• Asteroid City Explained | What the Alien Really Means

    ACTOR/ALIEN I don’t play him as an alien, actually. I play him as a metaphor. That’s my interpretation. ACTRESS/SHELLY Metaphor for what? ACTOR/ALIEN I don’t know yet. It soon becomes clear in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City that there’s a link between Augie Steenbeck’s late wife and the Arid Plains Meteorite. Just as Augie’s wife was…

  • Saltburn feels like a very British Parasite (Review)

    In what feels like a mix between Parasite and Call Me By Your Name, Emerald Fennell gives us Saltburn, a captivating thriller that is as psychological as it is sexual.  Jacob Elordi plays Felix, a confident, attractive and absurdly wealthy Oxford BNOC (big name on campus). Barry Keoghan’s Oliver, a shy scholarship boy who buys…

  • Killers of The Flower Moon is an Essential Masterpiece (review)

    In many ways, Killers of The Flower Moon feels both old school and innovative at the same time. The storytelling and cinematography follows a classic Scorsese Rise and Fall formula that produced some of the most memorable crime thrillers of the 90s, yet the choice of topic feels like a much needed breath of fresh…

  • Barbie is Genius Marketing

    Just as Will Ferrell’s character was initially opposed to the idea of ‘ordinary Barbie’, Mattel were at first sceptical of Gerwig’s feminist rendition of Barbieland, until they realised that it would make money. I’m not just talking about the box office, I’m talking about the eye-watering profits Mattel stood to make from toy sales. The…

  • Reviews of The Featherweight, Explanation For Everything and An Endless Sunday – Venice Film Fest Part 2

    Not every film at the Venice Film Festival was competing for the Golden Lion. Here are my thoughts on some of the hidden indie gems that were screened there. The Featherweight  The Featherweight (Robert Kolodny), is a fictional documentary that follows the life of recently retired Willie Pep, former featherweight champion of the world. It’s…

  • Reviews of Poor Things, The Killer, Maestro and more – Venice Film Fest Part 1

    I just came back from the Venice Film Festival and had my first glimpse of some of the most anticipated movies of the year. Here are my thoughts on some of the Golden Lion nominees. Poor Things Poor Things, the latest black comedy by Yorgos Lanthamos, became the 66th film to receive the prestigious Golden…

  • What Succession Teaches Us About Power

    Succession’s ending explained why almost every character in the show has relentlessly pursued the position of CEO through four whole seasons. Shiv, Roman and Kendall as well as the entirety of senior management are terrified of being betrayed. Their only salvation, it seems, is to become the most powerful person at Waystar. In this video…

  • The Problem with All Quiet On The Western Front (2022)

    After a year in the trenches, Paul Baumer is lost. He has witnessed childhood friends killed, maimed and driven mad by shellfire. He has felt debilitating hunger, fought grotesque rats that feast on corpses, and sheltered in the barren mud from incessant artillery. He has grown from an innocent schoolboy into a battle-hardened soldier with…

  • Aftersun explained – What the rave really means

    Aftersun’s repeated image of a strobe-lit dance scene is beautiful, dramatic and deeply ambiguous. Many viewers have offered their own interpretations of what Calum and Sophie’s slow-motion journey through this rave could mean. I’ve seen it described separately as “a sensory metaphor for Sophie coming to terms with her emotional baggage”, a representation of the…

  • Why Everything Everywhere All At Once Won Best Picture

    There are a thousand reasons why Everything Everywhere All At Once deserves to win awards. But if I was to choose just one, I would say that it’s the film’s refreshing take on the meaning of life. Many see the meaning of life as the process of attaining or achieving something extraordinary; whilst others believe…