So the film industry finally had one constant issue put to rest last Sunday when Leonardo DiCaprio finally won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his sublime performance in The Revenant. However, DiCaprio’s win does not mean all is right in the film industry right now, as there are many other performers who have…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
The Best Films of 2015
So finally, it is that time of year again – the Academy Awards are tomorrow, and while they are preparing to honor the best of the year, I am preparing to do my own, where I list the very best films of the year. As usual, I will be listing five honorable mentions, essentially films…
Mr. Holmes (2015)
There has never been a shortage of representations of Sherlock Holmes, arguably the most famous detective in the history of literature. From the classic Basil Rathbone films, to the glut of representations in the modern age, ranging from the excellent Sherlock, to the gloriously entertaining Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr, to the mediocre Elementary,…
Hail Caesar! (2016)
Who doesn’t love a film about cinema itself? A while ago, I reviewed Trumbo, a film that told the true story of Dalton Trumbo, the screenwriter who was blacklisted from Hollywood for his Communist leanings. However interesting as that concept is, the film itself was mediocre. That wasn’t, however, the last time Communism in Hollywood…
Deadpool (2016)
I believe it was last year when the legendary Steven Spielberg theorized that the rise in superhero films appears to be closely related to the rise of Western films almost a century ago. He also theorized that the superhero genre itself will soon fade away, just like the western genre did, going from exhilarating and…
Ranking the 88th Academy Award Nominees: Best Director
Possibly my favorite category, Best Director has never failed to amaze me. In past years, this award was nearly always given as a supplement to the Best Picture award. However, in the last few years, it has become an award almost independent from the Best Picture award, and while it does have some correlation still,…
Tomorrow Night (1998)
I love independent films (which is not a new statement in any way), because they can tell stories you would never see in mainstream cinema. I love discovering new independent films, and honestly I don’t know if there is an independent comedy that I wouldn’t watch or at least be somewhat intrigued by. However, there…
The Visit (2015)
Has there ever been a name in filmmaking that went from being the sign of a brilliantly minded young auteur to being synonymous with absolute trash than M. Night Shyamalan? His breakthrough film, The Sixth Sense, was a masterpiece and showed a young filmmaker with an abundance of talent. Slowly but steadily, his abilities seemed…
Waiting for Guffman (1996)
Have you ever noticed that everyone has that one film (or multiple films) that when they are playing on television, you cannot avoid watching them, or a film so great and resonant that you rewatch it often? For me personally, it is not really a singular film that achieves this, but rather a singular director…
Pacific Heights (1990)
I love a good thriller, and nothing is more entertaining than a fantastically trashy psychological thriller. One of the most delightfully campy thrillers I’ve seen recently is Pacific Heights, which is a bizarre film, because despite having one of the most brilliant filmmakers at the helm, and a very talented cast, it is a purely…
The Postmodern Pelican 