Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!
https://en.wikipedia...of_Ozploitation!
A documentary about the low-budget B grade Australian movies of the 70s and 80s. Being quite into movies, I was surprised at how rich Australian cinema was, and how little I knew about these movies. This documentary got off the ground partly due to and stars Quentin Tarantino, a fan of "ozploitation". As this shows you an overview of the more famous titles, you can see where Tarantino has drawn inspiration from. The majority of this documentary goes through the timeline of better known ozploitation films and interviews the actors. Their stories of reckless stunts, hostile filming locations and crazy story lines are quite entertaining. This was a great trip back in time to see what Australian film used to be. I've already added a few movies to my list after watching this. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys Tarantino style films.
Paths of Glory
https://en.wikipedia.../Paths_of_Glory
Another early Stanley Kubrick film, this time set during World War I, focusing on battle between the French and German army. Without ruining too much, it's nearing the end of WWI and each army has boarded up their trenches, so very little land has been gained by either side in a very long time. A General from the French army accepts a suicide mission to take a key location from the Germans to gain a promotion. It's estimated that 50% of the French troops will be killed, but the General merely sees this as statistics. When the attack goes ahead and it turns into a blood bath, the General order the artillery to fire on his own men or not leaving the trenches. Losing the battle, the General wants to execute some of the men to send a message. The rest of the movie is about a handful of men on death row, and their attempt for justice. I'm sure a premise such as this was far more relatable during the 50s, soon after the war. I guess we're all lucky to not have to live through such times, where human life was so invaluable, even within armed forces. If you're not into older movies, this might be a tedious watch, but powerful nonetheless.
La Haine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Haine
A French movie I've had on my list for a very long time. The title translates to "Hate" and follows 3 young men over a 24 hour period during civil unrest in France. The town they live in has turned into a police state, where walking down the street can turn into unprovoked interrogation and arrest. The 3 men, who have no jobs or clear future, navigate their city, running into drug dealers, Nazis, corrupt police and others similar to them trying to kill time. This is one of those movies where it sets up the premise quick and fast, so you're waiting for the main story to kick in, but it never does. The men don't do much other that get into arguments every 5 minutes with either each other or strangers. This is very highly rated, so maybe I'm not getting the French references or know about their civil war. People have said it gets better on repeat viewings though. For all the hype, I thought this was a bit average.