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Thinking Cinematically: The people’s prerogative
It is a difficult thing to love a popular art form, especially film. It means that one must accept that there is an assumption of equality of opinion amongst the public in relation to the form in which...
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The First Australians: Ten great films about indigenous Australia
The twenty-sixth of January has passed for another year, although most of my readers will be unaware of the significance that the day holds for Australians. It is Australia Day, a celebration of our...
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New Trailer: Lords of Salem
Horror is an incredibly difficult genre to do well. And while I’ve seen hundreds of horror films over the years in search of the ultimate terror experience, I would have to say that there have been...
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Sunshine: A Valentine’s Day letter to a film that deserves more love
A brief Valentine’s Day letter to a film that has received far less love than it deserves, Danny Boyle’s Sunshine (2007) – published early to keep the day for my long-suffering better half Dearest...
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On the Couch: Examining a cinephile
In an attempt to discover where and when I was first overtaken by that most all-encompassing and endlessly satisfying of disorders, cinephilia, I’ve recently been reflecting on my early years. I can...
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Shattered Masculinities: Muscular pulp and feminine tears
There is something incredibly fascinating about images of shattered masculinity on the big screen. The notion of testosterone fuelled hyper-men imploding into impotent puddles of muscular pulp and...
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The Cinephile
The cinephile is a unique entity, an individual who has failed to experience the entirety of the malaise that is adulthood. Or perhaps it is too harsh to refer to adulthood in such sickly terms? In...
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Leaving Home: Ten films about migration
I was recently asked to put together a post on films that deal with the experience of migration by a friend who is about to take the big plunge. Of course, this is a huge topic. People migrate for all...
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New CURNBLOG Facebook page!
Hi All, This is just a quick note to let you know that CURNBLOG has just launched a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CURNblog If you’re on Facebook I’d love it if you could drop by and Like the...
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Shorts reviews: ‘Bridges’, ‘Afterglow’ and ‘Step 9′
I get a lot of requests to review short films and in the past I’ve rarely been able to get to many of them. However, having spent the last five months as a short film selection panellist for the...
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Great Horrors: Ten horror classics you might have missed
The horror genre promises more than any other in respect to emotive impact, and for this reason it is probably the genre in which failure is most common (along with comedy, perhaps). Horror films are...
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Ozploitation: Twelve Australian exploitation classics
Some might argue that it is paradoxical – perhaps even hypocritical – to follow a post lamenting the generally poor quality of horror cinema with one celebrating the schlocky oeuvre of Australia’s...
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Melbourne International Film Festival – Starts tonight!
The Melbourne International Film Festival kicks off tonight with the red carpet Australian premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s new film I’m So Excited. This year I was lucky enough to be offered a place on...
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Let’s get started: I’m So Excited, First Cousin Once Removed, Dirty Wars
The Melbourne International Film Festival has now begun, kicking off with the Australian red carpet premiere of Pedro Almodovar’s new film I’m So Excited last night. No doubt there are a few people...
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Patrick Remade: Return of the Catatonic
Having just recently posted about my love for Ozploitation cinema, I was more than a little enthusiastic to score tickets to the world premiere of Patrick, a remake of the Australian cult classic of...
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Five films that make the cut: Update from the Melbourne International Film...
Time for another report from the Melbourne International Film Festival! It’s quickly becoming apparent that my viewing schedule is ridiculously ambitious, as was my intention to keep the blog entirely...
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The Act of Killing: A tragic demonstration of the banality of evil
Historically, the human race has always depended on a reductionist approach to morality – one that helps us to clearly delineate the difference between good and evil. From the Cold War to the Crusades,...
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All is Lost: A cinematic exploration of human dignity in a gargantuan,...
“He rested sitting on the un-stepped mast and sail and tried not to think but only to endure.” ― Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea It would be difficult for anybody who has read Hemingway’s...
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Hong Kil Dong: The Ironic and the Indestructible
At a recent Melbourne International Film Festival screening of North Korea’s little seen gem, Hong Kil Dong (1986), one attendee enthusiastically declared to the entire cinema that it was the best film...
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Six more pieces of solid cinema from the cinephile circuit
The Melbourne International Film Festival has come to an end, and I’m left with copious notes on films that I’ve yet to fully review. While I attempt to readjust to the horrible glare of sunlight and...
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