Features

Seven films you need to be excited about for 2019

If you weren’t excited for the new year, you definitely will be once you get the scope on the films we’ll be seeing hit cinemas next year. Here at the AU Review, we have compiled a list of 7 films being released in Australia in 2019, so gather the family ’round and get ready for…

Read more

A Star Is Reborn: Why ‘remake’ is not a dirty word

No matter how Hollywood tries to sell it, remake will always be a word deemed blasphemous to cinephiles the world over.  Sure, they can throw out terms such as reboot or reimagining or revisioning, but regardless of the spin, they all refer to the same type of picture.  And because it’s one we have experienced…

Read more

Why you need to experience Damien Chazelle’s First Man in IMAX

When one praises a film, one of the many positives that one would say is that the storytelling is incredibly immersive from a visual perspective. Films with such praise would include Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, J.J Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness and Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. But what all those films mentioned have…

Read more

Five documentary features you need to watch on Netflix

There’s no shortage of documentaries on Netflix – both in feature and episodic format. Here’s just five documentary features you need to add to your playlists: Blackfish https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OEjYquyjcg Blackfish is a documentary about the captivity of orca whales, where it investigates the psychological and physical torment these sea animals go through in the name of…

Read more

Six new movie trailers you need to watch right now

From the new Elton John biopic, to Wizards and an unrecognisable Christian Bale, here are six just released movie trailers you need to watch… Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald One more addition to the beloved Harry Potter franchise, Crimes of Grindelwald is the second film in a new series of five, written exclusively for the screen…

Read more

Interview: Hyun Lee on Asian Girls and the benefits of diversity in film funding

Earlier this year, we sat down with Hyun Lee, the director of a short film called Asian Girls which screened at SXSW in Austin, Texas and then at the Sydney Film Festival. We talked about the making of the film, working with Rainbow Chan, and the benefits and importance of diversity in film funding. It’s…

Read more

What the critics are saying at the 75th Venice Film Festival

2018 marks the 75th anniversary of the oldest film festival in the world. Once again, Venice invites motion pictures and filmmakers from all over the world to participate in the annual show. The Festival, which premieres some of the year’s biggest films and hottest Oscar contenders, is running until the 8th of September. Here’s a look…

Read more

5 animated films to get excited about in the next 7 months

Already so far this year we have witnessed numerous animated films making an appearance in cinemas, the long-awaited Incredibles 2 being just one. But what about the rest of the year, you ask? Rest assured, because we here at the AU review have you covered. In this article we’ll disclose five more animated films you’re likely to…

Read more

Film Review: Kin (USA, 2018) attempts to balance family drama and sci-fi for something different

It takes quite some time before Kin ramps into its intergalactic promise, with Aussie directors Jonathan and Josh Baker stretching their indie short Bag Man into an odd hybrid feature to try thin the chunky line between on-the-road family drama and sci-fi. And while the uneven plot can be frustrating to witness as it slowly…

Read more

Here’s a look at the six Australian films to screen at TIFF 2018

Six Australian films have been chosen for the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). As one of the biggest publicly attended film festivals the TIFF has close ties to the US film industry. This poses a good chance of expanding the range of Australian film making to a world-wide audience, like former Toronto premieres (e.g….

Read more

Five things we learned about Breath from its Blu-Ray Release

The coming-of-age story, Breath is based on the acclaimed, Tim Winton novel of the same name. It is about two adolescent boys named Pikelet and Loonie who learn to surf thanks to a chance meeting with a former professional named Sando (Simon Baker). The film has just been released on Blu-ray and features several hours…

Read more

From Opening to Closing Night: The 59th Sydney Film Festival – Part Two ft. The Comedy, Jeff Who Lives At Home, Safety not Guaranteed and more.

In the first part of my Sydney Film Festival review series last week, I looked at four of the films I saw during the festival, and gave you my impressions of the festival as a whole. In short, I thought they nailed it. This week I conclude my review series with another four films I…

Read more