Author: James Curnow
Star Wars: Three Notes on Why The Force Awakens So Successfully
By now, anybody who cares is more than a little familiar with the concerns and expectations facing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Could Disney and J.J. Abrams create a film that obeyed the aesthetic, narrative and mythological sensibilities of the Star Wars series? Would this film overcome the awkward and unsatisfying nature of the prequels…
Reviewing Jeremy Sims’ “Last Cab to Darwin”
When I first saw Jeremy Sims’ Last Train to Freo (2006), a low-budget Australian thriller about four strangers travelling home in a single train carriage, I was struck by Sims’ ability to maintain an impressive amount of suspense throughout the film’s concise running time. But I was also a little underwhelmed by the characters in…
The Westerns of Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott: A Film Primer
I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I am a latecomer to the six Westerns that make-up the collaboration between Budd Boetticher and Randolph Scott. (There is a seventh, but I’ll do them the courtesy of pretending it doesn’t exist). These six films, released over the course of just five years between 1956 and 1960, mark…
Jake Wilson on Mad Dog Morgan: Histories, Myths, Legends and Motivations
It was in 1976 that Philippe Mora released his underappreciated classic, Mad Dog Morgan, starring Dennis Hopper as the once notorious bushranger Daniel Morgan. In many ways, Jake Wilson’s excellent new monograph of the same name, the latest entry into the Australian Screen Classics series from Currency Press, positions Mad Dog Morgan as a fusion of…
Another Country: David Gulpilil Explains Indigenous Culture
The Molly Reynolds’ directed film, Another Country, is a difficult work to define. Guided by the cool, calm, and soothing narration of indigenous actor, David Gulpilil, we are sent on an almost structure-free wander through Gulpilil’s home town, Ramingining. I say almost, because both he and Reynolds have a very clear purpose in mind – to…