Filter: Hide Spoilers:
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]
Index 19 comments in total 

18 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
An absolute must see., 22 August 2008
9/10
Author: paulisdead from Australia

Fantastic! A great documentary focusing on a long unsung faction of cult cinema known as Ozploitation. Tarantino features heavily as an expert of the genre. As an Australian, it's scary watching how a foreigner could have so much knowledge and enthusiasm for films that have been almost purposely forgotten in their own homeland.

Like any good documentary, it's a real eye opening experience to get an insight into the lost world of blood, bikers and boobs. The directors, actors and those influenced (Greg McLean (Wolf Creek/Rouge), James Wan and Leigh Whannell (Saw)) share the stories of a fledgling film industry that embraced a Guerrilla style of film-making that stuck it to the stuffy cinema elite that wished they would disappear.

An absolute must watch for anybody who thinks they're an expert on cult/trash cinema.

Was the above comment useful to you?

15 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
One of the best documentaries I have seen in many years!, 2 September 2008
10/10
Author: LoneWolfAndCub from Australia

It is about time a documentary was made about Australia's 70's and 80's exploitation films, which range from sex comedies, car chase films, hardcore horror and kung fu flicks. Mark Hartley has created a fitting tribute which moves at an almost non-stop pace and is full of hilarious interviews, great clips and interesting tales of on-set accidents and rowdy actors. Unfortunately, I never got to experience this period of unknown Aussie film making which now (thanks to this documentary) may be uncovered again!

Not Quite Hollywood starts off with some background of the Aussie film industry back in the late 60's/early 70's and the strict censorship policies we had. This then moves into the first type of exploitation we had; sex-fueled, gross-out comedies. Some notable ones are: Stork (1971), Alvin Purple (1973), The True Story of Eskimo Nell (1975) and Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974). Most of these features copious amounts of nudity (both male and female) and sex (of which the doco shows quite a bit of). These made a fair bit of money, but most of the critics despised the crassness and abrupt sexuality. Interviews with the lady stars (who are not afraid to talk about their mostly naked roles) and Barry Humphries are often funny. This first half an hour or so is a great introduction to the next section...

"Comatose Killers and Outback Chillers." In this section, Hartley shows us Australia's disturbed side with absurd, sadistic horror films which have a confessed fan, Quentin Tarantino. He excitedly reels off his favourites and how they have inspired some of his films (especially "ill Bill: Vol. 1." A few stand-out movies are: Patrick (1978), Razorback (1984), Snapshot (1979), Harlequin (1980) and Long Weekend (1978). Interviews with directors (Brian Trenchard-Smith and the late Richard Franklin) and the many actors are again incredibly intriguing and quite amusing. These films were popular in America, being released in the exploitation cinemas and garnering cult followings.

The last section of the documentary is about "High Octane Disasters and Kung Fu Masters." Tarantino really contributes to this part, showing a vast knowledge and passion for our car chase scenes and the "fetishistic" way they are filmed. Cult classics such as: Mad Max (1979), The Man from Hong Kong (1975), Roadgames (1981) and Turkey Shoot (1982) are all mentioned and discussed. This part becomes interesting, as directors talk about troubles with stunts (involving tragic deaths of cameramen and stuntmen), injuries and actor problems. Tarantino lavishes praise on pretty much all these films and he is a pleasure to listen to. Also, new Aussie horror directors Greg McLean ("Wolf Creek") and James Wan and Leigh Whannell ("Saw") are interviewed and discuss the old and new Ozploitation cinema.

Hartley knows how to make a documentary to the point, funny and always captivating. The interviews are hysterical (especially Bob Ellis, a critic who constantly bashes the genre in a comical uptight manner) and the clips are appropriate and show all the right parts. This will please all ages, from the older people who lived through this time and the younger generation (my friends and I) who will discover a new genre of Australian movies to enjoy. This doco is almost one of the best things to come out of the cinemas this year, and opens up a part of Australian culture that up until now was left hidden. Is this recommended? YES! Hopefully (and it DOES look hopeful), Australia can start to release some great Ozploitation style films. With films like Rogue, Wolf Creek, Storm Warning, Black Water and Saw there is still a chance.

A solid 5/5

Was the above comment useful to you?

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Joyous, 29 October 2008
9/10
Author: christopher-underwood from Greenwich - London

A very fine documentary. I went into this at the London film Festival screening yesterday, never previously even having heard the term, ozploitation but came out ready to search out the films. A good film book will have you eager to google away to track down some hitherto unheard of 'must have' and this movie does the same. I felt I should have taken a notebook with me to take down some of the titles so enthusiastically spoken of. The films celebrated here were made in the 70s and 80s and are an Australian equivalent of what would usually be called drive in or exploitation movies. Sex, violence, cars and fighting is generally the name of the game and the more extreme and wild the better. Numerous, high quality clips from the movies leave one open mouthed and the people who made them tell us amusing anecdotes and horrifying details of things that went wrong. All of this would be enough but we also get generous helpings of Barry Humphries and the ever reliable, ever enthusiastic, Quentin Tarantino, just in case we were not already convinced that some of these trashy movies are just the greatest movies ever made. Joyous.

Was the above comment useful to you?

7 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
wow, 29 August 2008
10/10
Author: GhostXXX from Australia

I have wanted to see this film since I saw it advertised at the Melbourne Film festival so naturally I had to see it opening night when it came to my local cinema, I saw it last night and what can I say, it was fantastic, I had no idea that Australia made so many films in the 70's and 80's.

The film features interviews with a lot of Australian directors, filmmakers, critics, some A list Hollywood actors and even Quentin Tarantino, who has an unbelievable knowledge of Australian exploitation cinema.

The film explores the good, the bad and the ugly of Australian genre films. There is no doubt that there were some pretty dodgy ones made at the time but there is no denying that there were also some real gems made as well, it's just a shame that they seemed to do better overseas than they did here.

Weather you are interested in Australian film, Australian culture, or just film in general I highly recommend seeing this film. Listening to the filmmakers stories about how they made there films is both amusing and inspiring.

Over all this is a fun movie that should be seen in the theater.

Was the above comment useful to you?

5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
wonderful documentary, and very funny, 29 August 2008
8/10
Author: Drhoz from Australia

Thoroughly enjoyable - a few notes I made afterwards follow, including quotes from my wife First section of the movie covered how the new R-rating allowed an explosion in the Australian film industry. Specifically, as much nudity ( boobs, pubes, and tubes ) as the filmmakers could squeeze in...

"And here was me thinking Australian film in the 70s was prudish." On John Holmes rather, ah, prominent role in the doco - Australia's first exposure to him ( or possibly the other way around )

"Wouldn't his head implode when he got an erection?" and about paying to see the movies covered

"We're supporting the Australian film industry!"

"Given that quite a few of those movie were made to *lose* money...." The stories about the incredibly lax safety procedures at these flicks were pretty alarming. Take just one example from Mad Max ( where the head stuntman arrived on his first day with one limb already broken! ).

Do you recall the shot in that movie, from the motorcyclist's POV, where the bike is screaming along the highway and the odometer is hitting 180? The director got that shot by leaning over the motorcyclist's shoulder with a camera. Helmet? Hell no - protective equipment is for sane people.

Tarantino's excited fan-boy bouncing was amusing.

Regarding one of the very few movies they covered that I actually recall seeing ( I may well have seen more but have protected myself by blanking the memory ) - Razorback. I wonder if this movie is the reason my old D&D group would blithely deal with a pack of animated skeletons, but leg it for the nearest tree when an ordinary wild boar showed up? Also - The Return of Captain Invincible? Australia made a superhero musical? All I can say is that Australia made some amazingly bad movies, *that actually managed to get theatrical release*. Still, it made me miss the old days of drive-in cinema, even if the only one I recall seeing at such a cinema was Death Race 2000 ( the exploding baby scene - which I still find hugely funny).

If you have any interest in Australia's contribution to cinematic immortality, you have to see this documentary :D

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Unenlightening, 27 March 2009
4/10
Author: DelBongo from Brighton, UK

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is another one of those worryingly fashionable and prominent documentaries that offers plentiful sound-bites set to almost non-stop music, but precious little insight. Like that terribly overrated skateboarding flick Dogtown And Z-Boys, this is a barrage of information that you didn't care to know, delivered by people sometimes visibly salivating at the prospect of recounting a story that isn't really worth telling.

Many of these subjects are so rigorously determined to mythologize this period of Aussie film-making, that they end up telling tales that make them look like a smirking misanthropy collective. Wasn't it funny when that actress nearly drowned, just because some schmuck of a director couldn't get the shot that he wanted? How about when Henry Silva, an actor petrified of heights, almost p*ssed himself with fear because a camera crew took him 70ft off the ground without warning him? And that Etc sequence in Patrick? They considered giving the actor real shock therapy! What lovable rogues! What tw*ts.

Stir in the endless shrugging off of numerous instances of casual racism and misogyny, and you're left with a pretty empty document of little genuine significance.

There are a handful of interesting, level-headed contributors (one of them being an uncharacteristically restrained Quentin Tarantino) but there is no form, structure or analysis of any cultural impact that this movement may have had. Which is a shame, because such analysis may have justified the film's existence.

There may well be valuable things to say about this subject, but it'll take a much more ambitious director to do it.

Was the above comment useful to you?

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
OZploitation unveiling, 27 January 2009
8/10
Author: den_515 from Australia

Best documentary I've seen this year. It feels as if these films have been swept under the carpet by a film industry which is overprotective of its image. The Australian film industry is so very narrow-minded and so it is great to see a documentary which has been so brilliantly edited but also used along with the great characters of the industry through the 70's and 80's who make this possible multiple movie preview so entertaining. There is a good mix of local and international actors/producers/directors and there is also contradictory comments and varying disagreements which merely adds to the movie myths. This film is also refreshing as it harks back to a time when the business was far from a business and less stringent with the absence of governing bodies which equates to many broken bodies and lots of bodies on show in terms of nudity. These films make me proud to be Australian. Thank you Mark Hartley. Now will someone just release them on DVD!!

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Excellent Informative doco..., 6 September 2008
9/10
Author: braindead_666 from Australia

as a lover of 'Ozploitation" films from way back, (hell im a card carrying member of the Turkey Shoot fanclub hahha) to say that Not Quite Hollywood was going to be essential viewing is quite an understatement. And so i finally made the 3 hour trek to Melbourne to see this thing and all i can say is WOW! Mark Hartley has done good with what was available to him, however there were a few other films that never got a mention that are quite vital to the "ozploitation" story.

To my knowledge COSY COOL was the first independent Aussie exploitation film, and it never even got a mention! (admitedly its not a really great "film", but is still an interesting watch).

1979 slasher flick ALISON'S BIRTHDAY never received a mention either, and quite crucially RUNNING ON EMPTY is only shown in a collage of car crashes, but nothing is said about it at all. And don't even get me started on the absence of genuine classics like STIR, THE MONEY MOVERS, LAST OF THE KNUCKLEMEN.

However it all really comes down to time. 2 hours is only really long enough to just skim the surface, which is what NQH does, and does a commendable job of it.

In my eyes there are only 2 problems with NQH, one which is inevitable.. it has to end sometime. The second is why does everyone hate Turkey Shoot so bloody much? It is a genuine classic and is definitely one of the most entertaining films to come out of Australia! In summary a commendable effort and hopefully we will get all of these films appearing on DVD (and yes i already know that most of them are)

Was the above comment useful to you?

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
This documentary is just pure entertainment!, 20 August 2008
9/10
Author: Byron Dandy from Australia

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I won't be arty with this review. This film is an absolute ripper - a super fast paced documentary on the many genre films Australia produced in the 1970s & 80s that were in many cases commercially successful but critically smashed by 'respectable' reviewers at the time. I saw this last night at a premiere AFI Awards screening here in Melbourne and was blown away.

There are so many good stories, amazing revelations and choice excerpts from literally dozens and dozens of outrageous Oz flicks here that if you are expecting a slow, monotonous talking heads-type doco that kills a few minutes in your evening, you will be happily mistaken.

Stunt man deaths, John Holmes, fights with the Australian censor, copycat Italian film rip offs, sex, blood, martial arts fights on Uluru/Ayers Rock, Mad Max, Turkey Shoot, Dennis Hopper going nuts, incredible car fetishistic filming, classic Oz Rock songs on the soundtrack (AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Masters Apprentices et al), great Tarantino quotes & so much more - it's absolutely all there.

With docos starting to become more popular with cinema goers, I really hope that this film gets tons of bottoms on seats - I fully applaud the the amount of time the filmmakers must have have spent travelling acrosss three continents to get these interviews as well as the copyright nightmares of needing to clear so many films. Wow.

My only (minor) criticism is that the film is so continually fast paced it just needs a little breathing room sometimes to let you take it all in and have a break. The film is very much at you all the time.

As you can tell, I loved it and I reckon that even if you have never seen a single one of the source films, you are guaranteed to enjoy this wild ride into the commercial Oz film scene of a few decades back when this country actually had a varied and vibrant film industry.

A brief side note - I think Tarantino is claiming credit for coining the collective term 'Ozploitation' used to describe these films. Interesting...

Was the above comment useful to you?

1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Superb documentary, 10 January 2009
9/10
Author: Neon-man from Australia

This documentary detailing the wave of Aussie exploitation (better known as Ozploitation) films through the 70s and 80s is not only made with such passion, excitement, complemented further so by the anecdotes and praise from the key players of the wave and their fans, but is criminally underrated. The film is always interesting, educational, inspiring, and choc-a-block full of tits, pubes, blood, gore, and the sexiest cars/car chases/car accidents you've ever seen. not only is this film so much fun, but it is the most important Australian film to come out this year because it gives the deserved praise to a wave of films that should've been treated better and in retrospect have been forgotten (until now. And some of the featured films in the doco are thankfully getting their first DVD releases). Thankfully, as the ending of the film details, Aussie film-makers are heading back to the days of Ozploitation and putting it in their movies, as seen in the likes of Wolf Creek, Saw, Undead, and Rogue. It's also great hearing these directors, producers, writers and actors alike talking about how much fun, dangerous, and crazy it was to make these sorts of films, and how it was never inspired by how much money could be made (however, money was made, and Ozploitation did have an audience, mainly in countries outside of Australia). This is an excellent, exciting, and informative documentary and is absolutely essential viewing for all aspiring film-makers. If this doesn't get a Best Documentary nom at the Oscars, I will be disappointed. I hope to see it on more "Top 10 in 08" lists, because it is certainly on mine.

Was the above comment useful to you?
Page 1 of 2:[1] [2] [Next]

Add another review

Related Links

Plot summary Plot synopsis Ratings
Awards External reviews Official site
Plot keywords Main details Your user comments
Your vote history