One of the more bizarre trends we see year after year in cinema is the attempt to create a new franchise based around live-action, family-friendly entertainment that doesn’t rely on existing cinematic properties or material that is already quite popular in its own right. Usually, this involves adapting cherished childhood storybooks that are marketed to…
The Thin Man (1934)
When it comes to definitive comedies, one would struggle to find a film more iconic from the 1930s than The Thin Man, which has somehow managed to remain as fresh and compelling today as it did ninety years ago, which is not an achievement that many films can proudly attest to having, let alone finding…
Sasquatch Sunset (2024)
When it comes to art, the more bold and daring someone is, the more they tend to be celebrated for their artistic ingenuity and ability to navigate challenging subject matter, especially when it comes to presenting something the audience has never seen before. However, it can sometimes be a case where a work is too…
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1984)
After having essentially redefined the way stories are told with both Mad Max and its sequel The Road Warrior (one of the rare instances where the follow-up film is even better than the original), George Miller decided to round out the trilogy with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, the third entry into a series of films…
Bad Teacher (2011)
It has often been said all it takes to change a child’s life is one good teacher since that is the profession that makes all others possible and entrusting the most young and impressionable minds into the hands of these people is a major step forward in defining their future and putting them on the…
The Driver’s Seat (1974)
A middle-aged woman who considers herself the epitome of glamour travels from her home in suburban Copenhagen to Rome, telling her friends that it is for a vacation when she is looking for someone – she isn’t quite sure who it is. Still, she knows that it is a man who is going to treat…
Hit Man (2024)
You would be forgiven for not knowing the name “Gary Johnson”, at least in the context of the philosophy professor who spent years of his life working as a part-time mole for the New Orleans police force, masquerading as a hit man as a means to get prospective murder-for-hire suspects arrested for their efforts to…
The Trip (1967)
Much like the rest of the film community, I was shocked to wake up to the news this past weekend that the legendary director Roger Corman had passed away, which brings an end to one of the most important and influential artistic careers in the history of the medium, and the conclusion of an era…
Yannick (2023)
“Theatre is a series of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.” There are countless wonderful quotes about the theatre and its role in the continual development of the arts as a means of social and cultural reflection, but this one by Tom Stoppard is most intriguing since it captures the accidental and potentially…
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
There comes the point in every franchise or series of films in which the creator suddenly realises that what they have is something extraordinary, with the only exception being those rare cases when such a series is planned out in advance (and even then, we’ve seen this foresight and planning doesn’t necessarily guarantee all the…
The Postmodern Pelican 