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…
Author: The Postmodern Pelican
Stan & Ollie (2018)
There are few experiences more delightful than seeing comedic teams in their element, and the history of cinema is littered with many examples of duos or troupes that collaborated consistently over the years, becoming synonymous with their respective eras and how comedy was performed and consumed at that particular point in the past, something that…
It Is In Us All (2023)
Once someone has been through a traumatic incident, they are likely going to return to the place in which it happened, either physically or psychologically. This is a phenomenon that has been observed among many individuals who have suffered some kind of trauma or tragedy, either witnessing something horrifying or experiencing anything that could cause…
The Roost (2005)
On a quiet country road somewhere in rural Delaware, a quartet of friends speed towards a party, not being aware that their reckless actions will ultimately lead to their demise. It’s a premise that could be plucked from just about any slasher horror film made in the past thirty years, but in this instance, it…
Bobi Wine: The People’s President (2023)
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of people living under an authoritarian regime: there are those who just blindly accept that this is the way their lives have to be, and then there are those who stand up and fight in some way, even if it is only launching their own small, intimate rebellion against…
The Cameraman (1928)
As a general rule of thumb, when assessing the legacy of someone within the film industry, we can usually divide them into those who worked for their place in history, and those who were shoehorned into it as a result of some forced act of popularity. In many cases, we find that some of the…
The Third Murder (2017)
There are many contemporary viewers who believe that Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of the greatest living filmmakers, and someone who has made invaluable contributions to not only to the Japanese film industry, but global cinema as a whole. His gentle, human dramas have broken new ground and told bespoke stories, each one beautiful and compelling,…
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
There are few names that evoke the same kind of passionate reaction in terms of capturing the very spirit of theatricality than Tennessee Williams, who wrote his final play over forty years ago, but whose spectre still lingers in the culture. This is particularly true since his work tackles themes relating to American life, exploring…
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
At some point in the past, Thomas Pynchon expressed his desire to write a story that was centered on the insurance brokers sent to Tokyo to assess the damage caused by Godzilla after one of his many rampages. As a culture, we have a tendency to latch onto certain stories, repeating them time and again,…
Mysterious Skin (2004)
The art of provocation is one that not many filmmakers have been able to successfully achieve without coming across as overly forced. Some filmmakers court controversy as a means for artistic expression, whereas others do it because they are genuinely fascinated by the reaction from the audience and how they observe particularly unsettling stories. There…
The Postmodern Pelican 