Best of the 2010s: Top Ten Comedy Films

Paramount Pictures; Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Comedy isn’t black-and-white. The genre most associated with films like your average American comedy like, say, American Pie or some Judd Apatow film is much more than its stereotype. There are stylish and quirky comedies, absurd and dark comedies. Comedy films come in all shapes and sizes, and the Best of the 2010s-list highlights multiple different types in the genre. Continue reading “Best of the 2010s: Top Ten Comedy Films”

Top Ten Films of 2018

The BAFTAs are over. The Oscars are over. The book on 2018 films is about to be closed, but, wait, there’s more! Before we switch our focus completely onto the films of 2019 and the future awards season, I’d like to, as always, submit and present my own top ten films of the year-list. What was my favorite film of the year? What film got the honor of being my one and only honorable mention? It’s time to reveal the top ten films of 2018. Continue reading “Top Ten Films of 2018”

REVIEW: The Favourite (2018)

Theatrical Release Poster – Fox Searchlight Pictures

The following is a review of The Favourite — Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

When I first saw the brilliant-but-beautifully-absurd The Lobster a couple of years ago, I was wildly impressed with this ‘new’ director that I thought I had come upon. That was an extremely assured but absurdist-to-the-bone English-language debut, and he followed it up with The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which is another successful but very odd film. I’ve enjoyed both of these English-language films, so I was, naturally, intrigued by his next inspired and auteurist foray into English-language filmmaking — The Favourite. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Favourite (2018)”

REVIEW: Thoroughbreds (2018)

Theatrical Release Poster — Focus Features / Universal Pictures

The following is a review of Thoroughbreds — Directed by Cory Finley.

Remember My Chemical Romance? It was a rock band that my sister loved back in the day. I really liked their album The Black Parade, and every now and then some of the band’s songs come to mind. When I was watching writer-director Cory Finley’s directorial debut Thoroughbreds, I started to think about their song “Teenagers” — more specifically about the line “All teenagers scare the living shit out of me. They could care less as long as someone will bleed.” The late-great acting talent Anton Yelchin, in what seems to be his final role on film, has a similar line in the film, but he manages to express himself in much fewer words: “fucking evil children.” Continue reading “REVIEW: Thoroughbreds (2018)”

Crazy Early 91st Academy Awards Predictions – Special Features #16

Okay, I know. This is insane. The 90th Academy Awards haven’t even been held, and I’ve only seen like ten or eleven films from 2018 at this point. But I love writing about the awards season, but, to be honest with you, I find the annual best picture frontrunner backlash to be draining. So, therefore, I think it’s much easier for me to write about next year’s awards season. And don’t you worry, I have a pretty good idea of what is coming out this year. So, without further ado, let’s get to it. Continue reading “Crazy Early 91st Academy Awards Predictions – Special Features #16”

REVIEW: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Theatrical Release Poster – A24 & Curzon Artificial Eye

The following is a review of The Killing of a Sacred Deer – Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Danish auteur Lars Von Trier — the director behind such films as Breaking the Waves, Melancholia, and Anti-Christ — once said that a film should be ‘like a rock in your shoe.’ The newest work from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos titled The Killing of a Sacred Deer is that kind of film. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)”