I love William Shakespeare – more specifically, I love his plays. I think that they were as relevant as social and political criticisms in the 16th century as they are now, in the 21st century. It is not a contentious point that they are timeless and filled with a quality that keeps them from ever…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
The Fisher King (1991)
Another trip down the long and deeply emotional lane of nostalgia. The Fisher King was one of the first films I ever saw as a young cinephile, roughly about ten years ago. What struck me on the rewatch of the film was that it was exactly the same film that I remember – the deeply…
Withnail & I (1987)
I remember a few months ago going absolutely mad for a film called How to Get Ahead in Advertising. It was a film that completely blew my mind – it was such a zany, insane and bizarre film, and it featured Richard E. Grant in one of the most committed and most entertaining performances I…
Chasing Amy (1997)
I, like many others, remember a time when Ben Affleck was not Batman, or someone constantly in prestige projects. The first time I ever saw Ben Affleck in a movie was when I was much younger, in Jersey Girl (a film that has received a fair share of critical hatred – but I thought it…
Love is Strange (2014)
I was watching this film while someone else was nearby, casually watching. He remarked that this film was “not a good movie” because it lacked explosions and guns, and thus it was not exciting. I beg to differ – a great film doesn’t need anything other than a compelling story and the right people to…
Son of Saul (2015)
The Holocaust has been a continuous source of inspiration for many filmmakers, and it is probably one of the most filmed historical topics, and even now, over seventy years later, it is still a horrific and raw historical memory that still exists in our collective minds. Films about the Holocaust range from horrifying (Shoah) to…
Mississippi Grind (2015)
Addiction is a subject that has not been avoided by cinema. Films such as The Lost Weekend and Days of Wine and Roses show the horrors of alcoholism, and films like Requiem for a Dream and Clean and Sober expose the lives of drug addicts. However, one form of addiction has not been explored as…
Stardust Memories (1980)
Woody Allen is a conundrum. Not only is he one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he is also a prolific filmmaker that really does not fit with the standard his contemporaries such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg set. Allen has made a film almost every year since 1969 (if my film knowledge…
A Mighty Wind (2003)
I am really in a very nostalgic mood these days, and because of this I have revisted a few of my favorite films that I feel have shaped me as a cinephile and as a person. If there is one filmmaker that I hold very dear to my heart, even if he isn’t as universally…
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Anthology films – what ever happened to them? They have seemed to have gone out of popularity, which is a shame because I think they were remarkable. Instead of having to sit through one long story, the audience instead experiences a few different stories, all centered around a specific theme. Perhaps the only bastion of anthology…
