film review

Sydney Film Festival, twitter reviews 2009

Submitted by Rick Eyre on June 3 2019, 9:51 pm

With 2009 being the year I discovered Twitter, I began dabbling in tweet-size reviews from that year's Sydney Film Festival. Only 140 characters per tweet in those days, of course.

"The Cove" justified a blog post unto itself.

Film review: "Sachin: A Billion Dreams" (2017)

Submitted by Rick Eyre on May 31 2017, 1:42 pm

At two hours and nineteen minutes plus intermission, "Sachin: A Billion Dreams" never drags, although it probably does not warrant a place on the top shelf of sporting documentaries. A love letter to be sure, but a well-crafted one.

Scary Movie (2000)

Submitted by Rick Eyre on December 25 2002, 6:30 am

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.

Going Places (1938)

Submitted by Rick Eyre on December 14 2002, 6:28 am

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.

Shrek (2001)

Submitted by Rick Eyre on December 3 2002, 6:27 am

I found "Shrek" to be a quite charmless movie - in many ways the antithesis of everything a good animated fairy tale should be.

The whole film had a smugness and self-consciousness that made me feel rather uneasy. Eddie Murphy as the voice of the ass was, well, just an ass. The choices of contemporary music didn't gel, as far as I was concerned. The animation was OK, although I am from the Old School and like seeing black borders on all my cartoon characters...

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)

Submitted by Rick Eyre on April 17 2002, 4:23 am

Maybe not the definitive story of the Stolen Generation, but if it heightens awareness of this sorry episode in Australia's history then it will have served a purpose.

For those who possess a broad understanding of events, this movie - based on fact - will not provide any profound enlightenment, though Rabbit-Proof Fence does provide a good illustration of the institutionalised removal of aboriginal children from their families, supposedly (in the eyes of a succession of Australian national and state governments) for their own benefit. The story, of two aboriginal girls escape from their new "home", following the path of the lengthy rabbit fence across the outback to return to their natural family, is a powerful one.