Strange Planet

Starring:Claudia Karvan, Naomi Watts, Alice Garner, Tom Long, Aaron Jeffery, Felix Williamson, Hugo Weaving, Rebecca Frith, Marshall Napier, Loene Carmen, Heidi McDonald, Harry Cripps, Rebel Russell, Hugh Baldwin, Helen Thomson, Gennie Nevinson, Andrea Moar, Kim Deacon, David Gibson, Kate Beahan
Director: Emma-Kate Croghan
Studio: Fox Lorber
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

Pay Attention!.......2007-06-12

This was well researched and well presented. It helped a lot that Edward Norton was the narator but the topic at large is very concerning.

Junk Science.......2007-04-18

Opening Arctic section strung together by a chain of assertions based on speculation with no hard scientific data to justify conclusions.

A couple of these were:
1. Mid winter rain is now common in the arctic
2. Snowfall has significantly increased
As a resident of AK, I know that neither of these is true.

At the opening of the program the question was asked whether the decline of the Porcupine Herd is due to natural cycles or global warming, but the question was never answered. They failed to examine population variances at all and instead went straight to the assertion that global warming is causing the demise of the Porcupine Herd. What are the historic cycles of this herd? How does it compare to other caribou herd populations? What factors affect these cycles?

Couldn't watch any more!

Strange and Fascinating!.......2007-03-08

This series is an excellent and engaging introduction to a number of serious environment issues. A new kind of documentary that will appeal and generate dialogue across a wide age range. I co-lead an environmental stewardship program for 4th-8th graders... appropriate from this group and above.

Good content, but needs a more attractive style.......2006-10-29

I am a HUGE fan of Edward Norton and the environment (not necessarily in the same order as stated). I worry a lot about our mother Earth and the days to come. I think after establishing the strategic balance of horror (nuclear weapons) humans are now able to look around and see the new challenge.

Today we don't live the struggle for peace among the world's superpowers. However, we live the struggle to clean up our environment. Taking care of the environment hasn't been a priority in our conscious since we came to being. Now, we started noticing the effects of our reckless past. Everything is changing faster around us and we have to act fast or the results might be grim.

It's really sad to see that caring the environment has become a political issue in our country. Some people use the environment for their own political sake and not as an urgent societal need. If it came to me, I would make protecting the environment a national Amendment that unites us all. After all, what good can come from freedom if there's no place for us to enjoy it?

Kudos to Norton and to National Geographic for their good work. I wish next time they present more material in a slightly more attractive style. But after all, this was a great presentation.
Thank you!

Strange days? Really?.......2005-12-31

These four episodes make it quite apparent what's happening on Planet Earth. Human beings--we-- are becoming the instruments of our own self-destruction. The sensible thing to do would be to simply put a halt to our brainless ways, but more people are concerned with self-advancement or making a profit than leaving behind an inhabitable world for our posterity. There's no excuse for polluted drinking water. Overfishing is irresponsible and unacceptable. Killing off the one predator that can keep an entire ecosystem from collapsing has embarassing consequences. Species invade and wreak havoc in places where they don't belong because the people pushing world transportation and globalization have little concern for the delicate equillibriums of life on Earth. Toxic chemicals have no place on my dinner plate. And global warming is not a hoax; it is real, it is dangerous, and it is our fault. Gone are the days when we can pursue biology and environmental science for fun or because we think animals are cute; now we must pursue it and get our heads into our survival, or our progeny will have every reason to desecrate our remains or machine gun us all for leaving behind nothing but a smoggy wasteland for them. I hate it when my fellow AP Environmental Science classmates walk into the classroom with anything but grave, urgent expressions on their faces. Instead of acting like we have a grand task before us, they goof off and think it strange when I do not goof off with them. I highly recommend this two-DVD set to everyone because everyone's planet is everyone's business and everyone's responsibility.

Average customer rating:

an indie aussie film about relationships...
Good laugh, great soundtrack, well worth a look.

Strange Planet
Starring: Claudia Karvan , Naomi Watts , Alice Garner , Tom Long , and Aaron Jeffery
Director: Emma-Kate Croghan
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Under the Lighthouse Dancing
Ellie Parker
After the Deluge
The Wyvern Mystery
The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer

ASIN: B00008UAPP
Release Date: 2003-06-10

Amazon.com

Strange Planet captures a year in the intertwined lives of a gaggle of young Australians. Judy (Claudia Karvan) aspires to work in television and gets involved with an older tv executive (Hugo Weaving, The Matrix, Proof). Judy's roommate Alice (Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive, The Ring) struggles to get over a breakup after two years; Joel (Aaron Jeffery) is reeling from the collapse of his marriage; Ewan (Tom Long) loses faith in being a lawyer and becomes a taxi driver. It's a bit like an elaborate episode of Friends, except that Strange Planet dives into much richer and more complex emotional territory. Comic discussions about biology and love are counterpointed by doubt, loss, and simple confusion--which the sharp writing, directing, and acting manages to make real while maintaining a fluid and dexterous storyline. The conclusion may be too tidy, but you'll feel like these well-drawn characters have earned it. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

an indie aussie film about relationships..........2005-12-09

i found this at the library. most of the movies i watch are indie or foreign films. i like the indie stuff, because most indie filmmakers concentrate more on content rather than action or special effects. naomi watts( the ring 1 and 2) is good here as a woman getting over getting dumped. the guy who dumps her in the scene is a cad and is throughly heartless about it. hugo weaving ( the matrix ) is a womanizing television executive who has a fling with judy, who knows he's married, but jumps into it in order to further her career. Tom is a womanizer who has commitment issues. in one scene, the woman he gets pregnant calls him up to tell him that she's going to get an abortion, he's about as sympathetic to her as if she's gotten a tooth pulled. none of these characters were clearly good or bad, which was why i liked them.

Good laugh, great soundtrack, well worth a look........2004-02-03

A film in the mould of "This Years Love" and "Peters Friends", Strange Planet follows the ups and downs in a year of the lives of six twentysomethings living in Sydney, Australia.

It is a film that delves into the insecurities, hopes and dreams of the young professional set. But it avoids the temptation to become maudlin and weepy, remaining upbeat at all times. One character, Ewan, collapses into depression, but after watching the movie Taxi Driver, assumes DeNiro's role with hilarious consequences.

In another potentially weepie moment one of the girls dumps her married boyfriend at a costume party where his dracula outfit is a perfect counterpoint to his hangdog expression as he gets the push.

The girls are all beautiful, the boys handsome but mildly pathetic, which is just about right for the movie. The characters are a little forced but they aren't overdone, so they work. We have a girl who is sleeping her way to a career, her slightly manic compulsive friend who can't get her life toghether after being dumped and their more frumpy but wild mad hatter alternative friend. Does that sound a bit like Rachel, Monica and Phoebe from friends?

The guys are a science freak who is desperate to be married, a workaholic lawyer who's girlfriend dumped him for another girl, and the disenchanted lawyer who becomes a taxi driver and novelist. There are bound to be similarities drawn between these and the characters in friends, but they are likely to be forced.

The end of the movie is rounded off nicely with a perfect conjunction of all the disparate elements and characters in a typical Austrialian beach celebration of the New Year.

Excellent, well worth a look.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Rubinstein Remembered

The Cat And The Canary

Haint (REGION 1) (NTSC)

DVD: Striptease

Legend of Basara - Vol. 2