Cheeky Bulls, Rovers, and Ladies: Welcome to Australia

Grandmas are the primary audience for the new film "Australia." For it is a film so old fashioned, so romantic, and so epic it would fit in in the giant epics of the past. Oh I did I mention that it's a great ride.

A great ride, that's my primary goal when going to a movie like this. Sure I like this super emotional, super heady, super oh-man-that-was-so-depressing-I-can't-eat-a-sandwhich-without-crying emotional (this is what happens when I see any Clint Eastwood directed film).

Yet Australia is about as non-depressing as you can get. It's pure popcorn, it's popcorn covered in so much butter the bag is greasy goodness. It is non-stop traditional moviemaking and storytelling. Heroic cowboys, fish-out-of-water scenarios with beautiful ladies, sweeping vistas, nefarious villains, and adorable kids. Everyone has a happy ending (except the bad guys of course).

Too often we think of "ride" or entertaining movies as movies where robots engage in battle royales, superheros shoot white stuff out their hands, or landmarks get destroyed. Australia is that ride movie, however it's just rolls along like a cattle stampede, yet instead of a cattle stampede, it's more a old fashioned Grandma stampede. And they're all rolling to theatre.