The Snowtown Murders
0/4
Starring: Lukas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall
Not Rated (Probable R for Language, Some Strong Violence, and Sexual Content involving Molestation)
I watch movies to be told stories through images and sound. I want to get sucked into a compelling narrative filled with interesting people. I also want to be viewed with respect by the filmmakers. If I wanted to inflate someone's ego by looking at their crap, I'd go to the nearest museum of modern art.
Either someone didn't tell Justin Kurzel making a movie isn't a testament to his ego, or people actually like watching pretentious puke like this. Surprisingly, Roger Ebert loved this movie (he gave it a 3.5/4). He might have been the only one.
This is a movie where the director mistakes blank looks for deep thought, and thinks he can make jumping on the trampoline artistic. If the film wasn't so deadly dull, I'd be laughing at what a clown Kurzel is. If I want to see a movie about a serial killer (or killers, in this case), I want darkness and suspense, not ego-stroking. The scariest scene in this movie is when a snake makes a meal out of a dead mouse. Gripping stuff, huh?
What can I say about the plot? Not much, since it's almost completely incoherent. Either Kurzel is trying to make "Memento" Part 2 (and failing miserably), or his editor was actively trying to sabotage the movie. Perhaps both. On paper, it's a telling of The Snowtown Murders (hence the title), where John Bunting and his accomplices murdered 11 men and one woman. In reality, it's an ego-trip of pointless conversations and bad storytelling.
There is a big difference between reality and movies, and that's the way audiences want it. Is "The Lord of the Rings" meant to resemble real life? Of course not. It's a fantasy, just like every other movie. I don't know about you, but I watch movies to escape reality, not pursue it. Meaning, I want to avoid small talk that doesn't hold any meaning for anyone except the characters. Most of the time during this movie, the characters talk and talk about nothing. It's meant to be hyper-realistic, which would be a good effect if there was any point to it all. But there isn't.
Apparently, Justin Kurzel loves eating as much as Michael Bay loves explosions. The reason I can safely assume that is because in half the scenes in this movie, some or many people are eating. That wouldn't be anything more than a repetitive oddity if Kurzel didn't insist on blaring all the gross sounds from it. Seriously, he picks up every chew, clink of china and slosh of saliva. What was he thinking?
There's not much I can say about the acting. Except for Daniel Henshall (who shows some ability but no charisma, which is apparently Bunting's main reason he had such success) and one other actor playing a bit part, all are non-professional actors from Snowtown. The background characters (like the dinner party) are successful in the way they seem straight out of reality. But that's not something that has a place in movies. It feels off putting. Lukas Pittaway is not very good. Kurzel places a lot of emphasis on his facial acting, but it's not something that he excels at. When he's supposed to have buried anger or pain, he simply wears a blank look on his face.
With movies like "The Rover," "The Square" and "Animal Kingdom," I'm about to write off every Austrialian "thriller" as something to avoid (at least "Acolytes" was easy to make fun of). They've all been dull at best and wretched at worst. "The Snowtown Murders" is just another reason to give them a wide berth.
Starring: Lukas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall
Not Rated (Probable R for Language, Some Strong Violence, and Sexual Content involving Molestation)
I watch movies to be told stories through images and sound. I want to get sucked into a compelling narrative filled with interesting people. I also want to be viewed with respect by the filmmakers. If I wanted to inflate someone's ego by looking at their crap, I'd go to the nearest museum of modern art.
Either someone didn't tell Justin Kurzel making a movie isn't a testament to his ego, or people actually like watching pretentious puke like this. Surprisingly, Roger Ebert loved this movie (he gave it a 3.5/4). He might have been the only one.
This is a movie where the director mistakes blank looks for deep thought, and thinks he can make jumping on the trampoline artistic. If the film wasn't so deadly dull, I'd be laughing at what a clown Kurzel is. If I want to see a movie about a serial killer (or killers, in this case), I want darkness and suspense, not ego-stroking. The scariest scene in this movie is when a snake makes a meal out of a dead mouse. Gripping stuff, huh?
What can I say about the plot? Not much, since it's almost completely incoherent. Either Kurzel is trying to make "Memento" Part 2 (and failing miserably), or his editor was actively trying to sabotage the movie. Perhaps both. On paper, it's a telling of The Snowtown Murders (hence the title), where John Bunting and his accomplices murdered 11 men and one woman. In reality, it's an ego-trip of pointless conversations and bad storytelling.
There is a big difference between reality and movies, and that's the way audiences want it. Is "The Lord of the Rings" meant to resemble real life? Of course not. It's a fantasy, just like every other movie. I don't know about you, but I watch movies to escape reality, not pursue it. Meaning, I want to avoid small talk that doesn't hold any meaning for anyone except the characters. Most of the time during this movie, the characters talk and talk about nothing. It's meant to be hyper-realistic, which would be a good effect if there was any point to it all. But there isn't.
Apparently, Justin Kurzel loves eating as much as Michael Bay loves explosions. The reason I can safely assume that is because in half the scenes in this movie, some or many people are eating. That wouldn't be anything more than a repetitive oddity if Kurzel didn't insist on blaring all the gross sounds from it. Seriously, he picks up every chew, clink of china and slosh of saliva. What was he thinking?
There's not much I can say about the acting. Except for Daniel Henshall (who shows some ability but no charisma, which is apparently Bunting's main reason he had such success) and one other actor playing a bit part, all are non-professional actors from Snowtown. The background characters (like the dinner party) are successful in the way they seem straight out of reality. But that's not something that has a place in movies. It feels off putting. Lukas Pittaway is not very good. Kurzel places a lot of emphasis on his facial acting, but it's not something that he excels at. When he's supposed to have buried anger or pain, he simply wears a blank look on his face.
With movies like "The Rover," "The Square" and "Animal Kingdom," I'm about to write off every Austrialian "thriller" as something to avoid (at least "Acolytes" was easy to make fun of). They've all been dull at best and wretched at worst. "The Snowtown Murders" is just another reason to give them a wide berth.
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