I love cinematic iconoclasts, and there have been few filmmakers that I admirer more in this regard than John Waters, whose unhinged audacity has made him a controversial figure, as well as someone I am deeply in admiration of. From the sheer unhinged insanity of Pink Flamingos to the enduring brilliance of Hairspray, Waters has…

Before he made one of the year’s most terrifying films, Hereditary, Ari Aster was honing his craft in short-form filmmaking, crafting smaller films that may not have much in terms of duration, but certainly do have some interesting ideas. I decided to explore some of Aster’s short films in an attempt to decipher the complex…

I remember once discussing with a friend the fact that there is virtually no way to make an original adaptation of Hamlet that hasn’t been done before, as it seems the core of the story has pervaded the artistic landscape in a way that is almost indelible, inspiring countless works that derive something from the…

That was…something. I cannot recall ever having seen a film quite like Drowning by Numbers, a subversive, sometimes perverse comedy from only the most unconventionally brilliant of auteurs, Peter Greenaway, one of the true cinematic anarchists, who possesses almost chaotically towering talents, as evident by this very odd film that is wholly unapologetic in its…

Addiction is never an easy subject to represent in fiction because in order to convey the life of an addict, the artist behind the work needs to somehow capture the blissful euphoria as well as the fear and terror that come with being an addict. Danny Boyle, in 1996, made one of the seminal representations…

Since I started this blog years ago, I have reviewed nearly every film I’ve seen in that period. Its brought me so much joy and helped me discover new and exciting films and filmmakers and have my thoughts on them articulated. However, it has also allowed me the opportunity to write about films that I…

Six Shooter, the first film by genius playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh, has absolutely everything you could want from a film – philosophical conversations, the conflict between characters, family tragedy, police shootouts and an exploding cow. It is also only 27 minutes long, which proves that a film doesn’t need to be very long to…

I first saw Mike Leigh’s Naked in August 2012. I originally wrote my review after watching it for the third time in 2014. It was a film that would grow to be my favorite piece of cinema ever made. To this day, I have always looked at my early reviews with a mixture of nostalgic…

Well, where to start? This is the review I have been dreading to have to write. That isn’t to imply that Pulp Fiction is a bad film. In fact, I consider Pulp Fiction to be in my pantheon of near-perfect films. I don’t need to explain how important Quentin Tarantino is to me as a…