Public Enemies (2009, U.S.)

Johnny Depp. End of review.

Seriously though, I was really looking forward to this film, and with good reason. Cinematography: check. Acting: double check. Score: check. Script: check. Even the historical accuracy, while not always perfect, is still quite good for Hollywood, and it gets a check too.

I can't say enough good things about this film. It was a very serious subject, and they treated it as such. However, there were also some awesome one liners, well-balanced with the rest of the content. The ones delivered by Johnny Depp with his classic straight face/beginnings of a smirk were the absolute best. "There is absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana," he says. (Of course this is funnier to me than those who have never resided in the Hoosier state, but there are other great lines as well!) The action scenes are terrific, very suspenseful and well-choreographed, but not overly graphic. There was a touch of romance that didn't overpower the rest of the story. And all of the bank robbers were not idolized. They were portrayed as real people with real lives and feelings and problems. Of course you wanted Dillinger to win because he is such a charismatic guy, and you might want to turn to bank robbery too if you grew up poor in Morgan County. (Side note: this is the county where I have my internship.)

The casting was phenomenal. Aside from Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Marion Cotillard, there were countless others in more minor roles who were great—Emilie de Ravin, Billy Crudup, Channing Tatum, David Wenham, Giovanni Ribisi... we're talking good actors. Johnny stole the show, of course, but they still managed to hang in there.

The score was also incredible. Usually I'm not tempted to purchase scores from films with so much action (I prefer listening to quiet stuff when I'm listening to instrumental music at home), but this score tempts me. It fit the mood, it helped build tension in gunfights, the romantic theme was touching. Great stuff. I've never heard of Elliot Goldenthal, but apparently he won an Oscar for his Frida score. I'll be keeping an ear out for him.

I can't wait to see this one again.

Rating: 4.5

Australia (2008, Australia)

I have been looking forward to this film for years, quite literally. It was wonderful, as I expected. Other than that, there was little that was what I expected.

Australia is definitely an epic. It's about a country, yes. But it's also about a woman, a man, a little boy, an old Aborigine. It's about love and about hate. Family, friendship, business, war, hardship, tradition, culture, belonging. It definitely felt like a loving tribute to a way of life that is no more. In that way, it was the romance it was marketed as. But the romance was not between Kidman and Jackman, but between the filmmakers and their homeland.

It goes without saying that the acting was phenomenal, but I'll say it anyway. Nicole Kidman is one of my all time favorites, and she was in perfect form. At the beginning of the film, she is amusingly uptight, but by the end she is a self-assured, strong woman who knows her priorities. She plays both roles with equal strength. Kidman definitely overshadows Jackman, although he too is quite good in his role as The Drover (he's never given a proper name, which somewhat annoys me). The real star of the show, however, was Brandon Walters, the boy who plays Nullah, a half-aboriginal child that Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) meets in Australia. He was absolutely charming and a stunning actor, especially considering it was his first project. The rest of the cast was also great. There were many minor Australian actors that I recognized that others probably wouldn't, but I enjoyed seeing them in such a high-profile film. And it was good to see David Wenham in a major supporting role, since I haven't seen him in awhile; he was even great as a bad guy.

As I said about the acting, the backdrop of this saga was also phenomenal, obviously. Luhrman truly captured the rugged majesty of the outback, the incredible sight of 1500 head of cattle being droved, the horror of war (when the town of Darwin is bombed), and all the rest. It was visually stunning, to say the very least. I really don't know how else to say it.

And to the main event—the plot. I expected Australia to be all about the romance between Kidman and Jackman. Instead, it was about a woman from England who discovers the magical draw of the land down under. She meets a half-caste boy who doesn't fit in anywhere and who needs a mother. She meets a strongly independent man to love, a man who loves her back as an equal partner. She learns about what's worth fighting for, and she finds herself as well. It is a beautiful story.

And of course I have to say something about the score, which was composed by David Hirschfelder. The only film I can think of off the top of my head that Hirschfelder scored is Elizabeth, in which he did an incredible job integrating a period feel. I think the same can be said of the Australia score. It also had a markedly old western feel. At times it was just incredibly overstated and upbeat, such as when they head off droving. It was kind of off-putting at first, but I decided that it was well orchestrated. It made it seem as if the film was produced in the era it depicted, which was kind of cool.

I thought that the best part of Australia was how The Wizard of Oz is wound through the plot. Sarah tells Nullah the story to comfort him, and he relates "Somewhere over the Rainbow," which she sings to him, to his culture's ideas of dreaming and stories. The song weaves through the entire movie and one line from The Wizard of Oz reappears in the dialogue. They eventually see the film at the theater. And of course, Nullah (who narrates the film—another element I love), is telling his own story of "a land called Oz." It was beautifully integrated.

See this one.

Rating: 4.5