It’s often been said that in order for a story to be effective, all one needs is a single location, a pair of good actors and a strong script that gives them something to do. It’s the foundation for a lot of theatre, and as a result has inevitably found its way into cinema as…
The Stepford Wives (2004)
It’s high time that we start the critical re-evaluation of The Stepford Wives, the remake of the undersung New Hollywood classic that has often been dismissed as a paltry attempt to recreate the magic of the original. Frank Oz is a director that many of us have learned to put absolute faith in – his…
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
There are some filmmakers that have such unsteady careers, you can almost visualize their work as a series of peaks and valleys, with the shift in quality sometimes signalling a decline in their dedication to their work, or simply having lost the skill needed to be an effective filmmaker. The best one of these people…
Mexicana (1945)
There’s nothing quite like good old-fashioned entertainment, which is essentially the best way to describe most musicals produced during the Golden Age of Hollywood, long before there was a rise in the more subversive or challenging musicals that would come in later decades. The only problem is that they were produced at such a staggering…
The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Martin McDonagh is one of our greatest living playwrights, with his work being widely produced, from the sacred stages of Broadway to the smallest public theatres in Asia, and everywhere in between, his penchant for darkly comical morality tales being the source of many fascinating discussions under the direction of a range of artists who…
Detour (1945)
We may tend to think that Hollywood was built on the big-budget spectacle, put together by masterful craftsmen that had strong directorial vision, and guide by the watchful eye of the tyrannical producers that kept them on the straight and narrow. However, what we soon come to realize after a while is that, while important,…
The Northman (2022)
As is often the case with most great literature, the premise of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet is not original to the Bard, but rather taken from an ancient text, which he carefully appropriated to creatively hide the fact that this story of revenge and violence was not his own work (although the semantics of such situations…
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
Before the cinema of Spain was revolutionized by the incredible Luis García Berlanga, who would go on to inspire the work of filmmakers like Robert Altman and Christopher Guest, there was Preston Sturges, a director of so many talents, but specifically the gift of being able to throw together a memorable ensemble that were equal…
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
One of the more unique traits of being a director who is often defined by his prolific output is that you are often responsible for some of the greatest films ever made, as well as some of the worst, which is especially true when another distinctive quality is that they were driven by the desire…
When You Finish Saving the World (2023)
It seems like every one of us has at some point in our life genuinely believed that, given the opportunity and resources, that we would save the world in some way – whether it be through solving world hunger or inciting peace between all nations, it seems to be an inextricable component of the human…
The Postmodern Pelican 