Monday, January 25, 2010

Australia Day

Today is Australia Day here in, you guessed it, Australia. If you're American or British you're probably reading this and it's not technically Australia Day yet (26 of January), but that's my reward for LIVING IN THE FUTURE! Time zones be damned! America celebrates the day that British people came to their land with Turkey and family get togethers and being thankful for good health. Australia celebrates by having a bbq and sitting in lawn chairs and wading pools. We're classy like that!

Over at my blog Stale Popcorn I have celebrating by doing another end-of-decade list, this time one that I'm sure not many others have done: Best Australian Films of the Decade. There are some titles on there that you non-Aussies will recognise like Samson & Delilah, Wolf Creek, Mary and Max and Australia, but there's also plenty you have probably never heard a single word about. No matter whether you've heard the rapturous reviews or not, you should do me a favour and put them on your DVD queue immediately. I actually did a search of America's Netflix about 19 of my top 25 are available, which surprised me a lot.


  1. Lantana (dir. Ray Lawrence, 2001)
  2. Noise (dir. Matthew Saville, 2007)
  3. Jindabyne (dir. Ray Lawrence, 2006)
  4. Three Blind Mice (dir. Matthew Newton, 2009)
  5. Samson & Delilah (dir. Warwick Thornton, 2009)
  6. Not Quite Hollywood (dir. Mark Hartley, 2008)
  7. The Dish (dir. Rob Sitch, 2000)
  8. The Horseman (dir. Steven Kastrissios, 200?)
  9. Black Water (dir. Andrew Traucki & David Nerlich, 2008)
  10. Look Both Ways (dir. Sarah Watt, 2005)


You can read the rest of the top 25 at Stale Popcorn. Have you had a favourite Aussie film from the past decade? Speak up in the comments! Meanwhile, I'm off to drink beer and sit in a lawn chair in the sun for hours on end.

8 comments:

Jim T said...

I recently watched Jindabyne and I think I liked it but I'm not really sure. :p I certainly enjoyed Linney's perfomrance. I haven't seen Lantana. I will.


I guess Kastrissios is of Greek origin and since Dennis Iliadis is too, I feel kind of ashamed of my country :p
I haven't seen The Horseman but I read the plot and just like Iliadis' film, it has to do with the father brutally avenging his daughter. Are we Greeks that angry?

Hardy said...

LOL, Glenn.

That is not why Thanksgiving is celebrated!

But nice post.

Cheurch said...

Lantana is a fine fine movie

Wayne B said...

Rabbit Proof Fence is an excellent movie and the first one that came to mind.

Nate Tyson said...

The Dish never gets enough credit.

Johan Donald said...

Happy Australia Day!!!Thanks for the nice post..Darling harbour events

Craig said...

Lantana is a smart psychological thriller/mystery in the vein of the best of film noir tradition that never got its proper due here in the States.

patricia said...

Lantana is one of the best Australian film ever made.