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Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation (Mark Hartley, 2008)
This is easily one of the most-entertaining documentaries you'll ever see. It's the equivalent of a yahoo Australian version of That's Entertainment!, but in this case, instead of all singing and dancing of M-G-M films, we're privy to all the T&A, violence, action, stunts, "bad taste" and insane craziness of the rebirth of the Australian film industry from the late 1960s through the 1980s. This flick really makes it hard for me to understand how Iroquois cannot find any Australian films to look upon as prime examples of moviemaking and entertainment, Ozzie-style. Of course, most of the hoity-toity, "high-class" Aussie films are omitted even if you get to see most of the high-brow actresses topless because, as Wendy Hughes says in the flick, you had to show T&A if you were going to get into the business. The clips of all the seminal films of the continent are intercut with a wry commentary from all the writers, directors, producers, actors, stunt men and craftspeople who were involved in their creation. It's always great to here the commentary loud enough to actually understand the movie itself while it's on. I really hate listening to the commentary with the film's sound basically turned off, but you can always turn on the subtitles. In these kinds of documentaries, you get your commentary as part of the movie, so that's WAY cool.
I really loved all the stuff involving the thrillers which Australia has made, especially since I have a soft spot for Richard Franklin and his Roadgames which I'll be reviewing in the near-future, health withstanding. What I didn't really understand before (although I should have) is that the Australian censors were always very prudish, chopping out all nudity from foreign films in order to get a release in the country. But eventually the homeland industry seemed to correct itself, and created hundreds of sexploitation flicks with full frontal nudity and simulated sex in even the mainstream movies. After that, it was only a matter of time before gore was allowed to follow suit. Although this docu mostly follows what happens from the '60s through the '80s, it does connect to the present day by having certain Australian filmmakers and Tarantino (if you care) try to connect their recent flicks (Saw, Wolf Creek, Rogue, Black Water, Long Weekend, Storm Warning) to those from the earlier generation. This is a treasure of a movie, especially if you love genre flicks. I was laughing and screaming at the screen for almost the entirety of the film.
This is easily one of the most-entertaining documentaries you'll ever see. It's the equivalent of a yahoo Australian version of That's Entertainment!, but in this case, instead of all singing and dancing of M-G-M films, we're privy to all the T&A, violence, action, stunts, "bad taste" and insane craziness of the rebirth of the Australian film industry from the late 1960s through the 1980s. This flick really makes it hard for me to understand how Iroquois cannot find any Australian films to look upon as prime examples of moviemaking and entertainment, Ozzie-style. Of course, most of the hoity-toity, "high-class" Aussie films are omitted even if you get to see most of the high-brow actresses topless because, as Wendy Hughes says in the flick, you had to show T&A if you were going to get into the business. The clips of all the seminal films of the continent are intercut with a wry commentary from all the writers, directors, producers, actors, stunt men and craftspeople who were involved in their creation. It's always great to here the commentary loud enough to actually understand the movie itself while it's on. I really hate listening to the commentary with the film's sound basically turned off, but you can always turn on the subtitles. In these kinds of documentaries, you get your commentary as part of the movie, so that's WAY cool.
I really loved all the stuff involving the thrillers which Australia has made, especially since I have a soft spot for Richard Franklin and his Roadgames which I'll be reviewing in the near-future, health withstanding. What I didn't really understand before (although I should have) is that the Australian censors were always very prudish, chopping out all nudity from foreign films in order to get a release in the country. But eventually the homeland industry seemed to correct itself, and created hundreds of sexploitation flicks with full frontal nudity and simulated sex in even the mainstream movies. After that, it was only a matter of time before gore was allowed to follow suit. Although this docu mostly follows what happens from the '60s through the '80s, it does connect to the present day by having certain Australian filmmakers and Tarantino (if you care) try to connect their recent flicks (Saw, Wolf Creek, Rogue, Black Water, Long Weekend, Storm Warning) to those from the earlier generation. This is a treasure of a movie, especially if you love genre flicks. I was laughing and screaming at the screen for almost the entirety of the film.