Friday, June 22, 2007
Some shameless promotion of the best films to come out of Australia.
We Aussies know how to make great cinema, and you would be wise to remember that. Regarding my inclusion of Romper Stomper, I would just wish to stress that I am NOT a white supremacist in any way whatsoever. It found its way onto this list because it's one of the very few movies ever produced in Australia which held a mirror up to Australia and dared to expose the darker side of Australia without pulling any punches.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Why '80s cinema reigned supreme
The '80s. For our parents it was a time of peace and hope between the ominous shadows of two immoral wars. For us, it is an era we can laugh at, what with its one-hit-wonders and appalling fashions. Now, having popped out of my mummy's tummy in 1988, obviously I have no recollections of the '80s except for what I've seen on television, but movies and music are two things that never die (although with each decade there are bad examples of each).
Back in the '80s, the news headlines were dominated by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Bob Geldof's historic Live Aid concerts and the explosions of the Challenger space shuttle and the Chernobyl power plant. Synth-pop and power ballads ruled the charts. And at the movies, Michael J. Fox travelled through time in a plutonium-powered DeLorean, a space turd and a lonely ten-year-old boy rode past the moon and created a logo, and Luke Skywalker found out he was the descendant of the same man he wanted to kill (but, seriously, didn't we all feel that way about our father at least once when we were young?)
The 1980s remains my favourite decade for film chiefly because for me it heralded an awakening in film. Sure it didn't produce as many talents as the '70s or saw as much rule-breaking as the '90s, but in the '80s the talents that came out of the '70s saw their impacts flet the most, and their followers paved the way for filmmakers who came out of the '90s. Also, it was arguably the last time in which cinema could for the most part be enjoyed by the whole family.
Steven Spielberg had perhaps his most consistently great decade, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), followed the year later by E.T. (which would become the highest-grossing movie of all time until He welcomed us to Jurassic Park in 1993), before going into "serious" mode with the terrific The Color Purple (1985) and the sadly forgotten Empire of the Sun (1987). His mentee Robert Zemeckis stormed on through with Back to the Future in 1985, before becoming the first filmmaker to successfully blend animation with live-action with Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), which today is rightly cited as one of the most technologically groundbreaking movies in history. Marty Scorsese, by this time a recovering drug addict, opened the decade with his best film, Raging Bull (1980) and then poured his talents into a number of projects not originated by him. His most noted inheritor was Oliver Stone, who established himself as different from the pack by exposing the other side of America, something no other filmmaker was then willing to do. Also, James Cameron gave us action films that finally had substance, and John Hughes created the genre we all love to hate: the teen comedy (and he's still the only person to have made truly brilliant examples of those).
Closer to home for me, the '80s was when Australian cinema went international. While in the '70s it enjoyed a renaissance, in the '80s the legacy of that renaissance was felt most, just as the renaissance for American film in the '70s. Members of the Australian New Wave like Peter Weir, Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, George Miller and Mel Gibson all gained work and success overseas, and the Aussie cultural landmark that became Crocodile Dundee (1986) grossed $45 000 000 Down Under and more than $300 000 000 worldwide (you little ripper!).
The 1980s, while not as artsy as the '70s or as confronting as the '90s, remains my favourite decade for film, for the reasons I've stated above. I'm sure you can tell I'm one for blockbusters (and the '80s were the heyday of the popcorn blockbuster). The fashion of the '80s were, indeed, cringe-worthy, but the films of the 1980s (mostly) are so great they wipe away all awarenesses of '80s fashions for us not young enough to remember the '80s, and for our parents they are like old friends.
I hope I have argued my point well.
Back in the '80s, the news headlines were dominated by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Bob Geldof's historic Live Aid concerts and the explosions of the Challenger space shuttle and the Chernobyl power plant. Synth-pop and power ballads ruled the charts. And at the movies, Michael J. Fox travelled through time in a plutonium-powered DeLorean, a space turd and a lonely ten-year-old boy rode past the moon and created a logo, and Luke Skywalker found out he was the descendant of the same man he wanted to kill (but, seriously, didn't we all feel that way about our father at least once when we were young?)
The 1980s remains my favourite decade for film chiefly because for me it heralded an awakening in film. Sure it didn't produce as many talents as the '70s or saw as much rule-breaking as the '90s, but in the '80s the talents that came out of the '70s saw their impacts flet the most, and their followers paved the way for filmmakers who came out of the '90s. Also, it was arguably the last time in which cinema could for the most part be enjoyed by the whole family.
Steven Spielberg had perhaps his most consistently great decade, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), followed the year later by E.T. (which would become the highest-grossing movie of all time until He welcomed us to Jurassic Park in 1993), before going into "serious" mode with the terrific The Color Purple (1985) and the sadly forgotten Empire of the Sun (1987). His mentee Robert Zemeckis stormed on through with Back to the Future in 1985, before becoming the first filmmaker to successfully blend animation with live-action with Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), which today is rightly cited as one of the most technologically groundbreaking movies in history. Marty Scorsese, by this time a recovering drug addict, opened the decade with his best film, Raging Bull (1980) and then poured his talents into a number of projects not originated by him. His most noted inheritor was Oliver Stone, who established himself as different from the pack by exposing the other side of America, something no other filmmaker was then willing to do. Also, James Cameron gave us action films that finally had substance, and John Hughes created the genre we all love to hate: the teen comedy (and he's still the only person to have made truly brilliant examples of those).
Closer to home for me, the '80s was when Australian cinema went international. While in the '70s it enjoyed a renaissance, in the '80s the legacy of that renaissance was felt most, just as the renaissance for American film in the '70s. Members of the Australian New Wave like Peter Weir, Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, George Miller and Mel Gibson all gained work and success overseas, and the Aussie cultural landmark that became Crocodile Dundee (1986) grossed $45 000 000 Down Under and more than $300 000 000 worldwide (you little ripper!).
The 1980s, while not as artsy as the '70s or as confronting as the '90s, remains my favourite decade for film, for the reasons I've stated above. I'm sure you can tell I'm one for blockbusters (and the '80s were the heyday of the popcorn blockbuster). The fashion of the '80s were, indeed, cringe-worthy, but the films of the 1980s (mostly) are so great they wipe away all awarenesses of '80s fashions for us not young enough to remember the '80s, and for our parents they are like old friends.
I hope I have argued my point well.
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