damianFooty Legends Preview
August 21st 2006 03:01
Time for some more shameless promotion and this week it’s the two comedies, Footy Legends and Kenny. Yeah, they’re both out in the cinemas already so it’s a bit late to pretend to do a preview but I don’t care, so there.
Footy Legends
Footy Legends is the first taxi off rank this week with it’s feel good, family-struggling-to-stay-together-by-playing-football storyline in which a group of mates get together to win a rugby league competition for the prize money. It’s a fairly unique film for a local production, being about sport, the working class and a positive look at the western suburbs of Sydney, and there has been a lot of good things said about the feel good atmosphere of the movie but it has been let down by it’s small budget and formulaic plot.
If you’re looking for reviews then there isn’t a lot of hate mail to be found about Footy Legends, including a good review from David Stratton of The Movie Show fame who usually doesn’t touch sport films with a long pointy stick. Unfortunately though the reviews, which aren’t negative per se, seem to ‘damn with faint praise’ as they say some good things, some bad things, and then just move onto the next movie for review. What this has lead to is some good comments on the characters and the heart of the movie (that seems to be the major high point- the characters are people you can care about) but then nothing much more, a situation no doubt the result of the films very formulaic plot that doesn’t add anything to the hundreds of sporting underdog films that have gone before it. Apparently it’s a good film, it just doesn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before.
Unhappily for the film the seen-it-all-before story, with its low budget and somewhat corny ‘inspiration’ theme, has lead to very low interest in the movie (regardless of all the publicity it got) and has witnessed a very lacklustre box office performance which has in turn meant that the word-of-mouth has often been fairly critical. Whether this is an actual reflection of the film is unclear but from listening to those who have seen it many showed up to the cinema expecting an Australian Whole Nine Yards and were really disappointed when they got what they paid for- Footy Legends.
Not having seen the film yet myself I cant comment too much (until tomorrow when I do see it) but one of my mates, a league tragic from BrisVegas, has said that it’s the best movie he’s seen in ages so if you’re a league fan, or just looking for a decent family focused flick that doesn’t involve some form of computer animated <insert character here> it could be well worth the look. Just remember that it is Australian and it doesn’t have Burt Reynolds in it.
Here are some of the best reviews that can be found on the web as well as some interesting interviews with the film’s director, young Australian of the year Khoa Do, who talks about the film, growing up in the western suburbs playing football, and trading off his Young Australian award to scab the free use of garbage trucks and a stadium full of extras they couldn’t afford.
Official Footy Legends site.
Courier Mail Interview
Sydney Morning Herald Review
At The Movies Review
Film clip Interview
Herald Sun Interview
Up next, some toilet humour with Kenny...
Footy Legends
Footy Legends is the first taxi off rank this week with it’s feel good, family-struggling-to-stay-together-by-playing-football storyline in which a group of mates get together to win a rugby league competition for the prize money. It’s a fairly unique film for a local production, being about sport, the working class and a positive look at the western suburbs of Sydney, and there has been a lot of good things said about the feel good atmosphere of the movie but it has been let down by it’s small budget and formulaic plot.
If you’re looking for reviews then there isn’t a lot of hate mail to be found about Footy Legends, including a good review from David Stratton of The Movie Show fame who usually doesn’t touch sport films with a long pointy stick. Unfortunately though the reviews, which aren’t negative per se, seem to ‘damn with faint praise’ as they say some good things, some bad things, and then just move onto the next movie for review. What this has lead to is some good comments on the characters and the heart of the movie (that seems to be the major high point- the characters are people you can care about) but then nothing much more, a situation no doubt the result of the films very formulaic plot that doesn’t add anything to the hundreds of sporting underdog films that have gone before it. Apparently it’s a good film, it just doesn’t say anything that hasn’t been said before.
Unhappily for the film the seen-it-all-before story, with its low budget and somewhat corny ‘inspiration’ theme, has lead to very low interest in the movie (regardless of all the publicity it got) and has witnessed a very lacklustre box office performance which has in turn meant that the word-of-mouth has often been fairly critical. Whether this is an actual reflection of the film is unclear but from listening to those who have seen it many showed up to the cinema expecting an Australian Whole Nine Yards and were really disappointed when they got what they paid for- Footy Legends.
Not having seen the film yet myself I cant comment too much (until tomorrow when I do see it) but one of my mates, a league tragic from BrisVegas, has said that it’s the best movie he’s seen in ages so if you’re a league fan, or just looking for a decent family focused flick that doesn’t involve some form of computer animated <insert character here> it could be well worth the look. Just remember that it is Australian and it doesn’t have Burt Reynolds in it.
Here are some of the best reviews that can be found on the web as well as some interesting interviews with the film’s director, young Australian of the year Khoa Do, who talks about the film, growing up in the western suburbs playing football, and trading off his Young Australian award to scab the free use of garbage trucks and a stadium full of extras they couldn’t afford.
Official Footy Legends site.
Courier Mail Interview
Sydney Morning Herald Review
At The Movies Review
Film clip Interview
Herald Sun Interview
Up next, some toilet humour with Kenny...
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Comment by Grant
I liked the subject and the sheer 'recognition factor' of seeing part of your real life on screen but in the end it was a badly made movie.
Good idea, bad movie- seems to be the story of most Australian comedies.