One of the great ironies we find in the history of cinema is that the film that encapsulates two of the most quintessentially American concepts – the road movie and rock ‘n’ roll – was made by a Finnish director. Naturally, we aren’t just discussing just any film, or any director for that matter, but…

Based on his output over the past decade, it would appear as if Wes Anderson is officially in the stage of his career where he is given free rein to do whatever takes his fancy, which has resulted in his already polarizing style becoming more obvious and pronounced, which has divided audiences and caused him…

The sports genre is one that has proven to be extremely divisive, with some absolutely adoring these films, while others being far more cynical. On a personal level, I have rarely found films centred around sports to be all that compelling – they are usually formulaic to the point of being outright predictable, and they…

At this point in her career, Kelly Reichardt has more than proven herself as one of the essential cinematic voices of her generation. Over the past quarter of a century, she has told intimate and personal stories that are guided by her distinctly human approach to storytelling, being a pioneer of minimalist cinema, and one…

When constructing a comedy, there are always guides that supposedly set the standard for effectively extracting laughs by following a specific formula that they claim guarantees audiences will embrace what they’re seeing and feel compelled to seek out even more similar works – and in an era where a lot of comedies were built on…

There comes a point in every film lover’s life when we realize that not everything needs to make sense or be particularly good, and that it is perfectly acceptable to just enjoy something for the sake of it, since not every film we watch needs to be a revelatory experience. This realization is paired with…

“Family is not one little thing – it’s everything” – sometimes the wisest words come from the most unexpected sources, as we can see by his statement, which is found nestled at the heart of About My Father, the irreverent and heartwarming comedy by Sebastian Maniscalco, who wrote the film based on his experiences with…

Over the course of his prolific career, Aki Kaurismäki has made several hilarious films about truly miserable people, which has become something of his trademark, and a large reason why he is arguably one of his native Finland’s most celebrated directors. It’s not necessarily that he is focusing on the plight of his characters and…

Here is an unimpeachable, almost gospel truth: absolutely no one makes films like Mel Brooks. Somehow, this obscure television writer and comedian born and raised on the tail-end of the peak of vaudeville flourished into one of our greatest filmmakers, someone whose work reflects nothing short of pure, unhinged artistic brilliance. He is one of…

There have been countless attempts to adapt  Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s wonderful play The Front Page into every conceivable medium, and they have all achieved varying degrees of success. Everyone from Billy Wilder to Kathleen Turner had their sights set on luxuriating in the hilarious and irreverent world that the playwrights had created, which…