By the time The Gathering Storm went into production, it seemed like we had seen every possible story of Winston Churchill told in some way or another, whether in biographical dramas centred on the great British leader who led his country through the challenges of the Second World War, or where he is a supporting…
Passages (2023)
Despite having made several well-received films over a few decades (with only Frankie being a complete misfire), Ira Sachs remains relatively underpraised as a filmmaker. He’s developed enough of a reputation to be seen as someone who makes films of a certain quality but has yet to receive much due outside of those who are…
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
Much like quite a sizeable portion of the filmgoing audience, I was also somewhat cynical of the idea of Kenneth Branagh venturing into the world of Agatha Christie a few years ago, since he is not a director who inspires too much confidence based on his tendency to resort to conventions far too regularly, which…
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
I am not in the habit of using individual films as an opportunity to lament the loss of a great artist – a work should be viewed on its terms and judged appropriately based on what we see on screen, rather than any outside influences since the passing of a cherished member of the film…
The Creator (2023)
Few directors working within science fiction over the past decade have had more misfortune than Gareth Edwards – after his radically inventive debut in Monsters, which blended horror with science fiction, he seemed primed to be taking the reigns as a potential master of the genre. Yet, his genuinely great Rogue One: A Star Wars…
Something for Everyone (1970)
The era of New Hollywood brought so many exciting and revolutionary changes to the film industry, and one of my personal favourite developments of this more laissez-faire approach to filmmaking was the ability for stories to be a lot darker than they ever were before. There were still standards, and directors and writers were still…
Afire (2023)
While it has received its fair share of acclaim and admiration, German cinema remains quite contentious in terms of a lot of contemporary filmmaking, primarily because it is usually occupied by filmmakers who intend to push boundaries further than ever before, and the storied history of the country, coupled with the fact that its reunification…
Bright Lights (1930)
The transition between the silent and sound eras was truly a fascinating time, and even looking back at it from nearly a century later, we can find several compelling works that serve as the bridge between the two major periods in Hollywood history. Bright Lights is one of the more notable examples, but not always…
Poison (2023)
Author’s Note: This is the final entry into our four-part series in which we are exploring Wes Anderson’s short films based on the collected short stories by Roald Dahl. While these reviews are as independent of each other as the films, they still exist in dialogue with one another, so for the sake of consistency,…
My American Uncle (1980)
As far as being definitive of an entire generation of French filmmakers, you would struggle to find someone more adept at his craft than Alain Resnais, whose work spans over half a century, and saw the esteemed director producing a number of artistically-resonant, deeply provocative works that are both insightful and cutting edge, making him…
The Postmodern Pelican 