Professor John Huxley (Roger Allam) is a world-renowned philosopher and critical thinker who has taken the world by storm for his many attacks upon religion, with his attempts to evoke rational thought making him a global sensation, but also a very controversial figure that has as many enemies as he does devoted followers. Two such…

When thinking of films that look at the role the media plays in shaping our perception, many tend to gravitate towards Sidney Lumet’s Network, which is widely considered one of the finest satires ever committed to film. The passionate, furious monologues delivered by the incredible Peter Finch in the role of Howard Beale, and his…

Jane (Sally Hawkins) has not led the most pleasant life. When she was younger, she was victim to the malice of others, most notably being left at the altar after her husband-to-be abandoned her at the last minute, which comes almost concurrently to her time as a participant in local beauty pageants. She has now…

You can’t ever accuse Shohei Imamura of not delivering precisely what he promised throughout his career. When venturing into a film with the striking title of Pigs and Battleships (Japanese: 豚と軍艦), you’d easily be forgiven for thinking this is somewhat allegorical, functioning as a metaphorical reference to something embedded in the film. The surprise that…

In the small but fascinating canon of sequels that are better than the originals, Addams Family Values is one of the definitive examples. Barry Sonnenfeld, as I wrote in the previous review, did exceptionally well in bringing Charles Addams’ timeless creations to the screen in The Addams Family, and two years later seemed to not…

Revisiting films from your childhood is always an interesting experience – very often the sensation of uncompromising nostalgia fools us into believing that these are still perfect films that are free of any discernible flaws and where the tender, fond memories we had when first encountering them are once again evoked by what is often…

Fact and fiction blur together throughout In the House (French: Dans la maison), the ambitious dark comedy by François Ozon, who proves to be capable of not only telling compelling stories of humanity, but also of an incredible playfulness not often embraced in modern cinema. Many consider this to be amongst the prolific filmmaker’s greatest…

“All these wretches are the same” For those familiar with the work of Luis García Berlanga, Plácido is exactly what you’d expect – a darkly comical fable that sees the esteemed director eviscerating society through carefully-curated satire that is often more haunting than it is hilarious. For those who are newer to his career, Plácido…

In a small village somewhere in the middle of Côte d’Ivoire resides Gnamien Ato (Pierre Gondo), a humble pig-farmer who tries to go about his life without getting in the way of anyone around him, but constantly becomes the subject of much derision, based on his status as the local laughingstock. However, after being assaulted…

Set in an indeterminate location somewhere in a seaside region of America, we’re introduced to Marty (Alfred Molina), a former jazz musician who has now lost his way, and has ended up wasting the best years of his life soaked in alcohol and teaching children how to play the piano. However, despite his sad existence,…