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Australia's history is fraught with characters whose exploits demand attention, and our country's post-colonisation trajectory has produced countless stories of heroism, infamy and crime (let alone the innumerable stories from before European settlement). Our story is rugged, and our landscape is uncompromising, and with a wild frontier that rivals America's wild west it is a blight on the Australian film industry for not exploiting the opportunities to their fullest. Of course there is also a stigma that comes with attempting such a feat, and most of those who have tempted the task have failed. For every success story like THE PROPOSITION or THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER we get a handful of turkeys like QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER and MAD DOG MORGAN. It seems that our landscape, while suited perfectly for the classic "Western" is an untamed beast, charitable only to the tenacious few.

When you utter the term "bushranger" to anyone they will immediately think of Ned Kelly. He is iconic, and his story has become lore amongst Aussies, and yet our history showcases countless other outlaws, none of whom come close to the legend and notoriety that we've placed up ol' Ned. One of those characters was Ben Hall, the son of European settlers who abandoned a life of farming to become the Commonwealth's most wanted man.

THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL chronicles the final year of Hall's life while on the run with fellow bandits John Gilbert and John Dunn, and without the constraint of Aussie sacrosanct, it presents an adventure that owes its form to the classic American "western" design. The big arid wide-shots and the gun toting choreography recall the films of old, where cowboys robbed stage-coaches and sheriffs hunted gun-slingers. And despite the harsh environments that these characters occupied, there's a necessary romanticism to their stories that makes for compelling entertainment.

The film began as a crowd-funded short and when the money raised far exceeded the goal, the film was expanded to become a feature. Director Matthew Holmes took ever dollar of the money raised and put it to use, and with the reassurance of new funding from various places he was able to deliver a smart, handsome and compelling western that sits comfortably amongst contemporaries such as THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES and THE SALVATION

The cast are mostly unknowns lead by Jack Martin, whose credits consists of short films. He steps into Hall's boots and assumes the character with ease, offering a stern yet empathetic performance, and presenting a man whose criminal life bares a conscience. Martin is perfectly suited to the role and carries the film consummately. His supporting cast include Jamie Coffa and William Lee, both of whom also make their feature film debut. While Coffa's performance is uneven at times he brings a much needed jovial presence to the film - which helps keep the story textured – and Lee's turn as the 'rookie' outlaw brings a moral compass to the venture that keeps it on course.

Add brilliant cinematography, bang-for-buck production value and a well-measured score and you get an engaging true-story that offers an alternative narrative to the under-explored 'bushranger' genre. It avoids cliché while taking advantage of the 'western' tropes, and successfully makes an Australian story universal. Sadly, it is also a film that needs all the support it can get, because no matter how great it may be, it is still an in dependent film fighting for its place amongst the studio produce. See it on the big screen where possible, buy it on DVD when available and use your power of social media to promote the hell out of THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL, the first in a proposed trilogy of bushranger films.

• As published on FakeShemp.Net

SAMURAI COP was among the wave of martial arts movies during the early-nineties and despite being one the worst of them all it had no pretensions. It reveled in its own awfulness and rightfully earned itself a loyal cult following over the twenty-four years that followed. It was a film that certainly didn't deserve a sequel and yet here we are...

SAMURAI COP 2: DEADLY VENGEANCE is the long-awaited follow-up that sees Matt Hannon & Mark Frazer reprising their roles and kicking ass as though their last exploits were only yesterday. The film is the result of a dedicated crow-funding campaign and the devotion of director Gregory Hatanaka. Fans owe him a lot of gratitude because the film is an outstanding combination of nostalgia, action, satire and self-awareness.

Frazer's detective character is still punching the clock and finds himself investigating a string of Yukuza assassinations. He tracks down his old partner, Harron, who has been off the grid for two decades and the two of them team up to take down a ruthless organization of clichéd samurai killers.

Honestly? The storyline is irrelevant. SAMURAI COP 2 is an intentionally contrived throwback film that recreates the aesthetic of the original with a full comprehension of what made that film so bad, as well as an understanding of precisely what fans loved about it. Having Hannon and Frazer reprise their roles solidifies the intended sarcasm and lends the movie a constant hilarity.

Harron and Frazer are fantastic. In a case of life imitating art Harron had fallen off the grid prior to the production. He had changed his name and left the industry and it was only when he was tracked down and discovered at the last minute that the script was re- written for his return. He steps back into the game as though he never left. He commands the screen and delivers a hysterical performance that makes it hard to imagine the original script without him. Frazer is great too. He had also stepped away from the camera many years ago and seeing the two of them kick ass again is so damn good.

The script is smart and the production values are fantastic. It is a much more controlled and artistic film than the original with strong textures and well handled cinematography. In fact it couldn't have come at a better time with creative outfits such as Astron-6 already laying the way for this particular brand of self-referential nostalgia. Gregory Hatanaka has proved to be a savvy filmmaker with a clear vision and comprehension of the genre. His handling of the action and use of night serves as a clever contrast to the first film, which was shot entirely in daylight with underwhelming action sequences.

Enjoying SAMURAI COP 2 doesn't require your knowledge of the original, but I would stress that it cannot be truly appreciated without seeing it. This is a movie packed with throw-back references, as well as countless nuances that serve as a wink to the audience, and newcomers wont recognize the elements at the very heart of the film. Track down the original. Watch it and then enjoy this wonderful sequel that deserves an even bigger cult status!

• FAKESHEMP.NET

THE SECOND COMING VOLUME 1 is a subversive film that does away with the straightforward narrative and offers the audience a genuinely surreal and eclectic marriage of ideas. It is a story about characters and their entanglements with the occult, and the film follows their exploits with a fragmented and episodic structure.

Director Richard Wolstencroft shot some of the film simultaneously with his previous feature-length documentary THE LAST DAYS OF JOE BLOW and used that project as a sort of stepping-stone to this new experimentation. JOE BLOW's subject and star, Michael Tierney, re-teams with Wolstencroft as a man on a personal quest to evoke the second coming. We follow him and a handful of other characters as they flirt with mysticism and powers that they cannot entirely comprehend. We begin in a North American desert before being whisked away to Thailand, followed by Europe and Australia as the story hop-scotches its way around the globe.

Describing THE SECOND COMING VOL 1 is not easily done. It's not a film that you simply watch, but rather, one that you experience. Blending a documentary style aesthetic with a deliberately disjointed narrative Wolstencroft presents a collage of concepts inspired by the work of W.B Yeats and leaves much of the story open to interpretation. Of course being the first volume of two, there is much more to come, and no doubt the individual stories will align and form a comprehensive vision.

The film plays almost like a marriage of ideas from the likes of David Lynch and Richard Stanley, and in fact, Stanley's film THE SECRET GLORY was in the back of my mind the whole time. My own personal response to THE SECOND COMING VOL 1 was very similar to how I react to Stanley's work. There's a deep and dark beauty to what's on the screen and the incendiary nature of the material is provocative. I walked away from it knowing that I was affected by it but I also needed time to process it. THE SECOND COMING VOL 1 is Richard Wolstencrofts best work to date as far as I'm concerned. With the montaged structure and philosophical expression he allows the audience to take from it what they will. It is a film open to interpretation and audiences will walk away from it in a whole manner of ways. Some will feel as I do while others may respond disagreeably. Nevertheless each and every viewer will have been assaulted by a confronting documentation of black magic, spiritual enlightenment, drug use and other extremities.

From FAKESHEMP.NET