Author: James Curnow
The 100 Greatest Australian Films of All Time: Part 2 (1971-1982)
Well here it is, Part 2 of our five part series on the 100 greatest Australian films of all time. While Part 1 focused on the earliest beginnings of the nation’s cinema through to the end of the 1960s, here we’ll be exploring the birth of the Australian New Wave in the 1970s. This was…
The Babadook: The Finest Australian Horror Film Ever Made?
Let’s get this out of the way right now – The Babadook is almost certainly the finest Australian horror film I’ve ever seen. First time feature film director, Jennifer Kent, has created a devastating vision of a single-mother, haunted by the death of her husband, in what may or may not be a state of…
The 100 Greatest Australian Films: Cinema Down Under
Why write a list of the 100 greatest Australian films? While recently browsing through a book on the history of Australian cinema, it occurred to me that most Australian film buffs and cinephiles actually have a very limited concept of the nation’s cinematic output. Except for those films that first garner significant positive attention internationally,…
20 Great Dystopian Movies: The Shadow of Perfection
You can’t write an article on dystopian movies without mentioning utopian ideals. Many volumes have been written on the human impulse to construct and/or invest in utopian visions – visions that can be either celestial or corporeal in nature. And there’s a good reason for this – life is a combination of pain and joy, and…
Revisiting Razorback: Pretty Images, Psychotic Yobbos and a Giant Pig
At some point long ago, film studios became acutely aware that taking an unremarkable animal or insect, then radically increasing its size, was a sure-fire recipe for commercial success. I suppose it makes sense to suggest that this trend began with the release of that most iconic of monster movies, King Kong, in 1933. Others…