At the beginning of this year, I proclaimed Richard Linklater’s masterpiece Before Midnight as the best film of 2013. I then favourably reviewed the entire Before Trilogy and his slacker masterpiece Dazed and Confused. I came to the agreement that Richard Linklater is a supremely talented filmmaker, but only until today did I realize he…
Category: Drama
This Must Be the Place (2011)
Ever seen a film that is well-made, but you get the idea the filmmaker had no idea what he was doing? That is what Paolo Sorrentino’s almost-masterpiece This Must Be the Place is a perfect example of. I really wanted to like this film, but sadly it just had one too many flaws. The central…
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Any film with two men going across the country is bound to be interesting. Add the fact that they are criminals and thus chained together, the fact that there is a racial aspect and that the two men are played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier, two of the greatest actors ever to live,…
Richard III (1995)
Has there ever been a writer as timeless as William Shakespeare? His work is so brilliant and the subjects of each of his plays are so timeless, they can be bent and twisted and put into any place or time and still retain the same message. The betrayal of Macbeth, the true love of Romeo…
The Normal Heart (2014)
The journey to get Larry Kramer’s masterpiece The Normal Heart from stage to screen has been a decades-long battle, and finally it appears as a painfully honest and emotional film. When I heard Ryan Murphy would be directing this, I instantly thought “Oh yay, more overacting and hammy performances”, but I will admit that this…
Philomena (2013)
If you are expecting to have your mind-blown by a groundbreaking film, Philomena is not for you. This is a very basic film that it typical British drama. However, it is a great film that has a touching story and wonderful performances by a pair of leads that are absolutely eclectic. True stories or, as…
Chungking Express (1994)
Hong Kong cinema has a stigma of being only martial arts films. Many of us are guilty of that association, including me for a while…until I was introduced to Wong Kar-Wai through his toweringly magnificent film Chungking Express. Quite simply, this is one of the greatest films ever made. This film has so many aspects to…
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
If any film will make you both scared and excited, it is Dallas Buyers Club. This film succeeds both because of the impressive performances and the gritty filmmaking that made this important piece of art look the way it does, quite simply phenomenal Unlike American Hustle, which I reviewed just before this, Dallas Buyers Club is…
Me and Orson Welles (2009)
Orson Welles was an odd fellow – one of the most ambitious filmmakers and genius performers ever to live. However, his life has been shrouded in reports of him being difficult or a diva, it doesn’t surprise me. I often wondered why a film didn’t actually explore this side of him. Then I discovered a…
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
The French New Wave is quite an odd period of filmmaking – for once, filmmakers could depart the silly mainstream and actually use this newly-found genre to make minimilistic passion projects and express their love of nihilism (can one love nihilism though). To me, two films represent the apex of the French New Wave –…
The Postmodern Pelican 