the combination (of excellent marketing and ordinary filmmaking)

Well, we can pretty much already give away the award for the most talked about Australian film of the year. I mean, in fairness, usually we just don’t talk about Australian films – we fund them and hope to God no-one sees where we threw the money. But Australian Lebanese gangster flick The Combination is special – it’s hooked into the zeitgeist and hit upon something very current and now. Above all things however, it’s marketed itself freakishly well. So far The Combination has been raking in the news coverage left, right and centre. It’s been generating heated comment, um, also from the left, right and centre and it’s even been accused of starting riots.

And all this for a movie that is actually not very good.

Okay, that’s not entirely fair. Lemme explain. The Combination takes place against the backdrop of the Cronulla Riots. It’s the tale of a Lebanese man (George Basha, also the writer) in Western Sydney who gets back from jail only to discover that his younger brother is shooting down the path that lead him to the big house. (Australian History X??). Meanwhile Basha falls in love with a white girl with racist parents and - judging by her acting ability - a penchant for horse tranquilizers.

I give this movie a serious A+ for ambition. And I mean that quite genuinely. The digital cinematography by Toby Oliver looks amazing. For my taste he's kinda the go-to guy for digital camerawork in Australia. I also LOVE the fact that we finally have a film about Western Sydney that focusses on the non-anlgo characters (Yes, West, Little Fish I’m looking at you). I can’t tell you how much it shits me that the closest thing we’ve come to a multicultural movie about Western Sydney was Footy Legends. There are also some elements within this movie that just pop. The way it captures of Lebanese culture – the dancing, the food, the family - is brilliant. The movie just springs to life when these moments come along. And there are a couple of standout performances. Doris Younane as the matriarch of the family gives a bloody heartbreaking performance, mind you; I’ve been in love with her since her old Campell Soup adverts, so I was always going to like her. 

The Combination is at it’s strongest when it’s a revenge flick, particularly towards the bloody climax. George Basha is appropriately named and I honestly think he makes for damn fine action hero material. As you drive towards the end there is a rage that sits just underneath everything that it’s palpable. 

But the thing I love best about this film? The Marketing. Just look at this trailer:


That actually looks like a movie I want to see. They haven’t shot small, they’ve aimed for a large audience and they’re fighting for it.

Ok, now for the Bad – of which there is much. Ok, so the movie uses a lot of non-professional actors, so a lot of the acting is clunky. Fair enough. But almost everything is clunky - the music by Labib (Jim) Jammal is repetitive and really could’ve used a little bit of well-placed emotive melody.

The bigger problem is that The Combination is just trying to do too much. And nowhere is that more evident than the interracial love story. I get why they wanted to include some heart in the film, but I’d sooner believe that Elvis was alive, well and working at Yagoona Maccas than I would believe the romance in The Combination. White-girl Clare Bowen is named “Sydney” – a plot point treated with all the nuance of a jackhammer being applied to one’s temple. Thankfully what subtlety the story lacks, Bowen makes up with her performance, which is so subtle she’s practically catatonic. I’ve seen more charisma come from people under general anesthetic. And George Basha? The guy looks like the nicest dude in the world, and I’m sure he is – but the spark just isn’t there for the romance. The worst though is Bowen’s parents who play cookie-cutter racists who aren’t just one-dimensional. They’re sharing half a dimension between them. My God, you have an amazing opportunity to examine why racism exists right in front of you? Do you try and explore it?? Nope! We’re gonna get them to do their Montague and Capulet shtick, stick their head in the sand and move on. WTF?

At the end of the day, I think it’s important that The Combination was attempted. It deals with issues that are relevant and important to our time and country – and over time, I suspect that it’ll become an important social document of Australia. I also think that the positive elements in this film are a pretty strong indication that George Basha and Director David Field have got some serious talent. I’d love to see what they come back with next, but for now The Combination only gets 2/5 from me. But hey, I'm just one voice, and I know this movie has lots of defenders, so please lemme know what you think of the film.

titles better than the movie?

Its a fairly frequent happenings for me to get to the end of a flick bleary-eyed and think to myself, "Wow, that sucked balls.... but fuck me, the opening titles were great" Perhaps its just crazies like me who think such things but opening titles can be a real work of art.

They can forshadow the events of a film a la the fun Spielberg/DiCaprio flick Catch Me If You Can



Or even fill you in on a prequel, thankyou Spiderman 2



And sometimes they simply outshine the crap that comes afterwards. If you've ever seen the steaming pile of catshit that is Catwoman you'll know what I'm talking about. I can't quite bring myself to soil the blog with Catwomn, but you can watch the decent opening titles here.

Part of the reason why opening titles can stand out so much is that they're usually directed by an entirely seperate person to the movie director. And easily, one of the most famous titles director's at the moment is an Australian-born filmmaker named Kyle Cooper. He did the Spiderman 2 titles above. In Mission Impossible he brilliantly played the famous tv titles off the events of the movie. Cooper even got to stroll down a super-iconic memory lane with Superman Returns, thus reinvigorating the majestic titles from the original Superman movie. 

But the film that really put him on the map was a lil' ole movie called Seven. 

All of the the images, fonts and music are so menacingly jagged & sharp - it completely immerses you in this vicious world.  The brilliant thing about Cooper is that every sequence always embeds itself as a totally unique yet vital part of the movie. Not only does each sequence invite you into the headspace of a film, they all work as mini-movies unto themselves.

I think one of my favourite recent opening titles Cooper has done was for the recent zombie-remake Dawn of the Dead, and the opening titles speed you through the zombie invasion with cut-up of images of real life newsfootage of riots and massacres, a Johnny Cash track and titles being made from blood. It's unnervingly cheerful, unflinchingly gory and most importantly... it screams The End of the World

Of course there are literally hundreds of brilliant opening titles and titles directors. I seriously recommend classic director is Saul Bass, but he's worthy of his own  blog post.  Channel 4 and OneDotZero produced an excellent documentary on Kyle Cooper which you can find here: (Part 1 , Part 2)

If you love other opening titles lemme know below. Also, fans should check out the excellent Art of Titles blog. 

Appropriately enough,  lemme leave you with some brilliant Closing Credits from the severely underrated flick Lemony Snickets Series of Unfortunate Events. The animation by Jamie Caliri is beautiful and the music is by Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) 

george w. bush vs. fake presidents

W. Oliver Stone's controversial and totally-rushed bio-pic on the life of Dubya (better title?) is finally out this week in Australia. So is it any good? Click play down below to hear my thoughts.



But here's a thought: Would we have been better off with a fake movie president? (Bill Pullman ID4, any takers? Hmm... maybe not) Well, I whipped out my favourite options below in this weeks very presidential Flicked.



I'd love to know your favourite fictional president, so pls hit us up below. For me the most obvious one that I didnt get to include was the amazing Laura Roslin from Battlestar Galactica. Also, don't forget you can get both triple j movies reviews and flicked automatically in the podcast.

the oscars. it could've been much much worse

This one is for those critics who are bitching about Hugh Jackman's musical numbers. Be grateful, you uncultured swines. You could have ended up with a repeat of the televised car-crash that was the 1989 Oscars. This infamous Alan Carr-produced all-star debacle featured both Snow White (who whimpers like a mid-coitus Minnie Mouse) and Rob Lowe (who probably banged Minnie Mouse at some point). Enjoy...



How did we ever forgive Rob Lowe for this??

massage my medium: marc & dan save television...

Media pundits have been saying that Television is a dead medium. They say that the YouTubes are taking over. They claim that the industry isn’t adapting fast enough to account for pirates, dramatic prairie dogs, and fat kids practicing for their Jedi entrance exams.

Is this true? Find out in Massage My Medium.

Dan Ilic (of Beaconsfield: The Musical and Ch 10's Ronnie Johns Half Hour fame) and Marc Fennell (of here and triple j fame) are doing at show at this year's Melbourne Comedy Festival. This is weird. I'm not a stand-up comedian by trade, but I do frequently start conversations with 'So, what's the deal with...."** so how different could it be?

It's a show all about television and how its dying. Think 'Top Gear' meets 'Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe'. We're a couple of media junkies ready to rip apart Australian television live on stage then save it.

Be amazed at media mashups. Watch as we deconstruct genre with a the help of a green screen, a video camera and laptop. Can we build a fake celebrity in 3 months? See how easy it is to make a Baker’s Delight ad with the audience. Marvel at how current affair programs can turn any jovial baker into a national hero or a predatory pedophile or both..

Live on stage we'll deconstruct genre, manipulate your emotions, create our own television station and generally poke fun at that old medium their parents called the box, and what we call boring.

At the end of the show Marc and Dan then plan to save television from its horrible demise with a memo.

Television is Dead, Long live television!

Exellent website The Enthusiast wrote a great piece on our show. Check it out here

And make sure you stay tuned to this blog, twitter or our facebook group for updates and make sure you buy tickets now.

**PS. I promise the show will not feature this line. Ever.

hollywood assistants rapping

The blog's been a bit post-heavy recently, so i was gonna hold off on posting this one, but -- ah fuck it -- it's hillarious. If you've ever watched Entourage - and you should have - you'll know that Hollywood assistants are the most underrated part of the moviemaking business *takes moment to heart Lloyd*. No seriously, they are massively important to getting flicks made - I learnt that from KCRW's The Business. And this should be their anthem. White boyz rappin' always makes me smile.


Hollywood ASST from Back of the Class on Vimeo.

oscars wrap-up on 702

Yeah, I know you're all too cool to watch the Oscars, but here's my wrap-up on ABC NSW Evenings with Andrew Daddo. I make fun of Nicole Kidman's face. It was weird. Admit it. I Also espouse my paranoid theories on why they did that whole Actor-to-Actor Award style. Its fun radio (hopefully) enjoy.... (link fixed now)



Extend the conversation! let us know your favorite/hated Oscar moments and thoughts below.

marc watched the watchmen

Okay this post is for the nerds. It's spoiler-free and probably also free of pesky things like grammar and spelling, cos I literally just got out of the cinema and these are my very earliest impressions. So bear with me - my opinion may soften over time.

Ok, let me be clear about the 3 hour(ish) epic that is Watchmen - it isn't a bad film. Lots of things work really well - the opening montage of a parallel universe with Superheroes to Bob Dylan's 'Times They Are A' Changing' is gorgeous - it's a stunning sequence that forces you to instantly re-evaluate key moments like the JFK assassination or Nixon's Election. Can you imagine America today if the Vietnam War hand been ended cleanly by a couple superpowers. Can you imagine the pride they would have without that cultural scar? Visually, the movie is obviously stunning, though largely that goes down to the source material. However, credit where credit is due, Director Zack Snyder has realised in a way that is thrilling and terrifying. Particularly the CGI Dr Manhattan, whose vaguely translucent skin is so impressive you almost forget that the lipsynching to actor Billy Crudup is way off. In many ways the film is commendably uncompromising - the violence is bloody as hell (seeing people being eviscerated is powerfully horrifying). There are also moments that genuinely break your heart (Rorscach's backstory anyone??). But the best thing about the film is that it just covers such a fascinating mix of Religion, Politics and Modern Mythmaking.

However.

Here's the thing: The Watchmen Graphic Novel had an operatic quality to it. It felt as though every scene was intertwined together and it didn't progress like a narrative but more like an orchestra, complete with movements. All of the Graphic Novel's different elements - the journal, the flashbacks, all of it - were played in concert in one virtuoso piece. With the film, perhaps in Snyder's admirable attempt to remain faithful to the book, he's lost that spirit. By moving those individual scenes and sequences into a narrative order exposes a lot of them as being quite weak, frequently driven by shocking/clunky dialogue ("What happened to the American Dream?" anyone? I s'pose that line was never going to sound good). And I also suspect that it prevented the actors from truly creating something alive and human with their roles - which requently felt quite mannered and inauthentic. That said there were some killer moments, usually involving Rorschach. In fact the only thing Snyder has really added was a lot of Bullet-time kung fu.

The storytelling inspiration for this movie shouldn't have been conventional cinema - it should've been Baraka or something else that draws together disparate elements together like music. It's not that the movie is bad - it's definitely not a bad film. The source material, however had the makings of a BRILLIANT film. Please don't misunderstand, this isn't the sound of an angry fan annoyed that someone's messed with his favourite comicbook... this is the sound of someone who believes that Watchmen has the makings of stunning cinema. Sadly this isnt quite that. At least not for me.

However, as you know I always love to hear what you guys have got to say. It's still a week before I file my triple j review, so if you loved the Watchmen movie please tell me why.

slumdog remixed

oh. my. fucking. god.

This is brilliant. this is a commissioned remix of this years Oscar-sweeping movie Slumdog Millionaire as handled by the exquisite kids at Addictive TV. Slumdog already had vibrant sounds and images, so I suppose reworking them into an audiovisual remix makes total logic - still, I'm in love.

give em' cash cos all their stocks are soiled...

So pitchfork.tv have this awesome lil' online show called Beardo (geddit Weirdo + Beard = Beardo). It's a comedy starring Tim Harrington the front man of the band Le Savy Fav along with some animation, music and niche guest stars that goes live every Thursday or so. This episode is particularly funny. Know all those bankers and trust fund kids who've been chucked out on their well insulated arses thanks to these harsh economic times? Well, Beardo does what any self-aggrandizing muso would do... he gets a bunch of famous people together to record a benefit album. Behold, USA for Affluence



I've been spending a lot of today looking at online tv, radio and podcasting, trying to determine if there's things we can do better at triple j in terms of pod/vodcasted content. I'm seeing lots of wildly varied content from different organisations. For example, I love the design of everything Revision3 Internet Television do (Diggnation and the brilliant WebDrifter). I hate the cheap sound of everything from Australia's Own The Podcast Network, mind you I did have someone Twitter me in the direction of a few good interviews on TPN Founder Cameron Reilly's podcast G'Day World, and once I got into them they weren't bad content, at all. And Reilly's Single Man's Guide to Cooking Great Shit is actually kinda awesome, if not purely for watching Reilly knock back the vodka's while cooking (I knew I wasn't the only one who did that). However my cosmetic and production comments still stand. And don't even get me stared the appalling cheapness of FreeDigitalContent.com.

As far as large media organisations go, perhaps not surprisingly, the quality improves. The Guardian are still my favourite. They put all other newspaper podcasters to shame, and most radio ones too. The MediaTalk Podcast is required weekly listening. MusicWeekly and TechWeekly are growing on me, though FilmWeekly remains a painful bore. Why in fucks name is it so hard to make a decent, fun, informative, well-produced film show?! (particularly since the UK radio XFM seemed to give up on theirs)

As regulars will know, I love qoob.tv (part of MTV Italy) which has a strong short film and animation component, and a sexy totally-not-web-2.0 interface.

Current TV from the US is also an interesting one. Their Vanguard journalism brand is quite strong, though they take themselves way too seriously and go for about a minute longer than they should. Plus, there really isn't that much by way of downloadable podcast content (except of course for the exquisitely awesome animation SuperNews which you can podcast here in iTunes)

VBS.tv (Vice Magazine's website) got off to a great start. It's a killer design, great brands, but the quality of the content itself varies from the unbelievably fascinating to the shockingly banal. Plus there's that whole too-cool-for-you vibe that serves no purpose other than to make the viewer feel like they must aspire to VBS's wanton swaggering cockery. So all in all, VBS is precisely like the magazine. But when push comes to shove, I love the sheer creativity and energy of VBS. I love that VBS find stories, bands and people that no-one else does. I remember when VBS first started, I spent hours on it just wishing that triple j tv had that same lively, organic, roll-with-it quality you would think embodies a station like triple j.

Like, how good would it be if triple j tv was running short music docs like this throughout ABC2?



And that leaves pitchfork.tv, look I know that they're the biggest music-snob pillocks and all, but I still like em. The branding is stunning, "Don't Look Down" = Live Set on a NY rooftop... its brilliant, its gorgeous and iconic enough that even if it does get ripped and whacked on bitorrent it'll still retain its brand. The whole affair leaves you pondering "Where is the inherent televisual quality to triple j's Like a Version?" Hey don't get me wrong, I love triple j's content, but we won't grow/improve without exploring the full length and breadth of what else is out there, otherwise we just become ignorant.. and by 'ignorant' I mean these guys.

Anways I'd love to know any other great online media sites that you enjoy? Also what would you change about the way triple j pod/vodcasts?

reviewed : zack and miri make a porno

Yo, so has Kevin Smith made a return to form?



Don't forget you can get film reviews sent to you automatically every week by subscribing to the triple j movie podcast here

oscar winners leaked. definitely fake. probably accurate

2008 is shaping up to be the most predictable Oscar season of them all, so much so that this most-likely fake winners list will still turn out to be accurate.
See it in full here

Naiade

How beautiful and creepy is this short film. It's an animation produced by French cult company Autour de Minuit and directed by Nadia Micault, Lorenzo Nanni.

Naiade. Ava reigns over a swamp where fairy creatures live… A strange boy secretly observes her flourishing kingdom, trying to figure out a way to save the life of his sick twin brother…

It played at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and International Youth Film Festival of Gijon. It reminds me a lot of Henry Selick's flicks like The Nightmare Before Christmas and the new Coraline, but there's something else entirely going on here. The constant flickery background makes the world seem completely unreliable, cute but untrustworthy. The porcelain character design is childlike and thoroughly disturbing. I'd love to see the film on a big screen, I think the sound design would blow me away.

Oh and did I mention that this is yet another brilliant video from Italy's QOOB.TV You can also find more from

twitterrhea

So, like everyone else on earth it seems, I've gotten addicted to Twitter. And what greater demonstration of that than my promise to eat a piece of clothing once I hit a paltry 100 followers? (well paltry by Stephen Fry's standards). The winner was Kerryn with her suggestion of a Sombrero - simply because we happened to have one around work.


You too can join the mess at twitter.com/marcfennell

500 testicled voice-over destroys amazing trailer

Check out the trailer for the new flick 500 Days of Summer. Looks amazing. It has Zooey Deschanel AND Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It also has that amazing track from Australia's own The Temper Trap. It's a brilliant, brilliant trailer... except that freaking voice-over?! I get what they're trying to do. They seem to be emulating the kind of voice-over you'd get from a 60's/70's movie - Sorry, it just doesn't fit. If they'd played up the anachronistic old-skool element in the graphics and visual style then maybe it might have worked.

inglorious traylers...

I know everyone's already posted it, But this may well be my favourite trailer at the moment..

michel gondry directs flight of the conchords

This one comes via FilmDrunk, Michel Gondry (Man of 1 great film, a thousand brilliant video clips and rubiks expert) has directed an episode of the brilliant HBO kiwi music-comedy Flight of the Conchords. Can you think of a better collaboration? Check out one of the dance sequences below.

new website

howdy... i just uploaded my new website. Let us know any feedback.

Brand New Flicked

Hey y'all so Flicked has returned to triple j tv with the dr this year, in a slightly more svelte format. We've also jumped channels and timeslots. triple j tv with the dr has moved from Saturday mornings on ABC1 to Monday Nights on ABC2. Its a slightly new format, and I'm keen to know what you think for better or worse. Did you prefer last year's segment? Is this tighter and simpler? Here's the first ep with Ricky Gervais' Ghost Town and Why are Ghosts so Freakin' Pushy?



Don't forget you can subscribe to the pod/vodcast in iTunes here.

the many vagaries of publishing...

So, I'm potentially, maybe, possibly writing a book this year. Its all very up-in-the-air. However, my prospective publisher has already got me writing chapter titles. Without giving too much away, lets just say it's a book about movie genres (shock, i know). The closer I drift to 2am, the more strange and non-sequitur the potential chapter titles seem to get. Below are some of my favourites.

Hey, Some of My Best Friends are Black?!
(Interracial Buddy Cop Movies for Dummies)

Are You Talking to Scorsese? (Cos there’s no one else here.)

My Weekend wasn’t like Vietnam. It was Vietnam.

Supermarinate your Weekend with Supermarionation

Stop Motion. The Other White Meat of Animation.

All of these are copyright Marc Fennell btw.

UPDATE - GF HATES "Stop Motion. The Other White Meat of Animation" if you disagree pls let me know.

twittering...

howdy y'all im twittering at:

twitter.com/marcfennell

follow me.

follow me.

drink the kool aid.

Balegate

I'm finding the Christian Bale Rant Scandal hilarious. Actually to be exact, I'm finding the web fallout hilarious. Not only am I now convinced that Bale eats testicles for breakfast and can crush cinematographers between his pecs... the real shock is that He's Just Not Into Me either...



I particularly enjoyed this utterly too long ABC USA story which comes packing some shrinks, Bale's former assistants and the Editor of that bastion of factual integrity: US Weekly. Together they put forward the image of an actor who is so at one with his characters that he was probably screaming at the DP in character. I guess that means what we can expect a munted wandering Welsh-American accent in Terminator. Woo.

Here's a Warner Brother's Public Relations Expert responding to the event and inadvertently recasting Christian Bale as the new Chuck Norris


But how does one know when their internet phenomenon has reached its peak? When someone makes a Dance Remix, of course...



Enjoy.

making fun of movies under the guise of serious film criticism

So, I think I can safely say that the summer has been choc full of generally above-standard movies. And I've been reviewing them.

Behold

Important questions were asked. Questions like "Did Tom Cruise really think that playing a Nazi would be the best way of ingratiating himself into the good graces of the movie-going public? Sure he's one of the good, cuddly Hitler-killing Nazis but cmon..."

You can check out my review of Valkyrie here.

And of course there is Revolutionary Road. A movie that reminds me of my parents marriage and - surprisingly - I didn't enjoy it very much. Go figure.

Don't forget Will Smith's utterly shameless bid for an Oscar, Seven Pounds.

And then of course there is Gus Van Sant's bio-pic Milk. Which is just plain very good.

As always feel free to have your say and subcribe to the podcast here.