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Carnival of Souls (1962) Review
Carnival of Souls (1962) Director: Herk Harvey Screenwriter: John Clifford Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger, Frances Feist, Art Ellison, Herk Harvey A director’s influence is often a sign of the strong, illustrious career they have built over time. What a bittersweet thing it is, then, to find a director whose work is so influential, yet…
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The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) Review
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) Director: Wes Anderson Screenwriters: Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach Starring: Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon Following the critical successes of Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson had become more of a household name by the time his fourth feature The Life…
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Always Shine (2016) Review
Always Shine (2016) Director: Sophia Takal Screenwriter: Lawrence Michael Levine Starring: Mackenzie Davis, Caitlin FitzGerald Trapping two troubled characters in an isolated getaway is a recipe for trouble; so often is it also a recipe for riveting horror. Sophia Takal’s second feature may walk on well-treaded ground but an injection of postmodernist writing and strong…
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‘The Wedding Planner’ at 20 – Review
The Wedding Planner (2001) Director: Adam Shankman Screenwriters: Pamela Falk & Michael Ellis Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Justin Chambers It’s a classic – woman has the perfect job and the perfect life, but nobody to share it with. How on earth could she be truly happy? Nobody has any doubt the wedding…
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12 Hour Shift (2020) Review
12 Hour Shift Review (2020) Director: Brea Grant Screenwriters: Brea Grant Starring: Angela Bettis, Chloe Farnsworth, Tara Perry, Mick Foley, David Arquette Seeing a character’s superficially respectable life clash dramatically with their hidden and criminal alter-ego is a great way to tell a tense, compelling story. 12 Hour Shift has such a premise – when…
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Casablanca (1942) Review
Casablanca (1942) Director: Michael Curtiz Screenwriters: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Peter Lorre, Dooley Wilson, Sydney Greenstreet It is remembered as one of the great movies of the Golden Era of Hollywood, is a jewel in the crown of studio Warner…
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The Sky Is Still Falling: ‘Donnie Darko’ at 20 – Review
Donnie Darko (2001) Director: Richard Kelly Screenwriter: Richard Kelly Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, James Duval, Patrick Swayze The idea of the world ending feels much more believable now than it did when we first met Donnie Darko 20 years ago. In fact, the idea of a jet engine…
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Away (2019) Review
Away (2019) Director: Gints Zilbalodis Screenwriter: Gints Zilbalodis Atmosphere, immersion, emotion: the perfect triad to describe Gints Zilbalodis’ feature debut Away. A feeling, a vibe, and a journey is central above character or story, the minimalist plot de-cluttering the filmic transposition and resulting in a calming, sensory experience. Zilbalodis is the key creative behind the…
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Gone with the Wind 80th Anniversary Review
Gone with the Wind (1939) Director: Victor Fleming Screenwriter: Sidney Howard Starring: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel “Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A civilization gone with the wind…” With the passing of Olivia de Havilland last year, the then…
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Chaplin’s ‘The Kid’ – 100 Year Anniversary Review
The Kid (1921) Director: Charlie Chaplin Screenwriter: Charlie Chaplin Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan, Edna Purviance, Carl Miller, Walter Lynch Inequality, wealth disparity, gendered oppression and prejudice have long been among the thematic building blocks of great cinema, but rarely have they been presented with such innocence as in a Charlie Chaplin motion picture, and…