Australia: News and Views

Well the embargo is off so today the Australian newspapers are full of what the film critics think of Baz Luhrmann’s Australia: Is Australia movie any good?

Well Australia movie reviews includes :

“[Australia has]romance, drama, edge-of-the-seat action..”

“Baz Luhrmann has pulled off an incredible film”

“Australia should proove a dinkum hit”

“Baz Luhrmann’s Australia is  intermittently brilliant and largely good. Americans are sure to embrace the exotic, novel tale set in a faraway land. Australians may be a little more cynical…”

The last comment I do have a bit more belief in: after all Oprah raved about Australia movie

Now a lot of the Australian media is actually owned by Rupert Murdoch’s empire which also owns 20th Century Fox - who is the studio behind Australia the Movie.  So grumpy local West Australian paper The West, not owned by Murdoch,  is saying  - well they would say that anyway. So their film critic has gone out with:

“Luhrmann’s red dirt epic will leave nation red-faced”

I haven’t seen the movie yet - few people have the critics saw in Monday night- the premiers were held in Sydney, Kununurra, Bowen and Darwin Tuesday night  but the movie doesn’t open to the rest of us until 26 November

West Australia is grumpy anyway because the $500,000 the government contributed to the movie wasn’t enough to get naming rights. Although all the scenes around and at the Nicole Kidman’s cattle station were filmed near Kununurra in Western Australia’s Kimberley region the audience will believe that it was all in fact filmed in the Northern Territory - in fact Bowen in Queensland probably has an even better case to be “disappeared” in the film - but that was because Bowen was always supposed to double Darwin!

As far as the actual premier itself went the good news is that it didn’t rain on Kununurra’s Picture Garden’s parade and the 250 odd guests braved heat, dust, flies but no rain to see the Australia premier in Kununurra only outdoor theatre.

Bowen’s cinema did have a roof  and was packed to the rafters: and both towns got a special message from Baz  shown at the start of the Australia movie premier.

So is Australia Movie any good? Well who can make that choice except you - go and see it - on good sized screen -this is a movie that does need to be seen on a good sized screen.

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