As the old saying goes, “all’s fair in love and war” – however, we can easily conflate the two, since they’re both amongst the most difficult ideas to understand at a conceptual level, and unless someone has experienced either of them, logically explaining their function is a fool’s errand. This serves as the foundation of…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Career Girls (1997)
Cinema adores friendships, especially those that change over time. There’s something about a solid exploration of the trials and tribulations of the companionships of two or more people that make for profoundly moving testaments to the human spirit. Mike Leigh implicitly understood this when he set out to make Career Girls, a slightly atypical film…
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
When it came to the swashbuckling genre – a kind of film that barely exists anymore, outside of a few ill-fated attempts to revive it – you got a wealth of different styles. These were films propelled by action, romance, mystery and even some comedy, many of them occurring in tandem, creating enthralling and captivating…
Big Trouble (1986)
There are very few sensations quite as uncomfortable as seeing a great director fall from grace to the point where one needs to wonder what they were actually thinking when making a particular film. It’s even worse when this served as the director’s final film, since they didn’t get the opportunity to end their career…
The Catered Affair (1956)
Watching the opening credits roll by at the start of The Catered Affair is quite an experience, since the pedigree of talent involved in the creation of this film is staggering – Richard Brooks (one of the more reliable genre directors working in this era of Hollywood) was directing a screenplay by Gore Vidal, who…
Family for Rent (2015)
Paul-André Delalande (Benoît Poelvoorde) is one of the richest men in Belgium – in fact, he has accumulated such an enormous wealth, his entire business was bought by another entity, and he still manages to live an extremely luxurious lifestyle. However, this is probably a result of him not having a family to spend his…
The Man with the Answers (2021)
There’s a ferry heading from Greece to Italy, transporting citizens from both countries between them, as usual. On one particular trip, the ferry is servicing two specific individuals – Victor (Vasilis Magouliotis ), is a former professional diver who has grown too old and slightly unfit to be fully in control of his craft. Matthias…
42nd Street (1932)
When it comes to musical films, there often exists two completely different entities – the concept and the execution, with many of them focusing on one over the other, in addition to varying quality of the music involved. There are a few that manage to combine both beautifully, but they’re slightly more rare, often restricted…
Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things (1971)
Somewhere in the idyllic suburbs of Miami sits a quaint home. If you didn’t know the residents of the house, you’d expect it to be occupied by a lovely middle-class family – in fact, this is exactly what everyone thinks. What outsiders don’t realize is that the owner of the house is “Aunt Martha”, who…
The Limey (1999)
When it comes to reinventing his career, there are few filmmakers that stand out as much as Steven Soderbergh. However, his style changes so regularly (very often annually), it’s less a case of redefining his approach to filmmaking, and more indicative of his intentional refusal to stick to a particular niche, which has made him…
The Postmodern Pelican 