Reviews

Maybe I had low expectations after reading the other reviews here, but I found Cold Creek Manor to be an enjoyable couple of hours.

It was nowhere near as bad as most of the other reviews suggest. I turn trashy movies off after five minutes, but I was watching this with interest right to the last scene.

Sure it was formulaic and no masterpiece, but the acting was fine and the story was interesting enough.

The mood of the movie was perfect for watching at home on a cold winter's night.

Worth a look.

Though a part of this movie is simply Braveheart meets Young Guns, it is a surprisingly strong and moving film, even for one who had to rote learn bushranger history at school for far too many years.

Heath Ledger is perfect as Ned Kelly, and his transition to outlaw, both in appearance and character, is very well done. The other members of the Kelly Gang are also good, though it is their youth, more than their acting, that really helps the story to hit home.

There were maybe a couple too many National Geographic nature shots, but you do end up with a deep sense of the environment that helped to shape Kelly. And the tacked on love interest is bearable, mainly due to a good performance by Naomi Watts.

Overall, a good, understated movie, touched by Hollywood, but fortunately not overwhelmed, and definitely worth seeing.

Maybe it's his age, maybe it's all the money and houses he keeps talking about, or maybe it's just badly produced, but you really get the feeling Billy Connolly's heart is not in this series.

The clips from the shows are as funny as ever - Billy seems to be getting even better with time in this regard.

But the genuine love of Scotland and Australia that shone through in those previous World Tours is sadly missing. Many of the highlights are dubious, skipped over quickly or seem out of place. Trying to combine 3 very distinctive countries into a unified series was always going to be a challenge though.

The worst moment - Billy's excruciating discussion with the painter of the homeless: "I'm not driven by money or ambition... I do have a castle in Scotland and a mansion in LA though!"

The first half hour of Bowling for Columbine is great, combining brilliant humour with tragedy. The policeman's comments on the hunting dog are hilarious. But after that, Moore gets a bit lost, going off on multiple tangents, resulting in a confused and overlong documentary.

He spends a considerable time in Canada, with his conclusion that it is not the level of gun ownership, but American society that is the problem. OK, but then he finishes the movie attacking Charlton Heston, who holds the identical view - that it isn't guns that are the problem. Confused?

My main problem though is the lack of objectivity in the documentary. I hate right-wing bias, but left-wing bias is no better. The idea that you can mount an argument using the comments or actions of just a few people in an entire country (e.g the kids in Canada, or the unlocked doors segment) is ludicrous.

The 'black armband' view of history, as seen in the cartoon of America's history, is also far overdone. The USA has done a lot of terrible things, but it's achievements in terms of general world peace and liberty deserve at least a couple of seconds of screen time.

Despite all this, the movie is very thought provoking, and the achievement of getting Kmart to stop selling ammunition is worth the price of admission alone.