Recently, I spoke about Interiors, and how this movement towards more dramatic material wasn’t only a remarkable change of pace for Woody Allen, but started a second-act of a career that was previously defined by off-the-wall comedy. This was his first foray into solely serious storytelling, and while he has often revisited this kind of…

As one of the formative voices in Russian cinema, Eldar Ryazanov had quite a bit to prove them it came to defining his national cinema. His two-part film The Irony of Fate is arguably the greatest comedy to ever come out of the country, and many of his other films (such as my personal favourite,…

Albion, Michigan is not a particularly pleasant place to live, often being referred to by derogatory names, mostly by its residents, who don’t see anything particularly positive about the small town. One of the staples of the community is Oscar’s Chicken and Fish, a regional chain of fast-food restaurants that is just as gaudy as…

Steven Phillips (Albert Brooks) used to be a big deal in the world of screenwriting – emphasis on “used to”. He has recently managed to pick up a humanitarian award, which gives him a sense of accomplishment and importance, until he realizes how worthless it actually is, since the terms surrounding it are far more…

We’ve all encountered them from time to time – the mindless, continental European comedies that are cheaply produced and tossed out on video-on-demand or streaming platforms for a quick diversion after a long day. They’re a dime-and-dozen, and while they can be very entertaining, they’re not always particularly good. However, there are some instances where…

“There’s a name for you ladies, but it isn’t used in high society…outside of a kennel.” The sheer amount of individuals I’ve encountered over the years that claim to have been radicalized by George Cukor’s The Women is absolutely staggering, but far from surprising. In his capacity as one of Hollywood’s most lovable eccentrics, Cukor…

1998 was a surprisingly solid year for Studio 54, the notorious New York City nightclub known for its exclusive clientele, and for being a shining beacon of the disco era before its initial closure in 1980. Nearly two decades later, two films were produced that were intent on capturing the spirit and energy of the…

Professor George Hamilton (Edmund Gwenn) is a profoundly gifted scientist who has been working tirelessly with the American government to produce new technological innovations that will help push them further on the global scale. However, he is upset and chagrined to realize that his work is being used to develop weapons of mass destruction. Not…

We’ve seen many works of fiction that present us with the most unconventional protagonists – vile and malicious career criminals that are portrayed in a slightly more positive light, their reputations almost being entirely repurposed to be vaguely heroic. One of the more captivating examples of this comes in The Captain from Köpenick (German: Der…

The death of Joseph Stalin in 1952 was a monumental event for a number of very obvious reasons, and has been engraved into the historical canon in a multitude of ways. However, some of the most interesting stories of this fateful day aren’t found in history books, but rather through the first-hand testimonials of the…