Australian Film Critics Association

The jewel in the crown of the ANU • Inside Story Celebrated by previous vice-chancellors, the Australian Dictionary of Biography and its fellow national project, the Australian National Dictionary, are threatened by university cuts

University executives need serious help to escape from the Cult of Efficiency. At what point do we dispense with the idea that the value of education and knowledge can be measured in business terms. This is truly insane. insidestory.org.au/the-jewel-in...

MIFF 2025: our guide to the films not to miss | ScreenHub Australia - Film & Television Jobs, News, Reviews & Screen Industry Data With an enormous program to wade through, we’ve made teeing up your MIFF 2025 schedule easier.

What’s that? You want MORE @melbfilmfest.bsky.social suggestions? You got ‘em bit.ly/4546LYg

REVIEW: The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) It has taken 17 years and 37 films, but the Fantastic Four – the so-called ‘first family’ of the Marvel Universe – have finally joined their fellow heroes in the Marvel Cine…

The pace of The Fantastic Four is a little slow, and I'm not sold on its take on protagonist Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), but I swear Marvel fans need to see Galactus on the biggest cinema screen that they can find.

fictionmachine.com/2025/07/22/r...

Who knew? What are we waiting for with the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot?

I’ve taken a bit of flack for enjoying the I Know What You Did Last Summer requel, but the horror genre has room for trashy fun imho🪝 bit.ly/3GUeIHl

cursed with knowledge wish I didn’t know the film adaptation of a Rey/Kylo Ren fanfic with the serial numbers filed off just cast Daisy Ridley’s husband but now you do too

YouTube video by Terry Talks Movies Amazing Obscure English Science Fiction Movies You'll Like!

New video. Two extremely obscure English science fiction movies. youtu.be/Yjz8y_Udkc8

1000 Women in Horror Surprise Double Feature Follow up one of the documentary highlights of this year’s program with a terrifying double bill.

MELBOURNE! Tickets to our women in horror secret screening at MIFF are selling super fast, you do not want to miss these 💜

REVIEW: Drop (2025) When surrounded by Hollywood’s penchant for sequels, prequels, spin-offs, reboots, and adaptations, it is sometimes nice to come across an original, self-contained feature with an interesting…

My review of Christopher Landon's first date thriller Drop (2025) has, um, dropped. fictionmachine.com/2025/07/19/r...

REVIEW: Superman (2025) There is a scene in the middle of James Gunn’s Superman. The titular superhero sits in Lois Lane’s apartment, sharing a heartfelt conversation about the difficult situation in which he …

James Gunn's Superman is exactly the sort of bright, ridiculous, over-the-top joy that I want from a superhero movie.

fictionmachine.com/2025/07/17/r...

The 10 best films to see at MIFF this year Let us help you string together your schedule.

From ghost-blocking pups to giant sharks chomping WWII soldiers and on to very Excel-ent kids, here are some more choice options from this year's @melbfilmfest.bsky.social program bit.ly/4m0e7D0

I’m a huge fan of Julia Holter so this was particularly exciting for me.

MIFF Interview: Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama on creating examples of healthy masculinity with Têtes Brulées - The Curb | Film and Culture Subscribe to The Curb podcast via RSS feed, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeart Radio. Download the episode directly here. Eya’s (Safa Gharbaoui) world as a 12-year-old Belgian Tunisian is filled with ...

Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama’s Têtes Brûlées is a coming of age story set in Brussels in a Muslim community. It’s wonderful, rich, funny and melancholy. I spoke to Maja about her film playing @melbfilmfest.bsky.social

www.thecurb.com.au/maja-ajmia-y...

REVIEW: Taras Bulba (1962) ‘There’s only one way to put your faith in a Pole,’ declares the Cossack leader Taras Bulba, ‘put your faith in your sword, and your sword in the Pole.’ The titular wa…

1960s epic Taras Bulba boasts a great performance by Yul Brynner, but also a terrible one by Tony Curtis.

fictionmachine.com/2025/07/06/r...

Seven days, seven docos: Indigenous documentaries to watch this Naidoc Week – and most are free From an ‘electrically powerful’ look at the final chapter of Adam Goodes’ AFL career to a must-see portrait of Gurrumul, along with Australia’s ‘greatest protest movie’

Australian readers: here's seven excellent docos to stream, celebrating the culture and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Overseas readers: hopefully some of these are available where you live too

Ang Lee’s Hulk is a bad movie, but it could’ve changed cinema A split-screen revolution lost in a green blur: Luke Buckmaster explains how Ang Lee’s 2003 superhero movie could’ve been a game-changing production.

I wholeheartedly believe the words in this headline. Perhaps I can convince you too...

This filmmaker couldn't say he was coming to Sydney until he was on the plane This world-renowned Iranian director was barred from making films in his own country. Now, he has come to Sydney under a veil of secrecy to promote his latest work, which is based on his interrogation...

And part one of my chat with It Was Just an Accident filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who won the top prize ab.co/3SJxtQ5

A documentary about a women's prison music program just won a $20k prize Songs Inside is a music workshop program working with women in prisons, helping them access creative outlets and find purpose. A documentary telling their story has just won a prize at Sydney Film Fes...

Songs Inside just won the Documentary Australia Award @sydfilmfest.bsky.social Here’s my chat with the film team ab.co/3G57Ar4

Thank you to all the new and renewing member applications. The committee is working through applications now and will be in touch with those who applied shortly.

Thanks to the lovely folks at the Rondos for posting my acceptance speech to YouTube. An honour to receive the 2024 award for Writer of the Year, and even more important was the ability to dedicate it to the late and dearly missed Australian horror icon Lee Gambin. You finally got your Rondo darlst!

A bus driver takes a stand against fascism in this surprise hit Spanish film The Catalan people were brutally repressed by fascism in Spain. Now a movie about a grassroots triumph is storming through the box office and winning awards. And it's made it to Australia.

Love a people power story, so was a treat to chat to Catalan director Marcel Barrena about Spanish Film Festival highlight El 47 ab.co/442j8U0

Dangerous Animals review – serial killer meets shark movie in this formulaic fizzer Jai Courtney eats up his role as the crazed captain of a tourist boat – but he can’t quite wrestle this creature feature from its straitjacket

For a long time, serial killer and shark movies were separate forms of cinema; never the twain did meet. In Dangerous Animals they’ve been blended into one foul fishy stew. My review

Literally hours to get your application in.

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New and renewing Aucritic members have until midnight EST tonight 15 June 2025 to get your applications in before they close for the year!

Visit Auscritic.com for both new and renewing member forms.

Membership renewal https://auscritic.com/membership-renewal/ Membership application https://auscritic.com/join-auscritic/

Potential and current members of @auscritic.bsky.social time is drawing to a close if you haven’t applied or renewed.

Don’t wake in fright on the 16th!

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Renew here https://auscritic.com/membership-renewal/ Apply here https://auscritic.com/join-auscritic/

AFCA/Auscritic members who want to renew, or Australian based critics who want to join. Just five days left before the deadline.

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New Episode! S&A ranks the Mission Impossible Movies. The Team. @hibachijustice.bsky.social @andrewmgorham.bsky.social @mattbled87.bsky.social Mark Wanner & @tjmackey432.bsky.social Tom Run Tom. Light the Fuse.

Schlock & Awe episodes can be found in the profile

REVIEW: Golden Job (2018) To know Young and Dangerous is to know 1990s Hong Kong cinema. This pulp action franchise, which started in 1995, was the biggest cultural phenomenon on local screen. Based on a popular local comic…

Golden Job, a 2018 film reuniting much of the cast of Young & Dangerous, is a nostalgic trip for those that want to take one.

fictionmachine.com/2025/06/09/r...

Sydney Film Festival – Farming the Revolution (dir. Nishtha Jain) I had only just been commenting in regards to this film that India was experiencing a “golden age of documentary” and then during the Sydney Film Festival’s introduction, those very words were spoken....

Some quick thoughts on Nishtha Jain’s FARMING THE REVOLUTION, playing at @sydfilmfest.bsky.social. Another from India’s golden age of documentary. And a relevant story of orgsnised protest against politicians working for corporations instead of its citizens. redocumented.ghost.io/sydney-film-...

A digitally distorted image of a bkinde white wiman in a denim jacket

I literally wrote the (first) book about found footage horror movies, and let me tell you, MAN FINDS TAPE proves the subgenre is alive and thriving. Put it on your radar!

My review at the Alliance of Women Film Journalists @awfjorg.bsky.social

awfj.org/blog/2025/06...