On 16/9/2025 at 1:51 PM, stevoz said:

Last night I watched "Stone" on bluray. Not the brilliant Oz bikie movie but a muddled slow burning affair that really wasn't what it was hoping to be. I can see why it bombed.

 

never even heard of it - De Niro seems to churn anything out these days, Edward Norton seemed to shine for a very brief moment , Milla oh well at least she wasn’t chasing monsters .

Edited September 22, 2025Sep 22 by cafe67

3 hours ago, cafe67 said:

never even heard of it - De Niro seems to churn anything out these days, Edward Norton seemed to shine for a very brief moment , Milla oh well at least she was chasing monsters .

 

This was 15 years ago but yes, he has done a few stinkers over the years.😆

Last night I watched "Fighting With My Family" on bluray. Fun movie, quite entertaining.

 

 

On 17/09/2025 at 1:41 PM, stevoz said:

Last night I watched "Fighting With My Family" on bluray. Fun movie, quite entertaining.

 

 

Written and directed by Stephen Merchant? I might have to try tracking that one down...

4 hours ago, Cloth Ears said:

Written and directed by Stephen Merchant? I might have to try tracking that one down...

 

Yes, that was a surprise to me also. He does ok too and he's also in it.

Last night I watched "Winter's Bone" on bluray. Excellent movie, Lawrence is fantastic in what is her fourth film.

 

2 hours ago, stevoz said:

Last night I watched "Winter's Bone" on bluray. Excellent movie, Lawrence is fantastic in what is her fourth film.

 

 

Saw Winter's Bone at MIFF 2010, here's another from same director, recommended too

 

https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/29693/leave-no-trace

 

< MIFF 2018

Oscar-nominated Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone, MIFF 2010) makes her long-awaited return to feature filmmaking with Leave No Trace, a humane depiction of the bond between father and daughter, and the universal desire to live by your own rules.

Will (Ben Foster, last seen at MIFF in Hell or High Water, our 2016 closing night film) and his 13-year-old daughter Tom live an idyllic, off-the-grid life deep in the forests of Oregon. It’s not the most typical family set-up, but Will is tormented by the horrors he endured in Iraq and the quietness of the woods is the only thing that stills them. But when their home is discovered, the pair are forced to return to mainstream society, where they’ll have to adapt and learn to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Led by a star-making performance from New Zealand’s Thomasin Mackenzie as Tom, Leave No Trace is the warm and compassionate new outing from award-winning writer/director Debra Granik. Taking on difficult subjects with nimbleness and light, it shows why she remains such a pivotal and compelling voice in American independent cinema.

"A film of grace and power, a story of people lost and found in America that often shows us at our noble and humble best." – Vanity Fair >

 

 

49 minutes ago, Ian McP said:

 

Saw Winter's Bone at MIFF 2010, here's another from same director, recommended too

 

https://miff.com.au/festival-archive/films/29693/leave-no-trace

 

< MIFF 2018

Oscar-nominated Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone, MIFF 2010) makes her long-awaited return to feature filmmaking with Leave No Trace, a humane depiction of the bond between father and daughter, and the universal desire to live by your own rules.

Will (Ben Foster, last seen at MIFF in Hell or High Water, our 2016 closing night film) and his 13-year-old daughter Tom live an idyllic, off-the-grid life deep in the forests of Oregon. It’s not the most typical family set-up, but Will is tormented by the horrors he endured in Iraq and the quietness of the woods is the only thing that stills them. But when their home is discovered, the pair are forced to return to mainstream society, where they’ll have to adapt and learn to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Led by a star-making performance from New Zealand’s Thomasin Mackenzie as Tom, Leave No Trace is the warm and compassionate new outing from award-winning writer/director Debra Granik. Taking on difficult subjects with nimbleness and light, it shows why she remains such a pivotal and compelling voice in American independent cinema.

"A film of grace and power, a story of people lost and found in America that often shows us at our noble and humble best." – Vanity Fair >

 

 

 

Yes, I've seen that trailer.....that film looks amazing.👍

Last night I watched "Vertical Limit" on bluray, not for the action but for Chris O'Donnell's superbly nuanced acting.😂😂😂

 

Last night I watched "We're The Millers" on bluray. Felt like a good laugh, I got a few but not enough to be honest.

 

 

 

Jason Sudeikis is brilliant in the hilarious yet ultimately quite moving Ted Lasso

 

No wonder it won so many awards!

 

 

Edited September 24, 2025Sep 24 by Ian McP

During a couple of unpleasant nights in hospital and against the clamorous din of the ward's operational sounds (through headphones) I watched this charming and heartfelt son-to-father homage called The Wrecking Crew. It so makes me want to revisit those hits which even during my childhood and youth were already reverred oldies on radio rotation. Some nice incidental footage in this and although in part a talking-heads-style documentary with all the usual hagiographic trappings and mythologising a film filled with genuine warmth.

 

 

The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized at the time, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)

Edited September 24, 2025Sep 24 by Steff

 

Wake In Fright -- Finally watched this 1970 flick set in the Strayan outback. Basically a tale of a plummy outsider exposed to an insular community and inexorably succumbing to its nightmarish customs. Directed by a Canadian, and starring some English thespians, so even the production has verisimilitude to the theme. Apparently the final role of Aussie actor Chips Rafferty, playing a Charon-like copper guiding Gary Bond's school teacher into the hell of the mining town of Bundanyabba (which looks like Broken Hill in NSW). Streamed via the ABC iView app, appears to be the most recent transfer, looked pretty damned good and detailed to my eyes.

Rating: two thumbs up and a wink, though not for everyone.

--Geoff

53 minutes ago, hired goon said:

Rating: two thumbs up and a wink, though not for everyone.

 

It really is a well made film, but for some reason, I also found it to be utterly terrifying, which was probably the director's aim anyway.

50 minutes ago, hired goon said:

 

Wake In Fright -- Finally watched this 1970 flick set in the Strayan outback. Basically a tale of a plummy outsider exposed to an insular community and inexorably succumbing to its nightmarish customs. Directed by a Canadian, and starring some English thespians, so even the production has verisimilitude to the theme. Apparently the final role of Aussie actor Chips Rafferty, playing a Charon-like copper guiding Gary Bond's school teacher into the hell of the mining town of Bundanyabba (which looks like Broken Hill in NSW). Streamed via the ABC iView app, appears to be the most recent transfer, looked pretty damned good and detailed to my eyes.

Rating: two thumbs up and a wink, though not for everyone.

--Geoff

 

I first saw that movie many years ago when it was screened on TV in the early or mid 70s.  I hadn't seen it since then and had always wondered what became of it. It was eventually restored and released on blu-ray and DVD in 2014. I bought a copy when it came out. The 2014 release contains both the blu-ray and DVD copies. It also includes quite an interesting booklet which describes the history of the film and the efforts they went to in order to track down the original negative. They followed a number of false leads during the 1990s which initially only resulted in a number of inferior quality prints being found which were not the originals, and for a while they thought the original might have been lost. Tony Buckley (who was the original editor) didn't give up though and through a contact with someone in Los Angeles USA they managed to locate and redeem the original negative from a destruction bin in Pittsburgh USA and get it shipped to the NFSA (National Film and Sound Archives) in Canberra.

 

I think its a pretty good movie, definitely something of a classic, it features an early movie appearance by Jack Thompson (although not his first), and was Chips Rafferty's last movie appearance (he passed away very shortly after the movie was completed in 1971). The film came pretty close to being lost forever, but fortunately has now been saved and restored.

 

And yes, you are right about Bundanyabba, it was filmed in Broken Hill, which incidentally was Chips Rafferty's home town.

 

40 minutes ago, rantan said:

 

It really is a well made film, but for some reason, I also found it to be utterly terrifying, which was probably the director's aim anyway.

 

Yes, I agree, and I do think that was the director's aim, although I found it unsettling more so than terrifying. Being caught up in a place that you find it impossible to escape from. 

Just now, emesbee said:

although I found it unsettling more so than terrifying.

 

Yes indeed.

Perhaps terrifying is hyperbole ,but it really was deeply unsettling. Still, in this age of fairly floss movies it is a good thing to have something genuinely challenging and it is really easy to imagine yourself in the young teacher's situation.

3 hours ago, hired goon said:

 

Wake In Fright -- Finally watched this 1970 flick set in the Strayan outback. Basically a tale of a plummy outsider exposed to an insular community and inexorably succumbing to its nightmarish customs. Directed by a Canadian, and starring some English thespians, so even the production has verisimilitude to the theme. Apparently the final role of Aussie actor Chips Rafferty, playing a Charon-like copper guiding Gary Bond's school teacher into the hell of the mining town of Bundanyabba (which looks like Broken Hill in NSW). Streamed via the ABC iView app, appears to be the most recent transfer, looked pretty damned good and detailed to my eyes.

Rating: two thumbs up and a wink, though not for everyone.

--Geoff

 

I haven't seen this original movie but did watch the 2017 mini series on Ten which I thought was pretty good. I might seek this out.

we streamed this a few days back

not sure i enjoyed it, it had it's moments but too many times I found a little bit of vomit in my mouth

 

20 hours ago, rantan said:

 

It really is a well made film, but for some reason I also found it to be utterly terrifying, which was probably the director's aim anyway.

 

The most terrifying aspect was contemplating inflation between when "Wake In Fright" was made (1970) to now: $4 for a room, and $1 for steak, egg, chips and bread rolls at the RSL.  Gawd. 

 

--Geoff 

On 28/09/2025 at 8:15 PM, wasabijim said:

we streamed this a few days back

not sure i enjoyed it, it had it's moments but too many times I found a little bit of vomit in my mouth

 

I couldn't stand it. From the moment of the interview i switched it off.  Audio was good but that's where it ended for me. 

On 24/09/2025 at 2:29 PM, Steff said:

During a couple of unpleasant nights in hospital and against the clamorous din of the ward's operational sounds (through headphones) I watched this charming and heartfelt son-to-father homage called The Wrecking Crew. It so makes me want to revisit those hits which even during my childhood and youth were already reverred oldies on radio rotation. Some nice incidental footage in this and although in part a talking-heads-style documentary with all the usual hagiographic trappings and mythologising a film filled with genuine warmth.

 

 

The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized at the time, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)

Brilliant. These guys were the backbone of the Monkees, beach boys' sonny and cher and the list goes on and on. Totally in it for the money. Glen Campbell was also in that band for a while and even played guitar for Elvis. Great recording artists.

On 28/09/2025 at 3:47 PM, hired goon said:

 

Wake In Fright -- Finally watched this 1970 flick set in the Strayan outback. Basically a tale of a plummy outsider exposed to an insular community and inexorably succumbing to its nightmarish customs. Directed by a Canadian, and starring some English thespians, so even the production has verisimilitude to the theme. Apparently the final role of Aussie actor Chips Rafferty, playing a Charon-like copper guiding Gary Bond's school teacher into the hell of the mining town of Bundanyabba (which looks like Broken Hill in NSW). Streamed via the ABC iView app, appears to be the most recent transfer, looked pretty damned good and detailed to my eyes.

Rating: two thumbs up and a wink, though not for everyone.

--Geoff

 

Ten had a two part mini series/remake of Wake in Fright which was pretty well done too..