Author Calum Baker

This summer the film world was temporarily rocked by, of all things, a new Ghostbusters film. For many people it was a long overdue win for better representation in film, and a chance to see that rarest of...

Paterson lies in the valley under the Passaic Falls its spent waters forming the outline of his back. - William Carlos Williams, 'Paterson', 1926. In his first film, 1980's Permanent Vacation, Jim...

Space Jam was released in the United States exactly 20 years ago. That’s a lifetime. That could be many lifetimes. That’s five presidential terms – in fact, it coincided with the 1996 election that saw...

History has its headlines, but also its page sixes. The Innocents, in following a group of Polish nuns immediately after WWII, is a sharp and sad examination of forgotten tales. Russians have settled in...

OK, so there are more than 13 things we know about the 2017 Oscar race. We know, for instance, all the usual givens such as the 0% chance of Captain America: Civil War being nominated for Best Picture, or...

The synopsis of 13TH almost implied a filmed immersion into correctional facilities, but Ava DuVernay, thank goodness, isn’t interested in a small cast of subjective case files; what we have here is an...

As always, Laika Entertainment (Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls) have released one of the most beautifully and intricately designed films of the year, this time offering a mythical quest narrative in a...

Having manufactured “Morgan” in a lab and witnessed her sudden tantrums, the scientists here are surprisingly un-self-aware. As Michelle Yeoh seriously intones: “For every decision we make, there are...

Early on in Café Society, Woody Allen’s 47th film, Jesse Eisenberg’s character meekly hires a prostitute. It’s his first such transaction, and he’s edgy. When she finally arrives, he’s gone off the...

Todd Solondz's debut feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse, serves up almost the very definition of black comedy. 21 years since its TIFF premiere, and on the eve of its pseudo-sequel Wiener-Dog finding UK...

If you have a gammy fin or a congenital neurological disorder, chances are you don't often see yourself onscreen. Unless of course you're a fish and you're watching Finding Dory, released in the UK late...

It’s not all about Michael B. Jordan and the Wayans brothers. It is, but it isn’t. African Americans are not the only 2016 invitees cutting an impressive swathe through the Academy of Motion Picture Arts...

Jumping straight in makes for an awkward start ("I haven't had a relationship that lasted longer than six months" is an early line), but as conducted by the ever-watchable cast and its newly reinvigorated...

An original and leftfield look at the Afro-Eurasian migrant crisis of recent years, Fire at Sea is, more than anything, a showcase for the extraordinary intelligence of its director, Gianfranco Rosi. The...

Whit Stillman's new film, Love and Friendship, is notable not just for being such a rarity (being after all his fifth film in 26 years) but also for reuniting the stars of his cult classic The Last Days of...