I think we can all agree that the main purpose behind cinema is to be entertaining, to be momentary periods where the audience can simply escape their day-to-day problems and just experience stories detached enough from reality to make us momentarily forget our outside woes, and leave our ordinary selves outside the cinema for just…
Topper (1937)
There are few types of films that bring me as much joy as screwball comedies, and I have yet to encounter one I did not like. Their blend of perfectly-balanced humor, endearing romance, and masterful storytelling make them frequent films of comfort for me, with films such as The Awful Truth and The Philadelphia Story…
Nobody Knows (2004)
This year has been a great cinematic year for me because it finally allowed me the opportunity to explore the work of some filmmakers that I have had a long-standing interest in based on their reputations and the general consensus about their work, but didn’t actually take the chance to explore for myself yet, due…
Paddington (2014)
As a child, one of the most delightful formative figures in my early formative years was the character of Paddington Bear, the overly-polite anthropomorphic creation of Michael Bond that has been pleasing audiences for sixty years now with his bright red hat, blue duffle coat and penchant for marmalade sandwiches. Like many, I was skeptical…
Hereditary (2018)
We really need to talk about Hereditary. Every word of what I am about to say is absolutely and undoubtedly true, rather than being the result of hyperbole or over-emotional excitement, and I stand by everything I am about to express. I have taken time to absorb this experience, and pondered my multitudes of thoughts…
Paris Is Burning (1991)
I will be blunt – Paris Is Burning, without any hyperbole, is one of the most important films ever made. It is the rare breed of documentary film that weaves a beautifully poetic story out of the truth, creating something profoundly meaningful and deeply wonderful. It is a film that represented a portion of the…
Where’s Poppa? (1970)
There are few people who know the comedy business better than Carl Reiner, with a career spanning from vaudeville to the Netflix era. While the majority of his most influential work was done for television, such as Your Show of Shows, Caesar’s Hour and the iconic The Dick Van Dyke Show, Reiner has put his…
Unsane (2018)
I was one of many people who expressed their unrestrained sorrow when Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement from filmmaking in 2013. A director who rarely remained stagnant, and defied genre and conventions in the endeavor to create a fulfilling and fascinating filmography, one that featured films that may have varied in quality, but were all…
Finding Your Feet (2017)
Most people, myself included, enjoy seeing films that challenge and stimulate our minds, giving us something to think about through defying conventions and being unique and approaching familiar stories in new ways. However, from time to time, one just needs a dose of pure escapism, usually on behalf of an entertaining but conventional film, such…
Redoubtable (2018)
Like any good scholar of the school of postmodern literature, I love metafiction. There is something so absurd about seeing or reading something in which the author or creator has a keen self-awareness that is often missing in most forms of literature. One branch of metafiction is metafilm, which is certainly not a concept absent…
The Postmodern Pelican 