the time.Okay so the story and characters are terrible in my opinion, what do I like? The cinematography at times is outright beautiful. I'll also say as much as I complained about the characters and the plot(s) the actors are doing the best with what they're given. I also do like the sets and Art department that just adds to the cinematography at times. It isn't get this movie entirely for that but they're the good elements about the movie.Maybe it's for a lot of reasons but I don't think I'm really asking for much when it comes to a movie like this. Set up both characters, make them interesting, have them fall in love before the halfway point (yep... it's a romance where they don't romance until halfway through) and by the end finish as much conflict as possible in both their lives... This movie fails at that. I know there are fans of this movie but I personally think if someone attempted to remake this, I personally would like to see what happens as opposed to having this be one of Australia's most popular films amongst Australians.

keesha45 Calling this a western...well, it is and it ain't. Some say the Wild West ended when the last famous outlaw Harry Tracy ended his career a little over a century ago, his Boot Hill being in a field about 50 miles west of Spokane, Washington. This movie takes place in Australia, which true enough, is some 8,000 miles west of the Mississippi, but it's also in the Far East part of the Eastern Hemisphere. And it's not your typical shoot-em-up either. There are no bank-robbing bandits, no gunfights on Main Street, no cavalry fighting the natives. But you'll find here a great coming-of-age romantic tale, with some stirring action sequences never seen before on film, all in the midst of some gorgeous location footage of the Snowy Mountains, which John Ford would have envied for his western films. This area of Australia, if one superimposed the map of the continental U.S. over Australia, would place the Snowy River country in about the same place as our Florida Everglades and not too far from where the Smoky Mountains begin in Georgia. Besides similar sounding names (Snowy-Smoky) this highest part of Australia contains its highest peak with an altitude very nearly the same as the Smokys' highest one in Tennessee, and a landscape that could pass for the southern part of the Appalachian chain as mentioned. Despite recent droughts and wildfires Down Under, the Snowy Mountains have changed little since Banjo Paterson wrote the poem on which this film is based and the equally memorable "Waltzing Matilda," unofficial national anthem of that nation, in the 1890s. Paterson, by the way, is such a famous person even today, that his face appears on the Aussie 10-dollar bill. In contrast, the American sawbuck only has a guy whose greatest fame was getting shot in a duel. Sad to say, this film never did as well at the U.S. box office as other Aussie films like the Mad Max trilogy, which launched Mel Gibson to super stardom, and the even bigger moneymaking franchise of the Crocodile Dundee films. TMFSR never rated a single Oscar nomination (not surprising for a non-Hollywood film), but amazingly enough only won a single AFI award (the Australian Oscar) for its musical score. The Golden Globes, however, gave it a Best Foreign Film nomination, won that year by GANDHI. Since its release, though, audiences worldwide have fallen in love with this gem of a movie, as did the folks at the Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church where we saw it last weekend. While not a true Western per se, it contains the same Judeo-Christian values that the best classic Hollywood westerns espouse. These values were embodied in the Code of the West, a liberal interpretation of the Ten Commandments: Always fight fair, protect women and children, respect others' property, and honor God and country. If you've never seen this movie, you're in for a treat when you do. If you've seen it before, it's worth watching again. Movies as good as this are a rare find. Dale Roloff

disdressed12 this is a decent western about a young man,living in the mountains of Australia who finds himself alone and must make his own way.it's a well done movie.i think it's suitable for the whole family.there is one mild swear word in the whole movie.Kirk Douglas plays the dual role of two brothers,one a mountain man,who has been searching for gold,the other a rich man,who appears to have everything he needs.Tom Burlinson plays the title character,while Sigrid Thornton plays the woman he loves.there's some beautiful scenery in this movie,and a great musical score.there are some exciting moments too.the only things i didn't like was that i felt the movie was a bit too melodramatic at times,and there were a few slow moments.for me,The Man From Snowy River is a 6/10