Ewan McGregor in The Ghost Writer (2010)

The Ghost Writer (2010)

The Ghost Writer is a tense, understated thriller, eschewing violence for political intrigue. Director Roman Polanski channels his classic noir Chinatown, with Ewan McGregor’s ghost writer standing in for Jack Nicholson’s private detective, with the corruption here inspired by Tony Blair rather than California’s seedy underbelly. There’s also an inversion of Polanski’s “predicament” in Pierce…

400th Post: 2014 for ccpopculture

Six months after ccpopculture began, I hit my two hundredth post and commemorated the “event” by making a few changes to the site. I changed the name (from Carbon Copy to ccpopculture), and introduced both Extended Cut and Double Feature as alternative posts – up until that point, every single one of my posts had…

From Beyond

From Beyond (1986)

The full title of this flick is H.P. Lovecraft’s From Beyond, but if you’re looking for a faithful adaptation of Lovecraft’s famous works of gothic fiction, you’re shit out of luck. If you’d prefer a film that combines the demonspawn and bondage of Hellraiser with the grotesque special effects of Reanimator (plus its deliciously campy…

Review Roundup – Actresses Looking for Oscars

Another couple reviews hosted on other websites, each for a film whose leading ladies are likely to be nominated for Academy Awards soon enough: August: Osage County, a film with a great cast and screenplay that never really come together to create a great film. Philomena, anchored by an excellent performance from Judi Dench but…