There is nothing quite as wonderful as a good comedy from the 1980s, is there? One of the brightest directorial minds in comedy is John Landis, who directed quite possibly my favourite film of all time, The Blues Brothers, and my favourite horror film of all time, An American Werewolf in London. Landis’ filmography in…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
One of the great parts of studying Literature in university is that one is exposed to so much literature we would otherwise not seek out by ourselves. Last year, I did a course on Indian literature, where we studied some wonderfully notable Indian writers. However, one really stood out to me – R.K. Narayan, who…
An Appreciation of…Quentin Tarantino (1963 – present)
I mean what I am about to say – Quentin Tarantino is the reason I watch movies. Quentin Tarantino is the reason I adore and have devoted so much of my life to cinema – quite simply, there is not any figure in all of filmmaking that I respect and revere more than Quentin Tarantino….
Clerks II (2006)
After being absolutely bowled over by the brilliance of Clerks a few days ago, I just had to seek out the sequel. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much – I thought that if Kevin Smith could just capture a fraction of the brilliance from the first film, then the film would be worth it. Needless to…
My Favorite Year (1982)
I have begun to have a great appreciate for Peter O’Toole recently – not only as an actor (I always maintained by statement that he was perhaps the greatest actor of all time), but as a comedic actor. While his performance in Lawrence of Arabia and The Lion in Winter are absolutely tremendous, it were…
The Lady in the Van (2015)
Who doesn’t love Dame Maggie Smith? I truly don’t think there is anyone quite like her. Consider that she has had a career for over half a century now, and with so many iconic performances under her belt, she has every right to rest on her laurels. However, considering that she shows absolutely no sign…
Clerks (1994)
As someone that frequently defends independent cinema, and have canonized the indie filmmakers that arose in the 1990s, it was always my secret shame that I had never seen Clerks, the film that launched Kevin Smith to auteur fame. It isn’t that I found the story uninteresting – in fact, the story fits right into…
Knight of Cups (2016)
In the pantheon of great filmmakers, Terrence Malick is amongst the very best. His streak of films between 1973 and 1998 (in the space of those twenty-five years, Malick only made three films, but each one of them towering masterpieces). He also did majestic work in The New World and made an excellent experimental coming-of-age…
The Ruling Class (1972)
Peter O’Toole is perhaps the greatest actor of all time. From his breakout role in Lawrence of Arabia to his final roles on television and in cinema as the dignified elder statesman of great acting, O’Toole was an absolute titan of acting, and each of his performances were brilliant. Now many people point to the…
Zootopia (2016)
There isn’t any reason to go into an explanation as to why animated films are brilliant – so I will not. However, I will reiterate that there is not any better experience than a fully-realized, interesting animated film that is unique, original and wonderful. Animated films are artistically ingenious at times, and can very often…
The Postmodern Pelican 