Rogue Talk

Greg McLean, director of Wolf Creek and the soon-to-be-released giant crocodile flick Rogue (reviewed here), spoke to shock till you drop.com, a website I had never heard of before (they need to proof read a bit more, if you ask me). McLean is a great bloke - I've met him and, as Ja at MNPP will tell you, the Weinstein brothers are effectively trying to screw him into the ground over Rogue. The topic of those brothers isn't raised in this interview, but it's still a goodie. McLean swears so much! I love it. Here are some choice quotes.

"Anacondas" - I really hate that film...a lot. And when people say, Oh, "Rogue" is like "Anacondas" except with a crocodile, I want to f**kin' kill 'em. I kinda enjoy them all, the really bad ones and the really good ones, but what you hope is that they don't relate your film to "Anacondas."

People always talk shit while making movies because they're f**kin' assholes, but he was a real trooper and it was a really hard shoot. He couldn't easily said, You f**ckin Aussie wankers, get me my agent?

I said, Holy f**k, we've got fifty minutes of people on this island doing f**kin' shit. This is going to be the most boring film in history.

F**kin hell, man. What were they [the makers of Primevil] thinking? ... It was bizarre. It was like "Cry Freedom" meets...I dunno.

My point is thus: Greg McLean is awesome, Rogue is quite good, and I love it when people swear in interviews. But, really, STYD, I can get away without proofreading my blog because nobody cares, but I noticed several mistakes in that one article alone! You site has a .com at the end!

Australian Films of 2006

The last few reviews are up

These last few weekends I have been attending the AFI Festival of Film, which is screening the 15 films (plus the nominated documentaries, shorts and animation) eligible for this year's Australian Film Institute Awards. I thought I'd keep a journal of the movies I'm seeing, just like I did for the Melbourne Film Festival. Two of these films, Irresistible and Like Minds are actually 2006 releases (but they wouldn't have challenged any categories in the 2006 UMAs. Oddly, two other 2006 releases that weren't eligible for last year's AFIs are Happy Feet and BoyTown and, for whatever reason, didn't show up on this year's ballot. Weird. It's disappointing that The Jammed isn't eligible as it could have been a real force to be reckoned with. Oh well.


4, dir. Tim Slade (doco)

Unfortunately unforseen issues meant I was unable to attend the 4 screening. I hope to see it on DVD.

The Bet, dir. Mark Lee

The feature debut of Mark Lee who some of you will remember as the lead from 1980's Gallipoli. You know, the one who wasn't Mel Gibson. The Bet is a tightly wound little thriller. It's sort of like that David Wenham/Anthony Lapaglia movie The Bank, which was also about the stock market, but without the incredibly ridiculous ending (remember Anthony running around with a giant shotgun! lol), although this movie does have a weak final section it's forgivable. The actors are all good enough (I always enjoy seeing Sibylla Budd is anything) and it looks and sounds great with photography by Hugh Miller and original music by John Grey. I was impressed by The Bet, although I could see it's small beginnings (it received no government funding) behind the seams. B

Burke & Wills, dir. Oliver Torr & Matthew Zeremes

Well done to writers, producers and directors Torr and Zeremes for getting Burke & Wills made and then distributed, but unfortunately it's more a success in that area than it is in more crucial aspects. It comes as no surprise to learn that the story of Burke & Wills (not based on the famous story of "Burke and Wills") was originally intended for the stage, because it does feel very stagy. The performances feel cagey, although Zeremes does have some very find moments and shows promise as a screen actor. Perhaps it was the nature of Torr's character of Burke that made him so frustrating, but I wanted a few more facial expressions out of him thank you. There are some moments that indeed show promise behind the camera as well, but it's not enough to make this any more than a hardcore independent feature that ran out of money - there is literally no third act, which - considering where the film ended - could have really improved the film. Oh well, dems are the breaks of independent film making. C

Clubland, dir. Cherie Nowland

I wasn't exactly anticipating Cherie Nowlan's first theatrical feature film since 1997's quite great Thank God He Met Lizzie (with Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh, she has since been working on TV such as the Small Claims miniseries). From the sounds of it it was exactly the sort of movie that Australians have made 1000 times before, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was much better than I had been lead to think. I can't quite put it into words, but it was a nicely blended mix of comedy and drama with fine performances by Brit-import Brenda Blethyn, newcomers Khan Chittenden (much better here than in the vile West, below) and Emma Booth, and industry stalwarts like Frankie J Holdon and Rebecca Gibney. The writing is well done with some great comedy routines for Blethyn stand up comedian mother and a "coming of age" tale that actually feels real ("Is this the Samantha incident all over again?") Definitely a strong contender. B

Dr Plonk, dir. Rolf de Heer

Trust the UMA winning director of eclectic films such as Ten Canoes, Bad Boy Bubby and The Tracker to follow up his biggest success financially, critically and awards-wise with a silent black and white comedy about a time-travelling professor. Made using an original hand-cranked camera and unused black and white film stock and employing a main cast of only three (including Magda Szubanski and Adelaide street Performer Angus Lunghi, aka Mr Spin), Dr Plonk is, quite frankly, the funniest movie of the year. Revelling in the slapstick comedy of the silent era (what with people slipping on banana skins it's like a classy Australia's Funniest Home Videos!) de Heer has crafted a truly original and special piece of cinema. It certainly won't be to everyone's tastes, but if you're willing to give it a try I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

The, best described, inspired lunacy really picks up in the second half of this 80-minute film when Dr Plonk begins travelling back and forth between 1907 and 2008, where people sit like drones in front of the tv watching commercials for a tv movie "The World Is Ending". One scene involving a chase from two police officers is particularly fantastic. I would recommend this to anyone willing to give it a try. De Heer has done it again. A-

Forbidden Lie$, dir. Anna Broinowski (doco)

A hilariously entertaining documentary about one of the most bizarre literary stories of the last decade. It involves the case of Norma Khouri who wrote a book called Forbidden Love about her Muslin friend in Jordon who was murdered by her family in an "honour killing". She wrote the New York Times Bestseller, went of talk shows (there's even a clip from USA Today) and did talks about the subject. And then it was later revealed as a fake. The film, for the first half, follows this story through dramatised sequences and discussion about the topics and such and then the second half of the film is Khouri vehemently trying to defend herself to director Broinowski. They even travel to Jordan where Khouri believes she will be murdered. And then it turns out she's on FBI's watch list! It turns out that every single name, place, time and detail in the book was changed to "protect her family" and we never do find out what's real and what's not. What we do realise is Norma Khouri is fucked up. Drags towards the end, unfortunately. B

The Final Winter, dir. Brian Andrews & Jane Forrest

Okay, first things first: I hate rugby league. No, scratch that. I loathe rugby league. Sure, if I bothered to sit down and watch a match I might get one single iota of an idea as to what in god's name is going on in that ridiculous mess of a game, but why would I wanna punish myself. Last year's worst movie was another Aussie film about rugby so I was wary of The Final Winter but while I didn't have any idea what these people were talking about it wasn't anywhere near as bad as that retched Footy Legends. There were good performances here and it brought up some interesting stuff, such as Australia sporting culture and brought back a time when men had to be men and all that junk, just not enough of it. I wouldn't recommend it for a trip to the cinema, but it's not all bad. I must say that I was disappointed that there were all these locker room scenes and yet not once did we get to see yummy Nathaniel Dean in his skivvies. POOR FORM, GUYS! C+

Global Haywire, dir. Bruce Petty (doco)

Unfortunately unforseen issues meant I was unable to attend the Global Haywire screening. I hope to see it on DVD.

Gone, dir. Ringan Ledwidge

I have issues with Ledwidge's post-Wolf Creek desert thriller. Routinely in horror/thriller movies us audiences begrudge the characters who are idiots and don't simply leave when they get a chance or who, when it comes to fighting the evil baddie, just don't think with any common sense. Well, and here is spoiler territory if you were at all interested (Aussie box office suggests nobody is), in Gone it's all buildup to what is surely a big finale, but once the main girl realises who the American travelling with them really is (dun dun duunnnn) she manages to escape rather easily (due some fortunate wire meshing) and then it ends. It's like some anti-horror movie. All buidup and then when you think the girl is going to be stupid she actually, shock, turns out to be smart and manages to outsmart the killer much fasther than normal. It's weird. C

The Home Song Stories, dir. Tony Ayres

Yes, Joan Chen gives a performance as great as you've heard. Chen is incredibly strong in Tony Ayres' followup to multi-AFI winning Walking on Water film. Thankfully, she doesn't go entirely overboard which, like Brenda Blethyn in Clubland, could have seriously hampened the film experience. Strong work is also put forth by newcomer Irene Chen (no relation) as her daughter. The film looks great, and there is a very well-done third act to give the viewer the allusion that the entire film was as strong. Unfortunately, the second act drags as the story goes around in circles of men, yelling, suicide, making up, etc. However, the final scenes do pack a punch. B-

Irresistible, dir. Ann Turner

Another incrediblty strange movie. Not only does this suburban thriller (or sorts) have Susan Sarandon and Emily Blunt amongst it's major cast members (I know) it's also like some upscale made-for-tv movie that somehow came upon a theatrical release. I mean, things you will find in Irresistible:

Susan Sarandon stalking in the bushes! Insane people! Long lost daughters! A court case! Restraining orders! Possibly incestious love scene! Domestic violence! Alcoholism! Sarandon being attacked by a swarm of wasps! Suspicious wives! Hysterical mothers! Orphans! Pottery!

At times it can be hilarious entertaining (such as seeing Susan Sarandon crouch in the bushes and break into people's homes), or it can also be silly and ridiculous (such as seeing Susan Sarandon crouch in the bushes and break into people's homes). The wasp scene was particularly disturbing for me considering my phobia of them (thank god there weren't any clowns because I may have just flipped my shit.) Still, the one thing that perplexes me still is why a character born in America and raised in Australia (I think) has a British accent. C+

Like Minds, dir. Gregory J Read

Also known as Murderous Intent overseas. An overly confusing bunch of nonsense that gets by because it's well shot and the actors are trying to keep your interest. The story stops making sense at about the 10 minute mark when flashbacks upon flashbacks start. I wonder why Toni decided to take the role in this movie? What does Gregory Read have on her? C

Lucky Miles, dir. Michael James Rowland

--Comments here. Essentially, it was cute and charming, but far too long for such a simple premise. B-

Noise, dir. Matthew Saville

And the prize for most improved goes to Noise. I have previous discussed Matthew Saville's feature debut (after brilliant TV work such as We Can Be Heroes and Love My Way and the short Roy Hollsdotter Live). I decided to see this one a second time because I had nothing better to do and, I'll be damned, I now love this movie. If Noise isn't in my top five for the year then it will have been a very good year for movies. Something about this second viewing deeply moved me. I grew to appreciate Brendan Cowell even more and loved Maia Thomas' debut as the traumatised massacre survivor. I can't quite put my finger on what it was exactly but sometimes a movie just clicks and it's magic. I felt that this time. It was fantastic. A

Razzle Dazzle: A Journey Into Dance, dir. Darren Ashton

LOL I know the whole "mockumentary" thing is getting very stale, but here in Australia I reckon it's as alive as ever (with programs such as We Can Be Heroes, Kath & Kim and Summer Heights High and this film). A comedy about the goings on behind the scenes at two dance child dance academies during the leadup to an annual prized dance competition. It has obsessive mothers (Kerry Armstrong is a hoot), campy choreographers (Ben Miller's Mr Jonathan is obviously riffing off of Corky St Clair), tutus, and 10-year-olds dancers dressed in burkas. There are plenty of hilarious one-liners and the costumes are great to look at. Overall it's just a fun time at the movies. B+

Rogue, dir. Greg McLean

Already discussed here. In summary though, Rogue is a well-made fun entertaining and scary monster flick, which is in stark contrast to the sort of scares director Greg McLean had on offer for his prior film Wolf Creek. As a moviegoing experience I liked it more, but as a filmmaking exorcise it's not quite as good. But, that's neither here nor there really. B+

Romulus, My Father, dir. Richard Roxburgh

A bit of a disappointment for me. It's not bad or anything, but it's not particularly enthralling cinema here. It follows the same path over and over again. Franka Potente shows up. Franka fights with Eric Bana. Franka leaves. Eric and son bond. Franka shows up. etc yada blah blah blah. It's wonderfully shot and Bana gives a good performance (but not one of his best), but the little kid (Kodi-Smit McPhee) pissed me off - "IT'S ME!". C+

West, dir. Daniel Krige

Ugh, do I have to? Paul at Melbourne Film Blog already said everything there is to day, but I guess I'll regurgitate it (regurgitate is an appropriately ugly word to use for West). It's basically a bunch of horrible lowlives who take and sell drugs, drink constantly, have no lives outside of taking and selling drugs and drinking constantly, who suddenly both fall for the same woman. It's a romantic comedy! No. Not at all. Every character is detestible. Am I meant to be rooting for these guys? Am I meant to feel sad when one of the main characters jumps in front of a train? The only good part was the storyline involving a hitrun victim who chooses to dump the drug lifestyle, but the film decided to focus all it's time and energy on revolting cretenous wastes of space instead of a possibly uplifting and human tale. West has, quite frankly, nothing going for it. And not even the opening credits (yes, Paul, I didn't like them either!) F

Words From the City, Natasha Gadd & Rhys Graham

Wall-to-wall hip-hop here, that serves to make the film both rauciously entertaining, but also frightfully depressing. Australia's hip-hop scene hasn't reached the mainstream level of success that America's has (although Hilltop Hoods have) so our music hasn't reached the tipping point of crap. American hip-hop used to be amazing, and now it's just monotone bores who can't speak properly, who dance around in Louis Voitton and think (think?) having bikini-clad boob jobs in their videos makes them great. By contrast many of the artists in Words from the City come off as articulate, smart and socially conscious people who deserve more respect than they get. B


That's it folks.

Deep Blue Rogue

This was meant to only be a couple of paragraphs, hence it's kind of all over the place-ness...

The second film by Wolf Creek director Greg McLean is another strong effort, and another step forward in the progression of Aussie film - slowly realising that there's nothing wrong with a well-made genre flick. The film does have flaws though, don't get me wrong, but the pros mostly make up for it. Rogue features two very strong acts, the first two. The first being essentially the set up. It's not as character-forming as the work in Wolf Creek but there are about four times as many characters here as there were in that desert flick so that's understandable. These opening passages include stunning photography by the late Will Gibson (whoever says this will hurt Northern Territory tourism obviously hasn't seen the sweeping majestic cinematography on offer).


The second act is definitely the strongest as the band of characters fight for survival against the arrival of one motha of a crocodile - the first sighting (a mere shadow) had the entire cinema jumping out of their seats. Several great set pieces later (the rope sequence and the anchor sequence specifically) and two quite shocking character moments later we get to the third act, which unfortunately takes a turn for the worst with what is - quite literally - one of the most absurd plot developments I've seen in a long time (sorry, but it is ridiculous to the highest order) and I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out the moment a certain character gasps into proceedings. But, having said that, the third act is, at the same time, a sort of retro throwback to silly monster movies (15ft croc tails slamming people against rocks apparently don't do much damage,apparently!) and it's still fun, if just tainted by ruining a really great geniune shock (well, it shocked me, but I had forgotten about the trailer which sort of ruins the biggie) by following it up with one of the silliest moments. Still, McLean's command of the camera is in obvious spotlight here. As a filmmaking exorcise Rogue is, admittedly, not as good as Wolf Creek, but as a cinema-going experience I think it's better. And you won't feel like holding yourself in your bedroom slashing for days on end once this baby's finished - it even ends with a fade to white. Jesus Christ! What's McLean playing at here.


Perhaps the best thing about Rogue is the way it plays with viewers' expectations. People die who you wouldn't necessarily expect. People who you assume will die by the 20-minute mark don't ever meet their presumed date with destiny. Some people will be disappointed by this - the body count is perhaps much too low for some people's liking, to each their own - but I found it refreshing. What's that? The loud oaf turns out to be resourceful? Sounds crazy, but true. As I said, many will be turned off by this, I imagine some people will complain that there aren't enough scary moments. For me, the entire second act was scary. Just watching these people on this ever-disappearing piece of land in the middle of a croc-infested river is scarier than seeing people chomped to pieces.


I'd be remiss to not talk about the acting from the solid ensemble. There aren't any silly teenagers in distress here. The youngest castmember, Suburban Mayhem's Mia Wasikowska, equates herself well with the frantic proceedings. The rest of the non-mains are made up by the likes of ASHKA!!!!! Heather Mitchell as a thankfully un-gooey (can I trademark that phrase?) cancer patient, Wolf Creek's psychopathic John Jarratt as a solo adventurer with a reason, Stephen Curry as a loud photographer and Geoff Morrell as a desperately unhinged father. The leads aren't as memorable with American import Michael Vartan, Radha Mitchell (using her Aussie twang again) and Sam Worthington proving to be pretty faces, although Mitchell does has some fine moments as the conflicted captain.


Greg McLean has indeed crafted an old fashioned monster movie with a modern streak. At times it reeks of being an early screenplay that was only given a spritz of Spray 'N' Wipe around the edges (it adheres more to the screenwriting rulebook than Wolf Creek, which threw the rulebook out the window and gave it the "head on a stick" treatment). It works on a different game altogether than Wolf Creek, so it's not entirely fair to compare the two - although that's a given in any similar case. In the introduction he gave at the screening McLean said he wanted to make the sort of movie that foreign filmmakers would use our land for, and I think he succeeded. He has definitely utilised "Australia" as an idea and as a location. Early moments suggest a possible mythical Picnic at Hanging Rock-esque turn could be about to be played, while at other points it feels like a theatre production - Rogue the Musical!, perhaps? There is, generally, only three sets necessary, after all.


All this begs the question of what next for Mr McLean? As I've previously stated directors that show the skill of McLean's level are routinely poached for overseas and I hope that doesn't happen in this case. McLean seems so well-suited to telling Australian stories. He knows the land and he knows the way around Australian characters - that the American tourism writer played by Vartan is the film's weakest character is no coincidence I'm sure.


One film that I kept coming back to when thinking about Rogue was Renny Harlin's scientifically-altered shark movie Deep Blue Sea from 1999. Both revel in a sort of old-fashioned entertainment. Like that movie (although, perhaps without as much nudgenudgewinkwink going on), Rogue proves to be a wildly entertaining movie for people who like their scares to be more of the fun variety. It's the type of movie that you can take a date to and watch them squirm and then jump into your pants when the "boo" moments happen. The type where you can jump and then settle back in your seat and laugh to yourself. The type where you can yell at the characters for being idiots. It's the sort of scary movie that has, unfortunately, been thrown to the wayside by directors wanting to play a cruel game of oneupmanship. Just sit back with a box of popcorn and enjoy the ride. B+

Are Your McLeans Showing?

While I'm not sure if anyone outside of Australia will get that title reference, mine surely were showing yesterday when I met Greg McLean (although, in all efforts for full disclosure, I use Colgate). McLean was the director of the 2005 Aussie horror flick Wolf Creek and was at an AFI member's screening of his latest film Rogue, which I've discussed plenty of times before (click the 'Rogue' tag at the bottom to see).

He's a very talented man, which is obvious if you have seen Wolf Creek and Rogue (which I'll be writing about later) and, as an added bonus, he's totally sexy. He rocks the silver fox.


So, anyway, I was sitting in my seat waiting for the screening to start when I look over and immediately recognise him and I'm all "omg!" in my head and I rummage around in my bag and pull out the AFI Screenings Guide that every member gets, and it's filled with details about all the movies and such. I flipped it open to the Rogue page and walked up to him and did something I had never asked anyone to do since my days as a regular footy attendee - I asked for his autograph!


We briefly spoke after that. I mentioned how I "had waged a war on the Weinstein brothers" on his behalf and he and his two guests (Rogue co-producer Matt Hearn (I think) and one of the supporting actors from the film Robert Taylor) laughed and the producer said to join the club. Taylor then asked if we can do wage a war again for another Aussie horror flick Storm Warning, in which he also stars.

Someone else who was talking to him asked him if the film was any different from the last screenings they held and McLean said it was a bit shorter than before. After the screening Taylor mentioned that there will be more of him on the DVD. So, that was pretty cool. McLean was certainly nicer than the director of Irresistible, Ann Turner who, when I asked how she managed to get Susan Sarandon and Emily Blunt to star in her movie, snippily replied "I sent them the script!" and turned around to other people. Hmmm.

AFI Contenders

The names of the fifteen films eligable for this year's upcoming AFI Awards. Here are the titles.

The Bet, dir. Lee
Burke & Wills, dir. Torr & Zeremis
Clubland, dir. Nowlan
Dr Plonk, dir. de Heer
The Final Winter, dir. Andrews & Forrest
Gone, dir. Ledwidge
The Home Song Stories, dir. Ayres
Irresistable, dir. Turner
Like Minds, dir. Read
Lucky Miles, dir. Rowland
Noise, dir. Saville
Razzle Dazzle, dir. Ashton
Rogue, dir. McLean
Romulus, My Father, dir. Roxburgh
West, dir. Krige


Last year there were sixteen titles, and we have fifteen this year. I could've sworn there were a couple of other titles - where's December Boys still? It's frustrating to know that there are definitely plenty of other Australian films being made but because of distribution they aren't eligible. Titles such as September, Run Rabbit Run, Boxing Day and Corroboree are all screening at this year's MIFF so maybe next year? The big ommission is Academy Award winner Happy Feet. Strange that it wouldn't have been submitted considering movies like Moulin Rouge! have been. Gone and Like Minds are joint-productions, which makes the omision even more puzzling. Anybody know what happened there? It's not like it's not Australian enough!

I'll put up a preliminary set of predictions for awards just for a lark and based on next to no evidence at all! I've only seen three as of right now, unfortunately. I didn't get to see Razzle Dazzle or Clubland and the rest either aren't released yet or I just never got the chance to see them (Burke and Wills was a prime example of 'LIMITED RELEASE'!)

BEST FILM
Clubland
Dr Plonk
The Home Song Stories
Noise

These seem like a natural selection of Best Film nominees. But who knows. Audiences may go for Lucky Miles and it's good heart of Razzle Dazzle and it's laughs or blah yada etc.

BEST DIRECTION
Oliver Torr & Matthew Zeremis, Burke and Wills
Rolf de Heer, Dr Plonk
Tony Ayres, Home Song Stories
Matthew Saville, Noise

Nowlan seems like the natural exclusion because de Heer is, well, he's ROLF DE HEER MAKING A BLACK AND WHITE SILENT MOVIE. Noise is hailed (and very great) and Ayres is back! I threw in Torr and Zeremis for extreme hardcore independent filmmaking.

BEST ACTOR
Eric Bana, Romulus, My Father
Khan Chittenden, Clubland
Brendan Cowell, Noise
Nathan Phillips, West

I dunno. Bana and Cowell seems like good bets, but the others I dunno... wild guesses.

BEST ACTRESS
Kerry Armstrong, Razzle Dazzle
Brenda Blethyn, Clubland
Joan Chen, The Home Song Stories
Toni Collette, Like Minds

Alongside Blethyn, Chen and Collette there's also Susan Sarandon in Irresistable! What's with all the stars. I'm not sure if Armstrong will be lead or supporting, but I reckon she'll get in eitherway. Seems like a weak field, this category.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Rodney Afif, Lucky Miles
Stephen Curry, Rogue
Nathaniel Dean, The Final Winter
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Romulus, My Father

Not sure why so many people fell for Smit-McPhee, but every review seems to go out of their way to praise him so I threw him in with Dean (who's popular), Curry (who's got a career resurgance going for him and will surely be nommed for The King in TV categories). I threw Afif in because I liked him and I wasn't sure if they'd put him here for Lead.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Booth, Clubland
Emily Blunt, Irresistable
Rebecca Gibney, Clubland
Magda Szubanski, Dr Plonk

I have no idea.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Clubland
Dr Plonk
The Home Song Stories
Lucky Miles

I think these are original

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
From my count there's only one adapted screenplay - Romulus, My Father. Maybe I'm missing one? But two? Or THREE? Crikies.

LOL! Okay then.

The Weinsteins are Equal Opportunists!

Two pieces of news regarding films I've discussed (Rogue) before (Grindhouse), both of which are being distributed by The Weinstein Co. and their devilish minions. Let it be known that the Weinstein brothers are equal opportunists when it comes to fucking around filmgoers. On the matter of Grindhouse came word, after it's disappointing threatical showing in April, that Death Proof and Planet Terror will be seperated around the world, effectively robbing us not only of a special moviegoing experience, but also of the extra $11 it's gonna cost to see the second movie (neither of which have release dates in Australia, thank you very much Harvey).

But, as I said, never one to rest on his laurels, Harvey has decided to fuck over Americans too (courtesy, JoBlo) with the DVD release. The DVD will not be of the movie that was shown in cinemas around the country (that'd be Grindhouse). No. The DVD will be a release of Quentin Tarantino's half Death Proof and that's it. Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror is being shafted and won't be released on DVD until a later date.

Isn't that just crazy? I mean, is it really gonna hurt the Weinstein's that much to release Planet Terror too as a seperate release, even. Absolutely amazing that they have such contempt for moviegoers. If anything, a Grindhouse release should work better on DVD if many many bloggers/industry types/journalists are to be believed that the reason for Grindhouse's low box office was due to it's "excessive" length. Ugh. Anyway.

Second on the Weinstein's flag waving for equal oportunity mission is the release of Rogue. I didn't mention it on here but I told Ja over at My New Plaid Pants and he told of the news that the Weinsteins are waiting to see how well Greg McLean's anticipated Wolf Creek follow-up Rogue does in Australian release to then decide whether it should go wide, limited or straight-to-DVD for America.

Aren't you guys just so lucky?

I know I will be seeing Rogue and I don't see why it should flop here (I'm sure it'll be on the five or so Aussie flicks this year that actually gets an audience), but if it does and America (and everywhere else? Not sure) misses out then feel free to blast away like I did in relation to Grindhouse.

Nevertheless, the extremely long wait is over for new material in regards to Rogue. We've only seen about seven images online over the last two years. Now, over at Fangoria (via JoBlo) comes the trailer for the movie!!!! It's just under a minute long so you may be thinking it not much of a trailer, but they essentially cut out all the traditional "setup" stuff and jump straight into the action horror of a crocodile river feast. So good to see people like Radha Mitchell and Sam Worthington there. I can't wait.

Because the trailer doesn't come with an imbed option (and it's not available on YouTube or Daily Motion as far as I can tell) I took some screencaps for y'all. Enjoy the carnage if you can.


How picturesque... Greg McLean should direct a tourism commercial!


Radha Mitchell looks confused


Green murky water = scary


What is that man doing in the river at that time of night. He'll catch a cold!


This is no time for fun and games!


Sam Worthington = Bloody sexy, alright!


That's Stephen Curry. His character has a video camera. The character with the video camera pretty much always dies early. Sorry Stephen. I hear you were good in The King though!


That's gotta hurt!


It's like a horrendous before and after, isn't it?!


The only problem with Jaws? SHARKS AREN'T AMPHIBIOUS! Thus, this is bound to be automatically better.


We already know that person in the yellow Hawaiian shirt (ugh) dies. So long, pal.


So just a little scratch then, really.


Arial Black Bold font is so scary, y'all!

Anyway, I'm pumped. Now all we need is an official poster and for August 30 to roll around.

Rogue Issues

So, Greg McLean's last directorial effort was the terror-injected Wolf Creek. It was pretty great as those sort of movies go and Greg McLean could clearly be seen as a man of talent (remembering some of those scenes just gives me chills). So, naturally, when word came out about McLean's next picture, the mad-crocodile thriller Rogue, I was pretty excited. It has a freakin' kickarse cast - Radha Mitchell, Michael Vartan, Sam Worthington, Heather Mitchell (ASHKA!!!!!!!!!), John Jarratt, Stephen Curry, Mia Wasikowska and some more. It's set in the Northern Territory (cue stunning cinematography) and, early word gave us all hope that it could be really great.

But, of course, the Harvey Weinstein train had to come along and derail all of that. The movie had about 20 different release dates in America, and had all of about none here in Australia. There has never been a poster (there's been fan made ones though!) and no trailer. There are scant few still images on the net (maybe five or six in total). It's almost as if the movie didn't exist.

Then today, I read the horrifying news that Rogue was going straight-to-dvd! (link curtosy of My New Plaid Pants.) I was shocked, to say the least. How does a movie that costs up to (but most likely more than) $20 million dollars and from the easiest genre to sell to American audiences (horror) go direct-to-dvd? Is it because the Weinstein's were disappointed with the American returns of Wolf Creek? Well, maybe they would have made more if they didn't release it ON CHRISTMAS DAY! Ugh. Or was it because the other mad croc film, Primevil, died at the box office even though there was no advertising to make customers believe there was even a crocodile in it!

So, there I was - shocked. I told my friend Simon (who lives outside of Sydney) and he informed me that Australia at least still had a release date for Rogue of August 30. Still some time away, but I can deal. I'm still scared it will go direct-to-dvd, which would be strange considering Wolf Creek is one of the most successful and famous Aussie films of the last decade. All they have to do is throw a "from the director of Wolf Creek" on the poster and it's sold to a fairly decent amount of people.

But THEN, I start to peruse the IMDb forums because occasionally the people on there actually dig up something worth nothing. And, ta-dah, they sorta did. Over at Moviehole they were reporting the direct-to-dvdness of Rogue yet had to edit it later and put a disclaimer at the top of the page that read as thus. (edit - Bloody Disgusting is reporting it too)

The Fangoria report, mentioned below, was a little off it seems. The films local distributor tells us that "Hot off the press : The Rogue U.S DVD release is wrong, Weinstein are still releasing in the US market as are we [in AU]. TWC have pulled the info off the site."

So, what does that mean? Well,it means that the Weinstein's are probably still planning on releasing Rogue theatrically in the USA and that the Australian distributer (Village Roadshow? Who?) is definitely still releasing it theatrically. Maybe the DVD thing was just a rumour? Who knows. There's still the not-so-slight possibility that it is indeed still going to be "[...] delegated to a few bits of white space at Blockbuster."


I suppose we won't know until we actually get a poster or a trailer or something that gives us a vague idea of what the hell is going on over at the Weinstein Company. Crazy.

Although, in all honesty, the reason this film deserves to be shown in US cinemas is so American audiences can experience the brilliance that is ASHKA!!!!!!!!! Granted, it's not actually ASHKA!!!!!!! in the movie, but it's CLOSE ENOUGH!