There are few films I have anticipated as much as Can You Ever Forgive Me?, a film that is a chaotic blend of a multitude of elements I absolutely adore – a true-life biopic about an eccentric criminal, bookshops, New York in the 1990s, and of course two of my absolute acting idols, Melissa McCarthy…
Suspiria (2018)
There has been a recent trend in cinema that is both horrifying and absolutely riveting – horror films are becoming more psychologically-scarring, and feature sequences of unhinged, anarchic insanity, normally devoting the entire third act to reckless terror. Recent examples include Darren Aronofksy’s mother! and Ari Aster’s Hereditary, two extremely audacious and utterly terrifying works….
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…
Made in Britain (1982)
Cinema has always been the breeding ground for fascinating and controversial stories on a number of occasions, and one area that has been of profound interest to me is that of Neo-Nazism – of course, this is more a historical fascination, but it has always been an area that has given us some tremendous films…
The Big Store (1941)
When it comes to looking at the most influential moments in cinematic comedy, one couldn’t go wrong with noting The Marx Brothers were founding fathers of the genre, with their work in the earlier days of cinema being amongst the finest ever committed to film – and having had their mainstream breakthrough just after the…
Jack & Sarah (1995)
Jack (Richard E. Grant) and Sarah (Imogen Stubbs) are a happily married couple – they are about to move into a large suburban house, and are expecting their first child, a daughter with whom they are so excited to spend their lives. However, when tragedy strikes, Jack loses his wife in childbirth, and has to…
Mid90s (2018)
Nostalgia is a powerful drug, and the entertainment industry seems to be addicted. In recent years, we’ve seen the trend where artists attempt to emulate the past in order to stir up memories and create a sense of warmth and familiarity. Some of these works turn out to be lifeless and uninspired when the nostalgia…
Burning (2018)
A working-class young man who makes a living doing odd jobs for a variety of people in order to compensate for his father’s impending imprisonment, a woman from his past forcing herself into his future in her own search for a deeper meaning, and a mysterious man she meets on her travels with a sinister…
Wildlife (2018)
Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette Brinson (Carey Mulligan), along with their son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) are the quintessential 1960s suburban family – he works a menial but solid job, she is a dedicated housewife and mother, and their son is a hard-working student with wide ambitions. They are a nomadic family, constantly moving, a result…
The Old Man & the Gun (2018)
In contemporary cinema, there are few names quite as exciting as David Lowery – a filmmaker who rose from relative obscurity a few years ago, evolving into one of modern cinema’s most talented auteurs, for a number of reasons, crafting exuberant masterpieces such as the gritty crime drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the exceptional philosophical…
The Postmodern Pelican 