Some people believe in fate, whereas others see it as merely thinly-veiled faith in some higher power that seemingly has a plan for all of us, an idea that has been increasingly viewed with incredulity as time has progressed. However, there’s something quite appealing about putting all your trust in something that we cannot see…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Typist Artist Pirate King (2022)
Upon her death just over a decade ago, no one other than her family and friends (or what few she had left) knew the name Audrey Amiss, since despite being a gifted artist and someone who strove to make an impression, she lived most of her life in obscurity, oscillating between her squalid flat in…
Snow White (2025)
At what point do we actually stand up to arguably the most powerful entertainment entity in current existence and demand that they improve the quality of their work? For over a decade, The Walt Disney Company has been engaged in the bewildering act of taking its cherished animated classics and remaking them into colourless, bland…
The Blob (1958)
There is a misconception that art, particularly cinema, becomes better as time progresses and new developments emerge, since many believe that having access to cutting-edge technology and more expansive resources somehow equates to quality and artistic merit. While this may be true in a few cases, no film has ever truly benefited primarily from an…
Novocaine (2025)
I remember seeing a sign on a gymnasium wall that said “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional”, which is a quote by acclaimed author Haruki Murakami (who may find it fascinating that one of his quips has found such an unconventional home, albeit where it is slightly taken out of context), and it’s something that…
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
“Hollywood: the only place in the world where a man gets stabbed in the back while climbing a ladder.” William Faulkner, one of the greatest novelists and social critics to ever put pen to paper, famously said this on the subject of the film industry, which he had some experience with as a screenwriter, but…
Dance First (2023)
The act of paying tribute to some cherished artist or public figure in the form of a film is a pretty challenging endeavour, particularly because it requires a writer or director to stand at a structural crossroads, choosing their preferred approach to examining their life’s story. Do you explore it from start to finish (the…
Black Bag (2025)
Being in a long-term relationship is hard work – and we can only imagine how much more challenging it can become when you and your spouse work in an industry built on suspicion and paranoia. This is a question that Steven Soderbergh asks in Black Bag, a film that he developed alongside David Koepp (with…
Hellboy (2004)
There is nothing quite as enthralling as the perfect marriage between a director and pre-existing material since there are some instances where it is difficult to fathom anyone else handling specific adaptations. In the case of Mike Mignola’s masterpiece Hellboy, which tells the story of a demonic entity who finds his way to our dimension…
Reality Bites (1994)
Whenever the subject of great filmmakers of the past thirty years comes up, one name that is rarely mentioned despite a solid body of work is Ben Stiller, someone who is undeniably familiar to the majority of us, but who barely receives the attention he deserves for his forays behind the camera, at least not…
The Postmodern Pelican 