(Note: this post does not follow the normal 200-word word limit of this blog) First up – I’ve been pretty slack when it comes to posting these awards. This is mostly because I’m still venturing my way into the blogosphere (if that’s even a word), and partly because it was basically impossible to do an…
A body is found on the bridge between Mexico and the United States; an investigation begins, but the coroner finds that the body is in fact two bodies –an American and a Mexican citizen. The Bridge follows the detectives charged to investigate the crime: Sonya (Diane Kruger), an American detective with Aspergers, and Marco (Demian…
Guillermo del Toro usually brings his own unique designs to blockbuster filmmaking; Pacific Rim, surprisingly, feels more like a pastiche. It’s visually a hodge-podge of Godzilla, Neon Genesis Evangelion and the Matrix sequels, and is filled with overt references – there’s a Star Wars quote, and GLaDOS from Portal voices the film’s computers. The lack…
250+ posts into ccpopculture, I’m beginning to reconsider my initial decision to avoid star ratings entirely. 200 words isn’t a lot, and finding space to talk about what’s interesting about an artwork while also assessing its quality is difficult – my reviews regularly include an awkwardly shoehorned “Recommended” or similar. But star ratings are problematic.…
Everyone should be able to relate to Roman Polanski’s Repulsion – after all, who hasn’t gone a little crazy when their flatmates went out of town? Spending the week in the same dressing gown, killing time (and maybe some other things) … we’ve all been there. Repulsion is a dizzying spiralling descent into psychosis, crafted…
In the space of two of episodes, Under the Dome has transformed from a show with a lot of potential to an example of wasted potential. There’s time to turn things around, but this is certainly not the way to do it. Trapping your characters inside a dome should increase the stakes. There should be…
Gummo is an imperfect curio, an interesting failure. Harmony Korine’s directorial debut attempts to convey a sense of hollow malaise in a poverty-stricken town while conjuring bizarre imagery that’s disturbing or fascinating – often both. There are frequent demonstrations of Korine’s abundant ability: it’s not hard to draw a line between a scrawny adolescent lifting…
Upstream Color is strongly inspired by Terence Malick’s filmography, whether it’s borrowing particular shots or themes – a hand gently brushing across a surface, a flock of birds silhouetted against a pale sky – or appropriating the feel of his films. The resemblance surprised me given director Shane Carruth’s last movie, the intensely intellectual time…
(Double Feature is a series of “double length” (400-word) posts where I’ll discuss two related pop culture artifacts) Inception was a critical and commercial success, a cerebral blockbuster nonetheless filled with action. It’s unique in that it’s successful, high budget film from the last decade that’s based on an original idea. The film has even…
Ju-On: The Grudge is apparently the scariest Japanese horror film ever, and it’s certainly filled with memorably creepy images: children’s hands running through someone’s hair in the shower or ghostly figures emerging from beneath the bedsheets to drag people away to oblivion. The film has a scrappy, low budget feeling which is actually an asset…
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