Nicky (John Cassavetes) is a low-level heavy for a notorious New York City gangster. When a hit goes wrong, Nicky’s relationship with the mob becomes sour, and he develops the notion that he is going to be killed. Paranoid beyond belief, he calls the only person who can help him, Mikey (Peter Falk), who he…
A Wedding Suit (1976)
The perpetual drunkard and constant cinematic genius W.C. Fields once famously quipped that when it comes to making movies, “never work with animals or children”. How wrong he was – there certainly have been instances where working with them has resulted in disaster, but some of the most compelling performances ever committed to film have…
Broken Flowers (2005)
Don Johnston (Bill Murray) should, by all means, be a happy man. He is quite wealthy, having made a fortune in the computer business. He is in his retirement years, content to live them out in relative peace. However, things start to decline rapidly – his girlfriend Sherry (Julie Delpy) grows weary of his dour,…
Kinky Boots (2005)
Sometimes, its enough for a film to just be fun and nothing else – not everything can be audacious, challenging cinema. On occasion, I’ll venture into a film that I know will have very little impact other than being a diverting good time, and that’s more than adequate when the mood calls for it. Kinky…
Under the Silver Lake (2019)
“Our world is filled with codes, subliminal messages – from Silver Lake to the Hollywood Hills” This quote is the centrepiece of Under the Silver Lake, David Robert Mitchell’s extraordinary pop culture odyssey ripped straight from the pages of some of the greatest works of speculative postmodern fiction. A dizzying neo-noir with an electrifying performance…
Always Be My Maybe (2019)
Sasha (Ali Wong) and Marcus (Randall Park) used to be best friends from childhood – they grew up living next door to each other, and bonded over the fact that Sasha’s parents were always too busy to take care of her, so she was essentially raised by Marcus’ mother and father, who gave her the…
Climax (2019)
No one knows how to push boundaries quite like Gaspar Noé, and throughout his storied career, he has made films that are as innovative as they are controversial. On a personal level, while I admire his audacity and his willingness to take enormous risks, I have never truly connected with the director – it isn’t…
Rocketman (2019)
You may recall last December, we had a look at Bohemian Rhapsody, and how it embodied everything that should not be done when making a biographical film about a musical icon. This review will take a similar approach, but from the complete other direction, which is a relief to say the very least. Rocketman is…
Opening Night (1977)
A woman on the verge of a complete breakdown takes the stage every night, and battles her personal demons, channelling her trauma into her performance, hoping that somehow she will be able to convey some iota of truth. John Cassavetes certainly knew how to construct a compelling story from the most simple of premises, as…
The American Friend (1977)
Hamburg in the mid-1970s. Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) is a mild-mannered art Swiss art restoration expert and tradesman in frame-making. He is slowly dying from leukaemia, and intends to live out his days quietly and without trouble. Also in Hamburg at the same time is Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper), a mysterious American man who is…
The Postmodern Pelican 