What do you believe in? It seems like a simple enough question to answer; however, when you begin to break it down, there are many ways to interpret it. What beliefs are we talking about? Religion, perhaps? Are we talking about which God we pray to and what religious standards …
The manic pixie dream girl trope, where an eccentric young woman exists solely to expand and incite growth in a male protagonist, is criticised widely for lacking dimensional fortitude. Yet it continues to be utilised as a narrative framework, and too often without insight into the girl at the heart …
Revenge of the Sith is the best of the Star Wars prequel trilogy by a country mile. Where The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones felt narratively meandering, handicapped by their insistence on telling over showing, Revenge of the Sith takes much better advantage of writer-director George Lucas’s idiosyncrasies. …
There are few subjects more emotive than motherhood, but a story about a new way to enable motherhood/parenthood should not have taken why that is as granted. On stage before the world premiere of Joy at the London Film Festival, director Ben Taylor and star James Norton both spoke about the …
If my review for The Phantom Menace could be perceived as me going out of my way to be fair, then Attack of the Clones is me reaping what I’ve sowed. Not only does this film suffer from many of the same issues as its predecessor, but it amplifies them …
Halloween is right around the corner and so is everybody’s favorite unkillable slasher, Michael Myers. He may not have the in-depth lore of the Jigsaw Killer or the quippy one-liners of Freddy Kruger, but Michael Myers has remained one of the defining figures of horror across thirteen movies. Well, technically …
What is there to say about Sony’s Spider-Man Universe? A franchise that once ruled the world has now become a mixed bag of incredible highs and abysmal lows. On one hand, we have films like Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: No Way Home, which joined the ranks of the original …
The Dahomey kingdom was in the West African region from 1600 to 1904. It is now the Republic of Benin, which borders Nigeria and Togo. During the second Franco-Dahomean war in 1892, the French colonizers stole dozens of artifacts, which were decades later placed in museums in France. In the …
The need to feel a sense of belonging is something that everyone experiences to some degree most of their life. But there is no time in which that need is higher than during adolescence. The dual need to carve out your own path while not becoming too much of an outsider is …
From the moment the programme for the London Film Festival was announced, Nickel Boys quickly became one of my most anticipated films of the entire festival. Not only did the film receive positive reviews after its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival at the end of August, but its …
Steven McQueen’s latest film, Blitz, marks the director’s return to fiction, after focusing on documentary filmmaking in 2023. Naturally, this comes with a lot of excitement for fans of the director as well as for fans of the historical drama genre. With its period setting and focus on the Second …
Animation is often seen as a genre for children, but that is because it is a genre for imagination. It’s a way of visually expressing stories that cannot be realistically or safely acted out. The stop-motion Memoir of a Snail, which has surprisingly won Best Film at this year’s London …
Movies have the power to come into a viewer’s life at a time when they need it most. They can teach people lessons about themselves, help them deal with life’s challenges, or simply give them a smile when they are not expecting it. While such an idea does not happen …
Daddio and Madame Web both releasing in 2024 is an interesting glimpse into the career and talents of Dakota Johnson. Both films are at opposite ends of the spectrum in regards to story and style, and Fanning’s performance differs drastically between the two. While Daddio is undoubtedly an example of …
DreamWorks Animation has always been regarded as the biggest rival to Disney/Pixar, but despite a few memorable sagas like Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, and Madagascar, the truth is that the studio has rarely delivered stand-alone original works with the same cultural impact as many of the latter’s movies. …
Genre within art is a funny thing. They are arbitrary bindings that place films in little boxes, more often than not segregating the ideas within on aesthetic merits. Their necessity is up for debate, but sometimes the argument finds itself presented on screen. Director Cooper Roberts’ charming and energetic debut …
When Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the first of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, hit cinemas in 1999, it proved extremely divisive. A definite victim of overhype, with some fans literally camping outside cinemas before the first screening, neither critics nor audiences seemed to agree on the film’s quality. The …
This Telugu-language movie was guaranteed major international distribution once N. T. Rama Rao Jr. agreed to star. After all, he was half of the leading duo in RRR, the Indian movie which so dramatically punched through to an international audience. Yet Devara Part 1 is not designed for an international …
In her, An Incomplete List of What the Cameraperson Enables, Kirsten Johnson proposes several actions and connections that portraying a subject in camera allows. One is the chance to be closer or farther (through the lens) than is physically possible. Leila Amini uses her cameras to capture the experiences of …
Francis Ford Coppola’s first feature film in 13 years was always going to generate excitement, but Megalopolis – since its divisive Cannes premiere and disastrous marketing campaign with AI-generated quotes (the fault of US distributor Lionsgate, not Coppola) – is almost a sensation. Add in a star-studded cast, some of …