buddypatrick

Leading up to the release of Bogan Pride in 2008, there was a substantial effort of promoting the series. It was anticipated, it aired... then all went quiet. A few minutes into the first episode reveals why.

It misses the mark! It merely brushes upon the essence of bogan, which is for a while brilliantly showcased by the family home living room in which Sally-Anne Upton's character is chair bound. The kitsch collectables, the thrift shop furniture, and of course the wall of cheap ugly toys lovingly displayed truly nails the interior of a standard bogan home very well - all the main leads are obese, too, which is quite accurate; but what isn't realistic is Rebel Wilson's character being an A grade christian intellect. Bogans are typically severely unintelligent which is a huge contribution that makes them bogans - and they are often spiritually void, filling their sense of soulfulness with consumerism, Bundaberg rum, or football. So these aforementioned elements from the main characters don't really link up with the construct as to what an Australian bogan is which honeslty can be many things, but an well spoken grade A intelligent christian schoolgirl is not one of those things at all. I've lived in north Queensland. I absolutely know what a bogan is.

The show is also poorly written. Each episode features main characters somewhat stumbling around their script, never really achieving anything, and each character's subplot usually has no point whatsoever. The main plot of each episode doesn't have any substance to go by. This is just not entertaining! The musical aspect is also more cringe than funny, which are edited and coreographed incoherently; I wish I could say this added to the silliness but it just hurt my head. Speaking of the humour, there are indeed some laughs, and some clever jokes - - but overall, it flops, having little to no substance at all.

Sitting here in 2022 writing a review about Bogan Pride, it's without a doubt that the screenplay couldn't be pulled off today with it's derogatory portrayal of obesity, racial stereotypes, and the mentally disabled. Yes everyone now is too sensitive, but of course, the show certainly couldn't be made today with the condescending mockery of disabled people above all else, and that's honestly a good thing. Rebel and her family are a cast of overweight women making self depreciating jokes about their weight and eating issues and, well, who... honestly wants to see that...? It gets old, and quick. It does in 2022 and obviously did in 2008.

TLDR; Rebel Wilson is not funny.

A film that lacks any form of substance is going to get a very brief review from me. This is another found footage film, a genre which I totally disapprove of.

I can't even think of anything to say in a review as there really isn't anything to point out in the movie other than how crap it is. This movie is an hour and half of shaky camera work and screaming with all the actors arguing over the top of each other non stop. Its painfully frustrating.

Its unforgivably awful. Think of all the time, effort and money the cast and crew could have been investing into other recreational activities instead of giving birth to this frightful abomination of celluloid.

Why am I even reviewing this movie? Why am I giving it any more attention that I already did by falling into the trap of watching it!?

If you have never seen a single horror film in your entire life, then perhaps the Woman in Black is for you; however even the average film goer can identify this is tired, worn out, done-to-death story we've seen hundreds - - if not thousands - - of times before.

The story is simple. In the superstitious turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century, a solicitor/lawyer/whatever has business with a scary old house that local village people fear and believe to be haunted. It turns out the house is very much haunted by a ghost, a woman in black, who inflicts murder and grief upon the village folk because of her sons death at the house as Daniel Radcliffe's character discovers by snooping through desks and drawers whilst staying at the house. The plot escalates quickly, which leads one to believe a large portion of the script had been removed in the cutting room floor. Radcliffe's character catches on and becomes cluey all too soon into the story.

The only problem with this film that writes it off as a success is that it is so, so, so very unoriginal. I can't imagine how many times I've seen this type of story before; maybe I'm just neck deep into horror films but as previously suggested, even someone with the slightest idea of horror and thriller knows this textbook ghost story. There is nothing original about the film, which I could overlook if there were redeeming characteristics like a uniqueness in film making, musical composition or script writing but the Woman in Black falls flat in all aspects of this. Furthermore, the jump scares and attempt to create a sinister, spooky vibe are some what embarrassing.

With the overall film being taken into account, it isn't actually bad. The style is superb, with brilliant cinematography and quality acting (not so much on Radcliffe's behalf) and what I really liked about this movie is its location setting – the swampy causeway leading to Osea Island and the general countryside of Essex set a lovely and gloomy mood for the remaining hour and thirty minutes.

I would never recommend or even bring this title up in conversation, as I can think of plenty of other classic ghost story titles at the top of my head that are far more interesting than this brilliantly developed, but unforgivably run of the mill story.