Pages tagged “australia”

There's a surprisingly gargantuan Internet faction dedicated to predicting who will be up for film's most coveted prize, the Academy Award. Publications like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Los Angeles Times and New York Times all have Oscar blogs that obsessively trail the fluctuations in buzz amongst the year's top films. That's not to mention stand-alone sites like Awards Daily and In Contention, or well-known bloggers like Jeff Wells, Dave Poland and Anne Thompson. Even Roger Ebert has devoted a wealth of recent ink on the subject. But, the truth is, no matter how much someone knows, it's still just a wild guessing game.

You have to hand it to Nicole Kidman. In her career, the Aussie actress has juxtaposed standard Hollywood fare (often box-office disasters) with challenging, non-traditional roles in independent films with little to no commercial appeal. For every Cold Mountain, there's a Birth, where she played a woman convinced her dead husband had been reincarnated into the body of a 10-year-old boy; or a Dogville, the Lars Von Trier's three-hour melodrama on human nature at its worst; or a Fur, an "imaginary portrait" of famed photographer Diane Arbus that saw her lover, Robert Downey Jr., covered head-to-toe in hair. Even her Oscar-winning role as Virginia Woolf in The Hours was a bit of a gamble.

And now, a brief look at a few of the latest movie trailers to hit the web:

Australia
Release Date: Nov. 26
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham



On the surface, Australia seems to radiate quality and prestige. Sumptuous costumes? Check. Gorgeous candy-colored hues? Check. Epic war-time romance? Check. Sure-to-be-terrific performances? Well, maybe. Neither Kidman or Jackman look entirely comfortable, and just because the two hail from down under doesn't guarantee they'll have chemistry on screen. Luhrmann's previous films (Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!) have often leaned a little more toward style than substance. Despite that, the trailer proves there's plenty to be optimistic about. Extra points for the usage of Explosions in the Sky's atmospherically ambient song "The Only Moment We Were Alone."

Australian brothers make nervy, theatrical pop

There’s something unsettling about the way the voices of these Australian brothers wrap around each other—they’re urgent and insistent, with close, uncanny harmonies and disembodied sounds that conjure chilly moonscapes and nightmarish slumbers. As disturbing as it is artful, the group’s pristine melodies—all executed with architectural precision, beckon listeners to an alien place Pink Floyd only hinted at on A Saucerful of Secrets. But it’s worth the journey because mysteries are revealed, whether it’s in the arcane language of “Photographs” or in vocals that recall a young, pensive Robert Plant on the romantic obsession of “Desert Rose.” Occupying an unexpected niche between prog and pop, The Kin resurrect power ballads with the confidence of new initiates, not even caring that the art form has long been dead.

Listen to "Together" from Rise and Fall: