Hampton v Hollywood
As ever, this year’s Academy Awards consisted of a strange celebration of trauma from the perspective of the elite, from the trial of Brock Turner in Promising Young Woman to the murder of George Floyd in Two Distant Strangers. The collective agony of the masses…
TCMFF 2021: Humphrey Bogart and Jimmy Stewart in early Anti-Fascist Works
Black Legion (1937) and The Mortal Storm (1940) It is always fascinating and astonishing to look at works of art that come out of war time or political turmoil while the events are still ongoing. If you look at the war films made during World War…
“Somebody’s Gotta Save Our Skins!”: On Star Wars’ Death Star Escape Sequence
From space battles to superhuman fistfights, adventure has become one of the most prevalent elements for sculpting blockbuster entertainment. Big-budget spectacle was arguably kicked off by George Lucas’ original Stars Wars, and while its macro-structure depends on some winning storytelling archetypes to anchor its visionary…
It’s Called Fashion, Look it Up!
As today is the first Monday in May, we should be enjoying the red carpet photographs from the Met Gala, one of the biggest fashion events of the year. Unfortunately last year’s event, which had one of the most exciting sounding concepts in years –…
The Queer Question Mark – Should Straight Actors Play Gay?
In a welcome change of pace, the 93rd Academy Award nominations featured some of the most diverse choices in recent Oscar history. However, the acting nominations continued to contribute to a well-established trend, namely straight performers being nominated for their portrayals of queer characters. Some…
How We Made True History of the Kelly Gang
After premiering at Toronto International Film Festival in September 2019 and moving onto Glasgow Film Festival in February 2020, True History of the Kelly Gang was finally released in the US on April 24, 2020 (exactly a year ago). Unfortunately this release was on VOD…
The Monsterverse and its Lack of Compelling Human Characters
WARNING: This contains spoilers to the Monsterverse films: Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). There’s a clever ode to Planet of the Apes in Adam Wingard’s Godzilla vs. Kong, the fourth film in Legendary’s…
Low-Key but Legit: The Wondrous Women of Bong Joon-ho
For Asian women of the past, present and future. *Contains spoilers for some of Bong Joon-ho’s films. “Stop!” shouts Officer Kwon Kwi-ok (Ko Seo-hie) with all her might to get her male colleagues to focus on the radio playing Sad Letter, a song the killer…
Why the Academy should Acknowledge more non-English Language Performances
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was initially set-up by Louis B. Mayer in 1927 to resolve a labour dispute. Wary of his studio workers unionising, Mayer decided to placate his employees by holding an awards ceremony that would instead offer prestige, clout…
George A. Romero: Horror Pioneer And Father Of The Undead
[This piece was written for and featured in Issue #1 of our digital magazine] Night of the Living Dead is widely considered to be one of the first zombie films and its influences and style can be seen in hundreds of films since. Household names…
Horror Preview 2021
After Covid wreaked havoc with 2020’s cinematic schedule – not to mention sending the UK into several national lockdowns – the industry was left reeling with scores of films either bumped to VOD or delayed for post-pandemic distribution. But as things (slowly) start to look…
Oscars 2021 – Will Parasite’s Win Change This Year’s Show?
While it may feel like a lifetime ago, only one year has passed since the winners of the 92nd Academy Awards were announced and Parasite ended up taking home the Best Picture award. 2020 was a very strange year for film releases, and the race…
Lockdown Cinema: ‘Rear Window’, ‘The Virgin Suicides’ and ‘Mustang’
Revisiting Rear Window (1954), The Virgin Suicides (1999), and Mustang (2015) Long before COVID-19 had even entered public consciousness, three films presciently depicted a specific story element that came to characterise the current climate for many: becoming housebound. Due to current restrictions, most people have…
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