Australian and New Zealand Films
The Power of Falun Gong: a timid presentation of a dangerous and deranged fascist cult
“The Power of Falun Gong” (Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 21 July 2020) Purporting to
The False Tale of Killing Osama bin Laden: duping the public with fake news for political gain
Carlton Meyer, “The False Tale of Killing Osama bin Laden” (Tales of the American Empire,
Azarkant: a good-looking sci-fi piece short on plot and character
Andrey Klimov, “Azarkant” (2013) Made as a proof-of-concept piece for a film, “Azarkant” understandably is
Protecting the American Opium Empire: opium as a tool and fuel for US imperialism
Carlton Meyer, “Protecting the American Opium Empire” (Tales of the American Empire, 9 July 2020)
Australian and New Zealand Films | Chinese and Chinese-language Films
The Secret Armada: North Korean ghost ship phenomenon covered in a superficial way
“The Secret Armada” (Foreign Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 14 July 2020) Despite the spine-tingling thrill
Australian and New Zealand Films
The Silver Brumby: a subdued and unexciting film of human greed and obsession
John Tatoulis, “The Silver Brumby” (1993) Notable mainly for featuring a very young Russell Crowe
Lab Rat: an investigation into what it means to be human
Nour Wazzi, “Lab Rat” (2019) Initially the plot seems familiar to the point of banality:
Eve: choosing between freedom, compassion and responsibility makes an android more human than humans
Josh Bowman, “Eve” (2019) A character-driven sci-fi story with good acting and a strong visual
Satori [Awakening]: post-apocalypse film very much asleep under character stereotypes and a boring plot
Adam K Batchelor, “Satori [Awakening]” (2020) An original and ambitious idea of an Earth re-engineered
End of Decay: pulpy body-horror adaptation of Frankenstein story
Christopher Todd, “End of Decay” (2017) A pulpy body-horror update on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or,