Irony is a powerful literary tool when used correctly – and there’s nothing quite as wonderfully self-referential as Aaron Spelling, a mogul of soap operas and television dramas, producing a film like Soapdish, which both celebrates and annihilates the empire he helped construct. Michael Hoffman’s irreverent and hilarious satire is one of the funniest films…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
Any cursory summary of the career of Jim Thompson will doubtlessly mention how he was a writer who transformed pulp fiction into art. His particular brand of hardboiled, Southern-fried crime fiction has captivated audiences for generations, with the off-kilter humour, graphic violence and twisted narratives making them far more complex than other supposedly cheaply-produced works…
Benedetta (2021)
It’s difficult to think of a director better suited to tell the story of Benedetta Carlini, the 17th-century Italian nun who was reviled and nearly executed for her same-sex affair with one of her fellow sisters, than Paul Verhoeven, who has made something of a career out of controversial subjects. Benedetta’s decision to engage in…
The Nanny (1965)
One of my personal favourite pieces of casting trivia is that, during the process of deciding on someone to star as the titular Mary Poppins, Walt Disney actively pursued Bette Davis for the role, banking on her status as one of the most beloved and recognizable faces from the Golden Age of Hollywood that was…
Hondo (1953)
Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her son Johnny (Lee Aaker) live on a secluded ranch in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by Apache lodges, which would normally not bode well for settlers, since they were living in a time when there was enormous tension between Native Americans and European settlers. However, Angie has an…
The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1991)
Romance, espionage, intrigue and geriatric humour – these are all themes that are found throughout The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (French: La vieille qui marchait dans la mer), the perplexing but utterly delightful comedy written and directed by Laurent Heynemann, who puts together one of the most charming films of the 1990s….
Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979)
There were two versions of Chilly Scenes of Winter, the film adaptation of Ann Beattie’s novel, released between 1979 and 1982. The first was Head Over Heels, a mildly well-received version, and the second was one that bore the source material’s title, and featured a different ending. The decision which one to view was based…
The House (2022)
Here’s a novel concept – The House is one of the best horror films of recent years, and a film that is only going to grow in estimation as time goes on. Less of a singular film, and more the product of an artistic collective, whereby it is composed of three distinct films, each written…
Scent of a Woman (1974)
While most people will be more aware of the 1992 film that saw Al Pacino finally complete his transformation in a full parody of himself, Scent of a Woman (Italian: Profumo di donna) is actually one of the definitive entries into a genre that saw countless incredible filmmakers working to tell stories of ordinary people…
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
It would seem almost inappropriate to start this discussion without mentioning my undying belief that Macbeth is the finest work in the history of English literature, a contentious but not entirely uncommon belief. William Shakespeare wrote several works that have remained resonant for centuries, many of them being the subject of countless adaptations, whether it…
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