In the pantheon of great romantic comedies, very few films have defined the genre more than Michael Gordon’s Pillow Talk. Whether through filmmakers that were heavily inspired by it, or those that outright copied the film, it has held a cultural cache that has made it one of the most iconic entries into a genre…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Atlantic City (1980)
“It used to be beautiful – what with the rackets, whoring, guns” The mere mention of the name Atlantic City should evoke some kind of reaction in the listener – a town (or rather, gambling resort) known for its gambling, free-spirited activities and lack of morality, it has been the origin of many dreams being…
She Married Her Boss (1935)
Julia Scott (Claudette Colbert) lives a pleasant life – she works for a reputable clothing company, being an administrative assistant that has her sights firmly set on a leadership position, which is almost entirely guaranteed, considering she has a reputation amongst her co-workers and those they report into for being a hard-working young woman who…
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
Based on the title, you’d think that Quo Vadis, Aida? would be a more eccentric film, since it combines both an outdated Latin expression with the evocation of Verdi’s opera centred on an Egyptian queen – there’s a hint of the antiquity embedded in this film. However, this was clearly a calculated move on the…
Getting Away with Murder (1996)
Ethics have always been the passion of Professor Jack Lambert (Dan Aykroyd), a mild-mannered college lecturer who has perfected the art of morality, teaching it to legions of students who he manages to captivate with his unique perspective on human behaviour. However, despite his immense moral grounding and understanding of how any individual should conduct…
Solaris (2002)
When it comes to Solaris, the jury is still out on Steven Soderbergh’s attempt to adapt Stanisław Lem’s impenetrable novel. The general sentiment was that it stands as a noble effort, but an otherwise misguided attempt to capitalize on a wave of cerebral science fiction cinema that had recently become quite prominent in Hollywood at…
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
A tall, gangling man, sporting a wide-brimmed hat and the words “love” and “hate” scrawled on his knuckles – these are iconic images imprinted into the minds of any film lover, or even those who have just casually taken journeys into the world of the Golden Age of Hollywood, of which these are some incredibly…
Promising Young Woman (2020)
I normally tend to start my reviews with either a brief summary of the plot, or some preamble that sets the stage for the following thoughts. However, there are occasionally films that just appear and make such an incredible impression, it’s better to cut right to the chase, and proclaim it as something quite extraordinary….
My Psychedelic Love Story (2020)
There are many different forms of documentary, but the ones that tend to be the most fascinating are usually those that are portraits of unusual individuals. In this regard, you don’t get anyone more peculiar than Dr Timothy Leary, the world-renowned Harvard professor who abandoned his academic career to become inarguably the most notable proponent…
Sound of Metal (2020)
Representation matters, perhaps more than anything else in cinema. We’ve seen every conceivable story portrayed on screen, but those that normally strike the most significant chord are the films that touch on issues close to the heart of the viewer, whether its those from a particular community, or the general audience at large. We tend…
The Postmodern Pelican 