ORWAV’s Unlikely Picks for the 2018 Oscars Tom Bond January 22, 2018 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Every year your favourite films are robbed (robbed, you hear me!) of the little gold statues they deserve. And we all know why. Despite the bold changes begun in the wake of #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy...
Short of the Week – To Build a Fire Henry Gatrell January 22, 2018 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/246869455 The adaptation of Jack London’s highly-regarded short story To Build a Fire effectively captures the story of a man's last frozen moments. The text and film shift from one...
Why Liam Neeson’s Very Particular Set of Skills Should be Put to Better Use Naomi Soanes January 19, 2018 Features, Spotlight As whispers of Liam Neeson’s imminent retirement from action movies started to make its way down the Hollywood grapevine, cries of dismay rang out from audiences who felt unprepared to lose such an action...
Cel Mates: The Book of Life Rory Steabler January 18, 2018 CEL Mates, Features, Independent The Book of Life bears more than a passing resemblance to Pixar’s Coco, out this week. Obviously, both are based around the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead, and involve protagonists going on a...
Debate: What’s the Best Pixar Film? Tom Bond January 17, 2018 Analysis, Debate, Features 1 Comment With Pixar’s latest film Coco out this Friday, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to do what we love the most: argue about film. Our writers Rhys Handley and Jack Blackwell, and Features Editor...
Tom Hanks: Spielberg’s Everyman Hero James Andrews January 16, 2018 Analysis, Features, Spotlight Saving Private Ryan. Catch Me If You Can. The Terminal. Bridge of Spies. And now, The Post. What do they all have in common? Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. As their fifth collaboration – a '70s-set...
Short of the Week – Night James Andrews January 15, 2018 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/250118913 Racism, privilege and sexual inequality are all issues becoming increasingly talked about and fought against. With Night, Dutch filmmaker Joosje Duk dissects all three...
A Beginner’s Guide to… Frances McDormand Rhys Handley January 11, 2018 A Beginner's Guide To..., Analysis, Features The character actor is often considered a vestige solely for male performers – Paul Giamatti, Gary Oldman, Steve Buscemi, J.K. Simmons; the list goes on. Often the bridesmaid, rarely the bride, these side...
CEL Mates: World Of Tomorrow Episode Two: The Burden Of Other People’s Thoughts Tom Bond January 10, 2018 CEL Mates, Features, Independent There are certain stories that only animation can tell properly: the tale of a roomful of toys reuniting with their owner, a clownfish’s journey to find his son, or a version of Hamlet featuring lions. Now...
The Last Jedi and the Real Resistance Kambole Campbell January 9, 2018 Analysis, Close-Up, Features One of the best moments in Star Wars: The Last Jedi comes early on. During one of many desperate, skin-of-their teeth escapes, victory or death for the Resistance (the new moniker for the Rebel Alliance) ...
Short of the Week – A Band of Thieves Rhys Handley January 8, 2018 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/channels/staffpicks/246729336 One of the key pillars of postmodernist thinking is that there is no longer such thing as an original idea. We have too much culture and too much art, now it...
Checking in on the Modern Western Rory Steabler January 4, 2018 Analysis, Features, One Off Almost a decade ago, the 2008 Academy Awards saw an influx of Westerns. No Country for Old Men took the Best Picture statuette (among others), while nominations for sound and cinematography were dished out to...
All the Money in the World: Replacing and Recreating Actors Carmen Paddock January 3, 2018 Analysis, Features, Opinion Christopher Plummer is doing very well this year, mainly in the sense that he is a well-regarded man in Hollywood who is not in the midst of a sexual harassment or assault scandal. Furthermore, his turn as J....
Hostiles and the Western’s Lack of Progress in Indigenous Representation Jack Blackwell January 2, 2018 Analysis, Features, One Off Though there are many micro-genres encompassed by the umbrella term of "Western", most of these films can be generally grouped into either "cowboy showdown" (Shane, High Noon, Unforgiven) or "wilderness...
Short of the Week – Baby Grotesque Cathy Brennan January 1, 2018 Features, Independent, Short of the Week https://vimeo.com/248663904 Channelling the work of comics artist Michael DeForge, Daniela Espinosa has lovingly crafted a dark fairy-tale with Baby Grotesque. Set in a dark, foreboding forest, we are...
