Simply A Masterpiece

Powerful

Great Film overall

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

NEWCASTLE (in Australia) is an interesting take on the very male beauty pageant that is Australian surf culture among teen/20 somethings... and viewers should be aware that the writer/director Dan Castle is a gay film maker. As a result his awareness of the visual aspects of the young male form in surf sand and sex scenes is to the fore of this 'pretty' film. Reminiscent of PUBERTY BLUES (1982) and BIG Wednesday (1978) and a male version of BLUE CRUSH without the surf contest, NEWCASTLE shows the Australian mid coast steel city's glorious beaches and aqua waters with frolicking male beauty and testosterone challenges. It has a reasonably interesting storyline and some surprises and one very startling moment in the dunes, but somehow lacks gravity. The Parents and Grandfather are 'just there' as characters, the girls no more than a distraction from the boy antics, the older brother issues..all just get enough screen time to make them vaguely followable. Visually it is a triumph with incredible photography of almost being in the surf with the guys, and an affection for the male form that only a committed gay film maker could possibly dare to present. The young actors were very game to agree to participate and in the future would be proud of their achievement. Xavier Samuels, the least pretty of the boys ironically has gone onto bigger and better things in the TWILIGHT series. NEWCASTLE is a state of mind, an erogenous zone and a great place to surf. Some terrific scenes at the very surreal Newcaslte ocean pool are almost scenes from A BIGGER SPLASH. It is exceptionally well cast. The star of the film no doubt is the unforgettable photography during the surfing scenes. Overall, there is a lot of near nudity and some completely nude sequences. It must have played to screaming audiences in a packed cinema.

This was on local telly last night, and as I feel a little "patriotic obligation" with Aussie films, I gave it a go.Within ten minutes I had put nearly every character neatly back in the "central casting" pigeonhole they'd been taken from and was mentally writing the rest of the movie in dot points. In the end, the trendy, tokenistic gay element was the only thing I missed.As far as the characterisations and plot are concerned, there is nothing original in this film. That can be overlooked if it is executed well, but it wasn't. Fairly pedestrian, soapie-level stuff for the most part, with wall-to-wall white Aussies acting out a story seemingly cobbled together from old episodes of "Home and Away".Cast-wise, the youngsters weren't too bad, in fact certainly promising as far as their ability to express a range of emotions. By contrast, Shane Jacobson proved beyond doubt that he is a rubbish actor, possibly one of the most overrated actors of the last few years. Watching him "cry" was one of the funniest things about this film. He's that unconvincing. Shane, stick to "comedies" where you just play yourself, won't you? So why two stars? The younger cast members for one. Two, the surfing sequences are beautifully shot - and no, I'm not a surfie by any means.

I really liked this movie despite the lengthy surfing scenes and lack of real depth to the storyline. The actors in the film were all entertaining to watch. There was a array of characters with various interactions...some funny, some sad, some utterly bland but contributory nonetheless. The scenery was incredible. I think many modern films lack that beautiful setting which captivates the audience so it was nice to see it be different in Newcastle. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Xavier's and Kirk's characters. It felt real and very believable. I was upset that I missed the scene at the end of the credits. There should have been a heads up that the movie was not yet done. Overall, I give this movie a 9/10 as I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

I can't really say - not what went wrong, but - what didn't go right with this little film. The acting is not actually bad, though the script is easily yelling at times; nice surf shots, but prudish, as another reviewer mentioned, use of half-naked shots, that mar any feeling of contest, or sport, in the film, and the comic effect (I'm talking here about the scene of the two brothers running naked in town) is not delivered. Not quite clumsy; rather half-baked, and somewhat hurriedly edited. Pity, the opening shots were really nice. Why not stick to what they retroactively conveyed, that is a sense of enclosure from the city's industrial whereabouts, and from the huge ships that look like whalers and close off the sea imparting a sense of oppression and the quest for freedom? Newcastle? Looks more like an old hut full of adolescent ware.