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Articles by Angus Murray
Third year will erase rural medicine
LetterLetters Canadian Family Physician 69 (5) 308-309; DOI: https://doi.org/10.46747/cfp.6905308_1 My comment is about Dr Loh’s January column.1 We have seen over the past 30 years the effect of lengthier training on primary care access—primary care access is diminished and patients flock to emergency departments for primary care.
Realising Australia’s Quantum Potential - AIIA
Quantum technology represents a major opportunity for Australian research and strategic interests. Continuing collaboration with trusted partners – especially the US – is necessary to share in investments, build strategic capability, and realise the benefits of quantum.
My Spy (2020) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The plot runs into the ground after the first bullet is fired." Arnie was the first. In the days before muscles mattered more than style a stint at drama school was essential to the CV of a budding actor. What Sly Stallone did with Rocky was exceptional but he was from Hell's Kitchen, New York, one generation away from Italy. Schwarzenegger was an Austrian bodybuilder who became the most successful movie star of his generation, not unlike Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) today.
Misbehaviour (2020) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Apart from the women/cattle cliche it is difficult to tell where the dagger of disapproval is directed." Before Harvey Weinstein's conviction in New York of single-minded indulgence of a sexual nature with younger actresses and almost anyone who moved and #MeToo, sweeping the sensibility of ladies worldwide, beauty contests were seen as frivolous fun, masquerading as the glorification of the female form, a living breathing tribute to what artists had been doing for centuries.
Richard Jewell (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The pace is well controlled and never too breathless to lose direction." | Photo: Warner Bros Clint is back. Not in front of the camera this time. The guy's a breath away from 90 years old. Do you care? You should. He has directed a film, based on a real event - aren't they all these days? - about a fat middle-aged security guard with the charisma of a tree frog who discovers a bomb at the Atlanta Olympics and saves God knows how many lives.
The Personal History Of David Copperfield
"It would be difficult to find anything but goodness in Copperfield's personal history and a delight in the way things turn and turn again." | Photo: Courtesy of London Film Festival It seems weird if not wonderful that Glaswegian satirist, Armando Iannucci (The Thick Of It. Veep, In The Loop, The Death Of Stalin) should aim his arrows of discontent at Charles D's best loved novel and do it at such a pace no one has time to squeal.
Uncut Gems (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Adam Sandler has always been a contender. Sexy and fun for some. Sandpaper for others." | Photo: Netflix Comedy is personal, When a stand up falls down on stage it hurts the audience as much. There's no pleasure in that. They call it The Marmite Syndrome. What they mean is there's no middle ground. Either you love the stuff or you hate it. Same with comedians, Laugh till you drop, or drop till you laugh. Adam Sandler has always been a contender. Sexy and fun for some. Sandpaper for others.
Just Mercy (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Director Destin Daniel Cretton takes it at the right pace and avoids made-to-measure emotional hooks." | Photo: Warner Bros Whatever you say. Whatever you think when you are told, like I am telling you now, that this is about racism in Alabama a decade ago, maybe more, although the distance in time is less imposing than the power of prejudice, ingrained or otherwise. You've been here before. Or so you believe.You're wrong. You say, "I saw Mississippi Burning when it came out.
Jumanji: The Next Level
"Later, when you're explaining to someone who pretends to be listening what The Next Level is about, you've forgotten and realise that it's about the characters, the personality of the actors, doing what you like best about them." | Photo: Sony Entertainment The thing about levels is that they keep moving until the money runs out. What's difficult is to decorate them so that you remember where you are.
Motherless Brooklyn
"Edward Norton has taken risks all down the line and proves himself capable of unquestionable courage in storytelling." Every shriek and dump of criticism from other reviewers have been screwed down already inside this movie's coffin, such as its (alleged) Chinatown imitation, too long by miles, confusion and irritation because who knows what the hell is going on? A Fifties carbon of New York's political intrigue and corruption among power brokers and law enforcement officers?
Meeting Gorbachev
"Herzog's film does not follow the documentary conventions - would you expect anything different from him?" About time, you blink, a doc about Gorby, especially now in Trump County, where politics lacks any kind of moral justification and twisted untruths litter the airwaves like plastic ducks on David Attenborough’s goldfish pond. Europe lingers in the waiting room. Washington has lost the key to the care cupboard.
The Aeronauts (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The film blushes with good intentions and yet cannot fulfil its ultimate promise of discovering strength in originality." | Photo: Amazon Studios You don’t have to be a non-believer to question The Aeronauts, but it helps. They say it is based on a true story (who are they?). It happened. Really? 1862. London. The hero is a woman. There is another. A man. Both beautiful people. They go up in a hot air balloon and break records for the distance above solid.
The Day Shall Come
"When satire bites it draws blood. This one leaks fizzy water that’s gone flat." | Photo: IFC Films When satire bites it draws blood. This one leaks fizzy water that’s gone flat. Writer/director Chris Morris is Bristol born and bred. What’s he doing in Miami? Deflecting the effluence from the FBI? It’s a mystery not worth solving. The plot is boring and incomprehensible that hits the ground limping. The family of a preacher is threatened with eviction from a lowlife district on the edge of town.
Pavarotti (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The honesty and decency of his character never forces the narrative into areas of embarrassment." | Photo: EntertainmentOne Son of a baker Luciano became "a legend in his lifetime" which is easier to say than re-enact. Ron Howard's affectionate documentary explains in passing that "he didn't plan things" meaning success fell into his lap like leaves from a late summer storm. What he had was a natural talent and a belief in fate's generosity.
Stuber (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The plot is by numbers and has no sense of involvement." | Photo: 20th Century Fox Following the fashion for wrestling heavyweights to make the leap to movie stardom like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who was rumoured to be the highest paid action star on the Hollywood firmament, meet Dave Bautista, son of a Filipino hairdresser in Washington, DC, who fought as The Animal to the heights of his profession before injuring himself and giving acting a go.
Ma (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Spencer is good enough to hold the film together single-handed, if there is enough to hold." Teenage horror can’t be trusted with innocence. Like a vamp’s lust for swollen veins, serial killers find it difficult to control their needs. This time it’s different. Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer) wants to make friends. She’s middling in age and black, not that her colour should matter but it sort of does.
Godzilla: King Of The Monsters
"The plot rots in its own historical juices." | Photo: © 2019 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. AND LEGENDARY PICTURES PRODUCTIONS, LLC Monsters are so in they’re out. The God-like Zillage was born in Japan, hung out in New York a few times, had a bunch of babies and scared the livings out of Mr and Mrs Normal and their American friends. The creature represented old fashioned shock and roar in those glory days before CGI cleaned up the universe and animation became sophisticated in a good way.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile
"By avoiding serial cliches, director Joe Berlinger touches on a different level of revelation." | Photo: Brian Douglas The fascination with serial killers goes on. Why do they do it? Why does anyone do anything? You can follow this train of thought all the way to the station. Then what? Then nothing. At the end of this movie they list the names of Ted Bundy’s victims. There are so many you can hardly believe it, or why it took the authorities so long to catch him.
Long Shot (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The politics are basic if not base and do not fulfil a rich man’s lunch hour." | Photo: Lionsgate In the tradition of Veep and other Washington DC satires along comes the most unlikely pol-com from The Book of The Absurd, involving Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, as Secretary of State and a left-leaning alternative journalist who loses his job when a right wing publisher takes control. He believes in saving the world from climate change.
The Curse Of La Llorona
"The complexity of this multigenerational chiller is difficult to follow and sinks into the darkness of the waves." | Photo: Warner Bros Why is a curse more frightening than a haunting? Why is a hat warmer than a slap on the face? Why are these questions absurd? The answers are don’t care, don’t know and don’t be so annoying. In 1700-and-something a mother drowns her children and later herself. It happens in Mexico.
Tolkien (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The family built barriers to stop Hollywood intrusion into the private life of JRR, their famous son, which ironically makes for a better film." | Photo: Fox Searchlight The Lord Of The Rings exposed! For reasons that may not be obvious this does not happen. The family built barriers to stop Hollywood intrusion into the private life of JRR, their famous son, which ironically makes for a better film.
Red Joan (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The film succeeds in creating an objective understanding of how fashion changes and an act of generosity becomes treasonable a few generations down the line." | Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Was it Ian Fleming or John le Carre who made spies sexy? Doesn’t matter because they’re not. Le Carre’s real name is Cornwell (David). He was a master at Eton College before being recruited by MI5.
Greta (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The plot plays with the concept of friendship as a precious gift, or a perversion of captivity." | Photo: Courtesy of Toronto Film Festival Wherever you look, she’s there. Wherever you walk, she’s behind you. Whenever you go to sleep, you wonder who will be sitting beside you when you awake. The fear of the stalker is psychological. Distance has never been safer. Friendship is too close. “I’m like chewing gum,” Greta says. “I stick around.” Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz) recently lost her mother.
Eighth Grade (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The movie hangs loose on your bones." | Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival The teenage dilemma is to be seen and heard, not lost and ignored.
Shazam! (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"What’s missing is a plot." What is it about supers? Better looking? Not always. Witty? Steady on! Iron Man was played by Robert Downey Jr, which is a bit of a cheat because he can find jokes in a bag of sick. What is heroic about a bloke who has powers that far exceed his pay grade? There comes a moment in the genre-flinging game when you make the effort and ask difficult questions. The answers don’t come easy, if at all. In this world we call real, fantasy rules. Or wrecks.
Pet Sematary (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The directors, Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer, avoid horror comic cliches. In fact, they avoid cliches altogether." | Photo: © Kerry Hayes/2018 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved. Stephen King doesn’t touch base with soft hands. Something as charming as a graveyard in the woods for your beloved pet is too sweet for the man who wrote Carrie and The Shining. There has to be a hook, barbed, and there is.
Wonder Park (2019) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Attempting the fusion of psychological damage with cartoon sentimentality results in a mixture of what might have been and what doesn’t work any more." Little ones respond to clarity like a chocolate flake in a vanilla cone. Complex storylines fuddle and muddle understanding to the point of screaming with the abdabs. June is a girl who believes she has a mission in life, to make Wonderland real without wrecking the neighborhood.
The Vanishing (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The film takes time to gather pace and discover its true direction. Once there, the story takes hold and won’t let go." | Photo: Saban Films Based upon a song or a poem or something unexpectedly rare, what happened on the remote Flannan Isles at a lighthouse or outside in the skulking rain remains a mystery, not in the same league as The Marie Celeste but pregnant with possibility. Give the writers a rope and they will hang you in slow motion.
Ben Is Back (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The subject is important and relevant and Peter Hedges avoids the obvious pitfalls with a skilful, honest approach." Ben (Lucas Hedges, son of writer/director Peter) turns up at home in time for Christmas. He should be in rehab. Still teenage (just) he is well versed in the tricks of the trade.
Everybody Knows (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The uncertainty is like a necklace of seaweed, tighter than a noose." | Photo: Memento Laura (Penelope Cruz) lives in Buenos Aires with her husband and teenage children. When her sister in Spain announces her forthcoming marriage, they decide to attend the ceremony. It’s a big trip for the family and for Laura a step back in time. Nostalgia, with its painful memories and missed opportunities, hardly makes a meal.
Fisherman's Friends
"Why something so English, which includes actors of David Hayman’s quality, despite the Scottish accent, appears rudderless is difficult to justify." This middle-of-the-road feelgood Based On community comedy/drama that is neither funny nor exciting has a title which suggests sweeties of the stronger variety, mint flavour, and old fashioned tradition as a bulwark against modernism, the village pub being the centre of what we love about the way things are and should be forever if someone can...
Scotch - A Golden Dram
"Scotch may be a talking heads production but it is made with a genuine feeling for the subject and a sense of responsibility that never settles comfortably into the safely of cliche." A documentary about Scotland’s favourite tipple hits the barrier marked DON’T and there’s nothing you can do but grin and bear it. When someone tells you it was made by a Californian who lives in Taiwan, the word TORTURE comes to mind.
Fighting With My Family
"What comes across more than anything is how the American way dominates." | Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival Families find any excuse to beat the livings out of each other. The fighting in this case is professional, not that it hurts any less, and the family is what they call working-class Norwich, serious about living dangerously, especially in the wrestling ring and behind bars for some.
On The Basis Of Sex
"What could have been preachy is fascinating." The title reads like a come on. What’s sex got to do with it? Ignore the insinuation. This isn’t about rumpy, nor pumpy. It’s about gender discrimination in the US legal system in the Fifties. Dry? Stop coughing. That’s only surface dust.
A Private War (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Heineman’s docu-style fits perfectly into the look and sound of things." | Photo: Altitude What is it about violence and death that fascinates people? They are not involved (yet). They have escaped (for the moment). They read about it in the paper. Who wrote the piece in the paper? Who wants to put their life in mortal danger again and again for the sake of a story? What makes a war correspondent? What unmakes one?
The Mule (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The director (Clint) takes it easy, letting the actors walk through their roles in style." First there was The Sundance Kid in The Old Man And The Gun and now it’s The Mule with The Man With No Name. They have signed off, or so they say. Tears have been shed and wiped dry. Clint Eastwood is over 80, still looking good and moving well. If this is his farewell production it fits neatly into the bucket of fade where hopes and dreams dissolve.
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
"McCarthy is a revelation." There comes a moment in every comedian’s career when they are offered a straight role and they think about it for as long as it takes to skim read the script. If they take the risk sometimes a bit of magic breaks off and lands in the lap of the audience. It happens here with the queen of bad taste, Melissa McCarthy. Ever since Bridesmaids, or before if you can remember that far, she has played difficult women who say what they think and do what they want.
Vice (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Christian Bale is unrecognisable in the role, but he’s good at that." Before The Donald there was Dubya, the youngest and least likely of the Bush babes who ended up to everyone’s surprise and bewilderment as the top jock. How this happened, how it was allowed to happen, is another story. This one is about Dick Cheney, the man no one knew a heck of a lot about until they found out a bit and it was kinda scary.
Beautiful Boy (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The performances are a tribute to a screenplay that avoids the worst indulgences of the urban jungle." | Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Drug addiction among teenagers comes in multi-coloured boxes. Take your pick. Beautiful Boy is based on books, written by 19-year-old Nic and his dad David from a white middle class sophisticated, intelligent New York home where this kind of stuff is not supposed to happen. It doesn’t run so smoothly, as you might suspect.
The Front Runner
"The film stands back, doesn’t take sides. As a political thriller it stays out of politics. As a human drama it rocks to a gentle rhythm." | Photo: Sony Pictures Names come filtering through the smog of memory - JFK, The Comeback Kid and now this guy, Kevin Hart. His was the face to watch during training days for the presidential race in 1988.
Mary Queen Of Scots
"Robbie plays Elizabeth with a pursed lip and the promise of stability in her stern demeanour, leaving the not-so-gentle men confused and alert for change." | Photo: Focus Features It’s the end of the 16th century. What can you expect from a nation like Scotland? Moorland and more land, heather and gorse, horses ridden across empty spaces.A young lady leaves the privilege of the French court. To lead a revolution? A what? A something less than other perhaps.
Stan & Ollie (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The performances by Steve Coogan (Stan) and John C Reilly (Ollie) are above and beyond the call of duty. They give the film heart." | Photo: Entertainment One Closing the door after the horse has died makes a nonsense of expectation.
The Favourite (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"The film is intelligent without being soft." | Photo: Courtesy of New York Film Festival Internal politics. Regal. This seems to be the way it’s going. After the success of The Crown who’s next? Going back to the beginning of the 18th century, an ailing Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) is top bitch in The Ken. Her friend, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz), married to Marborough, who spends his time fighting the French, hangs around the court and looks after business.
Bumblebee (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
"Here comes E.T: The Reboot, disguised as a rom-com." Out in the gutter space of Michael Bay’s mind where robots rule and Transformers are conceived there’s a war going on. Optimus Prime, the head honcho of Cyberton, thinks the time might be right to find a safer home base. He chooses Earth because it’s half hidden by growing green stuff (don’t ask how or why) and so sends a couple of trusted bots to check it out.
The Modern Slavery Act: Did Australia get it Right? - AIIA
Despite having a robust body of laws to deal with trafficking, slavery-like conditions and labour exploitation, Australia was quick to import the ‘modern slavery’ legislative model from the UK. Did we get it right? Australia has a relatively robust set of laws to address issues of labour exploitation, trafficking and slavery-like conditions suffered by an estimated 4,300 people in Australia (although I am generally sceptical about trafficking-related estimates).
A World Without Privacy - AIIA - Australian Institute of International Affairs
Australia needs to play a strong role in the international privacy crisis. Privacy is not trivial. It is a right that is clearly enshrined in international law because it is essential to human dignity and fundamentally important to the maintenance of democratic societies. Privacy gives us the freedom to define ourselves and our relations with others. It is necessary for the development of dissent or alternative viewpoints and the creation of individual identities.
The Nun (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
It's getting harder to scare people. Where's the fear? The Nun is a collection of trailers stuck together. The concept might have sounded plausible when pitching to the money guys in Hollywood but once the light turned green and the special effects crew took over the plot suffered a bad reaction from Overkill, a dangerous drug that upsets the balance between common and sense.
King Of Thieves (2018) Movie Review from Eye for Film
As well as being a natural for the big screen the story is based on real events. What movie producer could resist five old lags and a young 'un, who knows about computers, pulling off "the largest burglary in English legal history"? The cast picks itself. "Blow the bloody doors off" is in charge - for a while at least before the others start bitching. What about the others?
Redoubtable (2017) DVD Review from Eye for Film
As the final credits roll behind them, the director and three of the leading actors troop on stage to applause from the unseen audience. There is a mutual admiration vibe in the air which anticipates nothing interesting will come of this. They are asked questions about the style of the Sixties and how much they studied it from Godard's movies and even (embarrassed admission) Truffaut's. The answer is ambivalent. Michel Hazanavicius makes jokes about his bad English.
American Animals
The gang. The plan. The heist. The getaway. It's clever. You like clever. It's what makes this stuff interesting. OK, what's next? The going wrong. The cops. The chaos. The fear. Take a solid. Take a breath. What if... this isn't a Based On movie. This is something so cool it makes you shiver. It's not a doc. It's a droc.
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