Who doesn’t love a good period film? The splendid combination of the magnificent costumes, often scandalously entertaining plots and timely stories, they can often be guilty pleasures, films that may be superficial and not entirely representative of the period of time in which they are set – but I’ll be damned if I said I…
Lean on Pete (2018)
Cinema has the unquenchable power to convey beautiful, human stories through the most simplistic means, and independent cinema, as has already been well-established by yours truly, has been at the forefront of this kind of filmmaking, telling stories that would otherwise be forgotten or disregarded in a more mainstream context. One of the most brilliant…
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Allow me to be frank – there are few films that I enjoyed watching this year more than Ocean’s 8, and that could be for a number of reasons. The film is a continuation of Steven Soderbergh’s highly-popular heist comedy film series, constituted of Oceans Eleven through Thirteen, films that also adhered to the manifesto…
Isle of Dogs (2018)
I am planning to do a retrospective of Wes Anderson’s career in the next few months, which will entail, amongst other things, doing a ranking of his films, looking at them in comparison to each other and noting his highest points. Anderson is a filmmaker that has, in my view, never made a bad film,…
A Summer’s Tale (1996)
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…
The Postmodern Pelican 