Cosmo Vitelli (Ben Gazzara) considers himself quite a renaissance man. He owns and operates The Crazy Horse West, a Los Angeles strip club, where he tries to shed the image of these institutions as being sordid, sleazy pits of debauchery, attempting to redefine the industry and put “entertain” back into “adult entertainment”. However, behind closed…
Robin and Marian (1976)
Imagine this – a veteran who has fought around the world for a noble but volatile leader returns to his hometown in order to take revenge on the man who caused him and his friends suffering all those years ago, and upon his return, gets the old gang back together, including his former lover, to…
Camouflage (1976)
In the heart of the tranquil Polish countryside sits a quiet summer camp that serves to be the annual retreat for a multicultural group of university students who gather to study Linguistics and enjoy the peace of being out of the city. At the core of the retreat are two men – Jarosław Kruszyński (Piotr…
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Assault on Precinct 13 reaffirmed something that I’ve slowly started to believe is less of an opinion and more of an unquestionable fact – John Carpenter is one of the most visionary filmmakers of his generation. While his cinematic career will deservedly be defined mainly through the lens of his two horror masterpieces Halloween and…
Duelle (1976)
Jacques Rivette’s Duelle is an intersectional film, existing at the nexus of various audacious ideas – fantasy and film noir, fiction and reality, life and death, and absolutely everything in between, finding itself very often in the margins of several conflicting, almost contradictory themes. A chilling but poignant work occurring towards the end of the…
Smile Orange (1976)
The Mocha Beach Hotel sits on a tranquil shoreline in the seaside region of Jamaica. Tourists from Europe and North America flock to this hotel to take in the gorgeous scenery and the vibrant night-life around the city, where they are given the chance to experience Jamaica from the perspective of its inhabitants. Smile Orange…
Ma (2019)
Ma is garbage. Lurid, gaudy and almost as if the entire concept of artistic integrity has been insulted by this grotesque, excessive expression of immorality and unhinged incredulity to everything considered honourable and decent. It also is one of my favourite films of the year, and most certainly the most entertaining film I’ve seen in…
Toy Story 4 (2019)
The Toy Story films have always been a part of my life. The first film was released when I was a child, and I eagerly watched the adventures of Sherriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear over the years, seeing them go from one film to another, constantly being captivated by these sentient toys and their charming…
Grass (2019)
“In the end, people are emotions. Emotions are gullible and forceful. Precious, cheap and alluring. And I long for them now“ These are the words appearing, via voice-over narration, towards the end of Hong Sang-soo’s Grass (Korean: 풀잎들), a subtle, meditative film that sees the South Korean maestro revisiting many common themes in his distinctive…
Booksmart (2019)
Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are on the eve of their high school graduation. The previous four years have been challenging for the two friends, who have prioritized their grades in order to ensure that they get into good colleges, which does work, with the duo being well on their way to starting…
The Postmodern Pelican 