The Dish

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amznwin=window.open(URL,NAME,'location=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,toolbar=yes,resizable=yes,width=380,height=450,screenX=10,screenY=10,top=10,left=10'); amznwin.focus();} document.open(); document.write("<a href=javascript:popUp('http://buybox.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=reelmoviecriticc&link_code=xsc&creative=23424&camp=2025&path=/dt/assoc/tg/aa/xml/assoc/-/B00005MKKS/reelmoviecriticc/ref=ac_bb1_,_amazon')><img src=http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/remote-buy-box/buy1.gif border=0 alt='Buy from Amazon.com' ></a>"); document.close(); </script> <noscript> <form method="POST" action="http://buybox.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B00005MKKS"> <input type="hidden" name="asin.B00005MKKS" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="tag-value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="hidden" name="tag_value" value="reelmoviecriticc"> <input type="image" name="submit.add-to-cart" value="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" alt="Buy from Amazon.com" src="http://rcm-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/associates/add-to-cart.gif"> </form> </noscript>  </B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>The Dish </B>***1/2 (R)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> You make me so very happy</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Cliff: Sam Neill</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Mitch: Kevin Harrington</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Glenn: Tom Long</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Al: Patrick Warburton</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Janine: Eliza Szonert</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Marie: Lena Kripac</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Mayor McIntyre: Roy Billing</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> US Ambassador: John McMartin</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Rob Sitch</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Prime Minister: Bille Brown</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: </div> <div> Four scientists, three from Australia and one from NASA, face challenging technical difficulties as they prepare a satellite dish to receive and broadcast the live transmission of Neil Armstrong's words as he becomes the first man to walk on the moon.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Although the story in <I>The Dish</I> is very different from <I>The Full Monty</I>, <I><B>Billy Elliot</B></I> or <I><B>Saving Grace</B></I><B>,</B> the style of the humor is similar. This film is expected to be a box office hit in the US, as it was an audience favorite at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival and is the highest grossing film in the history of Australian cinema. </div> <bR> <div> Set in July 1969, NASA is about to launch Apollo 11. Its primary mission is to have man take his first steps on the surface of the moon. This is heady stuff because of the technical difficulty in not just getting to the moon and landing on the surface, but to ensure a safe flight for the entire round trip mission. </div> <bR> <div> The USA wants a live broadcast of the astronauts walking out of the space ship and taking those historic first steps on the moon. Over 500 million people across the globe will be glued to their TV sets. This can be done from either one of two satellite receiving dishes…one in the USA and the other in Australia. </div> <bR> <div> Located in the small Australian town of Parkes is the world's largest satellite dish, in the middle of an outback sheep pasture. Mayor McIntyre (Roy Billing) successfully lobbied to get the dish in his town and has been contacted by the Prime Minister (Bille Brown) to ensure that everything goes smoothly for a live link up, should NASA request it.</div> <bR> <div> Cliff (Sam Neill), who's in charge of the satellite station, has two Australian scientists with him, and a visitor and observer from NASA. Glenn  (Tom Long) is a local boy who is extremely shy and is afraid to ask Janine (Eliza Szonert) out on a date. Each day she brings fresh food to the control center, which sits under the satellite dish. They like each other but neither wants to make the first move for fear of rejection. </div> <bR> <div> Mitch (Kevin Harrington) is leery of Al (Patrick Warburton), the American, because he thinks that since Al's from NASA, he looks on the Australian crew as a bunch of hicks. This results in Mitch being the one with an attitude, which causes considerable friction within the group.</div> <bR> <div> Directing a satellite dish, that is 210 feet in diameter and weighs over 1,000 tons, to move smoothly, quickly and safely is at a minimum difficult. If the winds are strong, it's potentially dangerous; the dish could collapse onto the control center and kill everyone inside. A storm with tremendous gusts of wind moves in.</div> <bR> <div> The pressure to perform flawlessly increases when the US Ambassador (John McMartin) and the Prime Minister come to Parkes. Things are looking good, until a short blackout occurs and the back up generator at the tower fails to kick in, because Mitch forgot to prime the fuel pump after he last cleaned it. This results in losing all the data in the computers. Since they are operating in real time, this in effect means they've lost communications with Apollo 11. </div> <bR> <div> While the story is based upon fact, the truth is stretched somewhat for comedic effect. The team at Parkes tells NASA that they don't have a signal with Apollo 11 because of a download problem in the USA. The pride of the country is at stake as well as the integrity of the team of scientists in Parkes.</div> <bR> <div> Of course we know that all problems are solved; there was a transmission of the first steps of man walking on the moon. As in the film <I><B>Thirteen Days,</B></I> considerable suspense can be generated even when you know the outcome of the event, which at that moment in the film is in question.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: The story is told on two levels. The first is right there for you to see, with its funny interpersonal situations along side historical film footage. We see President Kennedy's speech about putting a man on the moon; the actual and very dramatic count down of the Apollo 11 space launch; and the very first step taken by man on the moon as people around the world were mesmerized in front of their TV sets. </div> <bR> <div> On a secondary level, which perhaps is best appreciated if you were born by the mid 1940's, is just how wonderful the event of landing on the moon was, particularly for people in the United States. Occurring in July 1969, it was a moment of remarkable achievement for man because it was a joy shared not just by the USA, but also by all mankind.</div> <bR> <div> Film Critic Roger Ebert told the audience at the Ebert & Roeper Film Festival in February 2001, that he believes this is the single most important event of the 20<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> century. That's not something I've given much thought to, but at the moment, I cannot suggest a better alternative. We know we can use technology to blow things up and we learned by walking on the moon to look beyond our own world. Wonderful things develop through technology, applied humanely.</div> <bR> <div> In 1969, if you were nine years old, as Richard Roeper was, you recall how cool and exciting landing on the moon was. If you were in your twenties, as Ebert and I were, you remember that part of the joy of this event was that it drew a line in the sand about many devastating events of the recent past. Just six years prior, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous speech on the mall in Washington; and a few months later President Kennedy was assassinated.  In the intervening years the US was literally turned upside down with the struggles in Viet Nam 10,000 miles away, and with the fight for human and civil rights here at home. </div> <bR> <div> As the US attempted to pull out of a deep morass, King was killed in April of 1968 and three months later, so was Robert Kennedy. This was happening at a time when 300 men and women a week were being killed in Viet Nam in a police action…it was not even a declared war. While not on the scale of WWII, it hit home to me when Life magazine published a picture of each person killed in Viet Nam during one week. It was devastating.</div> <bR> <div> So a year later to see such an uplifting event as Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, as a symbol of what man can do in a positive vein, was quite powerful.  This film reminds me of that, and once again renews my hope for the future. </div> <bR> <div> Since man's first steps on the moon, the scales of peace appear to have tilted in our favor. While there has been man-made tragedy on a massive scale in places such as Rwanda and Bosnia, we've seen the Berlin Wall come down, the end of the cold war, and no more wars or police actions on the scale of WWI, II, Korea or Viet Nam. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> R (mild language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Sam Neill: <I>Bicentennial Man</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Kevin Harrington: <I>Sea Change- TV</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Tom Long: Strange Planet</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Patrick Warburton: <I>Scream 3</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Eliza Szonert: <I>The Neighbours-TV</I></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Lena Kripac: <I>Spellbinder-TV</I></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Roy Billing: <I>Passion</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> John McMartin: <I>Separate but Equal-TV</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Rob Sitch: <I>Castle</I></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Bille Brown: <I>Oscar and Lucinda</I></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>