If there’s one constant across the Coens’ intimidating filmography, it’s the brothers’ affection for cinema in all its forms. Right from their debut, Blood Simple – an intricately-plotted neo-noir – they’ve paid homage to Hollywood history, whether aping noir aesthetics (in both Blood Simple and The Man Who Wasn’t There) or gently parodying noir conventions…
Lawrence Leung is many things – writer, comedian, actor, magician – but most of all he’s a great storyteller. If you’ve watched any of his shows – at a comedy festival or on television – you’d be familiar with his knack for transforming a thin premise into a transfixing tale. Sucker is one such tale:…
How to Be Single is a film about four women – Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann and Alison Brie – searching for meaning in New York inside and outside of romantic relationships. The film is similarly in search of an identity, swerving from low-key indie dramedy to broad romantic comedy from scene-to-scene with reckless…
Do I Sound Gay? is documentary by way of dinner party conversation. This largely light-hearted consideration of the stereotypically ‘gay voice’ hews closer to a chat between friends than investigative journalism. Which is fine! For about 45 minutes, the film’s frivolity is what keeps it appealing; director and ‘subject’ David Thorpe – who undergoes speech…
Zoolander is one of the greatest comedies, spinning out its Glamorama-esque premise from a satirical take on male modelling into a deconstruction of masculinity and a surrealistic degradation of plot, where David Bowie adjudicates “walk offs” and the perfect look stops a high-velocity shuriken. Perhaps most importantly, it’s also hilarious, packed to the brim with…
Crystal Moselle must’ve had an easy time pitching her first feature-length documentary, The Wolfpack, to financiers and film festivals alike. A chance encounter on the streets of New York saw her ensconced in the lives of the Angulo family; a family of six brothers (and one largely-unseen sister) raised – so the publicity materials tell…
If Deadpool had come out in 2006 – before Iron Man kicked the superhero boom into top gear – it might’ve been a genuinely subversive superhero film. The film – which sees Ryan Reynolds make his fourth attempt at pulling off the superhero shtick (if you count Blade III) – is definitely trying to subvert…
Charlie Kaufman is undoubtedly among my favourite artists. Two of the films in my top ten – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Synecdoche, New York – come from his pen, and his collaborations with Spike Jonze aren’t far behind. His work is defined by an enticing creative restlessness, realised in the intimidating thematic…
Full credit to Aaron Sorkin; with Steve Jobs he manages to solve the structural problems plaguing most biopics, which struggle to accommodate the scope of a human life in a neat three act narrative. How? By literally structuring the film as three acts – three product launches – across which we come to know our…
There’s a world in which Dirty Grandpa is a great, if lowbrow, comedy. Robert De Niro is perfectly suited to the eponymous role of smutty senior; he’s always been convincing at improvisational comedy (look at Mean Streets, or even Goodfellas) plus you buy him as someone who can still pull off one-armed push ups. Oh,…
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