Posts by philipmatthews
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You are forgetting about Black Sheep and Second Hand Wedding, which were a giggle or two. The problem is to do with distribution, publicity budgets + the fact that all our major film distributors/exhibitors are overseas owned, with no particular loyalty to local film.
But both those films did really good box office here and got a lot of media attention. The Topp Twins film also. Right now, you're seeing Home By Christmas -- not a comedy -- get more media coverage, especially vital television like Close-Up, than any comparable international film. I don't think promotion and publicity is much of a problem anymore. Remember how much Under the Mountain got? And The Vintner's Luck? That the latter tanked wasn't to do with no one knowing about it.
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The past decade has been particularly bad.
Won't argue with that. I thought the 90s/early 00s was really bad for comedy -- those ones like Chicken, Toy Love, I'll Make You Happy, Via Satellite. The Film Commission was trying too hard.
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Sione's Wedding
And prior to that, probably Footrot Flats: The Movie was the biggest-grossing comedy. I don't think NZ film's comedy record has been that dismal: the first three Peter Jackson movies were comedies, Came a Hot Friday back in the 80s, even Goodbye Pork Pie can be taken as a comedy. And that was huge at the time. That whole Blerta/Geoff Murphy vein was very comedy based.
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But I just found rather refreshing to see a film full of Maori who aren't patched wife beaters and victims of colonialist/neo-liberal opression.
I enjoy agreeing with Craig. I thought: an indigenous movie that didn't feel it had to be an Issues movie. Unlike Warriors or Whale Rider, you could have set the same story in any community; it just happened to be one Taika knew.
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The fourth was the almost complete ignorance of even basic New Zealand geography outside of Canterbury (an inability to place Hamilton on a map for instance), and a fervent belief that Christchurch was the greatest city and best place to live in New Zealand, despite never having lived anywhere else.
Not my experience, either. About half the people I know in Chch grew up here, about half didn't. Of those from outside, a surprising amount come from the North Island -- like I do -- quite a few from smaller SI cities (why are people so keen to escape Timaru?) and more than a few Brit ex-pats.
I was in Katikati at Easter and on getting back to Chch was amazed at how few know where it is. But then how many who live in the North Island could find, say, Cheviot on a map? The thing is that NZers aren't that well-travelled around their own country.
But Rangiora is a different beast ...
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I think Shadders can hold Invers, no problem.
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To give them their due, The Press seem to be doing pretty well. Those stories aren't being picked up nationally, though. The one about Nick Smith's brother I linked to got a brief airing on TV3 last night, but without any mention of the contradictions
Don't get me started on how the so-called national media are only interested in what happens in Auckland and Wellington. Unless someone gets graphically murdered here. But it'd be an interesting/depressing exercise to tally up the Auckland Supercity television coverage against the ECan coverage.
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Never should have shut down the american base out at the airport. Just ask Ray Columbus where Churtown got its funkaliciousness from ?
All them black americans forcing the clubs to play funky shit back in the day....ahhhh yeah, now thats what i'm talkin about.
The music, and also the drugs. This is an excerpt from Martin Edmond's The Resurrection of Philip Clairmont, about Chch in the late 60s:
Christchurch was in a unique position where drugs were concerned. There was the American base station for Operation Deepfreeze, the Antarctic research program, on the outskirts of the city, and passing through or stationed there were a lot of American military personnel. Most of the other ranks were black and most of them had used drugs. The first marijuana Clairmont smoked probably came from one of these black servicemen, although you could get it from Asian seamen on the ships coming into Lyttelton Harbour. Other contributions made by American servicemen were a taste for soul music and firsthand news of what was going on in Vietnam.
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I think we'd happily settle for Harvey. Not Banksy. Actually, Banksy would be fantastic -- but not Banks.
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