Strictly Ballroom: Cheat Sheet
A guide to Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 Australian cinema landmark, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.
Double Feature: One Wild Moment (2015) and Blame It On Rio (1984)
Two films remaking the same story of an older man sleeping with his friend’s daughter and, weirdly, the 2015 one is less progressive than the 1984 movie.
Body Double (1984)
Brian De Palma’s films are an acquired taste. That’s especially apparent with Body Double, an uninviting experience for those unfamiliar with the director with plenty to offer those who’ve come around to his distinctive style. As a straightforward (and rather lurid) thriller, it’s somewhat unsatisfactory, hamstrung by its inherent implausibility and its leading man’s anti-charisma.…
The Interview (2015)
Remember the last low-brow comedy to centre on the attempted assassination of a world leader? I’m of course talking about Zoolander, where Ben Stiller’s empty-headed male model was brainwashed to murder the prime minister of Malaysia. Roger Ebert took issue with the subplot – “Didn’t it strike anybody connected with this movie that it was…
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
I watched Grave of the Fireflies expecting a masterpiece. I’d never seen the film before, but its reputation preceded it – as Studio Ghibli’s second film (released simultaneously with the magnificent My Neighbour Totoro) and as a tear-jerking war drama. Based on the non-fiction novel by Nosaka Akiyuki, it tells the tale of teenage boy…
Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
Shadow of the Vampire is a film of many genres. These include… …a historical revisionist re-telling of the filming of F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, with John Malkovich playing “Herr Doktor” Murnau; Eddie Izzard playing Gustav von Wangenheim who plays Thomas Hutter; and Willem Dafoe playing a vampire who takes on the role of Max Schreck…
Double Feature: Life Itself (2014) and 20,000 Days on Earth (2014)
In order for a documentary to be great, is it obliged to be innovative? Some of the best documentaries I’ve seen over the past year – Stories We Tell, My Winnipeg, The Act of Killing – are innovative in one way or another, whether it’s through a self-reflexive examination of the process of documentary-making or…
Sydney Film Festival Roundup
2014’s Sydney Film Festival was only my second film festival (after last year’s Brisbane International Film Festival) and my first time travelling to attend a festival. All told I caught eleven films over a long weekend, and had an excellent time, thanks to so much more than those films (though I remain jealous of anyone…
Labyrinth (1986)
It goes without saying that Labyrinth is a thoroughly strange kids’ film. For better or worse, they don’t make them like this anymore. It’s hard to imagine any decade but the cocaine-addled ‘80s producing an apparently commercial children’s movie populated by grotesque puppets about which a sinisterly sexual David Bowie cavorts, with only the barest…
IkkiTousen (Season 3) – Great Guardians
The term “guilty pleasure” is overused. I’m not of the belief that the concept doesn’t exist; of course it does! Guilt and pleasure are so closely related it’s absurd to dismiss the validity of experiencing shame and enjoyment simultaneously. But a trashy horror film with subpar special effects, a cheesy eighties pop song, a lurid…
ccpopculture 