Breaking the Biopic Formula
This week sees the UK release of On the Basis of Sex, a biopic covering the education and early court cases of esteemed US Supreme Court Justice and living legend Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It joins a long line of...
The Changing Face of AI in Anime and its Western Remakes
"I am who?” Tima, the child robot of Rintaro's Metropolis (2001), asks just before she plunges from the edge of a high-rise tower and Metropolis collapses around her. She is parroting the first words ever...
Scene Stealers: Linda Cardellini in A Simple Favor
Peter Farrelly's Green Book may be a politically regressive movie directed by a onetime sex pest, but at least it also wastes three very talented actors. Viggo Mortensen has been a household name since his...
Bryan Singer, the Oscars, and Separating the Art From the Artist – Debate
Bohemian Rhapsody was recently nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, and while many have queried that on grounds of merit, a more urgent worry is the presence of director Bryan Singer. He was...
The Most Dangerous Games: Cinema’s Best Puzzles
For some, the thought of being trapped in a small room with a limited time to solve puzzles and escape is sheer nightmare fuel. Maybe your boss thinks such activities are the perfect team-building exercises....
How to Train Your Dragon’s Refreshing Approach To Disability
The How to Train Your Dragon movies are far and away the best work DreamWorks Animation have ever produced. For one thing, they’re simply gorgeous to look at, bursting with vibrantly designed creatures and...
Oscar Nominations 2019: The Full Rundown
10 years ago, Bradley Cooper may as well have been nobody. Then he starred in The Hangover. Then... uh... The Hangover 2. But six brief years since his "serious film" breakout Silver Linings Playbook, the...
The Hand That Holds the Pen: The (Un)Importance of Cinematic Historical Accuracy
Roughly a third of the way through Colette, currently in UK cinemas, Keira Knightley’s titular author muses that ‘the hand that holds the pen writes history.’ This line – featured prominently in the...
Seriously Funny: 10 Times Comedians Played it Straight
With the upcoming releases of both Stan & Ollie and Beautiful Boy, starring funnymen Steves Coogan and Carell respectively, it felt as good a time as any to shine the light on a selection of other...
Why Period Films Are So Underrated
It is the beginning of Pride and Prejudice. The protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley), is reading a book as she walks through the English countryside. The house comes alive not because it’s been...
Debate: Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, or Buster Keaton?
Stan & Ollie – a lovingly constructed biopic of an ageing Laurel and Hardy – hits cinemas this week. To celebrate, One Room with a View’s Naomi, Louise, and Tom have come together to argue the merits...
Marwencol Never Needed a Remake
Jeff Malmberg’s 2010 film Marwencol should be far more available than it is. The DVD is strangely hard to come by, at least in the UK, while digital copies can be rented or purchased from iTunes, but not...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2018: #1 – Phantom Thread
Phantom Thread eludes being pinned down, with beguiling mastery. From the word go, you are never quite sure where it is heading, or exactly what sort of film you are watching, but – much like leading lady...
ORWAV’S Top 20 Films of 2018: #2 – The Shape of Water
Even nearly 12 months after its initial UK release, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water has lost none of its magic. The film not only captured the hearts of critics, but also of cinemagoers worldwide,...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2018: #3 – You Were Never Really Here
What really separated You Were Never Really Here from other thrillers in 2018 – more so, even, than its impressionistic style and sparse dialogue – was its complete lack of hero. Lynne Ramsay’s fourth...