Dish, The (UK)

MOVIE
This just shows the brilliant comedy movies that can come out of Australia. I never really liked Muriels Wedding, to much to do with Abba, but this is a joy to watch. It isn`t action packed or anything like that, and just has a simple story to tell, but it tells it so damn well that you can`t help be engaged by it. All the characters are wonderfully crafted. They all play around the dramatic role or father figure that is Sam Neill, but the supporting players are very funny, and all have their own little story in the movie. It is peppered with lots of comedy, from the standout, such as `The American National Anthem` and the odd Security Guard, to the very subtle indeed. But all is very funny, and it will take you a few viewings to get all the jokes. But the movie does have a very good and touching story behind it, unlike most Hollywood comedies, and this is what drives the film. It is also a nostalgia piece, portraying the Space Race and moon landing, but from a perspective most big Hollywood producers would never dream of looking at. A gem of a perfect movie, that has been greatly overlooked, and I insist you pick up a copy.

VIDEO
So, it won`t win any outstanding transfer awards, but all the natural colours come across very well indeed, and as a lot is naturally lit, it all comes across very real world looking. Very good overall, with no grain etc.

AUDIO
It is a very dialogue driven movie, with only a few moments of `action` but all comes across quite clear. Sometimes it gets a little quiet, but this is not a problem. It isn`t a film that needs to be played loud, but it does get some action when the dish gets moving, or there is any of the wonderful music that peppers the film.

EXTRAS
This is where the Dish takes that extra leap. The UK R2 disc is infact the best disc on offer acros all the regions. The R1 disc is infact awful, but luckily the basis for our disc is the Australian R4, with even more extras. There are a couple of commentaries on the disc, which are both very informative of the film. Then the classy menu takes us to a wide variety of Special Features. There is a short making of, which is mainly talking heads interviews, but this is the tip of the iceberg. The best bits are:The NASA Archive Footage, Apollo XI Diary and Key Dates in Space Flight. All this is very educational and The footage even has a commentary by some experts in Space Flight. All of this is very interesting and educational, and is a welcome edition to a well thought out disc. Filling out the disc are storyboards, a trailer, a Radio Spot and some biogs, as well as an interesting Interview with Sam Neill, that only appears on the UK disc. For a small film, this is very well thought out indeed, and it goes to show that you can put more on a disc than a HBO Making of and some shallow interviews.

How do you describe this film?
Now I wasn`t expecting an Apollo-13 action movie, or a Star Wars type sci-fi. I guess I was expecting a sort of documentary/factual portrayal of events with a little artistic license. I guess thats kind of what you get too, so chalk one up.

I watched the moon landing live (it was the only way to watch at the time) and it was certainly a momentous event, though I was only a small schoolchild at the time. I read everything to do with the event and the subsequent missions, I recall sitting there in front of the TV watching a looped BBC replay of Neil and Buzz walking on the moon in stark grainy black and white one entire Saturday morning. I`m a huge space fan, in case you hadn`t guess - oh you had??
However I hadn`t come across this story until the DVD.

It has been a while since I watched the DVD, so this is probably the long view.
Its a nice gentle movie, with some fine acting and some gentle humour. It is sort of hard to believe NASA depended so much on a link maintained by 3-4 people out in the middle of nowhere for its highest profile ever mission. However stranger things have happened.

Sam Neill plays an excellent role as the paternalistic boss, with a gentle calmness and quiet confidence.

The other characters give pretty good performances too. The rather staid NASA guy, and the out and out young Aussie technicians with their own problems (few of them technical it has to be said!).

The video and sound come out pretty good.

There are plenty of extras, and quite well done, but for me the historical stuff I kind of knew, so it wasn`t that interesting. The kids of today (mutter mutter)...
The other features are good though.

So for me - a good film, worth a watch, but I can`t say I`ve had the urge to watch it against since the first run through. Maybe I should one of these days...