The amount I’ve heard the statement “Hollywood has run out of original ideas” is seemingly infinite – and for the most part, its true – a lot of mainstream, big-budget films are predictable and dull, and follow a popular formula. However, to say that an original film does not exist is very misguided, and whenever…
Category: comedy
Mascots (2016)
I have said it before, I will say it again – Christopher Guest is a visionary. I adore his films, and I could quite possibly be his most ardent devotee. I absolutely love him. I think he had the single-best trio of films in comedy history – Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A…
Café Society (2016)
I want to start this review by saying something I have said so many times in the past, but I can’t avoid mentioning frequently – I adore Woody Allen. I actually love him a lot more than many other cinephiles. I cannot think of many directors who have crossed so many boundaries of genre, theme,…
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
There is never a shortage of biopics made, with multiple films about various historical figures, either incredibly famous or utterly obscure, coming out every year. Many of these films seem to star Meryl Streep. This year, we were given Florence Foster Jenkins, a bizarre subject for a film biopic, but one that was destined to…
Love & Friendship (2016)
I have studied English Literature at university, and one course I enjoyed the most was that on satire – and through encounters with various notable satires of the past, I have discovered that one aspect of the arts that has always remained constant is that of comedy. The view that the past was dour and utterly serious…
Ghostbusters (2016)
In all my years of watching and loving films, I have never come across something quite like the reaction to the reboot of Ghostbusters, particularly the pre-mature response by many people who would refuse to see this film for a variety of reasons. I have never seen so much hatred thrown at a film, mainly…
Maggie’s Plan (2016)
Has there been an actress in recent years as divisive as Greta Gerwig? Many people will not know who I am referring to, mainly because she has almost exclusively stuck to independent comedies. She is certainly an acquired taste, and while many people think she is the very definition of why independent cinema is becoming…
A Hologram for the King (2016)
I am not exactly sure why I loved A Hologram for the King – but one thing is for sure, it was a fantastic film, and one I wasn’t expecting to enjoy as much as I did. Considering what an utter disappointment the similarly-themed Whiskey Tango Foxtrot was, I was hesitant about the entire “American…
Dope (2015)
One thing that you learn when you’re a cinephile is that masterpieces are not always found where we expect them to be found, and very often we are taken by surprise, because something about a film doesn’t strike one as being particularly brilliant, but hidden in the often unassuming exterior, there lurks something extraordinary. Dope…
Elvis & Nixon (2016)
There have been some bizarre films made, and sometimes some truly peculiar real-life stories are translated into films. Elvis & Nixon is one of the strangest concepts of a film I’ve ever seen, mainly because the source material is a photograph – but not just any photograph, the world-famous photograph of the fateful meeting between…
The Postmodern Pelican 