“Hollywood: the only place in the world where a man gets stabbed in the back while climbing a ladder.” William Faulkner, one of the greatest novelists and social critics to ever put pen to paper, famously said this on the subject of the film industry, which he had some experience with as a screenwriter, but…
Tag: reviews
Reality Bites (1994)
Whenever the subject of great filmmakers of the past thirty years comes up, one name that is rarely mentioned despite a solid body of work is Ben Stiller, someone who is undeniably familiar to the majority of us, but who barely receives the attention he deserves for his forays behind the camera, at least not…
Stan & Ollie (2018)
There are few experiences more delightful than seeing comedic teams in their element, and the history of cinema is littered with many examples of duos or troupes that collaborated consistently over the years, becoming synonymous with their respective eras and how comedy was performed and consumed at that particular point in the past, something that…
The Third Murder (2017)
There are many contemporary viewers who believe that Hirokazu Kore-eda is one of the greatest living filmmakers, and someone who has made invaluable contributions to not only to the Japanese film industry, but global cinema as a whole. His gentle, human dramas have broken new ground and told bespoke stories, each one beautiful and compelling,…
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
There are few names that evoke the same kind of passionate reaction in terms of capturing the very spirit of theatricality than Tennessee Williams, who wrote his final play over forty years ago, but whose spectre still lingers in the culture. This is particularly true since his work tackles themes relating to American life, exploring…
Mysterious Skin (2004)
The art of provocation is one that not many filmmakers have been able to successfully achieve without coming across as overly forced. Some filmmakers court controversy as a means for artistic expression, whereas others do it because they are genuinely fascinated by the reaction from the audience and how they observe particularly unsettling stories. There…
We Used to Know Each Other (2019)
Being in love is a wonderful experience, but maintaining it is another matter entirely, which is something that the protagonists of We Used to Know Each Other have to learn for themselves. A very simple independent comedy directed by Robert G. Putka, who wrote the screenplay in conjunction with Hugo de Sousa, who also happens…
The Skin of Sorrow (2010)
More than half a century before Oscar Wilde committed pen to paper in order to write The Picture of Dorian Gray, we had a similarly-themed story on behalf of the equally important literary genius Honoré de Balzac in the form of La Peau de chagrin (commonly translated as “The Magic Skin”), which is also focused…
In God We Tru$t (1980)
Nothing has been simultaneously more beneficial and harmful to the growth of humanity than money – our voyage from bartering systems in the early days of civilization to the present day has been fascinating, and we have seen many revolutions emerge, both literal and figurative, over the way money is used within society, and it…
Coup de Chance (2023)
There was a time when life had a few certainties – the sun would rise in the morning, the tide would flow in and out, and Woody Allen would release a film almost every year, like clockwork. For reasons that are quite obvious surrounding his personal life, the latter has essentially ceased, and in the…
The Postmodern Pelican 