Unsurprising, since the Tomorrow series was the inspiration for the first Red Dawn movie in 198X.

 

Watching he Cloud Atlas trailer, the only thought running through my head was that Halle Berry and Tom Hanks are past their "expiration dates". They just don't look right in modern films anymore. Rest of the cast looked pretty bland as well.

 

Actually, according to wiki, it's the other way around.

 

About as believable too (though the original Red Dawn was at least reasonably believable if I remember correctly). I have no doubt I'll forever have a dislike of Tomorrow When the War Began because there is only so far I can take my suspension of disbelief; no matter how good the story might be. It still surprises me how popular the series became in Australia to be honest. =s

 

Huh. The Tomorrow series wasn't begun until '93? I was sure it was from the 80s. I stand corrected.

 

I actually really liked the series. It was great to read when I was in high school. This thread makes me want to reread it actually.

That's the thing about fiction, it doesn't always have to be completely believable.

 

I don't disagree, but sometimes you run into things you can't simply pass off. The Tomorrow premise is one such for me; the movie was even worse than the books--as I said, suspension of disbelief can only take you so far sometimes.

This remake of Red Dawn is going to be similar, I'd say. The original involved the Soviets invading, back in the 80's or something. Now it's the North Koreans, in modern times. It'll be worth seeing for the sheer random lulz-factor but that's about it probably.

 

Oh yeah, the movie of Tomorrow was average at best. Also, I don't have any hopes for this movie either. I was just saying that I thought the books were excellent.

 

Yeah... I really don't like those books. :awesome

 

What was the believability problem you had with the Tomorrow series? I'm wondering if it's the premise, or something else.

 

I thought it was China. >_>

Well, I only made it through half the trailer before I couldn't take anymore.

 

I thought I heard someone in the trailer say it was North Koreans, might well be the Chinese though.

It's unrealistic beyond reason, which in this instance annoys me to the point of it being unreadable. The only way it would be realistic is if it was the US doing the invading. And that just opens up another can of worms. I know that the point of the book(s) isn't the invasion so much as exploring young characters set in trying circumstances and all that, but my head refuses to ignore the realism.

It's rather weird how it works really, that something like the Tomorrow series triggers this reaction, but space ships and aliens and magic etc, are fine. But whatever.

 

The Tomorrow series uses an unnamed asian power, but it was generally considered to be Indonesia when I was reading the first few books.

Indonesia has long been Australia's greatest strategic threat post-WWII. They have a population 10 times greater than ours, crammed into a land area many times smaller. We have a resource rich, well infrastructured, sparsely populated, impossible to defend, northern coastline and land area. Indonesia has a history of militarily aggressive expansion to suit its own needs.

The Australian Army, at least in the 80s and I don't know if this has changed, practices against Indonesian weapons and tactics. The Pilbara Regiment, which is based where I live, is designed to be a geurilla force in the case of a conventional invasion and occupation by a foreign power. There aren't exactly a whole lot of available candidates for an invasion of our north.

A larger concern than just Indonesia, is Indonesia cooperating with, or being funded by, a foreign superpower, as they were previously by the USSR. Since Indonesia's communist faction and the communist threat as a whole has diminished, this is not as great a concern as it once was. It's still noted that Indonesia could be rapidly armed and trained by a large power such as China, and then stroll on in.

Indonesia is not an enemy today, but it has been both a political and military enemy in the past. In 5 or 10 or 20 years, who knows how the relationship will look?

 

The only time Indonesia was of any particular threat was when they had Soviet support. That has been the only time they've had any reasonable parity with the Australian military. They could be a threat, certainly... but do you really think Australia would allow it's advantage(s) to be worn away? Australian Defence spending has always been rather small, even during Vietnam and Konfrontasi it was below world averages iirc. The day Indonesia starts building up, or the day it allows Chinese bases on it's territory is the day you'll see a massive expansion of the ADF. Even then it'd a long time for an invasion of Australia to prepared; in which it would be blindingly obvious as to what was going on.

Geography is another factor. Quite simply the US is the only nation with the power projection capabilities to mount anywhere near a successful invasion of the continent. Even then it would be a nightmare, with huge losses, any smart aggressor would attempt to isolate, rather than invade (as Japan decided).

The international politics of it all as well... I mean, if I recall correctly only NZ was helping? Somehow every other country in the world, most with any significance our friends, doing nothing?

Attempted invasion of Australia? Quite possible. War with Indonesia? The same; it was only a decade ago we had F-111's on stand-bye to deliver strikes against Java and Indonesian communications. But an invasion that actually gets anywhere, let alone requiring the relinquishment of half the continent? Maybe in a century, if Australia grows so lax as to abandon arms.

I have that+ going through my head when I think about those books. Enjoyment is not possible. :facepalm

 

Do you remember this seventeen years old girl that was in love with House in the third season? Well, now you have a chance to see them have a proper romance.

The Oranges NSFW trailer.

 

Holy shit. That's a romantic comedy that actually looks funny. I'm suspicious, it might be a trap. I've always thought such a thing is impossible.

>_>

 

The Oranges was first screened in 2011 at a Canadian film festival. They've not released it in over a year since then. WTF.

 

I don't even... Don't crucify me but it's like watching Meet The Parents with a different twist and then upping the age limit. Want to see for Hugh Laurie alone, albeit the trailer as was previously mentioned, made it look great throughout, not just full of the 'best bits' to make you fork your money out.

Huh. Nice to see what Hugh's up to now House is over and his music tour's coming to a close. Still not entirely sure what to think whilst mouthing 'wtf' repeatedly.

 

"This seventeen year old girl"?

How dare you speak about the future ex Mrs Taure in such a way!

(Incidentally, she's also Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl).

On the topic of movies, I have no idea how these two have slipped under my radar:

Looper
Sci-fi, time travel.

Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino movie about a slave after revenge.

 

Taure, you've just set yourself up, but I will stop myself. Others probably will not.

Looper has a great reviews, so I expect it will deliver. And I read the script of Django Unchained, so I know it will deliver.

Surprising enough it seems that new Dredd is better than anybody expected.