film

It's been about eighteen years of waiting for a decent opportunity, but at long last I have made it this year to the Sydney Film Festival.

So far I have seen nine films, ranging from the earnestly good to the bloody brilliant, and I'm booked in for two more before the Festival closes next Sunday.

Here are some brief reviews of the first three films that I saw, with more to follow in future posts:

A Hero's Welcome - Documentary about, and narrated by, Timor-Leste president Xanana Gusmao, shot before the current problems flared up. The film is something of a hagiography of Xanana, but by all reports he's that kinda guy. Directed by Grace Phan, the former CNBC Asia presenter who answered questions following the screening (which was in fact the world premiere). The aerial photography of the Timorese countryside is quite beautiful.

Passion, passion and more passion. Such was the story of Good Friday. Three of the more interesting and non-standard Passion performances that I experienced over Easter:

"Lagaan", the 2001 Bollywood film that climaxes with a game of cricket, makes its first appearance on Australian free-to-air television tonight. Nominated for the US academy of arts and science's best foreign film award of 2001, "Lagaan" is on SBS tonight (Sunday July 31) from 8.30pm. (It finishes just after midnight, and that's not through being drawn out by copious amounts of ads like the other

Yes it's that time of year again, the Why-it-looks-like-my-uncle-O***r (Not TM) Awards are being handed out in Los Angeles. And, for the first time in four years, not a hobbit in sight.

Having seen barely any 2004 releases yet, here are my predictions for the major WILLMUOs:

Best Film: Million Dollar Baby
Best Actor: Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles
Best Actress: Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby)

Unlike last year, the Golden Globe Awards are not being televised live in Australia today. Channel 10 is replaying them at 8.30 tonight, while E! (on Foxtel Digital, which I do not have) is doing hours of pre-game and post-game shows. Ugh. The awards show starts at midday Sydney time on NBC in the States.

The official web site of the Globes is www.hfpa.org, as in Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

If you've seen one, you've seen them all - at least I laughed at "Scary Movie" a bit.

A spoof on "Scream", "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and other teen horror flicks of the late nineties. It comes across more often like a satirical review of the hit movies of 1998-99, eg "The Sixth Sense", "The Matrix", Shakespeare In Love" (I did like the trailer for "Amistad II" though). What it is really derivative of is, of course, 1980's "Airplane" ("Flying High" to us Australians) and every other film in the genre spoof line since.

This is the film where Louis Armstrong sings "Jeepers Creepers" to a racehorse of the same name. Ah, great moments in movie history...

"Going Places" is a silly, lightweight, nonsensical comedy-musical from Warner Brothers. Certainly not to be seen for its profundity, or for its insights into the racing industry. Dick Powell as the salesman who poses as a jockey and finds he has to actually ride a horse in a race. Ronald Reagan has fourth billing in this film, and proves yet again that his acting improved after he was elected to the White House.