Crimson Peak (2015)

I’ve never been much for antiques. By and large, that’s a reflection of budgetary issues – the furniture I own is nearly all cheap-as-chips or hand-me-downs – but I’ve just never really been invested in the aestheticisation of aging and decay that seems to drive aficionados of antiques. Guillermo del Toro, though, seems like a…

Giveaway: Win Double Passes to Crimson Peak [COMPLETED]

Thanks to Universal Pictures Australia, ccpopculture has 10 double passes to give away to Crimson Peak, releasing in Australian cinemas Thursday October 15th. “When her heart is stolen by a seductive stranger, a young woman is swept away to a house atop a mountain of blood-red clay: a place filled with secrets that will haunt her…

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Revisiting Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Given how much time I waste compiling lists, it’s hard not to be disappointed when mistakes are made. So it was with last year’s list of my favourite 20 films of 2013, which crucially omitted Only Lovers Left Alive – which was technically an Australian 2014 release, but I caught the film at BIFF (rest…

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Thor: The Dark World is a film all about gods but, like its predecessor, it’s at its best when it focuses on the foibles of humanity. The film’s first half is spent primarily on Thor’s plane of Asgard – and somewhere called Svartalfheim (Gesundheit!) – and it’s mostly a slog. There’s some overly-serious exposition about…

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

The Deep Blue Sea begins with a suicide attempt scored with over-dramatic classical music, overlaid with histrionic strings. The music bothered me, though it’s very appropriate to the film on the whole, a classically-produced melodrama where characters alternate between either politely saying things like “See, I rather foolishly thought that my indifference would hurt your…