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May 21, 2024, 03:10:07 AM  | The Dish (2000/Australia) IMDb | Wikipedia
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Stars:
Sam Neill as Cliff
Billy Mitchell as Cameron
Roz Hammond as Miss Nolan
Christopher-Robin Street as Damien
Luke Keltie as Graeme
Plot:
July 1969. Apollo 11's astronauts will walk on the moon - and a huge satellite dish outside a sheep-farming Australian town has been chosen to beam the live footage globally.
The whole world is depending on scientist Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill - 'Jurassic Park'), who must steer the eccentric crew who man the telescope through a sea of mishaps and disasters that threatens to spoil the small town's finest hour. Watching over them is a by-the-book NASA representative who can't quite understand their quirky working methods. A comical culture clash erupts in this effortlessly funny tale of how history's biggest televised event was almost cancelled.
'The Dish' is a warm-hearted and quick-witted comedy based on a true story of what we didn't see.
Extras:
- "The Hidden Dish"
- Commentary
- Featurettes
- Interviews
- NASA Archive Footage
- Photo Gallery
- Production Notes
- Radio Spot
- Scene Access
- Storyboard Comparisons
- Trailers
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed it. Though I have to admit, that I enjoyed watching the NASA archive footage (over an hour of it is available in the special features section) more 
I thought that Patrick Warburton was a strange choice for his role here. I enjoyed watching him, but he comes across as one of his usual dimwitted characters even though his character here is actually rather smart. This contrast was quite funny.
Rating:
(From 2010 December Marathon - Discussion thread on December 5th, 2010)
Member's Reviews
Rescue Dawn, a review by KinkyCyborg
Title:Rescue Dawn
Year: 2007
Director: Werner Herzog
Rating: PG-13
Length: 125 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Stars:
Zach Grenier
Marshall Bell (1945)
Christian Bale
Toby Huss
Pat Healy
Plot:
In 1965, an American pilot on a top-secret bombing mission was shot down over Laos and taken to a hellish prison camp deep in the impenetrable jungle of Vietnam. What followed was one of the most remarkable and harrowing experiences of the entire Vietnam War. Inspired by the true story of Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and written and directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog, Rescue Dawn is an uncanny tale of camaraderie and betrayal, courage in the face of despair, and triumph over tragedy. It stands as a true testament to the impossible boundaries of the human condition and the invincibility of the American spirit.
Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Feature Trailers
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Gallery
Closed Captioned
My Thoughts:
This one was my pick and it has been one I've been waiting to see for some time as I am always drawn to the military movies.
Well done true story of Dieter Dengler, bomber pilot who was shot down during a Black Op run before the Vietnam conflict officially became a war.
I was a bit surprised at the lack of torture and degradation so common in P.O.W. movies... in fact I thought the prisoners were treated not too badly as compared to other similar stories, although there was no question they were starving and suffering from severe mental trauma. Dengler, if he was depicted correctly, seemed to have a few screws loose even before he was captured which in a way I believe made his escape possible.
An interesting turn for Steven Zahn who usually plays the likable clown in comedies... he was quite good in this, playing well a man grasping at the last strands of his sanity.
Christian Bale is a bit of an enigma for me. I gain more respect for him as an actor with every movie of his I watch and yet for some in explicable reason I find him creepy.
Can't quite put my finger on why... but I've felt that way about him since the first movie of his I watched right up to Rescue Dawn. KC
Rating:
(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on July 30th, 2010)
Member's TV Reviews
"In The Beginning" TV Pilot Marathon, a review by Rogmeister
Roger's "In The Beginning" TV Pilot Marathon
I've enjoyed reading the other TV Pilot marathons so I basically have decided to start my own...so here we go...
Everybody Loves Raymond
This popular sitcom starred Ray Romano as a married sportswriter with 3 children and his relationships with his parents and brother who live across the street from him and who constantly drop by uninvited. This obviously infuriates his otherwise understanding wife (Patricia Heaton). Ray's parents are played by Doris Roberts and Peter Boyle and his brother is played by Brad Garrett.
Today I watched the pilot to this series twice...listening to the audio commentary featuring Ray Romano and creator/writer Phil Rosenthal. The plotline from the pilot could pretty much be any episode...it introduces the characters and we have a simple story of Ray's wife Deborah wanting to spend her birthday without Ray's always present parents showing up so Ray lies to his mother and tells them he's taking her away. So they show up anyway as Ray is hiding in the house with his wife (unaware of his lie). There's also a funny bit where Marie is very upset when Ray gives her a "Fruit of the Month" club...what's she going to do with 12 pears? And there's more fruit coming next month??? And his dad Frank has again cracked their phone-answering machine code and is listening to their phone messages. A funny first episode to a series that would wind up lasting nine years.
The audio commentary is informative, telling us about the changes such as recasting the twin boys, the changes to the set and how Brad Garrett wound up losing something like 50 pounds around the time of the 3rd season.
(From "In The Beginning" TV Pilot Marathon on October 25th, 2009)