Disney’s Top 10 “I Want” Songs Anna McKibbin November 24, 2020 Features, Music of the Movies, Top 10 Revisiting films from Disney’s Golden Age can feel like slipping into a pair of well-worn pyjamas. Cosy, soft and, crucially, familiar. Familiarity is the currency Disney exchanges to win over audiences....
Rising Star – Jonathan Majors And The Roles That Made Him Jack Cameron November 22, 2020 Analysis, Features, Spotlight Here comes Atticus Freeman; adventurer, scholar, Chicago South Sider, and monster killer. Atticus is the central character of Lovecraft Country, which is not only presenting stories we’ve never seen from...
How Tangled’s Flynn Rider Perfected the Disney Prince Alex Goldstein November 19, 2020 Close-Up, Features, Nostalgia, One Off Tangled has always had a bit of a mixed reputation. Although cinema-going audiences treated it fairly kindly, it struggled to make back its mammoth budget. Critics shrugged at it - complaining it was a little...
Why Mother Gothel is the Best Disney Villain Phil W. Bayles November 19, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion Tangled - Disney’s 50th animated feature, and the film that kick-started the studio’s ‘Revival’ period - turns 10 years old this month. In the decade since its release the studio has gone from strength...
Ammonite, Nomadland and Female Freedom Alex Goldstein November 9, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features So many women’s stories are about freedom: choosing it, fearing it, paying for it. At the London Film Festival this year, two of the most talked about features - Nomadland and Ammonite - had the same...
Aaron Sorkin’s Demons and Better Angels Anna McKibbin October 10, 2020 Close-Up, Features, Opinion Eight years ago, Kevin Porter posted a video entitled “Sorkinisms – A Supercut”. Over 1.5 million people have watched this video which features different Aaron Sorkin-penned characters uttering the same...
Saint Maud’s Feminist Evolution of Body Horror Rob Salusbury October 9, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion The role of the female within horror cinema has always been a complex and hotly debated topic. Some argue that the frequent depiction of the monstrous female - most commonly realised through the figure of the...
How Fritz Lang Broke Hollywood Joseph Bullock October 5, 2020 Analysis, Close-Up, Features Fritz Lang created some of the most indelible images in cinema. Most come from his German films: the rotund spacecraft from Woman in the Moon (1929), Peter Lorre’s panicking child-killer branded with a...
The 10 Best Fictional Bands in Film Jess Goodman September 14, 2020 Analysis, Features, Top 10 You and I have witnessed many things, but nothing as bodacious as Wyld Stallyns. Yes, that's right, it's time to face the music. The long awaited sequel to Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and their...
The World Is Yours: Power and Decay in Scarface and Carlito’s Way Rob Salusbury September 11, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion, Spotlight Few directors can boast a more diverse filmography than Brian De Palma. The legendary filmmaker’s work has stretched from taut psychological thrillers to disturbing horrors and big budget action vehicles....
Blade Runner’s Visual Construction of the Future Weiting Liu September 4, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion Blade Runner's science fiction cyberpunk world is anchored in the classic noir genre’s sombre aesthetics. But it also subverts them. The film combines urban decay in the high-tech metropolis of a futuristic...
Disney’s Live Action Remakes Are in Need of Life Scott Wilson September 3, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion Disney’s 1994 The Lion King is full of life, death, and the harmony in between. At a tight 89 minutes, it never runs out of steam, and its colour palette is as vibrant as its song book. Part of the "Big...
In A World: Cinema’s Most Innovative Trailers George Howarth September 3, 2020 Features, Opinion, Top 10 So you're a director, you've made your genre-defining debut picture, and now it's time to convince the viewing public that your film blows the other cinematic dross out of the water. But how do you prove it?...
Christopher Nolan and the Problem with the Good Lie Jack Cameron August 19, 2020 Analysis, Opinion Tenet is just around the corner (although the corner keeps getting further away), fuelling cineaste hopes that this year won’t be a total cinematic write-off. And yet, the hype just doesn't seem to be there....
Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Edgar Wright’s Perfect Adaptation Rory Steabler August 10, 2020 Analysis, By The Book, Features Ten years ago, Scott Pilgrim vs the World bombed at the box office. Director Edgar Wright had made a name for himself with his first two features: Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, a pair of gag-heavy genre...