I recently watched Brooklyn, and I was somewhat disappointed in it. I was hesitant about Carol, a film that shares a lot of themes with Brooklyn, such as the 1950s setting, the story of a girl out of water, finding unexpected love and a job that allows her to grow as a person. The two…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Jodorowsky’s Dune (2013)
I’d discuss my admiration for Alejandro Jodorowsky here, but is there anything really left to say? It seems that there may not be a bigger lover of all things related to Jodorowsky than me. From his energetic passion to his surreal films to his absolutely mesmerizing graphic novels. I have expressed my adoration for him…
Secrets & Lies (1996)
There are very few words that can describe how much I adore Mike Leigh. Not only do I consider him one of the greatest filmmakers working today, I consider him one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, one that matches the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. The only other filmmaker that is…
A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (2015)
Something I love about foreign-language cinema (meaning films from countries other than the USA or United Kingdom) is the fact that it can be so brilliantly strange, bizarre and wonderful, and that it doesn’t need to stick to any conventions to be seen, which is something that keeps many original ideas from being made in…
Mistress America (2015)
In 2013, Noah Baumbach, quite arguably the greatest director of independent comedies working today, teamed up with his girlfriend and fellow independent film veteran Greta Gerwig for Frances Ha, a film that reminded us that independent cinema is a truly unique art form, and one of the most tricky but rewards sub-genres of cinema to…
A Very Murray Christmas (2015)
It’s a tradition at this time of year to watch a different Christmas special. I considered The Star Wars Holiday Season, but I made a grand total of seven minutes into it before considering jumping off a tall building. Instead, I chose to watch the Christmas special that puts one of my favorite performers front…
Best of Enemies (2015)
This year saw a documentary appear in cinemas that told the story of one of the greatest television events of the twentieth century, and the performers who made it such a historical television event. The documentary I am talking about is not Live from New York, the flawed documentary that tried to chronicle the history…
The Dance of Reality (2013)
I adore surrealism. I think it is the most unique and brilliant sub-genre of art that has ever existed. How can complete absurdity, and otherworldly imagery, come together to form something so human and realistic? At the forefront of the surrealist film movement is Alejandro Jodorowsky, a man I have admired for many years, both…
Brooklyn (2015)
Period dramas can either be dreadfully boring or wonderfully entertaining, depending on the approach taken. There are some period dramas that tell a true story, and others that tell fictional stories set in the past. Brooklyn falls into the latter group, and while it certainly was not dreadfully boring by any stretch of the imagination,…
Room (2015)
It is a strange occurrence when a film brings you to tears. I won’t pretend to be a tough person by claiming to have the ability to not be brought to tears. There are a few films that made me a complete emotional wreck, and while I may not be overly sensitive to the tricks…
The Postmodern Pelican 