Australia!!!!!

OH. MAN.

I've been excited for this movie ever since I heard about it a few years ago. Just the mere mention of a slight possibility that Baz Luhrmann was going to make another film had me thrilled. Then it had to be a film with Nicole Kidman AND Hugh Jackman? Sounds like heaven to me:)

I had no idea what was in store.

Now, granted, in my opinion, Baz Luhrmann can do no wrong. However, I can still acknowledge the flaws and the shortcomings. I just don't let them bother me:) So despite my STRONG recommendation of this film, I don't want you to go into this expecting the greatest movie of your life.

Now...I have a lot of feelings and opinions and emotions tied to this film...but it will be difficult to convey all of them adequately and still be coherent. So in attempt for purity, I will forgo such trivialities as sentence structure and just type away.

We love Hugh Jackman. I saw this with my roommate Carrie and our friend Katja. Oh, and Noah. I mean, I remembered he came, but I don't really lump him into the "we" that loves Hugh Jackman. Noah just loves good movies. And boy-howdy. This was a good'un. At any rate, the movie opens with some cutesy narrated exposition and some great shots of the landscape and stuff. If I remember correctly, it took me a bit to really get hooked. I didn't really like any of the characters until I got to know them (for some odd reason...strange how that happens). But oh man. When Hugh Jackman first appears on screen, and I mean really really appears on screen, it is glorious. His face is obscured by the brim of his hat and we see more and more of his deliciously filthy mug as he slowly raises his eyes to meet the gaze of his opponent in the bar. Halleluja! Okay. Sidenote: I love this movie because it's incredible, not JUST because of Hugh Jackman. But he is still fantastic. Moving right along...this movie is absolutely epic. It encompasses a cattle drive and a war and a tumultuous romance and murder and intrigue and the bond of family ties and sweeping landscapes and beautiful countryside. I hardly even felt the nearly three hour length of the film. I was so engrossed in the story and in love with the characters that I felt their pain and shared in their joys. There was a good ten minute period where I was just bawling. It was fabulous:) And so intense! I wonder how it will fare after a second viewing, but I hope I find out really really soon.

I'm obsessed.

Anyways...I don't know that I have said or will say anything of merit that could do this film any justice. I loved the little Bazzy touches that were thrown in. There were several actors from his Red Curtain Trilogy, little camera movements and dramatizations so typical of Baz. I hope I notive more and more similarities the more I see it.

Again...I'm obsessed.

So anyways...what else is going on in my life? I've been listening to Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving, only interrupting to listen to Day and Age and the soundtrack to Once. As well as some other random stuff. By way of Christmas music, I highly recommend Diana Krall. She has a fantastic Christmas album full of soulful, jazzy, warm-your-soul favorites.



What movie and who said it?

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.