Entertainment & Music Margaret and David

[Silent Alarm]

In prepping for their final ep...

I think most people, even people who don't like movies (they exist), know who they are and, intentionally or inadvertently, heeded their reviews at some stage of their lives. They have been mainstays and genuine icons of Australian TV, film, and wider culture.

While David's incredibly well versed in film, a guy who'll, every ep, name drop four or five similar movies if even linked by total triviality, and more into technicalities and the mechanism (and thus his pretty funny disdain for the handheld camera...), I've always sided with Margaret. Sometimes she was prone to liking namby pamby, fawning, limp shit, but she was also a little more open to the emotional side of a movie. I dug how she was always captivated by the essence of it. And though she's intelligent and well spoken, it was always cool the way she, somehow, admitted there's something about a film greater than the sum of its parts – there's a reason why only a film, and not a painting or an album, that can stay with you for days. Of course, they worked really well with each other, too, and that's half the reason for their success.

Of course, big Margaret also showed some passion for her interest – unlike a majority of the hacks on TV, actively petitioning and involving herself in plenty of right-on acts. When a woman older to a pension than her first time at a nightclub can get arrested, you've pretty much found something worth listening to.

What a couple of heroes and icons of Australia film and culture; if the ABC wasn't worth watching anyway, it definitely isn't anymore. They were the last ones there with chemistry, personality, humour, and knowledge. They put that absolute twat, that unfunny douchebag and his narrow taste, Mark Fennel down the sink. What a travesty that a prick like him is now the top of a national broadcaster's filmic tastemaking.

Did anyone find a really good film through The Movie Show or At the Movies? Have any experiences meeting either? A favourite review? I'm keen to hear.

 

[radiojake]

Oh Daaavid...

 

[Silent Alarm]

David's baked-bean teeth gross me out so much too. Dude must smoke like three packs a day.

 

[little graham]

Am I only one to think, at some point, Margaret is a dominatrix and David was her sub?

 

[wally funk]

Am I only one to think, at some point, Margaret is a dominatrix and David was her sub?

Not anymore. Now I can't get the image out of my mind.

 

[Righteo]

Am I only one to think, at some point, Margaret is a dominatrix and David was her sub?

Lol, came here to say they complimented each other perfectly but I didn't quite have this in mind.

Good OP though, always sided a little more with David due to his attachment to the technical side of film making while Margaret was too often overly generous. As you say SA, cultural icons and it's going to be weird once they're gone, I really loved their banter and genuine love of the arts.

They got me onto quite a few movies actually, particularly foreign language films which are often neglected by reviewers.

 

[edgie]

I remember David was a bit put off by Team America, but Margaret gave it 4 stars

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[Silent Alarm]

Margaret could be very naive and a bit soft and I always loved Gritty's appreciation for grit and true to life, flawed, well developed characters. Whenever they liked something from eastern Europe or Asia I had to check it out; either awesome or impossible-to-navigate genres.

 

[Doss]

I have no clue what movie they were reviewing, but I remember the first time I watched them. All I remember was that the movie was French. I would have been 12 or 13.

About a minute in to the movie, one of the two girls shown walking along this road in Bordeaux very matter-of-a-factly pulled up her dress and proceeded to give the road a solid watering. I had no idea what the point of that was then, and nor do I know now. Not the sort of film you typically get on Australian screens, though.

Margaret's style is not one you'd forget in a hurry though, that is for sure. Silent Alarm, are they being axed or going of their own will?

 

[edgie]

Margaret was more open to films simply being entertainment, whereas David was defintely more in to the artistic and technical side of things. Both incredibly knowledgeable, I remember David once going off an a tangent about Hitchcock while reviewing "Mr and Mrs Smith" from some tenuous connection

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[BotsMaster]

When I see a movie coming out that intrigues me I'll always watch their review of it to see if it is worth seeing.

Now that they're finishing up I don't know who to turn to.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Maybe they should have stayed with SBS...

 

[Damon_3388]

Am I only one to think, at some point, Margaret is a dominatrix and David was her sub?

Could you imagine Margaret's voice, giving the orders?

Mmmm...

 

[little graham]

Could you imagine Margaret's voice, giving the orders?

Mmmm...

Striking.......

 

[WALDENPOND]

In prepping for their final ep...

I think most people, even people who don't like movies (they exist), know who they are and, intentionally or inadvertently, heeded their reviews at some stage of their lives. They have been mainstays and genuine icons of Australian TV, film, and wider culture.

While David's incredibly well versed in film, a guy who'll, every ep, name drop four or five similar movies if even linked by total triviality, and more into technicalities and the mechanism (and thus his pretty funny disdain for the handheld camera...), I've always sided with Margaret. Sometimes she was prone to liking namby pamby, fawning, limp shit, but she was also a little more open to the emotional side of a movie. I dug how she was always captivated by the essence of it. And though she's intelligent and well spoken, it was always cool the way she, somehow, admitted there's something about a film greater than the sum of its parts – there's a reason why only a film, and not a painting or an album, that can stay with you for days. Of course, they worked really well with each other, too, and that's half the reason for their success.

Of course, big Margaret also showed some passion for her interest – unlike a majority of the hacks on TV, actively petitioning and involving herself in plenty of right-on acts. When a woman older to a pension than her first time at a nightclub can get arrested, you've pretty much found something worth listening to.

What a couple of heroes and icons of Australia film and culture; if the ABC wasn't worth watching anyway, it definitely isn't anymore. They were the last ones there with chemistry, personality, humour, and knowledge. They put that absolute twat, that unfunny douchebag and his narrow taste, Mark Fennel down the sink. What a travesty that a prick like him is now the top of a national broadcaster's filmic tastemaking.

Did anyone find a really good film through The Movie Show or At the Movies? Have any experiences meeting either? A favourite review? I'm keen to hear.

Great post. Even someone who knows next to nothing about film, I enjoy this show immensely. Just the passion and intellect they show on their subject is so refreshing.

 

[BALKAN]

Haven't watched them in years but used to flick on every now and then in my film student days. I remember initially thinking that David was a pompous old fusspot who got too bogged down by minute details to properly enjoy anything, but over time grew to see him as what he actually was, which was a clever bloke who bloody loved movies. They wrote the intro to '1001 movies you must see before you die' and I was blown away when I saw that David had kept a list of every single movie he had seen since the age of 9.

 

[RolandF1]

Maybe they should have stayed with SBS...

The management over there implied they weren't as wanted as they used to be so shifted to ABC.

What I remember over the years:

David hated shaky cam and a particular country's films that did them all that way. Can't remember which, was European.

Margaret loved Michael Bay and John Carpetner and was pretty bias towards their films.

The two Asteroid pictures of 1998, Margaret loved but David hated. Saving Private Ryan Margaret hated past the first 25 minutes while David loved it.

Payback starring Mel Gibson got zero stars from Margaret I'm pretty sure, while David's was a decent rating.

They both gave Eyes Wide Shut 5 stars each basically because it was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The end. That was a bizzare one.

 

[Silent Alarm]

The management over there implied they weren't as wanted as they used to be so shifted to ABC.

What I remember over the years:

David hated shaky cam and a particular country's films that did them all that way. Can't remember which, was European.

Margaret loved Michael Bay and John Carpetner and was pretty bias towards their films.

The two Asteroid pictures of 1998, Margaret loved but David hated. Saving Private Ryan Margaret hated past the first 25 minutes while David loved it.

Payback starring Mel Gibson got zero stars from Margaret I'm pretty sure, while David's was a decent rating.

They both gave Eyes Wide Shut 5 stars each basically because it was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The end. That was a bizzare one.

aEyes Wide Shut getting five stars was insane. Nowhere near at the level of poeticism Margaret liked and nowhere near fully matured and rounded for David. I remember a few years ago, I tracked down a big list of their most notable reviews and was totally flabbergasted by that one. Maybe they paid David in Benson and Hedges, but the Illumin∆ti rumours around it are beefed up by suss shit like that (not that I believe them).

David also ardently hated Lars Von Trier (rightfully) and Margaret liked a lot of it his stuff. No idea why she did. Speaking of credence in rumours, maybe those dominatrix ones are backed-up by her fandom here...

Pretty sure The Blair Witch Project is the only handycam movie David ever didn't hate. Right on, Stratts.

 

[Bluelegs]

 

[Gough]

David Stratton tried to pull a mate of mine's mum when they were both at uni together, very insistent and a touch sleazy she said. A mad cineaste, to this day she won''t watch the program because of it.

 

[Bluelegs]

When I see a movie coming out that intrigues me I'll always watch their review of it to see if it is worth seeing.

Now that they're finishing up I don't know who to turn to.

Mark Kermode is generally pretty good.

 

[clogged]

They're both big Haneke fans, who is just about the best filmmaker out there. I will miss them.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Ergh, lame.

David Stratton tried to pull a mate of mine's mum when they were both at uni together, very insistent and a touch sleazy she said. A mad cineaste, to this day she won''t watch the program because of it.

I want to hear more of this

 

[Damon_3388]

They both gave Eyes Wide Shut 5 stars each basically because it was directed by Stanley Kubrick. The end. That was a bizzare one.

aEyes Wide Shut getting five stars was insane. Nowhere near at the level of poeticism Margaret liked and nowhere near fully matured and rounded for David. I remember a few years ago, I tracked down a big list of their most notable reviews and was totally flabbergasted by that one. Maybe they paid David in Benson and Hedges, but the Illumin∆ti rumours around it are beefed up by suss shit like that (not that I believe them).

That's my favourite Kubrick film.

Pretty sure The Blair Witch Project is the only handycam movie David ever didn't hate. Right on, Stratts.

It was garbage.

 

[Bluelegs]

Ergh, lame.

To each their own.