In Contention

Did I miss this?

Written by

in

A Baz Luhrmann travel commercial for Australia called “Come Walkabout” starring Brandon Walters.  The spots aired last year but I never saw one until I did on a plane this afternoon.  My first reaction (when I realized it was  a commercial), was that it was a shame to see the single best part of Luhrmann’s indigestible film “Australia” relegated to this.  But I guess with Luhrmann behind things, that makes it kind of okay.

Anyway, this is SO 2008, but here:

Comments

15 responses to “Did I miss this?”

  1. Matt King Avatar
    Matt King

    I’m one of the few that actually kind of liked “Australia”. It wasn’t a masterpiece in any way, shape or form, and I think that commercial was probably better than the whole movie, but I liked it anyhow. Quite a bit, in fact.

  2. Chris138 Avatar
    Chris138

    Yeah, I also didn’t mind it. I’d give it a 3/4 rating.

  3. Speaking English Avatar
    Speaking English

    I LOVED it. I walked out of the theater as satisfied as I had been with any film from 2008, absolutely bewildered as to how such a beautiful, powerfully moving film could be getting such unwarranted hateful reactions. I still can’t believe it.

  4. tc Avatar
    tc

    Add me to the “it was extremely underrated” crowd.

  5. highwayroller Avatar
    highwayroller

    loved this movie, too.

  6. Douglas Avatar
    Douglas

    Yeh Kris, along with the movie, this tourism ad was panned here in Australia. It was on air for a couple of weeks but after that i didn’t see it again. I think it is really well shot but I’m not a fan of the concept.
    I did however enjoy the movie, one of the few Australians that did ha.

  7. Alex Avatar
    Alex

    Why would they advertise Australia as a tourist destination to people who are already there?

  8. Simone Avatar

    I enjoyed Australia very much too. I don’t see why so many people and critics panned it.

    Oh well, their loss.

  9. JAB Avatar

    um… bad movie, beautiful commercial

  10. John Avatar
    John

    ‘Australia’ wound up being my 3rd favorite film last year (after ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’).

    Was it kind of a mess, narratively? Yes, it was. But I loved the characters. I loved the (overall) story, muddled as it was; the visuals DID impress me; the musical score.

    I laughed, I cried (several times). It just satisfied me in a way the old epics used to. And the fact that it tries to emulate those old epics, while also trying to put it’s own spin on the “epic” is pretty cool.

    Underrated, for sure. It just gets better and more immersive on re-watches (much like ‘Moulin Rouge’ still does, for me).

  11. AmericanRequiem Avatar
    AmericanRequiem

    ya ill agree, enjoyable film, but it really was 2 movies, but two good movies

  12. JP Avatar
    JP

    I really enjoyed the movie too. Took my grandfather to see it (who cried off and on throughout). Afterwards he said, “I didn’t think they made them like that anymore.”

  13. Douglas Avatar
    Douglas

    Alex,
    the campaign for overseas tourism was ‘come walkabout’ and the campaign for here in Australia was ‘go walkabout’. It’s basically getting Australians to travel in Australia, the same way someone would ‘go walkabout’ from New York to Los Angeles.

  14. CJ Avatar
    CJ

    This was supposed to work on the back of the film but unfortunately the film didn’t work so the ad campaign was a very expensive bust.
    Oh and the ads were “produced” by Baz but directed by someone else.

  15. Glenn Avatar

    Douglas, the movie is actually very popular with audiences. Aussie critics were split though.