Movie Moment: Dark Shadows

I don't like movies that are bloody.  Not even when the blood is cartoonish.  So why, then, did I go to see the big-screen version of the 1970s-era vampire soap opera Dark Shadows, in dazzling IMAX no less?  For the sake of a family outing, the magic of movies, and, of course, Mr. Johnny Depp.

Because it isn't really my kind of movie and because I never saw the original series, I won't tread too heavily upon Tim Burton's hallowed territory except to say that it wasn't as off-the-wall, anachronistically funny as the commercials promised.  More soap opera than spoof (and really, given its origins, who could blame it?), the film did provide some stunning visuals, giving me ample opportunity to do what I do best when confronted with something unpleasant - daydream about clothes and makeup.  Groovily gothic dresses, capelet-topped coats, and heavily beaded jewelry were set off by alternately neon and pastel eyelids paired with frosty pink lips, and in the case of villain Angie (Eva Green), smoky eyes and bold red lips.  (So inspired was I by this gimmicky glamour that I wore lime green eyeshadow for two days afterward.)  Similarly, I was charmed by Michelle Pfeiffer's character's secret passageway-style macrame storage room.  What should have been a gloomy, gory cavern turned out to be a rainbow-inundated hideaway of handmade goodness - truly, a detail any crafter would appreciate :)