The French New Wave is quite an odd period of filmmaking – for once, filmmakers could depart the silly mainstream and actually use this newly-found genre to make minimilistic passion projects and express their love of nihilism (can one love nihilism though). To me, two films represent the apex of the French New Wave –…
Tag: comedy
An Appreciation of…Christopher Guest (1948 – )
I want to pay tribute this week to one of the greatest artists in cinema history who I feel is painfully underrated and doesn’t receive the popular acclaim he does. That is why this week, I am Appreciating the great Christopher Guest… In recent years, our most popular comedy shows have all been mockumentaries –…
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
As long as I’ve been alive, I’ve been hearing stories about different people becoming attached and detached to an adaptation of the classic short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty which was turned into a 1947 Danny Kaye comedy. Since then, the likes of Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mike Myers were…
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
When cinephiles of the future look fondly to the past, there will be certain filmmakers who have made such an indelible impression, they have changed cinema and the extent to where we can push it. Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Howard Hawks. The one person who would be right on top of that list is Martin…
Scary Movie 5 (2013)
Parody, satire, spoof – these are words commonly thrown around by filmmakers and comedians in regards to their art that lampoons various subjects in one of the most beloved forms of artistic expression. The Scary Movie series of films warrant no artistic merit. They are just plain terrible. But like you can’t stop touching a…
We’re The Millers (2013)
Only recently have mainstream comedies merged with their dramatic counterparts and entered the public consciousness. One film such as We’re The Millers feels like an independent film in a mainstream film’s body. This both works in its favor and betrays it dismally. Drugs – man, what a hot-button topic. However, the film doesn’t gain its…
Frances Ha (2013)
Noah Baumbach is the new king of independent cinema, and Greta Gerwig the queen. When the two of them decided to work together, I believe all was right in the world at that second. Frances Ha was that very collaboration, and I believe we saw a new side of the amazingly talented (and beautiful) Greta…
Frozen (2013)
Recently, mainstream animated films have lost some of the quirkiness that defined them a decade ago. Recent offerings such as Brave and Tangled have been good, but not overwhelmingly great. Also, the films have become increasingly female-centric, which while not in any way a flaw, can be misconstrued as trying to sell to the feminine…
Blue Jasmine (2013)
There are few names as iconic in filmmaking as Woody Allen. A prolific craftsman, the man has moulded so many films, it is insanely difficult to choose his best one. Among the greatest of the greats are Annie Hall, Manhattan, Bullets Over Broadway, Crimes and Misdemeanours and Midnight in Paris. Blue Jasmine joins those ranks without a doubt. In…
The Way Way Back (2013)
Let me start off by saying this: The Way Way Back is absolute perfection. I was expecting something in the vein of Juno, which wasn’t at all a bad thing and I was incredibly optimistic. However, I was wrong. No film has shown the agony and angst of teenage life since The Breakfast Club in…
The Postmodern Pelican 