A group of actors meet regularly at a coffee shop and talk about auditions, affairs of the heart and life in general. Cappuccino is strange as it wants Australia to seem like big city America. It’s all taxi cabs, saxophones on the soundtrack and a glossy, polished veneer. Unfortunately, the actual material doesn’t live up …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 21- Cappuccino (1989)
Samantha has left a youth detention centre and is trying to go straight by getting her own flat and forging a career as a model. But even though she's doing well, she still feels unfulfilled and finds life on the outside very hard indeed. Hard Knocks is such an interesting slice of life. It was …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 20- Hard Knocks (1980)
A group of ex-hippies reunite. They go to the old house they used to live together in which is due to be demolished. But there’s a more sinister reason why they go back- one of their housemates killed himself and rather than going to the hippie-hating cops, they bury him in the basement. They’re going …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 19- Natural Causes (1985)
15 year old Sarah is deaf. This means that she feels isolated from her peers, family and everyone in the outside world. She has plenty of arguments with her family and comes across as a moody teen. She’s fallen foul of the in-crowd of mean girls at school. But what happens when the hottest jock …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 18- The Still Point (1986)
A hitchhiker is murdered. The killer takes her body to his wheelbound brothers house and plans on disposing of the body. I knew nothing about End Play. I then decided to investigate when I saw that it was on YouTube. Every now and then I strike lucky by doing this. And in this instance I …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 17- End Play (1976)
In 2001, a British couple, Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio are travelling across Australia in a camper van. One night, they are stopped by another driver who turns out to be a cold-blooded killer. He shackles Joanne and throws her into the back of his van. She hears a gunshot but shortly after this manages …
A female passenger leaves her handbag in the back of a taxi. The driver seeks to trace her to give it back which is where the adventure begins. A premise like this requires the one thing this TV movie lacks- an interesting plot. It was good to see which actors would go on to star …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 15- Taxi! (1979)
Ari is a second-generation Greek Australian man. He's also gay. Head On chronicles the conflicts between the conservative background that he finds himself a slave to and his authentic nature and sexual orientation. Head On ruffled many feathers when it was released because of its graphic depiction of gay sex, drug taking and how such …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 14- Head On (1998)
Jackie goes for a drive and suddenly finds herself back in 1944 (!) at a place called Frenchman’s Farm. She witnesses a murder and then finds herself back in the present day. She starts to go to local libraries to try and research the place. This movie is the epitome of a mild, tame and …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 13- Frenchman’s Farm (1987)
This is a great documentary about Ozploitation films (exploitation films made in Australia). All the great films and sub-genres are here- the bawdy Ocker comedies, the slasher movies, the films for petrolheads. The main players are interviewed demonstrating that making these insane films was just as insane in real life. I’m so glad that so much …
Continue reading Marsupial March- 31 Days of Aussie Movies- Day 12- Not Quite Hollywood (2008)
Meathook Cinema 