The term “eephus” is not particularly well-known to those of us who do not follow baseball. However, it is defined as a particular kind of pitch in which the ball is thrown with a relatively low velocity, but still travels in an unusually high arc. The process of waiting for the ball to arrive for…
Tag: film
Lost in Separation (2019)
Falling in love is easy, but maintaining that relationship is the challenge – so many stories have been built on this simple philosophical premise, it is surprising that people still tend to make the mistake when it comes to rushing into relationships that were never intended to last. No one seems to know this better…
The Jerk (1979)
In the canon of works that are not only vitally important to the development of American humour, but vital to the entire cinematic process, we have The Jerk, a film that was initiated as a flight of fancy between director Carl Reiner and star and co-writer Steve Martin, best-known for his landmark appearances on the…
Blue Moon (2025)
While it is true that a piece of art should be able to stand on its own, where the context around its creation shouldn’t be a factor in the extent to which we enjoy it, there are some cases where our experience is made richer by knowing more about how it came to exist. This…
Top Gun (1986)
When it comes to films that are ordained as classics of cinema, you get two general groups – there are those that earn their reputation (either exceeding expectations or simply meeting them), and then there are the ones that are unfortunately overpraised to the point where eventually watching them is disappointing to say the least….
My Favourite Cake (2024)
Is it ever too late to start again? This is a question that has been asked since time immemorial and has been the subject of constant pondering by a range of philosophers. Social critics alike, who observe the surrounding world and attempt to offer some solution to something that has clearly been the source of…
Chicken and Duck Talk (1988)
Two art forms that have proven to be unexpectedly compatible bedfellows are cinema and cuisine, with food and film going together remarkably well, especially in instances when the two are combined. Films centring around food in various forms have tended to be extremely popular, since they touch on a universal experience, which is the feeling…
The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)
There are some topics that are naturally more suitable to the cinematic form, based on their universality and the fact that we can usually relate to them thoroughly in one way or another. However, there are also those that are the inverse – regardless of how hard one may try, it’s very difficult to explore…
Matt and Mara (2024)
Change is good – there isn’t anyone who has ever benefited from remaining the same, and whether it’s small shifts in attitudes or an entire overhaul of your identity and its external expression, the tendency to grow is undeniably important and frankly exciting in most instances. However, there’s something peculiar that happens when we encounter…
The Long(er) Take: The Career of…Paul Thomas Anderson (1970 – present)
At least once a year, I have been doing these features under a series I’ve called The Long Take, in which the premise is simple: choose a filmmaker I admire and gradually explore their work from beginning to end and then ultimately come forward with a definitive ranking of their films. This has mostly been…
The Postmodern Pelican 