1917 is the Best Video Game Movie Ever Made Phil W. Bayles January 16, 2020 Analysis, Features, Opinion Sam Mendes’ 1917 has picked up a slew of nominations this awards season, including nine for the BAFTAs and 10 for the Oscars, and it’s not hard to see why. This is a war movie that manages to feel both...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #1 – The Favourite Joni Blyth December 31, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Surprising combinations are the spice of life. Country music and hip hop, footballers’ wives and hard-boiled sleuthing – 2019 has been a great year for the unexpected mash-up, and none have proven quite as...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #2 – Knives Out Phil W. Bayles December 31, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Rian Johnson is a man who loves breaking rules. He broke just about every rule in the book when he was given the reins to Star Wars, and some of the most unpleasant people on the internet are still giving him...
ORWAV’s Top 20 films of 2019: #3 – Eighth Grade Tom Bond December 31, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Kids today, eh? They don’t know they’re born. They’ve never had it better, but they spend all their time glued to their phones, living their lives through social media. That’s the easy, lazy criticism...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #4 – The Irishman David Brake December 30, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 “God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness shows through.” —Paul Valéry In 2019, the average life expectancy of a male in the US sits at 76. Robert De Niro is 76. Martin Scorsese is...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #5 – Midsommar Eddie Falvey December 30, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 – 2019 has been a great year for film. As this list has illustrated and will continue to illustrate, 2019 saw bountiful returns from budding auteurs Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Greta...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #6 – If Beale Street Could Talk Sophie Maxwell December 30, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 ‘Every black person born in America was born on Beale Street, born in the black neighbourhood of some American city, whether in Jackson, Mississippi, or in Harlem, New York. Beale Street is our legacy. This...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #7 – Us Katy Moon December 30, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 The doppelgänger is an age-old figure of dread. A portent of doom or impending misfortune, they’re often hellbent on eliminating and supplanting the ‘original’. They represent the uniquely horrific...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #8 – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Thom Denson December 29, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 Much has been made of Quentin Tarantino’s plans to retire after ten films. With Once Upon a Time in Hollywood being his ninth, it seems there’s still plenty of life in him – yet it's difficult to...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #9 – Can You Ever Forgive Me? Carmen Paddock December 29, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 At the end of the decade, media seems to be moving further away from the noughties’ nihilism. Perhaps audiences need a break from the relentless inhumanity highlighted in 24/7 news cycles. Perhaps a...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #10 – Burning Jack Blackwell December 28, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 In 2019, we weren’t exactly hurting for ‘topical’ or ‘timely’ films. From January – with The Favourite’s vision of a Britain ruled by sad and grotesque schemers – to December – with...
ORWAV’s Top 20 Films of 2019: #20 to #11 David Brake December 28, 2019 Analysis, Features, Top 10 It's almost time to wrap up this year and this decade. A wondrous opportunity to reflect on what has passed. If you haven't already, I heartily recommend you check out our Top 100 Films of the 2010s – #100...
ORWAV’s Top 100 Films of the 2010s: #20-1 Calum Baker December 18, 2019 Analysis, Features, One Off, Top 10 In criticism, time-distance is everything: time to let a film sink in, time to give it more thought and more watches, and time to see what impact it has on the culture. Time also, often, for the artists...
ORWAV’s Top 100 Films of the 2010s: #40-21 Calum Baker December 15, 2019 Analysis, Features, One Off, Top 10 The ground is littered with fantastic and fascinating titles that just failed to make our top 100 films of the decade: Margaret, Blade Runner 2049, Foxtrot. Somehow Michael Pearce’s “moody”, empty Ramsay...
ORWAV’s Top 100 Films of the 2010s: #60-41 Calum Baker December 14, 2019 Analysis, Features, One Off, Top 10 Our countdown of the Top 100 Films of the Decade continues apace as we start reaching the titles with some very high aggregate scores. Debate continues to rage over the relative merits of (usually heavy)...