Tag: American cinema
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Rushmore.
Wes Anderson’s whimsical cinema sometimes gets a little irritating. For me, Anderson films are divided into two very distinct categories; the ones that work and the ones that drift off a little. Those that work include The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and of course Rushmore. I like both Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Darjeeling Limited very much but even a fan like myself…
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August: Osage County.
Following a tragic event, the Weston family children, consisting of three sisters, return to the sticky heat of their childhood home, just outside of Oklahoma. The film’s title provides the place and time of this story. The Weston sisters are parented by Beverley and Violet. They have an alcoholic poet for a father and a…
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Inside Llewyn Davis.
Doesn’t everybody know a version of Llewyn Davis? Set in 1961, Inside Llewyn Davis shows us one week in the life of a struggling folk musician. Llewyn has certainly been dealt some blows from the world. With his performance partner having recently jumped to his death from what one character claims to be “the wrong bridge”, we…
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Happiness.
One hardly knows where to begin with reviewing such a film. Todd Solondz’s Happiness is many things but let’s start with the acknowledgement that it is a challenging film. It is a disgusting masterpiece that taunts its audience who tend not to know how to react to it. The sensational Roger Ebert summarised the spectator’s battle with Happiness in…
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The Wolf of Wall Street.
A familiar force is present in Scorsese’s latest cinematic whirlwind in the form of editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Wife of the late and great Michael Powell, one of Scorsese’s cinematic idols, Schoonmaker has edited every film of Scorsese’s since Raging Bull and it could be argued that she is equally responsible for creating that precise feeling I get…
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Alice.
There is something indulgent about sitting down on a rainy weekend and enjoying a Woody Allen film you’ve never seen before. With a large mug of tea and a slice of buttered toast, I sat back to enjoy Allen’s fantasy/comic adventure Alice. A film that centres around re-evaluation, Alice tells the story of a woman of luxury, assessing her…
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Badlands.
Terrence Malick’s debut tells the story of fifteen year old Holly who falls in love with ‘James Dean lookalike’ Kit. Whilst Holly dryly narrates us through their tale, we watch the couple run away from home and venture out across America, killing anyone who stands in their way. Based on a true case, Badlands has darker dimensions…
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Revolutionary Road.
Richard Yates’ Eleven Kinds of Loneliness is one of my favourite books. A collection of short stories that depict eleven different isolated individuals, the book captures the alienation of the late forties and fifties. From housewives trapped in their suburban prisons, to children separated in the playground by their differences, it deals with poisonous atmospheres and psychological…
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Captain Phillips.
Four month ago I posted an entry on this website called ‘The Magic of Tom Hanks‘. The article discussed the actor’s baffling screen diversity and applauded Hanks for his ability to remain a household name and yet never be typecast. Having played some of cinema’s most memorable characters, from Mr. Gump to Captain Miller, Hanks…
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Coffee and Cigarettes.
It took a little while for me to understand the charm of Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes. Twenty minutes in, I was completely enchanted. A ninety minute film, made up of eleven vignettes, Coffee and Cigarettes is an amusing and charming film that shows a variety of actors, actresses, artists and musicians meeting and having a variety of…
Hannah McHaffie 