Nobody Has A Future: Mike Leigh’s Naked
Bleak. Desperate. Violent. Acerbic. Mike Leigh’s Naked is as relevant in Post-Brexit Britain as it was almost thirty years ago upon release. It explores themes of misogyny, class, conspiracy and religion, and like most of Leigh’s films, refuses to resolve anything, leaving us to think about which side of history we want to be on. Filmed at the height of post-Thatcherite Conservatism, and in a particularly grim time for the country economically, culturally and with waning influence in the world, Naked could just as easily have been released this year to the same effect.
Pivoting Episode 1: The New Show to Hold You Over in What Already Seems Like an … Interesting Year
FOX’s newest comedy Pivoting, tells the story of three women in their thirties whose best friend Coleen, has just died. Awakened by the realization that life is short, they each decide to make big life changes.
For God’s Sake Come Back: The Legacy of Zulu Dawn
Even in an era of reparation, celebrations of Empire are still remarkably commonplace for the English, and there’s a wealth of movies which still regularly air on British television that glorify its unsettling colonial past. The most common of these is Zulu (1964), which introduced Michael Caine to the world and depicts the bravery of around a hundred British soldiers in the overwhelming face of three thousand eponymous Zulu warriors. Quotes from the film have passed into common language, and even today it’s routinely held up as a model of Victorian colonial heroism and conquering of native resistance.
No Way Home: The True Ending To The Spider-Man Trilogy, Or Carried By The Past?
This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. It's the final Marvel premiere of the year 2021. And most of all, it's the conclusion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man trilogy. No Way Home has become one of the greatest films that both Marvel and Sony have ever released - but I have got to admit, given the long, complicated history of Spider-Man films, it would have been very difficult for it to turn out any other way.
No Time to Die: End of an Era
No Time to Die, James Bond's latest and Daniel Craig's last movie, starts with a phantom appearing out of the cold. It's there, in the window of a snow-covered cottage, then it's gone. The scene feels too picturesque to interrupt; we almost want to believe it was just a coincidence of the swirling snow. But a masked man appears at the window of a snow-covered cottage, and it’s undeniable. With tension building, a young Madeleine Swann tries to avoid an unseen killer. The scene closes with three ringing shots, but they come from Swann. It’s a tragic fate averted and innocence stolen. A satisfying arc for a Bond opening. But it's not actually over. What we see next is another reversal: a villain who saves an innocent life.
Last Night in Soho: A Film That Lives in the Grey Area
Last Night in Soho, a film directed by British filmmaker Edgar Wright, lives in between the 1960s and modern times in London, England. Starring staples of British stardom Anya-Taylor Joy (Sandie), Matt Smith (Jack), briefly Sam Claflin (Lindsey), and Thomasin McKenzie (Eloise/Ellie), this film follows the life of Eloise Turner, a young aspiring fashion designer with an infatuation with the swinging sixties of London as she navigates her extraordinary ability to body-jump into another young woman in her dreams.
Tick, Tick... Boom! A Love Letter to Art and the Artist
I don’t need to convince you to watch tick tick… Boom!, the film adaptation of the creator of the revolutionary rock musical Rent Jonathan Larson’s autobiographical musical about living in the pressure cooker of eighties New York and trying to make his big break before the age of 30. “Older than Stephen Sondheim and Paul McCartney” when they achieved fame. Gasp!
The Present (Is) Tense: Supermassive Studios' Dark Pictures Anthology
When I was a kid, I used to lose myself in the Fighting Fantasy ‘choose your own adventure’ books. I’d map out the best paths through the story, making copious notes on optimal outcomes with deadly creatures trying to cut my reading short and my limbs shorter. I’d play along with dice, and unlike my reckless friends, try not to skip ahead to see if my choices were the right ones. If I died, I started over, and there was a tremendous sense of achievement in being able to successfully remember how to get to the end with one’s life intact.
No Such Thing as a Small Role: The French Dispatch
Wes Anderson is capable of more than his usual fantastical endeavours. In his newest film, he creates something entirely different, even from his nine other films of similar style. The French Dispatch, written, directed, and produced by Wes Anderson, is an anthology of several shorter stories tied together through a writer’s room of the fictional newspaper, Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun. Seemingly inspired by The New Yorker, this film is a tribute to journalism and eccentric storytelling.
The Moviegoer’s Favorite Holiday TV Shows
My favorite winter tradition as a kid was to watch all the claymation classics, so I adore Community season 2’s take on the holiday genre. In a season ripe with great episodes — like the paintball showdown and meta “Paradigms of Human Memory” — “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas” still manages to distinguish itself as one of the best.
Dune (Part 1) is a Cinematic Treat for the Eyes
Dune (Part 1) is an epic sci-fi film directed by Denis Villeneuve and is based on the popular 1965 novel by Frank Herbert. It follows the journey of Paul Atreides (played by Timothee Chalamet), the scion of a house, as his family aims to take control of the desert planet Arrakis. The movie is set in the far future, where houses control different planets, all under the auspices of a Great Emperor. Karan Sampath and Suryansh Loya watched the film and sat down to discuss what they found so incredible about it.
The Eternals: The Team That Time (Almost) Forgot
Long ago, in an unknown dimension, Marvel Studios decided to make a film about characters most of us have never even heard of. Behold, the Eternals — an elite team of ancient, all-powerful immortals who hail from the godly world of Olympia, now on a mission to make the planet Earth a better place… or so we thought.
Maya and the Three Offers Stunning Visuals But a Confusing Story
When I heard that Netflix was releasing an animated adventure series by Jorge Gutierrez, co-writer and director of Golden Globe-nominated movie The Book of Life, I thought it was destined to be a smashing success. Featuring an exciting story about a Mesoamerican warrior princess, and boasting a cast of some of the most famous Latino actors of our time, I couldn’t wait to see what this monumental animator had created.
All Good Things Must Come To An End: Brooklyn 99 Final Season
Nothing good can last forever -- including Brooklyn 99. Since the very beginning, I have always been a fan of the 99. From watching it when I was younger with my family, to finishing the final season amongst friends, it has been a constant in my life. I was devastated when Fox cancelled the show but ecstatic when NBC decided to give it another chance. When I heard the news that Brooklyn 99’s eighth season would be the show’s finale one, I understood that all good things must come to an end.
In A Musical Nothing Dreadful Ever Happens: Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark
Like his British counterpart Mike Leigh, Danish director Lars von Trier’s movies can be a tough watch. Often concluding unexpectedly and without resolution, they consistently leave you thinking about what you just saw for a long time afterwards. You leave the experience piecing your heart back together after having it ripped out of your chest for two hours. His 2000 Dancer In The Dark, along with his 1996 film Breaking The Waves, solidified von Trier as one of the unique emergent directorial voices to come out of Europe in recent times.
Plan B
In 108 minutes, Plan B, directed by Natalie Morales, perfectly sums up the utter panic and chaos that is teenagerhood. The film follows two girls on an epically hyperventilating and winding road-trip to find the Plan B pill within their 24-hour window. There is not a ticking clock on the screen, but through the hyperactive dialogue and split-second decisions gone wrong, viewers can feel the powders of the Plan B pill disintegrating grain by grain.
Only Murders In The Building
Everyone loves a whodunit — or at least that’s what the steady growth of murder mysteries à la Knives Out and the true-crime rage I’ve written about for nearly 3 years tells me. The newest hit of the sort, stacked with stars from both screen and stage, finds favor across generations and genres. Only Murders in the Building, created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, follows three unlikely friends as they create a podcast investigating, well, a murder in their building.
TV & film inspired Halloween costumes for 2021
Another year, another mad dash to throw together a last minute Halloween costume! To make it easier for you, we’ve compiled some of the year’s most iconic characters from TV shows and movies, as well as a couple of throwbacks, that are sure to win you Best-Dressed.
Don’t hate the player, hate the game: Netflix’s breakout hit Squid Game
Squid Game has taken the recipe for a bingeable Netflix show and seasoned it to perfection. The Korean drama follows Seong Gi-hun, a father who has gambled with both his life and his relationship with his young daughter. With little left to lose and everything to gain, he enters to compete in a series of children’s games, along with 455 other debt-ridden and desperate contestants, enticed by a handsome cash prize. The twist? Losing gets you killed.