When it comes to imagination and brilliant style, Wes Anderson is well-regarded as the best. His films have always been quirky, idiosyncratic and wonderful. He has topped himself this time with the magnificent Grand Budapest Hotel, which is a combination of Anderson’s unique cinematic style, and combined the wonderful European films of the 1930s…
Tag: drama
Philomena (2013)
If you are expecting to have your mind-blown by a groundbreaking film, Philomena is not for you. This is a very basic film that it typical British drama. However, it is a great film that has a touching story and wonderful performances by a pair of leads that are absolutely eclectic. True stories or, as…
August: Osage County (2013)
In all my years of watching films, I have never quite seen a film like August: Osage County. That isn’t to say it is better or worse than all the other films I’ve watched, just it is incredibly unique and unlike any other family drama, I have seen. This is the type of film you…
Chungking Express (1994)
Hong Kong cinema has a stigma of being only martial arts films. Many of us are guilty of that association, including me for a while…until I was introduced to Wong Kar-Wai through his toweringly magnificent film Chungking Express. Quite simply, this is one of the greatest films ever made. This film has so many aspects to…
Prisoners (2013)
Child getting abducted, skillful father takes the matter into his own hands. Where have I seen that before? Well, Prisoners tells the same story, but does so with such a unique and brilliant style, it feels like we are looking at a completely different story as opposed to the same taut plot. There were two…
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
If any film will make you both scared and excited, it is Dallas Buyers Club. This film succeeds both because of the impressive performances and the gritty filmmaking that made this important piece of art look the way it does, quite simply phenomenal Unlike American Hustle, which I reviewed just before this, Dallas Buyers Club is…
American Hustle (2013)
David O. Russell is an oddity as a filmmaker – he is purely an actor’s director, and he’s grabbed 11 nominations for his actors over his past three films, with three wins. The man clearly knows his craft and how to work with actors. Of course, up until today, my favourite film of his was Silver…
Me and Orson Welles (2009)
Orson Welles was an odd fellow – one of the most ambitious filmmakers and genius performers ever to live. However, his life has been shrouded in reports of him being difficult or a diva, it doesn’t surprise me. I often wondered why a film didn’t actually explore this side of him. Then I discovered a…
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
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 –…
Santa Sangre (1989)
I have always embraced weirdness, especially in films. To me, Klaus Kinski was far more interesting than Jimmy Stewart, and Johnny Depp is superior to Tom Cruise – but only in terms of keeping one interested and always guessing as to what is next. This interest I have in “weirder” people naturally led me to…
The Postmodern Pelican 