News — Australian Film

Film Review: Head South (2025) - New Zealand Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 7.5/10 Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com New Zealand director Jonathan Ogilvie’s “Head South” arrives not with a polished sheen, but with the scuffed boots and slightly frayed energy of the very scene it lovingly documents: the nascent, DIY post-punk explosion in Christchurch, New Zealand, circa 1979. It’s a film blessed with a specificity of time and place that feels lived-in, not researched. Ogilvie,...

Film Review: The Surfer (2025) - Australia / Ireland Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 6/10 Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com Lorcan Finnegan’s “The Surfer” arrives drenched in Australian sun and drenched, too, in a very particular kind of madness. It’s the madness born of humiliation, of territorial pissings, and of Nicolas Cage pushed to the very brink. The film is a visually arresting, often uncomfortable plunge into the roiling psyche of a man unraveling on his...

Film Review: The Aegean (2025) - Australia Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 8/10 Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com Australian director Jacob Richardson's “The Aegean” is a film that breathes. It inhales the salt spray of the Greek islands and exhales a profound, wordless ache of human connection. Set against the ancient, sun-bleached cliffs and impossibly turquoise waters of Kythira, it transcends its simple premise – a grieving fisherman, a displaced refugee – to become a soul-stirring...

Film Review: Dangerous Animals (2025) - Australia / USA Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 9/10 Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com The sea has always been a mirror for our deepest fears – vast, unknowable, and teeming with ancient predators. Sean Byrne’s “Dangerous Animals” doesn't just glance into that abyss; it plunges us headlong, chaining us to a nightmare vessel where two primal horrors converge. This isn't merely a thriller; it's a pressure cooker welded shut and...

Film Review: Inside (2025) - Australia Support my reviews by buying me a Coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/neofilmblog Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critic Circle of Australia) I rated it 7/10 Support our reviews by buying from official DVDs / Blu Rays at NeoFilmShop.com A Stark Sunlight on the Brutal Truth of the System - Prison films often fall into two traps: the lurid exploitation of violence or the sanctimonious sermon on redemption. Charles Williams’ impressive feature debut, “Inside”, deftly sidesteps both. This is a film etched not in the shadows of gothic despair, but under the harsh, fluorescent glare and unforgiving Australian...