Jen (Jackie van Beek) and Mel (Madeleine Sami) are best friends that run a very different kind of relationship agency – rather than matching people together, they specialize in tearing them apart. When someone is in a relationship they want out of, they venture to the humble offices of “The Breaker Upperers”, who have a…

Tragedy is easy, its comedy that is difficult. This is an adage that has existed as long as people have been endeavouring to make audiences laugh – it is also the theme residing at the very core of Paddleton, the offbeat and endearing comedy-drama from the mind of independent cinema’s most enduring auteurs, the Duplass…

When one thinks of George Orwell, it is natural to relate his career to two novels – Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. These works are obviously towering literary achievements, but also powerful works of political commentary which are beginning to look like certain world leaders are using them as manuals. One of his lesser-known, but…

2018 was an amazing year for film – I feel like I mention this every year, and perhaps my expectations are just getting lower, or films are just getting better (perhaps through the increasing prestige being attached to independent films, which are slowly growing in wider viewership through different distribution models). My list of the…

Life often tends to be filled with despair, heartbreak and melancholy. Thankfully, we have Christopher Guest to lighten the load somewhat. His films are, without question, some of the most entertaining ever made, and his trio of masterworks – Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind are all incredible achievements and stand…

There are few films I have anticipated as much as Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a film that is a chaotic blend of a multitude of elements I absolutely adore – a true-life biopic about an eccentric criminal, bookshops, New York in the 1990s, and of course two of my absolute acting idols, Melissa McCarthy…

When it comes to looking at the most influential moments in cinematic comedy, one couldn’t go wrong with noting The Marx Brothers were founding fathers of the genre, with their work in the earlier days of cinema being amongst the finest ever committed to film – and having had their mainstream breakthrough just after the…

Jack (Richard E. Grant) and Sarah (Imogen Stubbs) are a happily married couple – they are about to move into a large suburban house, and are expecting their first child, a daughter with whom they are so excited to spend their lives. However, when tragedy strikes, Jack loses his wife in childbirth, and has to…

Cinema is an art form that primarily strives to entertain, to tell stories that allow audiences to escape for a brief period of time and often sit in blissful ignorance to the outside world. However, there are many instances where cinema also intends to educate the audience by conveying a certain message that has real-world…

There is a great deal to love about Sorry to Bother You, one of the year’s most audacious films, and a great debut from musician Boots Riley, but the most impressive aspect of this film is its ability to be incredibly to the point and direct in what it is intending to convey – so…