Flame

Just thinking that since the bulk of members are Yanks (although I have noticed a couple UK and Europeans) I'd ask what if any Australian films have been seen and what did you guys and gals think

We had a prolific film industry in the 70's when tax deduction was an incentive, however this in no longer the case and most films have to suffer an arts grant process from Federal and State governments.

Just throw a couple of titles at you all the jog the old brain editted this from Wiki.
* Note - AFI is Australian Film Institute.


the 1970s:

• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - One of the first Australian films to reach an International audience, based on a book of the same title.
• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1976) - A multi-award winning film.
• Newsfront (1978) - Winner of 8 AFI awards including Best Film and Best Actor: Bill Hunter.
• Mad Max (1979) - Held world record as the highest profit-to-cost ratio of a motion picture and introduced Mel Gibson to an international audience.
• My Brilliant Career (1979) - AFI winner for Best Film.

the 1980s:

• 'Breaker' Morant (1980) - Nominated for an Oscar (for Best Screenplay), AFI winner for Best Film.
• Gallipoli (1981)

• - AFI winner for Best Film. Gallipoli is an important historical Australian event.
• The Man from Snowy River (1982) - Award winning iconic film.
• BMX Bandits (1983) - The earliest film appearance of Nicole Kidman.
• Bliss (1985) - AFI winner for Best Film.
• Crocodile Dundee (1986) - Received International acclaim, Nominated for an Oscar, for Best Screenplay.
• Malcolm (1986) - AFI winner for Best Film. One of the first films starring Colin Friels.
• The Year My Voice Broke (1987) - Often cited by film critics as the best Australian film in the past 25 years., AFI winner for Best Film.
• Dogs in Space (1987) - A cult film set in the post-punk "little band scene" in Melbourne in 1979.
• Evil Angels (1989) - AFI winner for Best Film and Meryl Streep Best Actress Oscar Nominee. (aside - her Oz accent was ... ummmm ... very American )

the 1990s:

• Proof (1991) - AFI winner for Best Film, one of the first major films starring Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving.
• Romper Stomper (1992) - A multi-award winning film, one of the first major films starring Russell Crowe.
• Strictly Ballroom (1992) - Nominated for Golden Globe, with additional 16 wins and 11 further nominations. AFI winner for Best Film.
• The Piano (1993) - Won 3 Oscars and received a further 5 nominations. AFI winner for Best Film.
• Muriel's Wedding (1994) - AFI winner for Best Film with worldwide success, one of the first films introducing Toni Collette and rachel Griffiths.
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) - A cult classic, now a performing musical production. The first large-scale appearance of Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving.
• Babe (1995) - Won an Oscar, for Best Achievement in Visual Effects and nominated a further six.
• Shine (1996) - AFI winner for Best Film, Geoffrey Rush won Best Actor Oscar.
• Doing Time for Patsy Cline (1997) - 10 AFI nominations winner of 4 (inc. Best Actor)
• The Castle (1997) - Low budget, box office success, received national acclaim.

the 2000s:

• The Dish (2000) - An internationally successful film which presents a somewhat fictionalised account of the Parkes Observatory's role in the Apollo 11 moon landing.
• Chopper (2000) - A multi-award winning influential film based on the character of Mark Brandon 'Chopper' Read, starring eric Bana.
• Lantana (2001) - AFI winner for Best Film.
• Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Widely credited with revitalizing the musical genre and has won 7 major awards and a further 10 nominations.
• One Night the Moon (2001) - AFI winner and New York International Independent Film & Video Festival Genre award winner. A musical (winner, Screen Music Awards, Australia) based on the true story of a young girl who went missing in the Australian outback in 1932.
• The Tracker (2002) - AFI winner for Best Actor: David Gulpilil.
• Harvie Krumpet (2003) - Won Oscar, for Best Short Film (Animated)
• Japanese Story (2003) - AFI winner for Best Film, starred Toni Collette.
• Little Fish (2005) - Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Noni Hazlehurst all won AFI awards for this Film set in a film set in sydney.
• Candy (2006) - Abbie Cornish, Heath Ledger & Geoffrey Rush in a film about love and how drugs affect your life.
• Happy Feet (2006) - The most expensive Australian film made, won Oscar, for Best animated feature film.

Not Mentioned in the Wiki ... But I thought were excellent

• Bad Boy Bubby (1993) is a black comedy and drama film written and directed by Rolf de Heer. It stars Nicholas Hope and Carmel Johnson. Bubby became notorious for pushing the boundaries of good taste with its strong scenes featuring violence, incest and atheism amongst other taboo topics. In the UK it was cut for cruelty to a cat.
• Undead (2003) Hailed by critics everywhere as an extraordinary feature film debut, Undead is a triumph for the Spierig brothers Michael and Peter. The film itself was made for just under one million Australian dollars and of over 300 special effects shots, only two were outsourced to another company - leaving the two brothers to complete the majority of the CG work on their laptops. The result is superb entertainment, with plenty of gore and nail-biting action - not to mention many hilarious moments throughout the film. Emerging Aussie talents Felicity Mason and Mungo McKay each give excellent performances as the reluctant heroes of the story, as do the remainder of the Australian cast. In this classic spin on the typical Zombie yarn, meteorites begin falling in the secluded town of Berkeley, turning the inhabitants into the walking, brain-eating dead. A group of survivors are forced to make a collective stand against the apparent invasion in an effort to escape the town, the group consisting of a constable on her first day of duty, her manic partner, a charter pilot and his pregnant wife, a local beauty queen and an alien abductee. When forced to work together the locals conflict with each other as much as the Zombies, and soon find that escaping the town is much more difficult than they thought. Each of the characterisations are so unique they could individually carry their own film, particularly the insane police sergeant Harrison (Dirk Hunter) who cannot seem to string two words together without inserting an expletive. Mungo McKay's character Marion is also well scripted, an enigmatic who has been outcast from the community for declaring his abduction experience. With such a rich assortment of characters and the relative success the film has enjoyed, the production of a sequel is assured. Undead has a timeless quality and succeeds in overlapping many genres, including horror, sci-fi, comedy and thriller - and as such should appeal to a great many movie lovers.
• Wolf's Creek (2005) Three young backpackers buy a car in Broome, Western Australia, intending to drive across the top end to Cairns. Ben Mitchell (Nathan Phillips) is Australian; the two women, best friends Liz Hunter (Cassandra Magrath) and Kristy Earl (Kestie Morassi), are English. They don’t know Ben well, but he and Liz fancy each other. At the end of their first day in the desert, their car breaks down at a deserted tourist site – the large crater of a meteorite. They are relieved to be rescued in the night by a real outback character, Mick Taylor (John Jarratt). He tows them to his isolated camp at an abandoned mine site, promising to fix their car. All three tourists fall asleep. When Liz wakes up, she is bound and gagged and her friends are missing. Mick Taylor turns out not to be so friendly, after all. Wolf Creek is not directly based on a true story, although a title at the start says, ‘based on actual events’. It was suggested partly by the gruesome details of the backpacker murders committed by Ivan Milat in the 1990s, but these murders were committed in a state forest near Sydney. Wolf Creek relocated its killing spree to a much more foreboding and lonely landscape in the Australian desert, partly because it wanted the power of isolation, and partly because it’s about the myth of the friendly Aussie bushman, typified by Paul Hogan as Mick Dundee.

Geesh I'm getting carried away ... sorry ... anyway I'll post it now

Kinzdone

I can't say I have a real love for Australian films in terms of a passion. Most are somewhat plodding drama/romance/social commentaries and although some people call them 'American Style' films, I really like 'Mad Max 1 and 2' and the Crocodile Dundee films and I appreciate the work of Russell Mulcahy (Highlander) who really elevated the last Resident Evil film far above the previous two.
I have seen 'Wolf Creek', but the american versions of those kinds of films are bad enough without Australia getting in on the act. 'Undead' was quite good, with homages and cliches as the main attraction.
Being a German living in Australia I pay much more attention to what is coming out of Europe and Asia/Japan, and their style of filmaking, than I do from the US or OZ.
These days the industry is very cross polinated to be honest.

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Claireofthemoon

I really like most of the Aussie films I've seen. After reading your list there's a few I need to look into. I few I enjoyed that you didn't mention are:

Kiss or Kill
The Rage In Placid Lake If you haven't seen this you should. If you've ever felt awkward or like you didn't belong, you'll relate to this story about a young man who decides to reinvent himself. Great movie.

I know there's more, but I can't think of them now. I'll post when I do.

EliotNess

i LOVED the castle, and was Bad Boy Bubby (i think that's what it was called) an australian flick? really dark stuff, but thoroughly engaging.

Flame

Bad Boy Bubby was an indi film made in South Australia ... although disturbing in some places, I loved the innocense of the main character.

Wolf's Creek was tense, especially considering that the killer was played by an actor that also entertained numerous kiddies on Play School a very popular long running childrens entertainment tv show. It freaked me out that 'John' instead of informing us that 'the wheels on the bus go round and round', was methodically hunting down his human prey.

Rin

I'm surprised that Moulin Rouge is one of Aussie movies, I thought it was American's. I like Moulin Rouge.

Happy Feet is also quite good, though I think there are still many better animated movies.

Undead is not pretty good in my opinion... It's just so so.

Flame

I just wanted to hear the actors speaking in Aussie. Actually the humour too is very Aussie. Not many films where Aussies are being eaten by Zombies.

Damn I said it three times ... so I'd better finish with ...

Oi Oi Oi

Escape

Mad Max and WolfsCreek are the only ones I have seen. The first I saw as a young boy. The last I recently just viewed and it was so so I guess. Again, I wasn't so thrilled with the ending though.

Tyler Durten

aussie movies suck

Flame

What, all of them ?!!

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