The Bad News Bears (1976)

The sports genre is one that has proven to be extremely divisive, with some absolutely adoring these films, while others being far more cynical. On a personal level, I have rarely found films centred around sports to be all that compelling – they are usually formulaic to the point of being outright predictable, and they…

Showing Up (2023)

At this point in her career, Kelly Reichardt has more than proven herself as one of the essential cinematic voices of her generation. Over the past quarter of a century, she has told intimate and personal stories that are guided by her distinctly human approach to storytelling, being a pioneer of minimalist cinema, and one…

Irma Vep (1996)

You have to admire the absolute gumption that Olivier Assayas demonstrated when he set out to make Irma Vep. His admiration for the brilliant Maggie Cheung was so sincere, he constructed an entire film around her in order to work with her, which led to a very promising partnership between the two artists, which extended…

My Little Chickadee (1940)

When constructing a comedy, there are always guides that supposedly set the standard for effectively extracting laughs by following a specific formula that they claim guarantees audiences will embrace what they’re seeing and feel compelled to seek out even more similar works – and in an era where a lot of comedies were built on…

Fool’s Paradise (2023)

While it may not be a universally exciting occurrence, but I am always fascinated when comedians decide to step behind the camera and make their directorial debut, which is often a moment in which great cinematic voices are born. It’s certainly more interesting when they go against the grain and direct in a completely different…

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Our continued adventures with Indiana Jones and his motley crew of collaborators and co-conspirators have taken us to Europe, after voyaging to North Africa and Asia in the two previous films – and this time, our beloved historian and adventurer is in search of the Holy Grail, the very definition of an elusive historical artefact….

Rebecca (1940)

Rebecca occupies a peculiar place in the career of Alfred Hitchcock – it was neither his first major film, nor the one that can be considered his breakthrough. However, it was the first time he had made an American film, as well as his first collaboration with David O. Selznick, who is often considered the…

Will-O’-the-Wisp (2023)

Two people caught in a moment of quiet reflection, their bodies united in some eternal dance of pure eroticism which contrasts sharply with their psychological state, which is somewhere in between numb ennui and unhinged psychological despair – and their only method of working through these issues come in the form of movement, whether those…

The Goodbye Girl (1977)

No one wrote characters quite like Neil Simon – whether in his plays or the original screenplays he worked on during the peak of his career, his work was always filled to the brim with wise-cracking, urbane characters plucked directly from the mind of a writer who perhaps knew the art of creating memorable characters…

Encino Man (1992)

There comes a point in every film lover’s life when we realize that not everything needs to make sense or be particularly good, and that it is perfectly acceptable to just enjoy something for the sake of it, since not every film we watch needs to be a revelatory experience. This realization is paired with…