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michael-245
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First Day (2020)
The world is catching up
A terrific story, well written, acted and produced.
For the people who think this is evil or warped, I say this: this is just the world catching up with what's always happened.
I am have limited knowledge on this topic. I'm learning too and will most likely use clumsy wording.
Since the start of time, there have been gay people. And since the start of time, there have no doubt been people who don't feel comfortable in their own identity. For many of us who are catching up (and this includes me) now is the time to educate people of the trials, highs and lows that trans people -- including young people -- must feel.
I don't believe young people watching this show are going to suddenly "become trans".
Instead, this show serves a number of purposes.
1. It educates people (including young people and parents) that trans people exist. There are people who don't feel comfortable in their own identity. Trans people have feelings, troubles and challenges.
2. For trans young people, this gives them the opportunity to think about their own situation and maybe give them courage or empowerment if they have doubts about themselves
3. Like racism, sexism, homophobia and many other social issues, it's about time discussion like this exists. The message that I feel it tells young people (and older people, like me) is that trans people exist, be kind (like you should be kind to everyone who meet in life) and accept people for who they are.
For the wowsers, the ignorant and the fearful - we're now as a society catching up with talking about things and ideas that have existed for a very long time. It's time to catch up, put your old, backwards ways of thinking behind, and be open to new ideas.
In Australia, we had a national plebiscite on legalising gay marriage, which was unnecessary and painful for many people. But, the positives were that the discussion helped to educate many people in Australia that gay people are just people.
So I say well done for creating "First Day". Well worth watching and well worth discussing with young people and older people.
Criminal Ways (2003)
Film Victoria - who gave the go ahead to fund this?
There are a lot of awful films made around the world this year. In 2003, "The Wannabes" stands shoulder to shoulder with the worst.
A pathetic film that tried to cover too many comedy concepts and failed through all of them.
"Angry" would be the emotion I felt after seeing this film. Why? Because Film Victoria was a financial backer of this film, so, as an Australian taxpayer, I have contributed money to rubbish.
A glance of the cover of "The Wannabes" in the video store was enough to confirm this film would be rubbish. I wasn't so stupid to actually hire it, but did waste two hours of my life watching it on free to air TV.
While Nick Giannopoulos and his friends proved successful in Melbourne with theatre such as "Wogs Out of Work" and the TV series "Acropolis Now", the idea has well and truly run out of steam. And yet Giannopoulos continues to peddle the same concepts in production after production.
Film Victoria, the Film Finance Corporation and any other Australian film funding body would be highly irresponsible to finance any more projects by this production team.
In fact, I've just emailed the Melbourne Film Office with "do not finance" plea to any further Nick Giannopoulos projects. I urge you to do the same.
The only positive thing about this film is that it did employ a production crew, so kept food on the table for a couple of dozen Victorians. Perhaps that was the basis for the MFO giving it the funding go ahead. But, it probably made those crew make mental notes to never produce a lame film like this themselves.
Can I be any more frank? I think the only amusing thing about this film is reading the scathing reviews on IMDb about it.
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Disjointed and disappointing
"Ocean's Eleven" was an entertaining, high energy film. The sequel, therefore, had everything going for it - good reputation of the previous film, all star cast, beautiful locations throughout Europe and the addition of Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Instead, we got a collection of disjointed scenes, absolutely no pace (a prerequisite for a film of this genre) and a plot that didn't really get off the ground.
Traditionally, you would say that most films introduce the characters, set the premise, and off they go. Ocean's 11 did that quite well. But this film never started cooking. I felt as though the whole cinema was shifting about in their seats.
Scenes lingered for far too long, actors weren't putting energy into their performances and I'm sure that somehow the "Deleted Scenes" portion of the DVD was included entirely in the film. Loud, pacey music couldn't even keep the tempo high.
It is disturbing when you're in a film and you start to think about how you're going to rate it on IMDb.com - for me, it hovered between 1 and 3 out of 10.
The wheels really fell off when Tess, played by Julia Roberts, was coerced to fly to Rome to play - wait for it - Julia Roberts.
The concept of the hologram egg just screamed at me, "We don't have a plot!" It is acceptable to make allowances in films of this genre, but introducing absolute science fiction SFX bordered on the desperately ridiculous.
The only highlights were the European locations - Rome, Amsterdam, Paris and coastal scenes. Fans of Catherine Zeta-Jones may get some value - she looks pretty, rather than sexy. She too was wasted in this film.
And I couldn't really say who Ocean's 12 were - one would assume Catherine Zeta-Jones, but even this wasn't all that strongly emphasised.
See it on DVD if there's nothing else available at your video library. Better yet, why not track down the original "Ocean's Eleven" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Were we spoilt with "The Matrix"? A "must see" all the same ...
This is more of a comment on the experience of seeing the first two Matrix films, with some critical commentary.
My comment is, has Neo had an impact on the geek? I saw "Matrix Reloaded" (MR) at midnight on the night it first opened, just after watching "The Matrix" in the same cinema immediately beforehand.
I've seen "The Matrix" (TM) four times now, and each time I derive something new out of it. In fact, it took until the third viewing to understand most of the fundamental concepts of the film. It is definitely a film that one can become immersed in - one that has a pace that doesn't slow down - the tempo just keeps rising. Leaving the cinema after seeing Neo step out of the phone booth, put his glasses on and slip off - you catch yourself thinking that we really are all in the Matrix - it is all around us. To accept that wanting to live in real world instead of the Matrix is something Morpheus and Co aspire to, is a spin out in itself.
So, coming out of the "reasonably filled" cinema from seeing TM, I encountered a sea of guys. These guys would traditionally be the sweaty geeks - the type that have no regard for their personal appearance. The "Trekkies", who, when gathered in a cinema, put out a collective BO that is unpleasant, yet somehow reassuring to experience (it lets you know that there still are geeks in this world).
But, for the MR, the sea of guys - literally hundreds of them, all had that Neo cool. Well dressed, many on mobile phones, not too stinky. I'd estimate that 2 - 5 per cent of the viewing audience was female.
This was my reason for going to the first public screening of MR - to not only see the film, but to be part of the experience of seeing it with a kind of brethren. I was reassured that I assimilated with these cool geeks more than your "I don't get out and mix with normal people too much" kind of geek.
So, what did I think about the film? I came out of it a little disappointed. Now, all of you who have seen TM more than 30 times and are probably, as I type, watching MR for the fifth time since its release 36 hours ago, will probably blindly declare that I am a heathen.
MR just didn't have the impact of the first film. Some of the most exciting parts of TM were grasping the concepts, watching the stunning visual effects, seeing the story develop and increase tempo, relating to Neo and his troubles with the world. Witnessing the slow motion, normal speed and ramping of fighting scenes, shooting scenes, the warping of the image. All of that stuff. Importantly of all, watching Sydney, Australia as the vital backdrop to this amazing movie. Like New Yorkers having pride that their home town is the key to films like "Spiderman", Aussies feel the same way about this film - even if I am from Melbourne! (FYI, there is a great Melbourne / Sydney rivalry between people who live in their respective city, but as Australians showcasing our country to the world on films like this, we proudly put those issues aside).
Now, going into MR, we expect all of those visual effects. You almost become complacent, which is a terrible thing. I had to remind myself, "Hey, Neo is being attacked by 5 Agent Smiths!" And a few minutes later, "Knucklehead, Neo is being attacked by 100 plus Agent Smiths! That is a very impressive effect!" All of the Agent Smiths attacking Neo seemed so real, it didn't seem to be an effect - that is something truly impressive.
As a sign note, I would bet Hugo Weaving, who is an unassuming Australian actor, must get a huge kick out of playing this sort of role and seeing himself projected on the screen in that manner.
Similarly, watching the much talked about freeway action was truly amazing. The way all of the characters ducked and weaved through traffic, even travelling again it, without any hesitation, was a sign of the strength and conviction that Neo, Morpheus and Co have in each other and cause. The quote from Morpheus, "What if tomorrow the war could be over ... isn't that worth dying for?" is shown off throughout the film.
But, most of Neo's powers are now assumed. He can stop bullets, he is a great martial arts fighter - we've had that established in the previous film now, and that's part of what's missing in MR. Still, there were times when Neo showed new skills - "Neo's doing his Superman thing again" - his flying skills were put to great use, both visually and for the story, towards the climax of the film.
Aside from the opening scenes of the film, the first half hour of MR, the tempo was slow, almost falling into melodrama. I wouldn't have raised an eyebrow if the cinema collective had of yelled out "Finally, some action!!" as the tempo started to wind up. The opening screen, Trinity's mission, was truly impressive and made me think, "if the start is like this, we're in for a hell of a ride!" As you know, a common film technique is to flash forward at the start of the film, to something that is significant at the end. I made a note of this when watching Trinity in action.
Then the pace slowed down. We saw Zion, we established that Neo has cult status among his people. We saw the political processes at work in Zion. A necessary evil to establish this background story? Perhaps. But get me back to the action that the Matrix is all about, please!
So, ultimately, I think fans of TM will not be disappointed by MR. We were just spoilt too much with the brilliance of TM on a number of levels - story, visuals, concepts - a lot of things that MR would find difficulty to top. Having said that, MR is obvious a "must see" for all fans of TM. It all concludes in just 6 short months!