The romantic comedy has a long and storied history, and has its roots from the very beginning of cinema, spanning the course from the silent era to the period of screwball comedies, right until the present day. These films are amongst the most popular, but they are also the most predictable, and are often material…
Category: Romance
Holiday (1938)
Throughout film history, there are certain combinations that undoubtedly prove to be recipes for success – one of them is the combination of the names George Cukor, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Normally, one would think of the timeless classic The Philadelphia Story, but in the case of this review, we’re considering the somewhat less…
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
Giovanni’s Room changed my life. In less than two hundred pages, James Baldwin managed to evoke a series of deep-rooted emotions and crafted a truly resonant story, with its explosive representation of sexuality and the crises of identity that many of us experience, and its powerful forays into the philosophy of the self, an exploration…
Cold War (2018)
Falling in love is easy, staying in love is a lot more difficult, and sometimes it proves to be an extraordinarily challenging endeavour – this is the central theme present in Polish maestro Paweł Pawlikowski’s latest masterwork, the brilliant Cold War (Polish: Zimna wojna), a film that takes the viewer on a decade-long journey throughout…
Juliet, Naked (2018)
Juliet, Naked doesn’t do or say anything we have not seen countless times before. In many ways, it is a traditional, by-the-numbers romantic comedy that we has been made so many times throughout the years. Yet, how is it possible that such a conventional film manages to be one of the very best of the…
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Diversity in the arts is important. This is less of an opinion and more of an objective fact. Mainstream media has a tendency to often give attention to some groups over others, and the bigger the production, the less likely it is to find diverse representation, because of the outdated notion that audiences are attracted…
Moonstruck (1987)
What is the factor that takes something from being an excellent film to a masterwork that endures through generations? Normally, I’d argue innovation and subversion are the main ways that most of the greatest films of all time have upheld their reputation. Yet, this isn’t always the case, as many films (including the subject of…
Duck Butter (2018)
I went into Duck Butter not knowing much about the film. I knew that it was directed by Miguel Arteta, who co-wrote the film with the star of the film, Alia Shawkat. I had heard that it was quite a unique film and one that was unlike anything really being made nowadays. The fact that…
Loves of a Blonde (1965)
Before he made two of the greatest English-language films of all time – Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Miloš Forman was a defiant, rebellious filmmaker in his home country who helped define the period we now affectionately refer to as the Czech New Wave, representing the political tension and social strife…
Love, Simon (2018)
We all want to be ourselves. We can express who we are, show everyone our hidden talents and exhibit our unique traits and characteristics that make us nuanced, complex individuals. However, for some, there are aspects of their personal life that they cannot reveal to the rest of the world, due to intolerance and close-minded…
The Postmodern Pelican 