MC Consensus: Antipodes

[Spinal]

Submit your TEN favorite films from Australia or New Zealand and .... eventually .... I will give you a top TWENTY. Films should have Australia or New Zealand listed as a country of origin in IMDb. Hopefully, I won't have to make a ruling on this and it will be self-policing. But the purpose of the thread is to specifically address films that are from Australia and New Zealand.

The point system is as follows

1st Place- 10 points
2nd Place - 8 points
3rd Place - 7 points
4th Place - 6 points
5th Place - 5 points
6th Place - 4.5 points
7th Place - 4 points
8th Place - 3.5 points
9th Place - 3 points
10th Place - 2.5 points

(Point system is weighted to give your top film a boost and to minimize the discrepancy between the films in the bottom half of your list.)

There will be no restrictions on short films. A list must have ten films to be eligible. If you list more than ten films, I will assume that the top ten films are the ones you want to receive points. If you do not list your films 1-10, I will assign the points from the top on down.

If you decide to edit your ballot, please make a new post indicating the changes. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

If, for some reason, you would like to like to submit your ballot via private message, I will accept those as well. However, your ballot will be revealed after the final results are posted.

You may begin now.

[Lazlo]

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
4. Moulin Rouge!
5. Babe
6. The Babadook
7. Bright Star
8. Mad Max: Fury Road
9. The Proposition
10. The Rover

[Spinal]

Speedy!

[Melville]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Bright Star
3. Wake in Fright
4. Bad Boy Bubby
5. Snowtown
6. The Quiet American
7. Chopper
8. Mary and Max
9. Top of the Lake
10. Heavenly Creatures

I should watch The Piano again. It seems like something I should like.

[Spinal]

1. Walkabout
2. Muriel's Wedding
3. Heavenly Creatures
4. The Piano
5. Happy Feet
6. Holy Smoke
7. Dead Calm
8. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
9. Picnic at Hanging Rock
10. Shine

[D_Davis]

1. Mad Max Fury Road
2. The Road Warrior
3. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
4. Mad Max
5. Muriel's Wedding
6. Howling 3: The Marsupials
7. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship
8. Dead Alive
9. Heavenly Creatures
10. Razorback

[Russ]

High on my to-see list is Geoff Murphy's Utu.

[D_Davis]

Howling 3: The Marsupials should be lower, but I think I'll keep it where it is just because of how absolutely bonkers it is.

[baby doll]

IMDb lists Walkabout as UK/Australia, so I'm going for it.

Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989)
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005)
Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002)
Snowtown (Justin Kurzel, 2011)

I need to take another look at An Angel at My Table, Until the End of the World (no, I haven't seen the long version either), and The Tracker, and I've never seen Wake in Fright, The Castle, or any of the Mad Max films.

[Mysterious Dude]

This was a little more difficult than the others. I suspect I won't have much influence on the final list.

1. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
2. The Proposition (2005)
3. The Piano (1993)
4. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
5. Breaker Morant (1980)
6. Out of the Blue (2006)
7. The Road Warrior (1981)
8. Proof (1991)
9. The Quiet Earth (1985)
10. Utu (1984)

[Peng]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. The Fellowship of the Ring
3. King Kong
4. Heavenly Creatures
5. Return of the King
6. Flirting (1991)
7. Mary and Max
8. The Two Towers
9. Babe
10. Japanese Story

I somehow thought Dear Zachary was one but imdb tells me it isn't. Really want to fit Rogue and Dark City somewhere in there too.

[Yxklyx]

Maybe The Lord of the Rings should be considered one film for this?

[Yxklyx]

1. TLOTR: Return of the King
2. TLOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
3. Picnic at Hanging Rock
4. Walkabout
5. Heavenly Creatures
6. TLOTR: The Two Towers
7. Muriel's Wedding
8. Bad Boy Bubby
9. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
10. The Piano
---
11. Breaker Morant
12. An Angel at My Table
13. Mad Max: Fury Road

[Yxklyx]

More Bad Boy Bubby love needed here. I only saw it recently so maybe others here haven't seen it?

[transmogrifier]

1. Heavenly Creatures
2. In My Father's Den
3. Smash Palace
4. Rain
5. LOTR: Two Towers
6. Once Were Warriors
7. The Quiet Earth
8. Proof
9. What We Do in the Shadows
10. Bad Boy Bubby

[Lazlo]

Maybe The Lord of the Rings should be considered one film for this?

I dunno, I think that discounts the thought and artistry that went into making each part feel like a relatively complete piece of a larger story. They all still have building action, climaxes, and a reasonable amount of resolution. Sure they don't fully work separately, but they have more single-movie structure than they sometimes get credit for.

[baby doll]

I dunno, I think that discounts the thought and artistry that went into making each part feel like a relatively complete piece of a larger story. They all still have building action, climaxes, and a reasonable amount of resolution. Sure they don't fully work separately, but they have more single-movie structure than they sometimes get credit for.I think the argument for considering them as one film is that it allows for a wider variety of films in the eventual top twenty. (Incidentally, I fully intend to vote for The Decalogue as a single film when we get around to our poll of Pols.)

In any case, it's a bit of a mystery to me why y'all are voting for The Lord of the Rings movies in the first place. While I wouldn't say any of them are bad films exactly (though The Return of the King is largely redundant), I don't think any of them are doing anything very interesting in terms of form or style. Frankly, I don't see how this trilogy is all that different from any Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of a prestigious English novel, only this one happened to be infinitely more expensive.

[Ivan Drago]

1. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
2. Mad Max: Fury Road
3. Brain Dead/Dead Alive
4. LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring
5. LOTR: Return of the King
6. Lantana
7. Mary and Max
8. Mad Max
9. The Babadook
10. Happy Feet

[Lazlo]

I think the argument for considering them as one film is that it allows for a wider variety of films in the eventual top twenty. (Incidentally, I fully intend to vote for The Decalogue as a single film when we get around to our poll of Pols.)

In any case, it's a bit of a mystery to me why y'all are voting for The Lord of the Rings movies in the first place. While I wouldn't say any of them are bad films exactly (though The Return of the King is largely redundant), I don't think any of them are doing anything very interesting in terms of form or style. Frankly, I don't see how this trilogy is all that different from any Masterpiece Theatre adaptation of a prestigious English novel, only this one happened to be infinitely more expensive.

It's cool you think all those things.

Dunno man, they're in my top ten of all time. There's something to be said for spectacle, emotion, mythology, production design, character, etc.

[Russ]

1. Gallipoli
2. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith
3. Picnic at Hanging Rock
4. Breaker Morant
5. Walkabout *
6. Goodbye Pork Pie
7. Don's Party
8. The Road Warrior
9. Muriel's Wedding
10. Wolf Creek

HM: Herzog's Where the Green Ants Dream

* if this doesn't count, move everything up and add Tim at #10

[baby doll]

It's cool you think all those things.

Dunno man, they're in my top ten of all time. There's something to be said for spectacle, emotion, mythology, production design, character, etc.Maybe part of my problem with the series is that the elements you just listed rarely seem to be on speaking terms with one other or the story. The vast interior sets are often little more than fancy backdrops for scenes of exposition sandwiched between epic battles fought by computer-generated armies stretching beyond the horizon and second unit helicopter shots of stand-ins walking across a mountain on foot. And just in terms of pure filmmaking, Jackson doesn't make a single interesting formal or stylistic choice: the frontal staging and abundant close-ups never leave us in doubt as to what the characters are feeling at any given moment (or where they're standing in relation to one another), nearly every line of dialogue is spoken on screen and is mixed so we can hear every word clearly, and the music guides our emotions in predictable ways. I've seen more creative direction in Cantonese soap operas.

[Mysterious Dude]

We may be veering off-topic a bit, but do movies necessarily need to have interesting filmmaking? I like meaningful mise en scène as much as the next guy, but it's not the only thing there is. One of my favorite TV shows of all time is the original Upstairs Downstairs. Even though every episode is basically a filmed play, I still love the characters and I care about what's happening.

[baby doll]

We may be veering off-topic a bit, but do movies necessarily need to have interesting filmmaking? I like meaningful mise en scène as much as the next guy, but it's not the only thing there is. One of my favorite TV shows of all time is the original Upstairs Downstairs. Even though every episode is basically a filmed play, I still love the characters and I care about what's happening.I like watching TV too but not at the movies.

[Raiders]

1. The Tracker (2002)
2. The Proposition (2005)
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
4. Sweetie (1989)
5. Heavenly Creatures (1994)
6. The Piano (1993)
7. Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988)
8. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
9. Wolf Creek (2005)
10. Babe: Pig in the City (1998)

---------------------------------

11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
12. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
13. A Girl's Own Story (1984)
14. The Road Warrior (1981)
15. Walkabout (1971)

[Spinal]

12 films have separated themselves from the pack and have likely earned a place on the final list. But things can still change. Voting is open.

[Melville]

Everyone should watch Wake in Fright.

[Yxklyx]

...

In any case, it's a bit of a mystery to me why y'all are voting for The Lord of the Rings movies in the first place. ...

I like to watch.

[Grouchy]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road
2. Braindead
3. The Piano
4. Breaker Morant
5. Mad Max II: Road Warrior
6. LOTR: Return of the King
7. Mary and Max
8. Razorback
9. Moulin Rouge!
10. Perfect Creature

I need to see more. I'm feeling like you guys felt about Italy.

[Spinal]

I'll try to start the countdown on Monday. We've got a good list shaping up. Might not be 20 films, but we'll see if more votes tumble in.

[dreamdead]

1. Walkabout
2. The Piano
3. Mad Max: Fury Road
4. Bright Star
5. The Proposition
6. Muriel’s Wedding
7. Moulin Rouge!
8. Picnic at Hanging Rock
9. Heavenly Creatures
10. Holy Smoke

Gaps galore. Several films mentioned here have always been just outside the top of the netflix queue...

[Spinal]

Just a reminder that your votes will not count unless you list 10 films.

[baby doll]

Just a reminder that your votes will not count unless you list 10 films.Crap.

Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989)
Walkabout (Nicolas Roeg, 1971)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975)
The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)
The Proposition (John Hillcoat, 2005)
Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002)
Snowtown (Justin Kurzel, 2011)
The Tracker (Rolf de Heer, 2002)
Until the End of the World (Wim Wenders, 1991)

[baby doll]

Can't I just vote for Sweetie ten times?

[dreamdead]

Edited in a tenth film.

[baby doll]

Edited in a tenth film.And it's the one where Harvey Keitel wears a dress and Kate Winslet pees herself.

[dreamdead]

And it's the one where Harvey Keitel wears a dress and Kate Winslet pees herself.

I wish I could offer it to Sweetie, but my lone viewing of that Campion film was just bewildering to me. There wasn't much for me to connect with. I can't even say anything beyond that, as nothing has stuck 12 years later.

Haven't seen Angel at my Table, though, so maybe that one will click better.

[Spinal]

Hmmmmm ... there's a pretty clear break at 10. I think we're going to keep this to a top 10. Results beginning shortly.

[Spinal]

#10

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/1b561672d3959785a7899a1e582d20 d9_zpsgbbdknd5.jpg
I want to win. All my life I've wanted to win.


Muriel's Wedding

Director: P.J. Hogan

Year: 1994

Muriel finds life in Porpoise Spit, Australia dull and spends her days alone in her room listening to Abba music and dreaming of her wedding day. She steals some money to go on a tropical vacation, meets a friend, changes her name, and turns her world upside down.

Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical (Toni Collette).
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the BAFTA Awards.
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.
Won four Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Film, Best Actress (Collette), Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Griffiths) and Best Sound.
Won the Audience Choice award at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Toni Collette gained 40 pounds in 7 weeks with the help of a dietitian for this role.

"One of the most pleasant aspects of Muriel's Wedding is the distinctly unconventional third act. No one seeing this movie will confuse it with a Hollywood picture, as it continually flouts the 'feel good' formulas that typically characterize this sort of romantic comedy." - James Berardinelli

[Spinal]

#9

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/picnic_at_hanging_rock_poster_ zpsis3mrgff.jpg
A surprising number of human beings are without purpose, though it is probable that they are performing some function unknown to themselves.


Picnic at Hanging Rock

Director: Peter Weir

Year: 1975

During a rural picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.

Won Best Cinematography at the BAFTA Awards.
Nominated for 7 awards by the Australian Film Institute including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actress (Helen Morse), Best Actor (Tony Llewellyn-Jones) and Best Supporting Actress (Anne-Louise Lambert).

Russell Boyd reportedly enhanced the film's diffuse and ethereal look with the simple technique of placing a piece of bridal veil over the camera lens.

"'The film is just too damn impenetrable for its own good,' writes the Web-based critic Kevin Maynard. I'm sure he speaks for a lot of viewers, but of course if you could penetrate it, there would be no film -- simply a police case, or an account of an accident." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#8

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/proposition_poster_zps88ne8cev .jpg
What could be more hollow than to die alone, unloved?


The Proposition

Director: John Hillcoat

Year: 2005

A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.

Won the Gucci Prize (Screenplay) at the Venice Film Festival.
Won 4 awards from the Australian Film Institute (Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Original Score). Nominated for 7 others including Best Film and Best Direction.

Nick Cave finished the script in three weeks.

"Pint for pint, more blood is probably spilled in The Proposition than any Sam Peckinpah Western. Like Peckinpah, director John Hillcoat's lofty goal is to make art from incredible carnage." - Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle

[Spinal]

#7

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/mad-max-2-poster_zpsh8fnplpr.jpg
I'm just here for the gasoline.


Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Director: George Miller

Year: 1981

In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline rich, community escape a band of bandits.

Won Best Foreign Film at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.
Won 5 awards from the Australian Film Institute including Best Direction, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.

Mel Gibson only had 16 lines of dialogue in the entire film, including the quote above, which is said twice.

"What is the point of the movie? Everyone is free to interpret the action, I suppose, but I prefer to avoid thinking about the implications of gasoline shortages and the collapse of Western civilization, and to experience the movie instead as pure sensation ... This is very skillful filmmaking, and Mad Max 2 is a movie like no other." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#6

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/s-l1000_zpsydesbnid.jpg
Go back to the shadow. You shall not pass!


The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Director: Peter Jackson

Year: 2001

A meek Hobbit and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the One Ring and the Dark Lord Sauron.

Won 4 Academy Awards including Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Original Score. Nominated for 9 others including Best Film and Best Director.
Nominated for 4 Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director.
Won 4 BAFTA awards including Best Film and Best Director.
Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor (Ian McKellen).
Won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

Christopher Lee is the only member of the cast and crew ever to have met J.R.R. Tolkien.

"Watching it, one can't help but get the impression that everyone involved was steeped in Tolkien's work, loved the book, treasured it and took care not to break a cherished thing in it ... The movie as a movie becomes, in a strange way, unnoticeable, because it's so correct." - Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

[Spinal]

#5

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/large_2D1SA87nyKqKLOHC2EHdAhL7 vq0_zps9clctdsq.jpg
I expect we're the first white people he's seen.


Walkabout

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Year: 1971

Two young siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback and are forced to cope on their own. They meet an Australian boy on walkabout: a ritual separation from his tribe.

Nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

Luc Roeg was actually sun-burnt in the scene where the aboriginal boy treats his back by rubbing him with fat from a wild boar. Nicolas Roeg thought it would make a good scene for the film so he picked up the camera and shot it.

"The movie is not the heartwarming story of how the girl and her brother are lost in the outback and survive because of the knowledge of the resourceful aborigine. It is about how all three are still lost at the end of the film--more lost than before, because now they are lost inside themselves instead of merely adrift in the world." - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

#4

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/PIANOAUST1SH_zpsky4d4jop.jpg
I think of my piano in its ocean grave, and sometimes of myself floating above it. Down there everything is so still and silent that it lulls me to sleep.


The Piano

Director: Jane Campion

Year: 1993

A mute woman along with her young daughter, and her prized piano, are sent to 1850s New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, and she's soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.

Won 3 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Holly Hunter), Best Supporting Actress (Anna Paquin) and Best Original Screenplay. Nominated for 5 others including Best Picture and Best Director.
Won the Palme d'Or and Best Actress at Cannes.
Won the Golden Globe for Best Actress - Drama. Nominated for 5 others including Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director.
Won 3 BAFTA Awards including Best Actress.
Won 11 awards from the Australian Film Institute including Best Film and Best Director.
Won Best Foreign Film at the César Awards.
Won Best Foreign Film at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Won Best Original Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.
Won Best Actress from Boston Society of Film Critics, Chicago Film Critics Association, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, London Critics Circle Film Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, and Southeastern Film Critics Association.

The last movie Kurt Cobain watched before he died.

"The erotic tension that Campion brings to these scenes is nearly excruciating. Every detail -- even the mere contrast between Keitel's thick, Minotaur physique and Hunter's swanlike delicacy -- seems to carry a palpable threat of violence. And when the tension finally erupts, it is devastating." - Hal Hinson, The Washington Post

[Spinal]

#3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/0_poster_zpsehcry3df.jpg
A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day.


The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Director: Peter Jackson

Year: 2003

Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.

Won all 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Won 4 Golden Globes including Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director.
Won 4 BAFTA Awards including Best Film.
Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Won Best Foreign Film from the Australian Film Institute.
Won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures from the Directors Guild of America.
Won 2 Grammy Awards.
Named Best Film of the Decade - Motion Picture by the International Online Film Critics' Poll.
Won Best Film at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

The dead oliphaunt carcass used in this film is reportedly the largest prop ever built for a motion picture. According to members of the prop department, director Peter Jackson still thought it could have been bigger.

"To praise Jackson isn't enough. He's more than director, he's a miracle worker." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

[baby doll]

The last movie Kurt Cobain watched before he died.This completely changes the meaning of Cobain's suicide for me.

[Spinal]

#2

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/tumblr_o0xgmtnunf1qi2d1go1_500 _zpsbk4nlqxf.jpg
We have decided how sad it is for other people that they cannot appreciate our genius.


Heavenly Creatures

Director: Peter Jackson

Year: 1994

Two girls have an intense fantasy life; their parents, concerned the fantasy is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.

Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Won Best Director and Best British Actress (Kate Winslet) at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
Won the Metro Media Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the Writers Guild of America.
Named one of the year's Ten Best Films by the National Board of Review.

Juliet Hulme was revealed to be mystery writer Anne Perry who came forward and revealed her real identity in 1994 during the making of the film, but all attempts to find Pauline Parker failed. In 1997, Pauline Parker was finally traced to a rundown cottage on a farm near Strood, Kent, England, where she currently runs a children's riding school. Since assuming the name of Hilary Nathan, she has become a devout Catholic and devoted her life to handicapped children.

"As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in. She’s offset perfectly by [Melanie] Lynskey, whose quietly smoldering Pauline completes the delicate, dangerous partnership. Their bond is so strong, all attempts to destroy it are as awesomely foolhardy as splitting the atom." - Desson Howe, The Washington Post

[Spinal]

This completely changes the meaning of Cobain's suicide for me.

You thought it was the heroin, didn't you?

[Spinal]

#1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/mad-max-poster_zpsvlyjhjbg.jpg
You will ride eternal, shiny and chrome.


Mad Max: Fury Road

Director: George Miller

Year: 2015

A woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in postapocalyptic Australia in search for her home-land with the help of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshipper, and a drifter named Max.

Nominated for 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Visual Effects.
Nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director at the Golden Globes.
Nominated for 7 BAFTA Awards.
Won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Won 8 Awards from the Australian Film including Best Film and Best Director.
Won Film of the Year and Director of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.
Named Best Film by the National Board of Review.
Won 3 awards at the Women Film Critics Circle Awards including Best Equality of the Sexes.

The flame-shooting guitarist is Australian artist/musician Sean Hape, better known as Iota. In an interview, he said the guitar weighed 132 pounds, and shot real gas-powered flames, which he controlled using the whammy bar.

"It seems that the eco-crisis which has scorched the earth has brought with it an infertility epidemic, but we are given to understand only as much of the actual mechanics of the society that has emerged since 'the world fell' as we can glimpse in the rear-view. The camera is almost perpetually in motion, and when it isn’t, everything else is; the dialogue, mostly shouted, is half-heard over the roar of a V8 engine. This isn’t haphazard storytelling: Miller knows that stopping off for exposition breaks will cost him valuable speed." - Nick Pinkerton, Sight and Sound

[Mysterious Dude]

Whereas Italy stopped making good movies in 1973, Australia only started making good movies in 1971. Fortunately, they haven't stopped yet.

[Spinal]

1. Mad Max: Fury Road (62)
2. Heavenly Creatures (46)
3. Return of the King (41.5)
4. The Piano (41)
5. Walkabout (39)
6. Fellowship of the Ring (34)
7. The Road Warrior 33.5
8. The Proposition (29)
9. Picnic at Hanging Rock (27.5)
10. Muriel’s Wedding (24.5)

The Two Towers (20)
Dead Alive (18.5)
Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (18)
Bright Star (18)
Breaker Morant (17)

[Spinal]

Kudos to the voters for getting 6 non-franchise films in the top 10.

[Grouchy]

I would happily switch those LOTR spots for Braindead and Breaker Morant.

[Spinal]

For Return of the King's featured quote, I was so tempted to use "A diversion."

[Russ]

Well done, Spinal.

Germany next?

[Spinal]

Germany next?

Sounds good! I was weighing a few options in my mind and that's as good as any.

[Melville]

Probably my least favorite results yet. But enjoyably presented as always.

[Mysterious Dude]

I didn't even notice someone else voted for Jimmie Blacksmith. Hang out with me, Russ!