Every year, without a doubt, comes a few films that are a rare combination of comedy and drama. They may address subject matter inherently saddening, but the film in itself, through story and intention, is the epitome of that taut phrase “feel-good”. Whether they are good or bad is irrelevant, as a film’s true worth…
The Best Films of 2014
The Academy Awards have just been announced, and to cap off the year, I though I would post my annual Top 10 list a little earlier, instead praising the films I feel were extraordinarily special, added a lot to the cinema canon and did amazing work to entertain, thrill and excite us. I will first start with…
Starred Up (2014)
Prison films are a horrid, but very popular, subgenre of films these days. One of the most iconic films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, is a prison film. The hottest show on TV at the moment, Orange is the New Black, is centered around a prison. There are many prison films, including the overlooked…
Night Shift (1982)
Hey, remembers the ’80s? I don’t, because I wasn’t around then. But I still get my fair share of the culture of the iconic decade through two mediums – music, and of course film. The 1980s were a time where romantic comedies were smart and funny, where there were songs by Burt Bacharach, and while…
This Is the End (2013)
The end of the world (or more notably known by the ominous title “the apocalypse”) has always been something we, as humanity, have feared, never knowing when it will come, or if it will actually come, and if there is an end in the books. Every few years, some loon comes out of the woodwork,…
Julie & Julia (2009)
Its been a while since I reviewed a truly feel-good film. All the reviews over the last few weeks have all been excellent, but had the shadows of intense social issues hovering over them – losing religion, racism, bullying, crime, the failing of the education system and, well…whatever Nightcrawler was. Therefore, it was really an…
Nightcrawler (2014)
Film fans are bunch who absolutely adore comparison and allusion. If a film bears a resemblance to an an older, more notable film, we say its a homage. If it is unfavorably similar to another film, its a rip-off. However, most of all, we love to find our versions of classic films. Perhaps the one most…
Detachment (2011)
Damn, I wish more people liked this film. I am a sucker for ensemble casts of diverse, interesting characters, and there are very few groups of people that fit this description more than those of teachers. Each a very distinct, different person, all forming one bigger group of people who work day in and day…
We Own the Night (2007)
Joaquin Phoenix may very well be the greatest actor of his generation. For years, he has played fascinating and compelling characters in a variety of brilliant films from some of the best filmmakers in the business. Two of his regular contributors always bring out the best in him. Paul Thomas Anderson, who brought out Joaquin’s…
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
There are a few genres of film that are very formulaic – action films, romantic films – and unfortunately, teen-oriented films. They all have the exact same protaganist – an old soul teenager thrust into a world of popular people, to which he or she vehemently fails to be a part of before finding fellow…
The Postmodern Pelican 