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DVD Ned Kelly
Making no attempt at factual accuracy, Ned Kelly is still an engaging action film with its heart in the right place. You don't need to be a student of Australian history to know that a movie about the life of the notorious folk hero and outlaw is not going to be a light-hearted romp through the outback. Injustice, persecution, and unlawful imprisonment are the meat of his story, all presented here with not too much of a rose-tinted perspective amid generous doses of obligatory action. Rebellious teenager Ned Kelly (Heath Ledger) is wrongfully imprisoned for stealing a horse and, when he returns to the bosom of his large Irish family, finds that the police won't let him go straight. After being accused of a crime he didn't commit, Kelly is left with no option but to go on the run. Accompanied by his gang (among them Orlando Bloom) he robs banks to survive and also to gather the money to free his family from prison. There is some considerable romanticizing of the story and the man himself, due in part to Ledger's affable Robin Hood-esque working-class hero portrayal. Bloom is wide-eyed and daring as Kelly's main man, and Naomi Watts as his married mistress has the thankless task of breaking up some great action sequences to play the unnecessary love interest. Originally filmed as a Mick Jagger vehicle in 1970. --Kristen Bowditch
I was expecting alot from this film. I thought it was going to be like "Rob Roy", the excellent Liam Neeson film from 1995 which also was a story of injustice done to an innocent person. Unfortunately, the director kept everything so distant that I could never really engage with the characters. I got more from of the special features section which had a short documentary on the real Ned Kelly. Most of the supporting characters are very good, but Naomi Watts, in her pre-Hollywood phase, is really just window dressing here.
Still, the movie has some charms. I love the Australian scenery. The soundtrack is OK. And for once, I don't want to roll my eyes with disgust at Orlando Bloom's performance. Finally, he has a manly role to play; not some lightweight pretty-boy. And Heath Ledger is a good actor, who could be a great actor, but he just hasn't been given the right role (as of the date of this review). if only someone would give this man a meaty part, his career would just take off. He's the best thing in this movie, but it's not HIS movie, the way "Rob Roy" was Liam Neeson's. I realize the story was different and that "Rob Roy" was able to get revenge on his tormentors in a way that Ned Kelly couldn't. Still, I expected to feel something more for this character that this film didn't provide. The story was told, and some of the elements were there, but the heart was lacking.
moving drama
This is a wonderful example of a real-life story put to film. All the actors do a very good job with their roles. Luckily the writers, director, etc. avoided the pitfall of attempting to modernize the people or story to make it more 'relateable'. I highly recomend it.
A Sad Attempt To "Rewrite Australian History"
In this sorry excuse for a movie Heath Ledger plays the Australian Outlaw Ned Kelly. Americans make heroes out of their old Lawmen but for some unknown reason Australians romanticize and glorify the "bad boys' of their past. This movie is in NO WAY An accurate Historical depiction of the life of Ned Kelly. In this movie Ned has the obligatory sexual encounter with a woman although most Historians wil agree that sadly Ned most probably died a virgin.Poor guy. The movie also fails to depict the true event where Ned shot a Trooper (Law Officer) in the groin.Ned has become a Hero from Australian Working Class. I guess this is to be expected when your country was founded by convicts and women of loose moral character. This movie was shot in the one horse country town of Clunes which I hope I never get to visit. I give this movie 5 stars because once again the filmakers have tried to turn Fantasy into a Reality onscreen.
There are many reasons to recommend Troy as a good ol' fashioned Hollywood epic, especially if you've never read Homer's The Iliad. Dispensing with Greek gods altogether, this earnestly massive production (budgeted at upwards of $200 million) will surely offend historians and devoted students of the classics (for them, there's the History Channel's Troy). But there's politics aplenty in the grand-scale war that erupts when Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) makes off with Helen (blandly beautiful German model Diane Kruger), wife of Spartan ruler Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson), whose brother, the Greek king Agamemnon (Brian Cox) prods him into enraged retaliation. Greek warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt) brings lethal force to his battles (and there are many of them, mostly... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Wolfgang Petersen DVD Release Date: Released the 04 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's hard to believe Ridley Scott's handsome epic won't become the cinematic touchstone of the Crusades for years to come. Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering a vital, mostly engrossing tale following Balian (Orlando Bloom), a lonely French blacksmith who discovers he's a noble heir and takes his father's (Liam Neeson) place in the center of the universe circa 1184: Jerusalem. Here, grand battles and backdoor politics are key as Scott and first-time screenwriter William Monahan fashion an excellent storyline to tackle the centuries-long conflict. Two forward-thinking kings, Baldwin (Edward Norton in an uncredited yet substantial role) and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), hold an uneasy truce between Christians (who hold the city) and Muslims while factions... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Liam Neeson - Orlando Bloom - Eva Green Director(s): Ridley Scott DVD Release Date: Released the 11 October 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's got a round table, some knights, and a noble warrior who rises to become King Arthur, but everything else about this revisionist legend is pure Hollywood. That's not such a bad thing if you enjoyed Rob Roy, Braveheart, Gladiator, and Troy, and there's some intriguing potential in presenting the "real" Arthur (played by Clive Owen) as a 5th-century soldier of Rome, assigned to defend Roman-imperial England against a hoard of invading Saxons (led by Stellan Skarsgård in hairy villain mode). As revamped history and "archaeological findings" would have us believe, Guinevere (Keira Knightley) is a warrior babe in face-paint and Lancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) is a nonentity who fades into the woodwork. Never mind! Best to enjoy the harsh, gloomy atmosphere of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clive Owen - Keira Knightley - Stephen Dillane Director(s): Antoine Fuqua DVD Release Date: Released the 21 December 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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If you're determined to spend three hours with Oliver Stone's take on the personal and military struggles of ancient Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great, you should know that Alexander (Colin Farrell, in blonde disarray) is not half so much fun as mom Olympias (Angelina Jolie) or his future wild bride Roxane (Rosario Dawson). Indeed, it's the women in Alex's life who provide the movie's most satisfying action: Jolie, sporting some kind of Russian accent, wraps herself in snakes while hissing promises of Farrell's destiny; Dawson disrobes and threatens to cut Farrell's throat before shtupping his brains out. The rest is leaden history, supposedly novel because it showcases epic battle sequences and addresses Alexander's great love for his buddy Hephaistion (Jared Leto). But the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Anthony Hopkins - Angelina Jolie Director(s): Oliver Stone DVD Release Date: Released the 02 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The corsets and high waists of the 19th century meet the lush colors and visual splendor of India in Vanity Fair, a classic novel translated into modern celluloid by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding). The very contemporary Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde, Election) at first seems to hit the wrong note as Becky Sharp, an orphaned girl who rises to the heights of society using her quick wits and feminine wiles. But as Vanity Fair unfolds, the movie's tone embraces both period decor and modern attitudes, searching for a bridge that will carry us more deeply into a different time. It isn't wholly successful--the movie's end wraps things up awkwardly--but some scenes achieve a surprising and vivid immediacy, in particular one in which Becky's gambler husband... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gabriel Byrne - Reese Witherspoon - Romola Garai - Jonathan Rhys-Meyers Director(s): Mira Nair DVD Release Date: Released the 01 February 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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