At some point, we have all likely heard the adage that “people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime”, which relates to the idea that some friendships are meant to be temporary, while others become a much more important part of one’s life. We can apply this premise to just…

There is a very narrow membrane between being tough and being mean, and as the protagonist in the play The Meanest Man in the World (a starring vehicle for writer-performer George M. Cohan in the 1920s) will attest, it is extremely easy to cross between the two without realising it – and sometimes, it can…

There are some films that become so consolidated in the global culture, regardless of how much time passes, they remain fresh and invigorating, with seemingly very little being possible when it becomes to tarnishing their legacy. Despite having been released over thirty years ago, Sister Act has sustained its reputation as one of the most…

While he arguably reached his comedic peak in 1959 with the release of Some Like It Hot (where he turned in the funniest performance of all time in his dual role of Jerry and Daphne), Jack Lemmon continued to push the boundaries of his craft well into the 1960s, which was one of his most…

Nostalgia is a powerful tool that not a lot of filmmakers have been able to harness particularly well, at least not in the sense of creating films that can be revisited later on and remain as resonant as they were when they were released, which is a tricky process that very few have managed to…

When it comes to comedy, a film can go one of three ways – the first option is that it becomes hopelessly dated as time goes on, especially if it is a very topic subject. The second is that it maintains its level of humour and is viewed as a funny but otherwise inconsequential product…

While he has had a career that has lasted more than half a century, you can easily divide Woody Allen’s work into clearly defined periods, each one distinct and clear in how they showcase the specific artistic curiosities and concepts that fascinated the director at any given moment. At some point in the late 1970s,…

One of the great joys of exploring cinema is the feeling of excitement you get when you discover someone for the first time. We all recall our first encounters with the great masters of their craft, the people who are seen as overarching definitions of what a great writer, director or actor should be, becoming…

When looking at older films, they usually fall into one of two broad categories: the films that stand the test of time and become beloved classics, and those that may not be particularly bad but lack some quality that keeps them in the conversation, usually having them fall into slight obscurity. This is only a…

They certainly don’t make romances like they used to – there’s something so compelling about how love was perceived during the Golden Age of Hollywood that has allowed so many terrific works to become cherished classics of the genre. Ball of Fire is a film that has remained admired and beloved for over half a…